So you have cracked the code of making great food. Your dinner parties are a huge hit. More often than not, people tell you that they would be willing to give an arm and a leg to eat whatever you make. You decide to take the plunge and now… here you are. All revved up and resolved to take off on your food business journey. If you are twiddling your fingers, wondering how to get started, we are here to help. You need to keep in mind things like branding, packaging, labeling, and channel distribution.
Define! What are you selling? Who is your target audience? How will they reach you?
You have probably done this exercise already. If you haven’t, then now is the time to do it. Ask yourself questions like who are you trying to sell? Are there takers for your products or cuisines? Where do your target audiences usually eat? Based on your target audience, you will need to decide where you are going to sell your product.
Brand Experience Is Important
Food is all about the experience. Now, since you are an online business, you need to evoke that sense of pleasure and positivity through your website. In the current scenario, you cannot obviously depend on on-ground initiatives like hosting garden parties, get-togethers, or hosting backyard barbecues. So all you need to do now from the safe precincts of your home is to tell a story.
What’s Your Story?
Are you banking on your ethnicity? Are you going to bring to life age-old recipes or your grandmother’s cooking? Are you depicting a cultural cuisine or highlighting your country’s heritage? Are you trying to bring to life the street foods of some place or just catering to lip-smacking snacking moments? Tell the narrative. Bring forth the idea about what they have been missing before you came along and what they can expect.
Don’t Forget Photography
Hire a professional photographer and a food stylist. Don’t try to do everything all by yourself. Outsource some of your work to get a professional finished look. The entire industry is now working online and it’s a market out there with whoever gets the prize on the best looking and saliva enticing website. You want to lure customers to your cuisine and food products through your pictures. Food photography is a different ball game altogether and you won’t regret going professional for it.
Design Your Website
Hire professional help to design your website. You need effective SEO-friendly content for your site. This will allow people to organically search and find your product. Ensure that your site is developed with content management systems like WordPress so that you can easily update your site once it is up and running. You also need to look into the fact that more and more people are accessing information and websites through mobile phones and not always from laptops and computers. Your website hence has to be responsive on all kinds of devices and people should be able to make purchases or do transactions. As trivial as it may sound, but all of this helps towards a complete brand experience.
You also need to create quality content on your website. Give out recipes, share cultural or traditional stories related to food, make small behind-the-scenes videos or run cooking classes.
Bolster With Social Media
Social media is the easiest way to promote your business. A lot of businesses have launched themselves only on social media, but that cannot really create a brand experience or may not really drive a profitable audience. Promote your product and brand on social media. Use the most popular platforms and be there. Your products need to grab the attention of the audiences of the hundreds and thousands of food businesses. Social media is free for the most part, but remember that targeted ads and spending some money for promotion could really boost your sales and your business.
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Food Bloggers
No, Blogging hasn’t seen the end of its days. In fact blogging is still an important way to keep in touch with your customers. Maybe you can tap some food bloggers and get them to review your products or your food. Be personal with bloggers and not too formal. Connect with them through various channels like email or Twitter. Send them a thank you note or email once they have reviewed your business favorably and promoted it.
Marketing your food business is not just about setting up a website. It is a totality of what you do outside the virtual space along with that. So you have to keep in mind everything including the product, the customer, the packaging, the look and feel of your product. All of this in summation needs to come across through your website and social media platforms to create a favorable and profitable brand building experience.
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Also Read: What Is The 3 Target Marketing Strategy? Use It To Grow Your Culinary Business| An Easy Guide To Branding Your Food Business| Simple Tips To Write A Recipe Book From Scratch| Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Enter The Food Industry| Home Made Food Items You Can Sell Online