Customers shop at a farmers’ market. [Photo courtesy Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS]

Across industries, business success increasingly relies on savvy digital marketing.

Owners of small businesses, however, don’t always have the training or resources to effectively leverage online platforms. An upcoming virtual conference, presented in partnership with the University of Florida (UF), will teach the owners of small agricultural operations how to boost their online presence through new media marketing strategies.

The ninth annual Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement (CREE) Insight Summit combines online coursework with live virtual sessions between Oct. 1 and Nov. 21. Working at their own pace, participants will progress through four modules containing lessons on topics like social media trends, e-commerce, web analytics, e-newsletters and cybersecurity. The lessons show how these tools can be used to create compelling content that builds a business narrative and increases online engagement.

The summit is ideal for farmers who sell directly to customers as well as small businesses that carry local agricultural products, said Lauri Baker, CREE co-founder and an associate professor of agricultural education and communication for UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“Participants will learn about the most effective ways to reach both their existing customers and new ones and how to translate these positive interactions into business growth,” Baker said.

Baker is one-third of the CREE leadership team. She co-founded the center in 2015 with Cheryl Boyer, an associate professor and extension specialist for nursery crop production and marketing at Kansas State University, and Hikaru Peterson, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota. Together, the women form an interdisciplinary triad of experts focused on helping rural businesses flourish. Their research and communications work has been widely recognized, including by the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists, the American Society for Horticultural Sciences and the Association for Communication Excellence.

Insight Summit tickets are $199. To learn more about the conference and to register, visit ruralengagement.org/events/insight-summit-2025.