Creating Unique Visual Identities and Websites for the Number One Farmers Market in the Country and 30 of Its Vendors

The Columbia Farmers Market (CMF) is a year-round producer-only farmers market. Everything sold at the market is grown and produced within a 50-mile radius of Columbia – ensuring the freshest and highest quality products for its customers, who can know exactly where their food came from and how it was grown or raised.

Talk about supporting local.

What began as farmers selling produce out of the back of their trucks has turned into a vibrant, permanent community marketplace that brings producers and consumers together with a space to buy and sell good food. The growth CFM has seen over the last several years is impressive and in 2021 it was declared the number one people's choice in the country.

While it’s no question that CFM knows how to run a robust market, for a long time its vendors didn’t have a consistent visual identity to communicate with the community and continue to grow.

Partnerships are Better Homegrown

Back in 2019, CFM was awarded a $100,000 federal grant to not only help improve its own unique online identity, but for 30 of its vendors, too.

When news of the grant broke, the CFM team requested proposals from competitive agencies and Hoot won the contract. Our team re-designed the entire CFM website and provided custom marketing materials to help them take the market to the next level.

The market's vendors raise, grow, or produce foods on rural farms, urban backyards, and in kitchens, and although production methods and products differ from one vendor to the next, what each vendor has in common is their passion to share “Food from Home” with the community.

We worked with CFM to re-design the Food from Home booklet for market visitors to take home for free. Together, we filled over 70 pages with stories, photos, and recipes from CFM, the market vendors, their families, and their production methods.

After refining the marketing materials for the market itself, we moved on to helping its vendors tell their unique stories through intentional design and thoughtful words.

This breadth of work was spread over a three year contract and required close collaboration between all parties.

From Seed to Success

A majority of the vendors didn’t have previous experience in working with a professional marketing team, and many didn’t even have a logo, website, or messaging that aligned with their values and vision.

Our team knew we needed to start small in order to produce meaningful success for these business owners.

We led vendors through 10 marketing training sessions where we covered a variety of topics like:

• Website Management

• Content Marketing

• Social Media Dos and Don’ts

• Marketing Tool Training (Canva, Meet Edgar, Planoly, etc.)

To further support the market, we developed an online marketing kit tailored to the agriculture industry that covered:

• Tactics about how to manage a successful online presence and tips for managing a

• website

• Affordable tools recommendations to manage a successful online presence

• Best social media strategies

• Email marketing tips

• Customer service advice for an overall company experience

After establishing some ground with the participating vendors, we moved forward in creating their unique online identities. Our goal was to create a cohesive visual representation for each vendor that aligned with the heart of their business.

We approached each identity project through a four-step process:

1. Leading an in-depth discovery meeting to understand the heart behind each business

2. Developing a vision board

3. Creating an asset board that contained an original visual concept, including a logo, sub logo, font pallet, color pallet, pattern textures, imagery and photo styling

4. Delivery of final files in an online, password-protected website where assets can be downloaded for use at any time

Once we nailed down an identity that felt right, we moved on to implementation. From here, we hosted what we like to call, a “Site in a Day Workshop” where we worked alongside vendors to help them bring their unique marketing assets to life.

During this in-studio or virtual website build, we covered the small things and the big things, like purchasing a domain and website hosting to collecting copy and imagery for all website pages. Post workshop, we provided follow up support to ensure that each website was functioning and performing with high optimization.

Visual Identities Rooted and Revealed

The culmination of this multi-phased project has resulted in a cohesive CFM experience for visitors and vendors alike. Now, CFM and 30 of its vendors have visual identities that reach far beyond the physical market.

Good things take time, and we know that each identity will continue to grow alongside its business for years to come. Our team is proud of the work we’ve cultivated over our three-year partnership with CFM.

Take a look at three market vendors we helped transform.

Raw Roots Turmeric

Rooted in health and wellness, Ranjana Hans of Raw Rotos Turmeric grows Turmeric, Ashwagandha, Tulsi, and a variety of other medicinal herbs in her garden. As she learned more about the functional benefits of Ayurvedic herbs, she wanted to share these plants with others at the market. From plant to production, she uses fresh roots to maintain the freshness, delicious taste, and nutritional benefits in the natural form.

Stanton Brothers

Stanton Brothers Eggs have been operating since 1845. These 5th generation farmers father, wash, refrigerate, and deliver nearly 42,000 eggs to the Columbia community every single week. Their chickens are cared for in a cage-free, range-free environment to bring you the highest quality eggs you could possibly imagine.

Honey Creek Farm

Honey Creek Farm is a 50-acre sheep and chicken farm that’s been around since 2011. In 2016, they expanded their business to include the Fresh Harvest Grill, serving meals including meat and veggies from their own farm at the Columbia Farmers Market.

The Sage Garden

The Sage Garden is a family-owned and operated farm. They wanted their visual identity to reflect the sage wisdom they bring to their farming practices – which led them to their name. Through companion planting, they grow all of their products without the use of chemical pesticides.

The Boys from Chamois

The Paulsmeyer brothers come from a long line of farmers. Their family has been farming since the late 1800s, and the tradition doesn’t show any sign of stopping. Over the years, The Boys from Chamois have expanded their offerings and now raise sweet corn, cantaloupes, and pumpkins in addition to their signature seeded and seedless watermelons.

Heirloom Fungi

Heirloom Fungi is located on 100 acres of open land. They produce woodland mushrooms, which grow naturally in a forest setting, and grow their fungi on hardwood sawdust and solid logs that they produce from their own trees. With a farm full of beautiful timber, and a mushroom house full of activity, the Heirloom Fungi family stays busy year-round.

Hampton’s Hilltop Orchard

At Hampton’s Hilltop Orchard, locally grown, tree-ripened apples are their speciality. Since 2003 they have been growing apple varieties to share with the community. They primarily sell their apples at CFM and they invite people to come out to the farm to pick their own when the apples are abundant.

BLH Farm

BLH Farm is a family-owned, cut-flower farm that focuses on intensive market gardening and regenerative agricultural practices. Their half-acre plot is composed of permanent raised beds for both perennials and annuals and a small selection of herbs.

“Hoot engaged with our farm's story and values and provided us with a full set of branding and a color palette that reflects our goals with our business. We loved the process of working with Hoot Design Co and are thrilled with the results.“ – Matt, BLH Farm