he fast-moving consumer goods industry is a competitive one. As a food manufacturer, it's your prerogative to know exactly what your competition is doing and to try to stay ahead or at least, in step, with them. That's why consistent and relevant food marketing is so important for your business.
Food and beverage businesses not only face stiff competition but also the challenges of an ever-changing consumer market, limited profit margins, and tight budgets. Here's how you can set your marketing aside from your competition and stay one step ahead.
It's true -- the world of marketing is ever-changing thanks to the digital world we live in. But what doesn't change are the fundamentals of good marketing. If you can get the fundamentals right, and keep them in check, your marketing strategies, no matter how much they change, will always serve you well:
Every single business that markets itself should establish its marketing strategies with a buyer persona. This is your ideal target market -- the person who buys your products. Without a targeted buyer persona, you're essentially shooting in the dark.
"The future of food marketing lies in embracing the ever-evolving tastes and preferences of consumers, while remaining true to the core values that make each product unique." - José Andrés
In order to do this, you must study your target demographic, i.e. the people who most commonly buy your products, where they live, work, what they might do recreationally, etc. In short, you're building a detailed character model.
This character model is important because it offers you an insight into how your target customer thinks and why they purchase what they do. With this behavioral information, you can create targeted marketing and advertising campaigns that will motivate your customers to purchase your products.
It's important to keep your buyer personas at the forefront of every marketing campaign you run.
As the saying goes, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. While your competition is not exactly the enemy, you definitely want to keep them close and study their movements. This doesn't mean copying what your competition does, but it does mean taking notes on what works for them, and how you can apply these strategies to your own marketing.
This is also a good way to better understand your competition and create strategies that outdo theirs. Or, create completely different strategies altogether. Keeping close tabs on your competition allows you to formulate tactics that differentiate your brand from theirs, too, which can help you stand out in the market.
Good marketing is all about positioning your brand in a very clear, smart way. In essence, all of your marketing material should explicitly display your brand so that it's easy to recognize.
It's also important to do some research on the type of characteristics in a brand that matter most to your specific audience, and then create your brand around that. This ensures that your brand resonates with your audience, thereby making it trustworthy and recognizable.
There's no denying that good, eye-catching marketing revolves around the presentation of a product. This is why your product packaging matters so much. In fact, your visual merchandising is an area you can never afford to skimp on.
Good packaging means choosing the right materials that your audience will appreciate. As well as appealing design that resonates with their demographic and aesthetic. The way in which you display your products in-store also makes a huge impact on buyer motivation.
In the world we live in today, nothing is more important than your content marketing, i.e. your online presence and how you market yourself. It is probably the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. Not only this, but content marketing also acts as a conduit between all of your other marketing channels.
An example of this is as simple as writing new content for a blog. You can then share this via all of your social media channels, in a newsletter to your customers, while it also helps to strengthen your website SEO.
A good way to reinforce your content marketing is through email marketing. It's important to build up a list of email subscribers and share your content via blast email every week. Focus on marketing your latest deals and any new product releases.
Social media is also a huge part of successful content marketing. Choose one or two channels to focus on, such as Facebook and Instagram, and create content on a consistent basis. Again, your content needs to appeal to your target audience. Engaging with your audience via replying to comments and direct messages is essential.
The reality of smart marketing is to commit to change. Basically, this means your brand needs to evolve with the times because your customers will get bored if you remain stagnant or unchanged over time.
A good way to keep your customers interested in your brand is to keep your offers on regular rotation. This means showcasing new and upcoming products. Offer incentives and sales to constantly draw your customers in. If you keep your offers on a good rotation you can gather enough data to know what offers work best and focus on those.
One of the best ways to boost your reach and influence as a brand is to work with other brands, or even with your competition. It doesn't hurt to partner with brands from media franchises, retail stores, or even other food manufacturers/brands.
All in all, this makes for collaborative content. Cross-promotional marketing is a smart way to broaden your reach, and even tap into new potential -- you could even end up poaching a few of your competitor's customers!
As a food manufacturer, it's not always easy to keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening in the world of food marketing. If you don't have the in-house team to tackle your marketing for you, this is where outsourcing is your best option to help you stay ahead.
It's All Goods offers all the marketing expertise you need. Providing sales and marketing services to food manufacturers is one of our core services. We can help you clearly identify your ideal target market, create effective marketing campaigns, and more.
If you're interested in working together, get in touch with our team today!
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