Taste the Local Difference Local Food Marketing

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Taste the Local Difference Local Food Marketing

Taste the Local Difference® is a local food marketing agency specializing in effective strategies for agriculture, food, and beverage producers.

02/04/2026

Ever been asked for a media kit… and realized you didn’t have one? That’s exactly the moment that sparked this conversation.

Our Director of Impact, Erika Tebbens, recently joined the Mydigitalfarmer podcast to talk about one of the most overlooked tools in farm marketing: A media kit.

In Episode 346, Erika breaks down:
• What a media kit actually is
• Why it’s not the same as your website
• When you should create one
• How it opens doors to media, grants, partnerships, and wholesale opportunities

If you're growing your farm or food business this year, this episode is worth a listen.

🎧 Listen on the My Digital Farmer website: https://www.mydigitalfarmer.com/podcast

Bonus: There’s a free media kit checklist + template mentioned in the episode to help you get started. Proud of our team and the work they’re doing to support purpose-driven farms. 🧡🌱

01/27/2026

Thinking about selling online but not sure where to start?

From reserving hog shares to streamlining wholesale orders, these local food businesses made the jump to eCommerce and saw real results. With the right tools and clear messaging, selling online can actually save time and grow year-round sales.

Read the success stories + lessons learned: https://www.localfoodmarketing.com/marketing-reads/the-jump-to-ecommerce-success-stories-from-other-local-food-businesses

12/29/2025

Upcoming webinar! Understanding & Applying for the Value Added Producer Grant

Farmers and ranchers who are hoping to expand their businesses with value-added products should join Erika Tebbens, Director of Impact at Taste the Local Difference, and Stephen Ussery, Founder and Lead Consultant of Stewards Unlimited, on January 21 to learn about:

1. What the Value Added Producer Grant is and how it can support your growth.
2. How to increase your chances of being awarded and how to prepare to apply.
3. Why the VAPG is great for funding large marketing projects and ongoing marketing support.

Register here: https://bit.ly/4pOgJpO

12/11/2025

Curious how to make your website easier for customers to find, but not sure where to start?

Join us for this beginner-friendly webinar where we will break down the basics of SEO in simple, approachable terms so you can confidently take your first steps toward greater online visibility.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5PIav9VkR4qtYWygrVNKfA #/registration

Can’t make it? The webinar will be posted on our YouTube channel along with tons of other great marketing resources for farms and food businesses.

11/19/2025

"Working with TLD has been simply amazing for us and our business. Everyone we worked with was professional, kind, knowledgeable, and took the time to understand the unique aspects of our business. We are absolutely blown away by our logo and website design, and can already feel it making changes in our business."

Carla Nordlund, Jackstone Creek Farmstead

We loved working with Jackstone Creek Farmstead in partnership with Abundant Montana to boost their brand and online presence with an updated logo, new website, and email template! Jackstone Creek Farmstead raises Meishan pigs, a heritage breed that produces delicious micromarbled red-meat pork. The farm follows organic practices and is currently working towards organic certification, a process that takes about three years to achieve. They're a living example that small can be sustainable, local foodsheds can strengthen communities, and ethical care of land and animals is not just possible, but profitable.

Learn more about Jackstone Creek Farmstead on their new website: https://www.jackstonecreekfarmstead.com/

11/17/2025

Another fun and brilliant Sarah Rypma Photography LLC photoshoot in the books!

Although we typically ask Sarah to visit farms and food businesses across Michigan, this time we asked her to join us for our annual team gathering retreat at Journeyman Distillery while we dreamed of how to support local food business owners in 2026 - businesses like Precision Syrups who graciously joined us to showcase some of their new flavors.

We often advise the farmers and food business owners we meet to schedule a professional photoshoot to showcase the people, place, and ingredients behind their product - and that's what we aimed to do with this shoot. While "marketing" can be a hard thing to represent in photos, Sarah captured the fun we have with our clients and each other.

If you're looking for a professional shoot for your farm or food business - get in touch! We'd love to work with you to make that happen in a place near you.

11/04/2025

Is social not really your thing? Or rather, not your community's thing? We get it.

Local food marketing isn't JUST about social media marketing. There are so many ways to market offline and online without ever opening the apps.

We'll be discussing this in our upcoming webinar, 'How to Market Your Business Without Social Media' on November 18, 1pm EST.

Want to join us? Register here: https://bit.ly/47VqbB8

10/30/2025

Join us next Thursday! Erika will be speaking virtually on Day 1 about Marketing Essentials for Scaling Your Food Business.

This free, 2-day event is designed for early to small-scale farmers and food business owners ready to scale responsibly and sustainably and hosted by Chicago Food Policy Action Council

Register here: https://registration.socio.events/e/2025suppliersummit

10/23/2025

We had the opportunity to create a one-page website .dairy in Lebanon, Oregon.

Grassward Dairy provides delicious, high-quality farmstead milk, cream, and yogurt, produced with the highest standards for the animals, land, and craft.

They work with Old World breed cows raised in a management-intensive grazing system on 80 acres in Lebanon. They operate without reliance on hormones, antibiotics, confinement, or excessive grain, all of which are standard in modern dairies.

One-page websites are great for farms or food businesses that need an online presence but aren't ready or looking to add e-commerce. The great thing about a one-page website is that you can add more pages, e-commerce, and other features as they're needed.

Check out localfoodmarketing.com for deets!

10/03/2025

Behind every bite of local food are the hands of farmworkers. From planting to harvesting, packing, and selling, their work makes our food system possible.

We had the opportunity to speak with Anita Adalja, Founder of Not Our Farm
- a nonprofit uplifting farmworker voices and advocating for safer, worker-centered farming futures.

In our latest blog, Anita shares:
🌱The mission of Not Our Farm
🌱Hidden challenges farmworkers face (even on small farms)
🌱The joys that keep farmworkers returning to the fields
🌱What farm owners can do right now to improve worker experience

Read the full interview here: https://www.localdifference.org/blog/centering-farmworkers-an-interview-with-not-our-farm/

09/30/2025

We're stoked about the opportunity we had to refresh a website for SNAP to Market - a project of the Farmers Market Federation of New York, with the goal of strengthening the relationship between SNAP-users, farmers, and farmers markets.

In this new iteration, it's easy for site visitors to navigate between resources and maps to locate and find out more information about SNAP accessible markets.

Follow along at - SNAP to Market - and visit their website to find seasonality charts, cooking tips, and more: https://www.snaptomarket.com/

Address

414 E. 8th Street, Unit 201
Traverse City, MI
49686

Website

http://localfoodmarketing.com/

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