Whether you have a shiny new food related business or have been in business for decades, there’s always room for sales growth. We’ve compiled a list of marketing ideas to put a rocket in your sales. The main focus of this list is on content marketing as you can get some big gains from a moderate investment. Some of these ideas will only require the investment of time which may be appealing to new food businesses on a tight budget.
10 Actionable Marketing Ideas
#1 Audit your brand
As you begin to focus on increasing your sales, a brand audit is the place to start. This process can be as simple of complex as you like. For those with a larger budget, you may want to leave no stone unturned by recruiting a branding agency. For other businesses, you can keep this fairly brief. Ask yourself whether your branding (website, brochures, food packaging etc) reflects your business accurately. Does it paint you in the best light?
You could implement all the remaining marketing ideas below but it won’t help if you don’t have your branding correct. Make this a priority.
#2 Get intimate with your customer
How well do you know your customers? For those food businesses that sell at markets or from a shop, you’ll have no problems with answering this question. If you sell online you may not have a clear answer. Without having a crystal clear understanding of your customer you won’t be able to effectively market your products.
Create customer personas.
Creating customer personas is very helpful at this stage. Learn more about personas here. A great way to learn more about your customers is to conduct a survey asking them questions that will help you understand them better.
Google Analytics and similar sites will provide you will plenty more data about where your visitors are from geographically, gender, age and much more.
#3 Sniff out a trend
Are there any new trends that relate to the food category you play in? If you’re a small food business you are light on your feet. Creating a new offer that takes advantage of a trending food can really help sales. Consider buying a report or for a cheaper option google terms like “food trends 2018”.
Another free option is Google Trends which allows you to check how a keyword is trending. As an example, if you could add a product to your offering that takes advantage of the keto diet you’ll be sitting pretty. Look at that trend below!
Example of the keyword “keto diet” trending
#4 Lift your social game
We’re not just talking about creating social media accounts and occasionally posting. Create a strategy that will get results. If you have a good understanding of your audience, this shouldn’t be too hard. In addition to creating your own content, share other interesting information that you think would benefit them.
#5 Create a resource page
Resource page example.
A well made resource page has the potential to drive loads of visitors to your website. Avoid slapping random content on this page. Instead, add useful information that is easy to find. Break you page into different categories so that it helps the reader. For example, if you own a restaurant, you may have a section for recipes and another section for video content about your ingredient suppliers. Customers want to learn more about where the food comes from on their plate and this will give them what they want.
#6 Food photography
Food photography.
It’s hard to beat quality food imagery. Invest in a good camera that allows you to take crisp shots of your offering then publish it everywhere you can. Some useful sites include:
- Flickr
- Tastespotting
- Food Gawker
There are loads more options for getting for images seen. All it takes is the time to find the right platforms for your pictures.
Warning: If you don’t have the time or the knowledge to take excellent pictures it’s best to stay away from this option. It can really damage your brand when posting below-average pics.
#7 Facebook advertising
Putting some money into advertising can deliver quick results. The great thing about Facebook advertising is that you don’t have to pour tens of thousands into your campaign. For example, a restaurant could implement a simple weekly campaign advertising the week’s specials. A $50 budget will get your message in front of a lot of eyeballs.
#8 Publish an eBook
Publish an eBook
This will take longer than most of the other options mentioned on this page. However, once it’s been written, it will be an asset for your business that can provide big results.
Offering an eBook on your website or social media in exchange for an email can generate an email list that you can market to once they sign up. The key is to continue offering more value, in addition to the occasional offering thrown in. Otherwise you see a lot of unsubscribes.
#9 Attend an event
Meeting potential customers at Expos, markets and other industry events is an excellent way to increase brand exposure. Have a clear goal for each event you attend such as “find two new potential food distributors” or “sell 100 chocolate bars”.
#10 Start an SMS campaign
There are lots of ways to implement an SMS campaign. If you have a restaurant or a physical food store, SMS marketing can be really effective. It could be as simple as collecting customers mobile numbers at the counter to go into the draw for a free meal or product. Then, use an SMS platform like BurstSMS to let your customers know about your next deal. Be sure not to overuse this strategy as customers don’t like be over-marketed to on their mobile phone.
Bonus Idea – Collaboration
Do you have a complimentary food business that you can work with to help each other’s sales? Of course you do. A little bit of creativity here can go a long way.
- Co brand to create a new food product – think .
- Ask to be featured in their next email blast, then you can reciprocate back.
- Share an expo stand to save cost and increase foot traffic.
Conclusion
As you can see, increasing sales doesn’t need to be overly expensive. The key to success when implementing these ideas is to maintain consistent branding that looks good and accurately reflects your business. You’d be better to focus on a few of these and do them really well rather that all of them sloppily. A brand audit is essential if you haven’t conducted one in the last year. It will help you focus your marketing efforts on the stuff that matters.
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