EVENTS, ENGAGEMENT,
AND MARKETING
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NCFMN National Farmers Market Week Planning Toolkit
Need some ideas for planning the best National Farmers Market Week ever? Check out our updated toolkit for resources, links, and more.
NCFMN Tools & Tangibles: Event Planning
This brief guide from NCFMN provides a basic outline for event planning, including steps for post-event evaluation and communication. It also has a collection of links to other helpful event-planning resources. 2024.
NCFMN Tools & Tangibles: Sharing the Impact
This brief guide from NCFMN supplies market managers with information about hosting local and state leaders at markets. It has guidance about timing, logistics, talking points, and follow up. 2024.
Farmers Market Special Event Ideas
This document from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) provides tons of ideas for market events, including getting local groups involved to ensure high attendance, celebrating national days/weeks/months (ex: Talk Like a Pirate Day in September), celebrating a specific crop, and other fun ideas. 2010.
These fantastic toolkits from the Tennessee Association of Farmers Markets lay out all of the information you would need to host a special event about a specific crop. Toolkits include a checklist and timeline, promotional calendar, press kit, suggested activities, and information about collecting data and promotional graphics. 2022.
PODCAST: Managing Weekly Markets vs. Planning Annual Events
This episode of the Tent Talk podcast discusses the differences between weekly markets and special annual events and provides insight for managers who are interested in planning more special events. 2023.
Sample Special Events Checklist
This sample checklist from the Farmers Market Federation of NY can help keep track of all the moving parts involved in event planning. 2024.
Nonprofit Event Planning: A 12-Step Guide to Success
This event planning guide from Neon One is a comprehensive walkthrough of all of the steps needed to plan a successful event, from setting goals to marketing to post-event follow-up. 2023.
Post-Event Survey Questions to Ask Attendees
After a special event, or even your regular weekly market, the questions listed in this article from Eventbrite will help you collect important data for planning and improving future market ideas. 2023.
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Tools & Tangibles: Kids’ Activities
Our Tools and Tangibles sheet is a quick reference guide to planning and hosting a kid focused activity at you market. It includes general guidelines and refence links for more detailed information.
Community Engagement 101: Ultimate Beginner's Guide
This in-depth resource from Visible Network Labs explores community engagement, providing market managers with a strong foundation and actionable information to increase engagement in their markets. 2023.
Area Agencies on Aging Locator
This tool from the Administration for Community Living can help you find your local Area Agency on Aging (AAA), which can be a great resource for reaching out to seniors and older adults who might be interested in visiting or volunteering at your market. No date.
Sample Farmer's Market Scavenger Hunt
This resource from the University of New Hampshire Extension program is a fun way to get kids involved at the market. 2017.
VIDEO: How to Do a Cooking Demo
This short video from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project walks market managers through hosting a cooking demo at their market. 2022.
VIDEO: Farmers Markets for Kids: Workshop Overview and Tips
From the NYC Department of Health, this video demonstrates ways that market managers can engage with children through educational cooking demos. 2019.
This tool will help you find your local Girl Scout troop. Many of these troops have badges and patches that can be fulfilled at a farmers market, thereby increasing your community outreach and engagement. 2024.
This tool will help you find your local Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts of America) troop. Many of these troops have merit badges that can be fulfilled at a farmers market, thereby increasing your community outreach and engagement. 2024.
Quick Tips: Attracting EBT & WIC Customers
This infosheet from the Community Farm Alliance provides market managers with six ways to increase engagement from SNAP/EBT and WIC customers at the market. 2020.
This program from the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and NC State Extension encourages NC residents to spend at least 10% of their food budget on NC grown and caught food.
Article: U.S. farmers market attendance and experiences
This article was published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food System and Community Development It provides additional context and analysis for those who want to explore the topic further.
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NCFMN Tools & Tangibles: Marketing & Promotion
This brief guide provides tons of resources for market managers looking for marketing and promotion toolkits and skill building. 2024.
Marketing Basics by Hannah Fuller
Hannah prepared this marketing video especially for NCFMN with farmers markets and managers in mind.
Graphic Design for Non-Designers Guide
From the Farmers Market Coalition, this guide explains how to create visually appealing signs, flyers, and social media marketing materials without any prior design experience. 2021.
In this guide, Content Kitchen provides readers with basic photography tips that will make even amateur photographers’ pictures stand out on social media. 2018.
From the Oregon Farmer’s Market Association, this guide walks market managers through writing press releases and distributing them to media outlets to increase media exposure for the market. No date.
This guide from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is an excellent crash course for market managers to learn more about marketing and promoting their markets. The guide includes tips for social media, email, direct mail, and paid advertising marketing techniques, as well as ideas for events and activities to increase engagement. 2021.
WEBINAR: Getting Started on Facebook and Instagram
This webinar from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project walks farmers and market managers through the process of setting up business accounts on Instagram and Facebook to increase their marketing reach. 2020.
WEBINAR: Engaging and Building Your Audience on Social Media
This video expands on the information laid out in the above webinar by informing farmers and market managers about how to maximize their reach through different engagement strategies and social media management techniques. 2020.
SLIDES: Marketing Your Farmer's Market
This slide deck from multimedia strategist Emily Wagner provides important information about the importance of online marketing, with insights into search engine marketing and optimization strategies, creating engaging content, and utilizing paid marketing. 2024.
Social Media Post Schedule Guide
This brief guide from the InTents Farmers Market Conference provides managers with a sample social media posting schedule to maximize engagement and market attendance. 2024.
Marketing & Community Outreach for Nutrition Incentive Programs
This webpage from the Nutrition Incentive Hub provides market managers with ideas and marketing assistance for nutrition incentive programs. No date.
Engaging and Expanding Farmers Market Audiences Through a Data-Driven Process
This is a guide to help farmers market operators think about marketing strategies and highlights insights from the national survey. It offers guidance on creating social media ads, including social media study results and sample ads.
Fact Sheet Template for Market Partners
This document is a template for a fact sheet that a market operator could adapt for their own needs when approaching local governments or business associations about the value of markets. It highlights the positive impacts of farmers markets using national survey data.
Empowering Your Community’s Farmers Markets: Data-Driven Marketing Insights
This is a webinar (approximately 1 hour long) hosted by Extension's Community, Local and Regional Food Systems National Cooperative Extension Project Team.