Holiday Recipes
Brent Lackey
KCARD Staff Holiday Recipes: Logan's Pumpkin ...

Take a look at some of the KCARD staff's favorite holiday recipes - such as Logan’s pumpkin roll! And don't forget to give the gift of local this holiday season.

KCARD Staff Holiday Recipes: Logan's Pumpkin Roll
Holiday Recipes
Brent Lackey
KCARD Staff Holiday Recipes: Kati's Ginger ...

Check out some favorite holiday recipes from the KCARD staff! Remember to also give the gift of local this holiday season.

KCARD Staff Holiday Recipes: Kati's Ginger Sorghum Cookies
Transition Planning, Education
Brent Lackey
Planning for the Future: A Starter Guide to ...

Farming is a risky business with significant costs, and one of the most expensive mistakes is failing to plan or oversimplifying the transition of the farm. At its core, successful transition planning boils down to clear, honest communication and planning ahead. When communicating across generations, consider addressing key issues early to build mutual understanding and ensure a smoother transition.

Planning for the Future: A Starter Guide to Farm Transition Planning
Agritourism, Marketing, Education, Business Development
Brent Lackey
How to Host Workshops on Your Farm

A well-hosted class or workshop can be one of the more profitable (and fun!) ways to engage visitors on your farm and offer agritourism opportunities. However, they can be quite labor-intensive and require lots of planning and thoughtfulness. Check out these tips to get you started!

How to Host Workshops on Your Farm
Farmers Markets, Education, KCARD Services
Brent Lackey
Q&A with Terryn Varney, Business ...

KCARD works specifically with farmers markets on a wide range of topics, including where to find funding, how to structure the market, and how to think of the farmers market as a business entity. In this post, Terryn Varney, KCARD Business Development Specialist who specializes in farmers market assistance, answers questions about how and when KCARD can help your farmers market.

Q&A with Terryn Varney, Business Development Specialist: How Does KCARD Work with Farmers Markets?

marketing strategy

Email Marketing 201: Expanding Your Reach with Email

Email Marketing 201: Expanding Your Reach with Email

Today our inboxes are flooded with email marketing campaigns, some feeling spammy, but there is no denying the impact a well-crafted message can have on your customers. Email marketing has one of the best return on investment, for every dollar spent over $40 is returned, on average. In our previous Email Marketing 101 post, we talked about what email marketing is and some quick tips to get started. In this post, we’ve put together a few tips to help you expand your knowledge in email marketing and continue to increase your return.

Marketing Series: Customer Retention

Marketing Series: Customer Retention

Consumer trends changed drastically when the coronavirus hit. You probably have customers who never thought of purchasing local until it became a necessity. While stores, restaurants, and other businesses are opening back up, many consumer trends are sticking around. Keeping those new customers around will be key for sustaining the growth your business has had the past six months. So how do you keep your new customer coming back again and again? Here are five tips to keep your customers.

Pivoting Your Marketing During Changing Times

Pivoting Your Marketing During Changing Times

If you are like many business owners, the coronavirus pandemic has turned your world upside down. Your cash flow or product availability might have changed, which means you might have to change up other pieces of your business, such as your marketing strategy. Now is not the time to cut your marketing budget or marketing efforts. Why? With so much uncertainty now, you need to reassure your customers that you are here for them and that your business isn’t going anywhere. Check out five tips to pivot your marketing during changing times.

Consumer Trends – Now and Going into Fall

Consumer Trends – Now and Going into Fall

Due to COVID, consumers are changing the way they are buying and what they are buying. While many consumers are settling into learning to live with the reality of COVID, the impact of the pandemic has left more lasting effects on the way consumers are shopping, and what is important to them. What does that mean for you? In this post, we discuss 3 major themes in consumer trends that are projected to continue into fall.

National Farmers Market Week

National Farmers Market Week

This week is National Farmers Market Week, giving us an opportunity to celebrate Kentucky’s farmers markets for boosting the local economy by supporting local producers, providing jobs, improving local nutrition, and much more. So how should you celebrate National Farmers Market Week? Simply visit your local farmers market! There are over 160 farmers markets in the state of Kentucky and over 2,700 farmers market vendors to buy from.

Social Selling – What it means to your online marketing

Social Selling – What it means to your online marketing

Chances are you are already doing some social selling if you have a Facebook business page, Instagram business page, or professional Twitter page. So, what is social selling? It is the art of using social media to find, connect with, understand, and nurture sales prospects. In short, it is the modern way to connect with current and potential customers to develop meaningful relationships. The goal with social selling is to bring value to your customer by anticipating their needs rather than just spamming them with “buy now” posts. We’ve put together some best practices to include with your social selling strategy.

Email Marketing 101: What is it? Why it’s Important to Your Business.

Email Marketing 101: What is it? Why it’s Important to Your Business.

Did you know that the average email subscriber receives about 13 commercial emails each day? How does your business break through that fog of emails to reach your customer? We’ve included a few tips below to help you get started, in addition to these marketing basics.

Targeting the “New” Home Cook

Targeting the “New” Home Cook

Fact: people are cooking and eating at home more. Those who weren’t cooking at home are now making meals several days a week for their families. Of those making meals at home, 35 to 40% of them started cooking for the first time, according to global management consultant SSA & Company. So, what does that mean for your food business? How can you educate new customers about your products so that you retain them once things get back to normal? Below are a few ideas for targeting the “new” home cook.

Expanding Your Social Media Presence

Expanding Your Social Media Presence

If you are not on social media or are not actively engaging your fans and followers, you are missing out on potential customers and interactions to build your brand. Social media is now more “social” than ever and people who are now homebound are spending more and more time on it. So how do you ramp up your activity to reach customers?

About KCARD

The Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development is a non-profit organization established to facilitate agricultural and rural businesses in Kentucky. We are supported primarily through grants provided by the USDA Rural Cooperative Development Program and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board. Additional support is provided through our work with partners around the state and through fees charged for select client services.

Contact Us

411 Ring Road
Elizabethtown, KY 42701

p: (859) 550-3972
f: (888) 319-4962

kcard@kcard.info