Part 3 Developing a Marketing Plan

Overview

This section is designed to help producers use targeted marketing, relationship marketing, and digital marketing knowledge to create strategies to promote their product to buyers. It will help them determine how to spend their marketing dollars. They will create a plan that can be put into action. Plan for approximately 2–3 hours for this session. The producers should work through pages 9–14 in Developing a Marketing Plan and use the supplemental guide Growing Your Brand: Marketing Tools for Mississippi Agritourism and Local Foods to answer technical questions about developing their plan. Producers should also read Social Media Is Free and Other Advertising Myths by Karen Stanley.

It is recommended that the Extension agent consider scheduling time for the producers who complete the marketing plan to attend an interactive session on digital marketing. Laptops and Internet access should be provided for this session. This would allow the producers to apply any of the more technical marketing strategies, if needed. Some producers have difficulty, even after instruction, feeling confident in setting up their own social media or digital marketing accounts. It is also recommended that the producer spend time with a graphic designer for logo development and website color selection before creating an online presence.

Part 3: Extension Agent Guide
Objectives	Participants will learn about the importance of digital marketing and relationship marketing. Participants will understand the various ways to use technology to market their products. Participants will identify a technology strategy to market their products. Participants will understand relationship marketing and identify two relationships they can build to strengthen their business.
Potential outcomes	Participants will choose a technology marketing strategy and implement this strategy to market their product. Participants will create a plan to use relationship building to promote their business. Participants will use the information learned in the workshop to create a marketing plan for their business. Participants will use the marketing plan guide to set goals for marketing their business. Participants will implement their marketing plan strategies to reach their marketing goals.
Activity	Participants should complete pages 9–14 in the Developing a Marketing Plan Workbook. Participants should use the “Building Partnerships” worksheet to identify relationship marketing strategies. During this section, producers should complete any remaining worksheets, including the worksheet on page 14. At the end of the workshop, each producer should present their marketing plan to the group using the guide on workbook page 14. It is recommended that producers create PowerPoint presentations of their marketing plans and use this as an opportunity to share ideas and get feedback from the group. The presentations should be limited to 5 minutes each. It would be appropriate to invite a marketing specialist to view the presentation in person or via distance education to offer ideas to the producers.
Summary	Part 3 is designed to allow producers to apply what they have learned in the workshop to make marketing decisions about their businesses. Part 3 should be very interactive and allow producers time to work on their plans. The presentation at the end is intended to allow producers to become comfortable with their marketing plan and to gain feedback on their ideas.