This tool summarizes the strategies outlined in the five step-by-step guides for the Plan, Collect, Track, Analyze, and Share phases of the farmers market evaluation process. Each section references relevant resources and includes a case study related to that particular step. Please refer to the Guides option on the Main Menu for more information on any of these topics or for complete versions of each Guide.

Guide #1: PLAN: Evaluation Planning and Metric Selection
Decide what you want to know; map a plan for collecting this information throughout the year.

Guide #2: COLLECT: Data Collection Methods and Implementation
FMC’s best practices for implementation, plus a collection of tools to help with the process. 

Guide #3: TRACK: Data Entry and Management
Integrate into your existing workflows. Note that there is a companion Excel Workbook for this unit. 

Guide #4: ANALYZE:  Data Analysis and Reporting
Reflect on  and analyze the data you have. Identify trends, and then turn your data into metrics and summary reports.

Guide #5: SHARE: Use and Communicate Results
Communicate the data you’ve collected. Offers sample messaging, templates, and best practices using selected indicators and metrics. 

1. Start with Your Mission
Does your market have a mission? A reason for existing? You might know it intrinsically, or it might be written down formally. Whether formalized or not, a clear articulation of your market’s mission will help you choose metrics, data, and action steps to get you there. 

2. Set Goals Related to Your Mission
There are two main reasons to track data as part of working toward your market’s mission. In short, data collection helps with your:

1. Start Small
As much as we love data, FMC advises markets to limit the number of metrics collected, particularly at the start. You might ask: can our staff or volunteers manage and analyze this information? Or, what will we do with this data? We suggest you collect only the data points you have a specific use for, which is why the planning phase is so crucial. 

2. Get Familiar With Data Collection Methods
This toolkit groups farmers market data collection methods into three general categories: document review, observation, and surveys. General descriptions of each method are listed below, while other chapters of this toolkit provide templates and recommended best practices. 

Document Review
Information about market operations, compiled from market documents. Examples include vendor applications, vendor sales data, vendor attendance, market budgets, and transaction logs from processing government benefits (like SNAP EBT). Much of this is data you are probably already collecting!

Observations
Markets can track information about what happens on market days. Examples include weather, special events, and shopper counts.

Surveys
Collecting information directly from the populations you wish to know more about. Great for discovering opinions or motivations, as well as collecting specific facts and figures. Examples include vendor questionnaires and visitor surveys.

3. Use Common Metrics
FMC recommends a list of “top metrics” which are key to understanding operations at your market. These are good starting points and within reach of markets of all capacities. They include:

There is also a collection of additional farmers market metrics available. This resource was developed over years to arrive at the most universal (and useful) language possible. If you’d like to track metrics beyond the “top metrics,” we recommend digging through this resource for our recommendations on metrics language and collection methods. This resource has question wording that you can add directly onto your forms, surveys, and other tools; FMC also has a set of sample tools you can use or adapt.

4. Plan Ahead: Tie Data Collection to Your Workflow

Map Out The Year
Tie data collection efforts to your touchpoints with specific groups throughout the season. Each year, there are times you’ll be interacting with specific groups, and this is a good opportunity to systematize some data collection in these exchanges. Some examples include:

5. Build Your Team
Most managers will likely rely on support staff or volunteers to collect data on a regular basis. To build your team:

1. Begin With the Mission

The board of directors at Main Street Market defined a three-part mission statement: 

2. Set Operational Goals
We then identified what activities could take place in service of working toward the organizational goals. These are specific, measurable things the market can do this year (and in future years) to demonstrate meeting its  organizational goals.

*To be specific, you might note the time period and the target number, for each of these– such as “Increase market foot traffic 20% over last season”.

3. Align Data Collection and Operational Goals
Given the operational goals in the table above, we know what metrics we’ll need to track throughout the year. The table below lists each metric alongside the data collection  method we’ll use to collect and track it over time. 

3. Tie Data Collection to Workflow
Map Out the Year, tying data collection efforts to specific touchpoints during the market season.

In the Case Study for Guide 2, we will demonstrate how Main Street Market puts this plan into action and uses FMC’s best practices and templates to help

Document Review

Observations
Markets can track information about what happens on market days. Examples include weather, special events, and visitor counts.  These observations would be written on a Market Daily Report or similar tool.

Surveys
Collecting information directly from the populations you wish to know more about. Great for discovering opinions or motivations, as well as collecting specific facts and figures. Examples include vendor questionnaires and visitor surveys.

1. Consistent Method

If you want to compare data over time, Each time you collect information, be sure you’re using consistent methods. If you want to track a data point over time, you’ll need to collect it using the same method each time. For example, suppose you want to compare the number of  vendors in each category who sold at your market from one season to the next. You should have a consistent method for categorizing vendors. Write down this definition (for yourself and future staff), keep track of it, and adhere to the same method each time, as much as possible. Using our example, you might consider: 

2. Consistent Data
Remember, you must collect exactly the same information for each time period you wish to compare. As time passes, you might collect or store it in different ways; this is fine, as long as you collect the same information for each time period.

