OK, so you took a great recipe and started a specialty food business to produce and it. However your product wont fly off the specialty grocery store shelves if potential customers don’t know you exist! You need to create Awareness.
I took the Udacity Digital Marketing Nanodegree Program to understand how startup food entrepreneurs can use digital marketing to get new customers, keep them loyal and grow your customer base.
The Covid 19 environment is changing consumer behavior; people are preparing more meals at home and going out, or taking out. According to the Hunter: Food Study Special Report “54% of people are cooking more” which is probably no surprise. The behavior change you want to capitalize on is “51% will continue to cook more often” even when restaurants are open once again.
You may think you only need to get your product on the shelf so people traversing the grocery store aisles will surely stop, look at your great packaging and decide to try your brand. No! The grocery customer is increasingly using shopping services like Instacart, Peapod, etc. instead of going to the supermarket. The Hunter reveals Websites and Social Media are the top choices for meal preparation ideas… customer discovery is now more digital than ever. Want more proof this CNBC video interviews the CEO of Instacart revealing statistics, (for example they had a 500% increase in customer order volume year over year. Are you convinced you will need a digital marketing strategy for your specialty food business.
Do you need some help in understanding how your customer is discovering and shopping “digitally” and what are the best ways to deliver your brand message at the right points in that journey? We here at FoodBevXpert can help you with incorporating digital marketing in your food marketing strategy. Send us an email to arrange a 30 minute free telephone consultation.
In future posts, I will write about social media preferences and messaging to build awareness for your target audience.