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  • From: "jay gee" <JayGee AT jghelp.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Marketing
  • Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:31:05 -0800 (PST)

((My apologies to the List. I thought I had originally mailed this out
to the entire group, but find I did not.) Paul has already responded.

Paul and others,

I don't know about Steve's workshops, but I do know that
public relations (PR) and advertising firms are not primarily
marketing companies, except when trying to sell their own
services.

The process of marketing is a little broader than what
Steve described in that it not only involves long term
strategies, it also involves short term strategies, including
day to day selling and advertising.

Marketing involves oversight and planning of all the
channels used in the distribution of a product or a
service by a seller. It includes both the strategic and
tactical practices required in producing and selling the
product, including such disparate functions as cost
accounting and inventory control, as well as advertising
and communications (PR), market research and a whole
host of others.

This description may seem excessive to you if you
want to believe you are "out gunned" by Madison
Avenue. You may be both out gunned and out spent
by bigger firms able to mount multi-million dollar ad
campaigns, BUT ...

if you adopt the practices of Madison Avenue and
bend them to your needs and will, they pay off in
bigger ways that you might imagine.

You should respect them because they work.

You should study them because they work.

AND, try to emulate them as is appropriate for
what you are doing.

Have a good day.

Jay Gee
not a farmer but interested in farming




On Wed, 09 Feb 2005 22:13:50 -0700, Tradingpost wrote:

> You teach workshops for an industry that doesn't exist? And what do you
> call all the public relations and ad firms in this country, that do a
> 3-billion dollar business, if there is no marketing industry? And do we
> really need to be told that marketing is a necessary part of food selling?
> You admit that despite all your research it still came down to luck. So
> much for fancy workshops ---
>
> -paul tradingpost AT gilanet.com
> http://largocreekfarms.com
> http://medicinehill.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
> On 2/9/2005 at 8:22 PM Steven Rogers wrote:
>
> >There is no "marketing industry". Marketing is a busines function
> >that every business does no matter what size. Often, people are
> >marketing when they don't even know it. When you make the decision
> >to sell your goods at a farmer's market or a farm stand etc you have just
> >made a marketing decision.
> >I have taught several workshops on marketing, and it always scares me
> >to see how many people don't even know what marketing is. Marketing
> >is not loading your harvest into your vehicle and setting up a stand at
> >the market. That is selling an merchandising, not marketing.
> >Marketing is a long term strategic business activity. Sales is a
> day-to-day
> >operational activity. You can't have sales without doing some marketing
> >even if you are unaware that marketing is what you are doing. You can have
> >marketing and not generate any sales. Marketing defines your market where
> >the
> >sales activity will take place. My market is a very tightly defined niche
> >market:
> >I sell only to fine dining restaurants in the downtown Portland area who
> >will buy on
> >average more than $200/week from me. Someone else's market may be much
> >broader: 10 farmer's markets in the greater Metro area, produce markets,
> >restaurants
> >and internet sales of select items. Your price points and margins are
> >determined
> >by marketing. Your product selection is determined by marketing. I
> >performed
> >a one year long marketing study before starting my business. It consisted
> >of,
> >among other things, Checking prices monthlty on a variety of produce items
> >to track pricing trends, interviewing produce managers, farmers,consumers,
> >anyone who would talk to me. Then I ran the numbers, built some proformas
> >and went for it. The numbers were conservative and it looked marginal at
> >best
> >but I caught some luck and the sales came in.
> >
> >
> >Steven Rogers
> >singingpigfarm AT earthlink.net
> >EarthLink Revolves Around You.






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