January 2019
CISA Winter Workshop: Storytelling for Your Brand
Location: CISA Office, 1 Sugarloaf St., South Deerfield In this workshop we will discover how to create a comprehensive organizational or business story, and use it to launch or strengthen your brand. In this workshop participants will create a story outline, and mock up their story via social media or direct marketing. Participants will leave with a storytelling accountability buddy for the steps they'd like to move forward. About the Presenter: Angela is an innovative educator, evaluator, and writer who…
Find out more »CISA Winter Workshop: Niche Marketing in the Black
Location: Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, 100 Bigelow St., Holyoke Did you know the word “niche” comes from the French word ‘to nest’? Niche marketing is targeting a product or service to a segment of a market that is not well served. Join us to explore and identify prospective niche markets for your farm or business. Small- to mid-size farms stand to benefit financially from new revenue streams. We will pinpoint niche opportunities for the Pioneer Valley, explore marketing…
Find out more »February 2019
CISA Winter Workshop: Making Your Brand Come Alive
Location: MA Green High Performance Computing Center, 100 Bigelow St., Holyoke This hands-on workshop will help identify your farm’s unique story, and explain the steps towards shaping it into a unique brand that will be the foundation of all your marketing efforts. We’ll talk about what makes a strong brand, the essential elements of branding, who your target audiences are, and how best to reach them with your brand. The workshop will share several low-expense tools you can easily use…
Find out more »CISA Winter Workshop: Three Pillars of Digital Marketing
Location: Bueno Social Studio @ Greenspace Cowork, 289 Main St. 3rd Floor (Above Hawks and Reed)/ Greenfield This workshop will outline what we consider to the be three very important "channels" when connecting with your customer base online. We will cover the importance of each channel (Website, Social Media and Email marketing) brand consistency, engagement with current and potential customers, workflows, and automation (i.e how to market effectively with little time, budget and experience). Each participant will leave the…
Find out more »CISA Winter Workshop: Profitable Meat Marketing
Location: Click Workspace, 9 and 1/2 Market St., Northampton You are selling local meat—but are you making money? Join Cornell Cooperative Extension Agriculture Marketing Specialist Matt LeRoux to find out if you are covering all your meat marketing costs—including your TIME—and bringing in a profit. In the workshop, you will learn how to develop your farm’s marketing strategy and how to set specific marketing objectives to make your job easier. In addition to marketing tips, you’ll learn about Cornell Cooperative…
Find out more »March 2019
CISA Winter Workshop: Value Added Marketing – What to Expect When Scaling Up
Location: CISA Office, 1 Sugarloaf Street, South Deerfield, MA For farmers who produce packaged products currently or are looking towards the future of selling in larger retail stores, through regional distributors or other larger markets. From honey to salsa, from grass-fed meat and dairy to salad greens, what are the benefits and detriments one should know about bigger companies and what to do if you are approached by an investor? Plus, what are the current industry marketing trends that have…
Find out more »CISA Winter Workshop: Reaching the End Consumer
Location: The Food Bank of Western MA, 97 North Hatfield Road, Hatfield As a wholesale farmer and value added producer, it's a challenge to know your customer and what they want because often, we don't get a chance to speak directly with the end consumer. Buyers, distributors, and brokers play a crucial role as intermediaries - knowing what the customer wants and from which producer to supply those products. We invited three people who work in this industry to sit on…
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