Marketing Local Food: Notes from the Picnic Table
The Greater Franklin Food Industry Marketing Meetup at the beautiful Morrison Hill Apple Orchard was a fruitful conversation among farmers, graphic designers, restaurant owners, marketing professionals, coffee slingers, writers, store managers, tree tappers, and aspiring entrepreneurs. With sweeping mountain views, delicious wood-fired pizza and cider, comfortable spaces indoors and outdoors, Morrison Hill is a fantastic event venue.
After some eating, drinking and greeting, we kicked off the conversation with 2-Minute talks from our panel. Many offered practical tips, like Farmer Sam who created this amazing resource: Storytelling to Grow Your Farm or Food Business. All sparked interesting discussions.
I scribbled out messy notes to share highlights. However, the purpose of these meetups is the same reason it is so difficult to write about them: IRL is where it’s at!
Conclusion: the most enjoyable, effective way to grow our local economy is to bring people together in person, support each other, and inspire each other.
Join us for the Outdoor Recreation Marketing Meetup
Monday, October 5 from 4-6pm at Titcomb Mountain
OVERHEARD at the FOOD MARKETING MEETUP
Any errors are mine (please send corrections to steph@greaterfranklin.org .)
Erica Emery — Greater Franklin Food Council, Rustic Roots Farm & Root Down Market
“Who spent today in a field? in a kitchen? behind a register? Thank you for coming today. We know it’s not easy to carve the time.” – said by the person who was in a field, in a kitchen, and behind a register.
“Host other people’s events even if you don’t like what they’re doing. We have a Paint Night at Root Down and I hate art.”
Kevin Mitchell — Mitchell Marketing
Events are marketing. They get people out, bring people together and create connections. Show up! Like we all did tonight.
Steph Dunn — Greater Franklin Economic & Community Development & Hidden Maine
Google Maps. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Add photos and updates. Keep your hours current. Respond to every review. And support your favorite local places with 5 star reviews.
The conversation turned to the inevitable question: What about negative reviews? Respond to those too. Be light-hearted. Be human.
Janet Peruffo of CSM Real Estate gave us the perfect example. When someone complained about the co-owner of her company, aka her husband in a review, she asked if she should respond: “I know he can be annoying. I’m married to him.” Yes! Paula Norcott pointed out that the High Roller Lobster Co printed the full text of a 1 star review on a t-shirt. And everyone chimed in with the recent Orange Cat Cafe response to a negative review:
Michele “Bagels” Carey — Signworks
Signs still work (clearly!) Road signs. Labels. Stickers. Vehicle lettering. “Signs can be a beacon of light on a dark, windy road.” Signage, menus, passive aggressive directions on what to do with dishes, should all be consistent with your brand.
Jodi Cordes — The Sweet Life Kettle Corn Company & CEI Women’s Business Center
Use the resources that already exist. Jodi talked about grants and organizations that help small businesses.
“Unless you have about $500 a month to spend, don’t bother with Google Ads.”
When instigated Jodi talked about how schools, teams, and organizations use Sweet Life Kettle Corn for fundraising, netting $5 per bag of popcorn. The corn is popped by local high school students.
Polly MacMichael — Rolling Fatties
Support the people who support you. The return on your investment when you source local food for your restaurant is huge. Farmers aren’t simply vendors. They’re also customers and neighbors. The Sysco rep will not be bringing their family in for dinner.
Polly also talked about the challenge of local food distribution. She pointed to Kingfield’s Mainely Provisions, as a small grocery store helping get locally grown food out to local shops and restaurants.
And we all looked at Amber Stone of the Farmington Food Co-op — growing quickly as a local food hub! Greater Franklin has directly invested in the food co-op through the Community Investment Fund. See the story.
My favorite advice of the night came from Amber: “Get out of town.” We are the diplomats of Franklin County. Get out there, do cool stuff, talk about our beautiful backyard and thriving community. See what other communities are doing, find out what they think of our area.
Joel Gilbert — Greater Franklin Economic & Community Development & Berry Fruit Farm
Trust is crucial. Do what you say you’re going to do. (Joel gives great relationship advice in addition to business advice!)
Where is your business now? Where do you want it to be?
(Since Joel now works for Greater Franklin, I got a post-event quote from him.)
“The food industry is a unique blend of challenge and reward. The Food Marketing Meetups provide an important opportunity for local businesses to connect, collaborate, and learn from one another. Through shared marketing knowledge and relationship-building, these events are increasing awareness of Greater Franklin County’s exceptional food producers while fostering a supportive network that benefits both businesses and consumers alike.”
Paula Norcott — Maine Mother + Company
“Breastmilk is food!”
You grow your business through connection. Use your face. Tell people who you are and why you’re doing this. Let them see the person behind the product.
Samantha Burns — Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Of course Sam is resourceful. She’s a farmer. and a writer, a podcaster, a mother, a conservationist… anyway, here’s her super helpful: Storytelling to Grow Your Farm or Food Business
Her three rules:
Authenticity. Transparency. Consistency.
“Write what happened, not what sells.”
“Show the mess.” (this is my M.O.)
Sam writes about farming, food and conservation at Runamuk Acres and on her Substack, and hosts the Talking Dirt podcast. Contact her to be on the podcast!
Nicole Martelli Porter — Monomoy Social Media
Focus on community. (Nicole practices what she preaches, one of my favorite things about her! That and she’s a marketing meetup regular.)
Social media is supposed to be social. Think beyond creating content: participate, comment, share, answer people and join conversations. The algorithm sees your activity. Facebook Groups are a great place to talk with your community.
Whitney Morell — Marmee Dearest Espresso
Support each other, lift each other… Whitney thanked the other business owners who have supported her, and encouraged more. The reality is everyone in Kingfield, Maine owes Whitney a great big thank you for creating a welcoming space in the center of town where the conversation continued the next morning.
The Next Morning
A few of us gathered the next morning, planning an out of town business retreat, per Amber’s suggestion, brainstorming guerilla marketing tactics and systems for local food distribution. Then Mainely Provisions came through the door with a delivery.
At some point during every Marketing Meetup, we decide we should start a Facebook group. Then over coffee the next morning we remember that the whole point of marketing meetups is real life human connection. This is how we grow our businesses and our communities.