3. Trends Over Time
Once you have the same data for two or more of the same time periods (for example, market day, season, or year), you can create trend reports, comparing those periods. Collect data at the smallest time period you want to compare. For example, if you want to compare market days to each other, collect the same information each market day. If comparing information monthly or annually suffices, track at that level instead.

Remember, you must collect exactly the same information for each time period you wish to compare. 

In many cases, data collection can be tied to daily market operations. You already collect information each market day to keep operations running; systematizing this data collection can help you stay organized. And with the help of additional staff or volunteers, you can do a “data collection push” a few times per market season, creating deeper insights into your market’s impact. 

The tables below recommend schedules and provide FMC-generated templates to get you started.

Every Market Day

A Few Times Per Market Season
FMC recommends the following information be collected at least two market days each season (these days are in bold in the table below); ideally, markets with capacity should collect this information on four market days. The recommended schedule is based on a 25-week market season.

Once Per Market Season

Market Data Collection

Secondary Data Sources

In Guide 1, the Main Street Market planned data collection for the year. The sections below explain who was involved and what tools and templates they used to get the job done.

Every Market Day
Market-day staff and volunteers completed a daily market log in which they tracked:

A Few Times Per Market Season
Main Street Market planned additional data collection days throughout the season. The market manager wrote a job description and recruited volunteers from local service organizations. In each case, the market manager communicated details of the volunteer shift and responsibilities ahead of time and was on-site to train volunteers and provide them with needed materials.

Visitor Counts
The market manager recruited four local high school students in need of volunteer hours for the National Honor Society. They counted visitors on the 10th and 16th market days. They received instructions for conducting visitor counts, and clickers to conduct the counts.  

Visitor Survey
The market manager recruited four volunteers from the local Rotary Club, who will conduct visitor surveys on the 11th and 17th market days. The market manager also decided to do a dot survey, since this is a fun way to engage shoppers at the market.

Ahead of time, the manager wrote survey questions on large poster boards, leaving room for visitors to place stickers near their answers. The manager used three questions that related back to goals for the season:

The fourth question is one that the volunteers ask (and record responses to) as they administer the dot survey:

Product Tallies
The market manager used the market’s social media account to recruit two volunteers willing to tally the variety of products available at market on the 12th and 18th days. Volunteers received a product tally sheet, and recorded the number and variety of products available to shoppers that day.

Once Per Market Season

During the off-season while recruiting vendors for the upcoming year, the market manager learned the following from the vendor application:

Check Data Quality

This is a great place to use volunteer or staff time outside of market hours. Each time you collect information, ask:

Use FMC’s Sample Workbook
FMC has built a sample workbook in Excel which allows users to track common farmers market metrics. The document has features that automatically sum and sort data entered each market day.

Automate Where Possible

Market Management Software
Market management software is becoming more popular. Manage My Market, MarketWurks,  Marketspread, and others offer features such as vendor management and invoicing. These platforms allow you to track some of the data you want, then export it into spreadsheet formats. 

Survey Forms
This toolkit is full of templates to help you, but this doesn’t mean all data tracking needs to be done by hand. Using online survey software (some of which is free, such as Google Forms), you can build questionnaires for frequently used data collection forms. This will  allow market managers or volunteers to track the data you want in real time at the market, ensuring  you’re tracking information the same way every time. Or, if paper forms are still the most reliable on market day, you can use staff or volunteer time after the market to translate this from paper into an online form or spreadsheet.

1. Start With a Summary
Write a summary, as a way to keep track of where you’ve been. This can be as simple as a few sentences that detail: 

This will help you follow the same process (or make improvements to it) in the future, and will help your credibility. 

2. Consider Your Reasons for Analyzing

To Guide Operations: Lessons learned from data collection might help you determine next best steps to take. Decisions grounded in data collection can give you confidence to make a change, and can demonstrate to decision makers at your market that changes are grounded in feedback you received.

To Share Externally: Your analysis might also be used for marketing and promotion purposes, to funders, sponsors, or potential customers.

3. Revisit Often
Think of “analysis” as a constant process of reviewing and making plans based on what you learn. You might want to keep a “summary” document where you track your learnings from different data collection efforts. This could be an internal document that helps you retrace your steps as you make decisions.

As information comes in, the Main Street Market revisits its Organizational and Operational goals, then analyzes data collected to demonstrate progress toward those goals. 

The manager writes a summary report, which is a simple table describing what they discovered, and how it relates back to their goals for the year. Two examples are below.

1. Start with Your Organizational Goals
This Guide  explains how to create a communication plan based on the metrics you have identified as relevant and useful to your market. In previous units, you’ve determined your organizational  and operational goals, put great effort into collecting information on your market, and have accumulated valuable data. So, what’s next? It’s time to turn your data into messages that will promote your market.

The audiences you target, messages you promote,  and channels you use to distribute your messages all form your communication goals. Maybe your market even has a written communication or outreach plan. These three elements work together to achieve your market’s goals by effectively communicating a specific message to the right people.

2. Know Your Audience
Who you choose to target with your message should correlate with your market’s objectives. Your audiences might include groups of regular shoppers and supporters; they might also include groups you haven’t yet reached but would like to. A target audience will help focus your message and engage the right people.

