Consumer-Driven Marketing

Consumer-Driven Marketing

Summary

Designing and implementing a program that is dependent on participant-driven decision making has its challenges. Using a process where the advisory and planning committee shapes the way the program is conducted in no way diminishes the quality of the program, but it has definitely evolved into a more demanding and less tidy approach to program development. This process has caused the timetable to be retarded; some of the activities are occurring simultaneously rather than in the order that was originally stated in the proposal. This process has made the program more local in terms of expert participation.

This second annual report includes the actual professional development training and the formation of the Consumer Driven Marketing website.
The second year in this process of training Extension professionals and agricultural leaders to change their natural inclination to concentrate on production issues and mainstream marketing rather than offer their clientele an alternative that focuses on shortening the link between the consumer and the producer has proven successful. We conducted a workshop in April where many successful consumer driven marketers shared their philosophies and histories. The training also allowed for representatives of many of the alliance and supporting businesses and governmental agencies to offer their advice and explain the regulations from their company or agency.
The web page process has followed along the workshop very slowly- reluctantly at times. Many hours and much effort has been invested in forming the web page into a tool that can be useful for many people rather than a repository or archive of many links that may or may not be useful. The plan is to allow a web page user to open the work site and be led through the process of developing a dream into a new enterprise or marketing avenue. This process has proved to more challenging than first planned for. Taking the team to a place where the web presence achieves the goals of this grant has not been completed. The team member’s individual perceptions of this instrument have not aligned with the description from the grant proposal we are working from. The balance of the grant activity from here on will be to finalize the web site and conduct the fieldtrip aspects of the training.
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Objectives/Performance Targets

Of the 70 professionals enrolled in the training, 20 will begin advising and directing farmers and businesspeople who want to make the transition to a consumer-driven enterprise. Twenty members will joing a standing committee to manage the flow of ideas and retrieve and share information abour consumer-driven enterprises. Thirty will know where to refer questions and where to direct people needing help; the balance will learn to refer questions to the task force or the web site.

2. Eight farmers or communities will actually use the information presented by the faculty and the web site to start transitioning from being a commodity producer into consumer-driven one.

3. Three hundred producers who are currently in a commodity environment will visit the web site annually for consumer-driven production and marketing information.

This professional development grant will fund a three-day workshop and a subsequent three-day field trip that will prepare 50 agricultual professionals, 10 farmer leaders, and 10 agricultural science students to teach their neighbors and consitutents how to establish and maintain a consumer-driven production and marketing system.

The goal of the training is to enhance the sustainability of small farmers and their communities by increasing the profitability of their farms and developing locally controlled and financed value adding and ditributing allied businesses. Also, while integrating a consumer sensitive mentality to the production environment, this activity will teach producers how to first envision marketing directly to a consumer and then to take that initial planning step and, ultimately, expand an agricultural production operation into an agricultural business that produces and markets food and fiber in a consumer-driven environment.

Those attending learned about the present potential for marketing agricultural production to the final consumer. The training allowed those participating to learn about the business and planning side of several successful operations and hear about and see many successful production and marketing communities. Sessions included: small business planning, borrowing money, successful community-farmer synergies, laws specific to value-added agricultural enterprises, and specific training for processing agricultural products. Finally, input was received on what information will be helpful to add to the website.

Performance Targets etc:
Target 1) of the seventy professionals enrolling in the training 20 will learn enough to feel comfortable advising and directing farmers and businessmen and women and who want to make the transition to a consumer driven enterprise. Twenty members will become members of a standing committee that can manage the flow of ideas and will retrieve and share new information about consumer driven enterprises. Thirty will be sufficiently sensitized to the topic to know where to refer questions and where to direct people needing help.

Initial exit surveys with the professionals who attended the workshop 84% said they had a better understanding of a consumer driven market strategy. Most of the respondents had no experience or training in this field. Eighty eight percent of the respondents agreed that this conference better prepared them to support a potential consumer driven marketer. When ask if the respondents were more apt to suggest a consumer driven alternative to their clients 21 of the 26 said yes they would. (23 really; as two felt they already incorporated CDM in their work.) The initial exit survey is attached. Another survey is scheduled for this month (one year since the training). The informal response to questions like this is encouraging.

Target 2) eight farmers or communities in the first year will actually use the information presented by the newly trained faculty and recently created website to start the transition from being a commodity producer into a consumer sensitive production and marketing endeavor.
Our website is not completed and we don’t feel we can judge our success with this target.

Target 3) three hundred producers who are currently producing in a commodity environment will visit the web site annually for the consumer driven production and marketing information
We have scheduled our task force again for the “last” web workshop till it is posted and available for use by the general public and our professional cadre.
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Accomplishments/Milestones

I thoroughly researched the list of potential planning committee members as to experience and my perceived estimate of their understanding of consumer-driven marketing and production. The mix of educators, lenders, development professionals, and farmers who have already adopted a consumer-driven mentality has proved most beneficial.

A list of names and a short biography of the members of the committee has been submitted to Northeast SARE as attachment 1. One challenge has been to try to mold this knowledge and enthusiasm into a program that actually takes shape and then can be maintain.

One of the goals of this conference and one piece of the program is the introduction of the web site. I feel that time spent evaluating the web site will help assure its use and effectiveness in the future.

The workshop was held April 14, 15, and 16, 2003. Each attendee receives the same message from start to finish. One exception includes the bureaucrats who were invited to the conference; they were offered a special half-day mini-conference that helped them learn about West Virginia family farms and how our commodities can be value-added to fill a niche with the regional consumer.

Special planning has been directed toward participation. We strategically scheduled the conference near an annual event that is attended by nearly all the extension staff which should help us attain our attendance goal of 85% of the agriculture agents.

The committee members are convinced this program is important and will make a difference. Many have remarked that they wish they had had this type of help when they started to make a change in their operations.

Work has been done to assure proper maintenance of the web site in the future because the committee is convinced that this expertise can’t be limited just to the group that attended the conference. The Center for Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Community Development will host the web page and monitor the usage.

Accomplishments and Milestones:

Milestone 1) we have selected our planning committee with core attendees.

Milestone 2) we did conduct our CDM workshop in April of 2003. The attendance list and program is attached.

Milestone 3) we have selected our 20 member task force and they are helping direct the rest of the program.

Milestone 4) we have had quarterly task force meetings. This is where some of the delay arises. The task force is going to make these decisions then they have to have time to work and decide. There have been seven extra meetings with this group and we are still agreeing on the final version of the web site.

Milestone 5) we have identified 3 individual farmers who have through this contact and training requested more training and have now started a more direct relationship with their consumers. They have also been able to direct them to other training that has helped them

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Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

This project has allowed us to “claim” a presence in West Virginia’s consumer driven marketing arena. Many workshops and field day programs emphasize this concept and ask for our input. Full outcomes will be reported at the project’s completion.

Collaborators: