marketshare

How can we help your market?

We believe time and resources should be devoted to providing hands-on teaching to other nongovernmental organizations and community leaders eager to follow our example. We are committed to sharing our knowledge. After all, we stand on the shoulders of others who came before us. While in our experiments we make mistakes, we also learn from them; and share these lessons with others directly and through a series of tools we have developed.

market operations

It’s not easy to keep everyone happy. From competing vendors to shoppers with high expectations, or from regulatory agencies to nearby businesses, the job of the market manager is harder than it looks. However, with clear governance, boundless energy, and a balanced approach to managing competing interests, successful markets are possible. We hope you find these tools helpful with core market operations.

market communications

We know that public markets are good for everyone. And yet, do others understand how we add value to life in communities and between communities? Our communication tools are meant to assist you in your strategies to tell your story.

market evaluations

Are you comparing apples with oranges? As important as it may be to do good work, resources must also be devoted to capturing the work as well. We too struggle with how best to value the quantity and quality of transactions at public markets. Do they add up? Are you measuring your market? Moreover, are we so different from the rest of the world that we need different tools to evaluate our work? We’ve given this a great deal of thought and have taken the best from the wider worlds of evaluation and boiled them down to match the scale and needs of public markets. We encourage you to set up a Market Portfolio, take a Market Portrait, and utilize measurement tools like our economic impact measurement tool SEED to show your investors return on their investments.

market innovations

Where as the financial transactions between buyer and seller may provide the basis for the market’s existence, we have also learned that many other transactions not only enhance the experience but also place these tent and umbrella town squares on firmer footing. Please peruse an array of tools designed to help you grow stronger ties with neighbors, targeted demographics like kids and seniors, and bring the social relations that make these ancient institutions especially relevant in a world crying out for intimacy and trust.

Marketshare

We share via direct, on-demand requests as best as we can: via telephone, email, or in person. Our staff often addresses national conferences, facilitates planning meetings, and consults several public policy and philanthropic initiatives at both regional and national levels. As practitioners, we continue to build the road as we travel, learn, and refine our efforts. As informal educators, we do our best to plug in our talents where it’s most effective — workshops, direct technical assistance, and so forth. Contact us if you think we can help your market.

A Question:

Do you feel like no one out there understands what you are going through? Well, if it has something to do with markets, we probably do!

A Workshop:

We offer a signature workshop to help fine-tune farmers markets’ mission, management, marketing and measurement. In reference to these four M’s, we name it the 4M Workshop

A Meeting:

Always concious of our carbon-footprint, we do travel to other markets when appropriate. At times, seeing is believing, and we like to see what you are doing out there at your markets. You can learn from us and we can learn from you!

Feedback:

"I can't thank you enough for all the energy and enthusiasm you brought to Kansas! The information and inspiration you shared with our new and longtime markets will have an impact for years to come. I believe that you were especially beneficial in helping each of us take a look at where we are now and better understand where we want to be and what we'll need to think about doing on the road to getting there." - anonymous comment from the Kansas Farmers Market Conference

Resources

manuals and primers:

To address capacity building and problem solving for your public market, we have developed primers and manuals. Originally developed as hard copies for sale, they are now available digitally at no cost.

shares:

To share the best of "lessons learned" from public markets everywhere. Download and employ these shares as needed, and please feel free to tell us about your results, so that we can share those with other markets. 

fieldnotes:

To share early findings and raw data with the field of public markets and initial findings that may lead to a greenpaper or share. We hope they serve as discussion starters and invite feedback and recommendations.

greenpapers:

To address the public policy challenges that markets face or that markets create, we publish occasional position papers, we call greenpapers. They too are available on line and ready to download.

SEED:

To measure the fabulously chaotic work of public markets and their impact upon local economies, we have developed an on-line economic impact measurement tool called SEED: Sticky Economy Evaluation Device. Employing sound, conservative methodology, SEED provides you with the ammunition to project your market’s impact in business retail-friendly terms.