Target Audience: The people you need to engage to achieve your goals. For example, area businesses.

However, it’s not enough to define your audience as area businesses, for example. You will need to identify subgroups as well.

Segment Group: Subgroup of a broad target audience that share common interests, needs, and motivations. For example, business owners in the immediate downtown area where the market is located.

Tailored messages speak to the unique sets of motivations that drive their behavior and choices. A good message appeals to the values of your audience, not the needs of your market. Once you’ve identified your audience, you can identify unique motivations that drive their behavior and choices. These motivations will help you form a message that supports those values, called the benefit exchange: how your audience will benefit from your market.

Benefit Exchange: Why your audience should care and/or how they benefit. For example, farmers markets might increase traffic to area businesses.

Of course, understanding your audience also requires you to consider barriers they may face. These are perceptions or realities that keep your audience from the actions you want them to take.

Barriers: Perceptions or realities that keep your audience from the actions you want them to take. For example, worry that the market will draw customers away from their business.

3. Create Your Messages

Speak to Motivations
Now that you’ve identified your audience and understand what motivates them, lead with these core values and motivations.

Motivations: Given all the information we know about this audience, what will cause them to listen? For example, area business owners want to be part of a vibrant downtown business district.

Use Your Data
Determine what information, if any, your market collects or tracks, and how it might speak to your audience’s needs.

Use Your Data: What information do you have about your market that speaks directly to what your audience wants? For example, you learned in visitor intercept surveys that shoppers plan to spend an average of $75 at nearby businesses.

End with a Call to Action
All messages must end with a clear call to action or next step, which can be direct (volunteer today!) or more suggestive (tell a friend!).

Call to Action: What specific action do you want the audience to take? For example, ask neighboring businesses to hand out promotional flyers for the market.

Other calls to action might include:

4. Choose Your Channel
Different audiences use different channels; this varies by demographic and whether you seek to engage individuals or organizations. Be sure to choose channels that engage your audience on a regular basis. 

Some examples of channels are:

5. Plan Ahead

Content Calendars
To create a strong and effective communication plan, it is very important to keep a record of woh, what, when, where and how you target your message. A content calendar is a tool you can use to help plan a strategy for message dissemination, and track the efficacy of each message and channel. 

Content calendars come in various forms depending on your need. Simply typing the keywords “content calendar” into an online search engine, such as Google, results in an assortment of free, pre-made calendars. You may also choose to use an online content calendar as a way to easily share, edit, and view with multiple people. 

Boilerplate Language
When sharing information on your market, follow this important rule: “Write once and publish often.” This strategy encourages distribution of the same content over multiple forms of media. Market data should be used as often as possible, even in email signatures and website home pages.

6. Review, Review, Review
Before sharing information publicly, be sure to have multiple people review it. In the rush to share, it’s easy to overlook basic errors, and once data is released, correcting it is challenging. Take the time to have someone review and internal notes and anything you plan to share externally.

7. Share A Beautiful Report
Use your data to create a report that’s visually appealing and easy to read! Many free tools do the heavy lifting for you. The table below lists some of our favorite tools that offer templates, photographs, and design elements you can use in external reporting.

1. Start with Your Organizational Goals
Recall from Guide 1 that the Main Street Market had the following organizational goals:

Main Street Market has two communication goals, both in alignment with goal (1) listed above. In the coming sections, we will demonstrate how the market uses this goal to communicate with its audiences. 

2. Know Your Audience

3. Create Your Messages

4. Choose Your Channel
The market has clear messaging and calls to action; now it’s time to reach out publicly. Messaging efforts will target different channels for different audiences:

Produce Growers
Social media: Main Street Market’s social media channels, along with a link to the vendor application and a request to share with friends and family.

Current Mailing List: Staff will circulate the messaging and call to action to a group that includes current vendors and shoppers.

Local Extension Agency: Main Street Market staff will circulate copies of an ad (print and digital), asking Extension staff to pass along to any produce growers they encounter.

Area Businesses
Email Ask: Main Street Market will send an email to area businesses asking if they would be willing to place flyers for the market in their shops.

Dear neighbors,

We are proud to be a part of a thriving downtown business district. Saturday mornings are especially busy, and this is good business for all of us! We know that over half (59%) the shoppers at our market wander to nearby businesses; they say they spend, on average, $35 when they do. We estimate that each market day, our shoppers spend $34,000 with area businesses like you! 

This tells us that cross-promotion is critical: when one of us thrives, we all thrive. Will you consider placing flyers for our market at your cash register or some other visible area of your business? We have marketing materials we could drop off any time you’d like. 

Please let us know what, if anything, we can do to support you as well. Thanks for considering! 

Best,

The Main Street Market team

Social media: Main Street Market’s social media channels will post the following message, tagging as many area businesses as possible.

This “Quick Start” guide has given you FMC’s top recommendations on the farmers market evaluation process, as well as examples of these practices in action. If you’d like to dig deeper, check out our Resource Library and  long-form evaluation Guides.