Megan Rooney

Thursday, January 26 at 1pm ET Are you a maker brand with limited time, resources, and money? This webinar is for you. You’ll learn how to segment your audience and personalize communication via better Customer Relationship Management to organize and engage via helpful, human, and holistic online marketing. You’ll also learn how to improve online sales and audience reach with nano- and micro-influencers. Have a question for our speaker, Louis Nicolaides of Ludwig Marketing and Sales? Leave them below for him to answer live!

Thursday, December 8 at 1pm ET In this insightful webinar, Rachel Saul, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of the award-winning agency Chelsea & Rachel Co, will share five of the most common pitfalls food brands encounter when starting a direct to consumer business. Rachel will share tactics, strategies, and real success stories from brands that have increased DTC revenue up to 25x and “nom-nomed” their competition. Questions for Rachel? Leave them below! Register here!

In this introductory session, Felice Thorpe, a consulting sales director with deep experience in specialty foods, will get you ready to sell. You’ll learn how to set goals through SWOT analysis and KPI’s, build a sales funnel, understand sales channels, and craft an elevator pitch, talking points and point-of-sale materials. If you have a question for Felice, please leave it below for her to answer live on Thursday, December 15 at 1pm ET. Register here today!

Buckle up for the road trip that is launching your brand on Amazon! The most successful brands do extraordinary preparation before ever arriving at Amazon’s door. Have you invested the time and resources required to understand the selling platform, unit economics, content needs, optimal product and pack configurations, and other best practices that are fundamental to winning on Amazon? This masterclass led by Betsy McGinn, Founder of McGinn eComm, will guide you through the components of your Amazon strategy in order to chart a smart course and avoid bumps in the road for a successful journey! Bring your questions or leave them below and join us on Thursday, November 17 at 1pm ET. Register for the webinar here.

When you sell through retailers, you will likely pay them to promote your products to their customers – that’s trade spend. In this webinar, expert John Maggiore will discuss why trade spend is important, what components to consider, and how to spend your allocated dollars in the most effective ways. Questions for John? Please leave them below and he'll be sure to answer live Thursday, November 10 at 1pm ET! Register for the webinar here.

Thursday, October 20 at 1pm ET Understanding costs and pricing in this business is fundamental to profitability, success, and fluency in customer discussions. Jonathan Milo Leal, a 20-year manufacturer still working in the trenches on a daily basis, and a long-time teacher of this class for the SFA, will walk you through the numbers from start to finish, and share real-world information and advice. You’ll learn how pricing works, the generally accepted standards for margins, and how to create practical, effective price sheets for wholesale, distributors, and more. Come prepared for some hands-on math! Questions for Jonathan? Please leave them below, and he'll be sure to answer live! Register here today!

Thursday, October 27 at 1pm ET How effectively does your packaging fight for that essential first glance? And once it's got a grip on those eyeballs, how efficiently does it deliver a knockout pitch? To prime your packaging for peak performance, Victoria Ho of Sherpa CPG will dive into strategic principles, market data, real-life case studies, and industry best practices to empower you with an actionable, innovative toolbox that you can customize to your brand’s current growth stage in anticipation of the next. Whether you’re just breaking ground on design concepts, focused on strengthening your brand messaging, or building stamina for a milestone brand refresh, she’ll discuss how to optimize your packaging as the secret sauce behind your brand. Leave any questions you may have for Victoria below. We'll make sure she answers them live!

Thursday, September 29 at 1pm ET Silicon Valley-based Mattson Chief Innovation Officer Barb Stuckey will share some of the secrets of their 44+ years of success in developing and commercializing new products. From conceptual alignment to commercial plant trials, you'll better understand and be able to anticipate the challenges along the path from idea to market. More about our speaker: Barb has been at Mattson since 1997 and is currently Chief Innovation & Marketing Officer at North America’s most successful independent developer of foods and beverages for the retail food and chain restaurant industries. Barb is known as a taste, food trend, innovation, consumer insights, and product development expert. As part of Barb’s role in the innovation projects that make up her daily job, she is required to taste food and figure out how to make it better. After more than 2 decades doing this, she’s honed her tasting skills and ability to help others make food taste better. She shared this insight with the world in 2012 when her book Taste What You’re Missing (Taste) was published. Barb was instrumental in helping The San Francisco Cooking School integrate the science of taste into their curriculum. She now teaches the Fundamentals of Taste to each entering class. Barb is also a contributor to Forbes.com where she writes about the food industry. Barb lives with her hypertaster husband, two artisan cats, and splits her time between San Francisco and Healdsburg, in the heart of Sonona wine country. If you have questions for Barb, please leave them below and we will ask her to answer them live!

Thursday, September 8 at 1pm ET Whether you are a manufacturer, co-packer, or company working with these service providers, understanding the intellectual property protections and motivations of each party can illuminate the best practices to follow. This presentation will provide you with the knowledge behind patenting and trade secrets. You’ll learn the answers to the questions: Are both forms of intellectual property protection possible? Is one preferred over the other? And how can each be balanced to allow for the best strategic partnerships for all those involved? Some info about our speaker: David Postolski, a senior partner at Gearhart Law, is a registered patent attorney and Intellectual property (IP) attorney. David specializes in assisting inventors, creators, artists, start-ups, entrepreneurs, early-stage companies, and emerging companies with their U.S and international IP strategy, protection, enforcement, and monetization. Questions for our speaker? Please leave them below for David to answer live!