POMEROY, Ohio – Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Center for Cooperatives hopes to help southeast  Ohio food and farm entrepreneurs grow their sales by learning more about the “Marketing Mix.”

Food and Farm Marketing Basics will be 3-6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Meigs County Fairgrounds, 41850 Fairgrounds Road in Pomeroy.

The free three-hour workshop focuses on product, price, place, and promotion, which is referred to as the “Marketing Mix.”

Local farm producers learn to improve marketing skills, better connect with customers, price their products, identify their target customers, what to do with this information, and ensure their brand effectively represents their business.

“The program is geared for local food producers that directly market their products to farm markets, farmers markets, roadside stands, or farm to school,” said Christie Welch, CFAES direct food and agricultural marketing specialist. “I mean, when we talk about direct marketing we have a pretty broad definition.”

Meigs County is hosting the event for the first time. Prior sessions were held in Ross, Fairfield and Highland counties. A virtual session occurred during COVID.

“This year we’re excited to be in Meigs County,” Hannah Scott, program director at the Center for Cooperatives, said. Scott explained why the workshops are in Ohio’s Appalachian counties. “I’m the program director for the team based at OSU’s South Centers in Piketon, which is in the Appalachian region and that’s part of our mission,” she said.

“Our goal is to work with local partners with similar audiences to reach the local community,” Scott said. “However, workshop attendance isn’t limited to the county. We sometimes see people from outside the county where we’re hosting it just because of the content.”

The Food and Farm Marketing Basics Workshop is presented by the Center for Cooperatives in partnership with Ohio State Extension’s Direct Food and Agricultural Marketing team and OSU South Centers Small Business Development Center in Piketon.

The Direct Food and Agricultural Marketing Team consists of a diverse group of educators and other service providers to Ohio’s farmers. Collaborative programming works to help farmers increase their bottom line.

Attendees are asked to pre-register to manage the size and make sure presenters are prepared for a specific number of people. “We shoot for around 20 attendees,” Welch said. “We like to keep, the group fairly small so that we can get really in-depth with individual producers. So, when they leave, they have a plan they can put into action to grow their business.”

Scott added, “Generally speaking, 20 participants is an interactive group because one of the priorities we have with this program is to make it interactive – we want it to be hands-on.”

This year’s topics are Pricing Products for Profit, Evaluating Market Channels for Products, Identifying Target Customers, and Effective and Consistent Branding.

Presenters include representatives from the Center for Cooperatives, the Direct Food and Agricultural Marketing Team, and OSU South Centers Small Business Development Center.

“The last couple of times we’ve done it, the presenters were me, Hannah Scott. and Melanie Sherman, who is one of our counselors with the Small Business Development Center – and that’s the plan for this upcoming one,” Welch said.

A wide range of producers attended prior workshops. “We’ve had people that do coffee, honey, proteins, beef, pork, poultry, and a lot of value-added items like jams, jellies, and sauces,” Welch said. “Then, of course, the producers of fruits and vegetables as well.”

Initially, the workshop was called Foodpreneur School, which confused attendees.

“We had one guy say, ‘I didn’t have any idea what I was signing up for, but it was great,’” Welch said. “So, we figured if he didn’t understand the name we better change it because there would probably be other people like that too.”

Additional feedback from past attendees pointed to a session on setting and attaining goals was popular. “The gentleman that said, ‘I didn’t know what you meant by Foodpreneur,’ told us it was fabulous training,” Welch said. “I know that it moved their business forward.”

When participants walk out of the workshop, they will have some substantive strategies they can implement to improve sales. “I would not say that they come out with a complete marketing plan, but at least they have some next steps to help make some of those connections with those customers,” Welch said. “And then, of course, we offer follow-up assistance.”