Local Meat Communications Internship
Looking for a unique internship where you’ll help build connections between local farmers and buyers across the state? Want to use communications, graphic design, or technology skills to directly support local farms in our state? Join our team as the Local Meat Communications Intern!
Internship Overview
NC Choices, a program of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), and NCDA&CS, seek two interns for the Local Meat Communications Internship.
Duties include:
- Promote and cross-promote Visit NC Farms and the new MeatSuite through joint promotional efforts such as press releases and social media promoting the complimentary projects at both online landing sites.
- Research and/or implement app accessory features cross promoting both sites.
- Streamline communication platforms between organizations, producers, and consumers
- Design and implement direct marketing strategies including videos and social media promos highlighting how and why to use MeatSuite.
- Using analytics to maintain an online presence including analyzing consumer trends from MeatSuite analytics.
- Provide one-on-one market research technical assistance to a cohort of 20 low-income and historically underserved farmers, assisting with brand development and establishing online presence.
- Creating a social media presence for select farmers as needed.
- Adapt and customize outreach materials to maximize sales over the course of the project.
- Developing user-friendly websites with online sales components that perform across platforms as needed.
- Writing educational and promotional materials for community distribution.
- Work with project partners to promote this consumer marketing campaign.
- Writing educational and promotional materials for community distribution.
- Regular professional development workshops and training will be provided
This position will not only report directly to Dr. Angel Cruz, the internship coordinator, but also the following people: Sarah Blacklin (Content Supervisor), with support from NC Choices Director. Lee Menius, NC Choices Technical Program Coordinator. Annie Bagget, Agritourism Marketing Specialist. Matt LeRoux, MeatSuite Developer
Applications are not currently being accepted for the Local Meat Communications Internship.
Background
About the Project: The COVID-19 pandemic put pressure on local meat supply chains, as fear of shortages in conventional meat caused increased consumer demand, processing bottlenecks, and many producers with excess livestock. This project will adapt lessons learned from MeatSuite, a 2020 online sales platform pilot launched in response to the pandemic-induced demand for local meat. This online marketplace connects farmers and consumers via traditional bulk sales (whole, half, quarter carcasses). In addition, farmers need direct-to-consumer marketing training, technical support, and improved promotional strategies to attract new customers. Our goal is to provide producers (especially beginning and historically underserved), processors, and Extension agents with the marketing and pricing know-how they need to help the local meat sector in North Carolina leverage increased demand into sustainable post-pandemic growth.
About MeatSuite: NC Choices’ MeatSuite acts as the “Etsy” of local meat in bulk, wherein NC Choices recruits customers via a collective platform, amplifying reach, and providing a cost-effective alternative to farms creating their own online stores.
About Visit NC Farms: NCDA&CS’ Visit NC Farms App is a smartphone-based app and consumer marketing campaign reaching nearly 10,000 active users. The app is designed primarily as an agritourism resource for consumers to find local farms.