Food Marketing

The Internet offers a lot in terms of marketing, letting small food businesses compete with the big guys, and reaching new audiences around the world. But there’s a huge disadvantage in not being to let your visitors actually taste your food! So how to communicate how juicy that burger is?

Well, first of all, take advantage of your photography. In our photo, the choice for the rustic tray sets a tone for the food that would be completely different if the burger was served on bright white china or Fiestaware.

Second, use tasty words to describe your offerings. If you’re adding onions, make them “fresh, crisp red onions.” Tomatoes can be “fresh-off-the-vine red Roma tomatoes.” Are the hamburger buns home-made? Do they come from a local vendor? What about the cheese? What’s special about it and is it nicely melted on the burger? The more details you can give, the better. Especially if you have a locavore focus, talk about the vendors whose products you feature.

Adjectives are our friend. Use appetizing words – look at what these words evoke as you read them: hearty, zesty, gooey, drenched, spicy, robust, creamy, chilled, rich, aromatic, lush, savory. Hungry yet?  Of course, you have to use words that are applicable. If your onions aren’t crunchy consistently, don’t say so. You have to be able to deliver what you’re promising with all those words and photos.

These techniques also help you differentiate yourself in the marketplace; it’s good for your food marketing! Because even as you’re describing what you’re offering, remember that you’re still marketing. The best of stories need to be told with an eye towards stating what makes your burger different (and tastier) from the one down the street. The better you know your audience, the more you’ll know what words to choose to reach them!

So what can you do to make your online food stories tasty?

I spend a lot of time poking around Facebook pages of food operators in my area and while some of them are doing a good job in mixing up good information with promotions, some seem to forget that the underlying purpose of social media is to share, not to sell. (The selling can come later after you’ve proved that your mensch-ness to your community!)

So what kind of content can restaurants, catering folks, and other food purveyors put out that will be of interest to their readers?

Well, of course, I’m always fond of stories, of which you probably have hundreds. And even if you feel like you’ve told your main story in your “About” section, you can find new ways to tell your story every day. There are seasonal stories in the food business, especially for those of you with a locavore focus.

I’m always interested in stories from the chefs as to how they came up with a new dish or a twist on an old favorite. If you can get customers to say something about the dish, that’s good, too.

Twitter is great for keeping customers in the loop about daily specials, and that’s actually a good example of content that is both promotional but handy – one huge step beyond just “Eat at Joe’s”!  Oddly enough, I keep mentioning to one of my favorite restaurant that they’re missing an opportunity in not using Twitter to send out daily specials because although I’m certainly not calling every day to find out the specials, I’d be there in a minute if I knew they were serving the special chicken tacos.

In some ways, I think restaurants have an advantage in social media in terms of frequency of promotions. For Facebook, I’ve seen recommendations of 1 promotional post for every 4-5 pieces of non-promo content, but especially if you offer daily specials, you can easily push those limits – especially if your posts have personality and spark.

And don’t forget about educating the consumer. There’s nothing wrong with having a point of view – why are you buying from local farmers instead of the big guys? Why is that important to you? Why might that be important to me?

And if you’ve got ideas on how to make vegetables appealing to children, I’m all in.

Post on a regular basis. Remember that social media should be another piece of your overall marketing plan, not just a stand-alone entity. Social media can support your goals and plans for the year, but not if you’re always talking one-way to your customers. Ask some questions, encourage answers, get your community interacting.

What say you?

Well, the good news is that there’s room on social media for just about any story you want to tell. If you’re operating a restaurant, for example, there’s plenty of room for menu specials, one-off events, and promotions. And there’s lots of social media channels to choose from as well.  If you’ve got lots of photos, there’s a social media channel for you. Rather just send quick bites? Twitter is your friend.

Now, the less-than-good news is that those stories are not necessarily what’s going to build your audience over the long-term or encourage engagement with your visitors.

And yet the “right” stories are probably right in front of your nose, too–or maybe your eyes….

So, here’s the thing: I don’t think you can underestimate how much information foodies want to know about your food! Where does it come from? Who grew it? Why did you choose to put those ingredients together? Can I make this at home – somehow, some way? Is it seasonal? What’s your favorite food for the season?

And that’s just one dish – multiply that by a week’s worth of meals.

If you’re the chef or owner, why did you choose a particular theme for your restaurant? How did you get interested in cooking? If you have more than one restaurant, how did the progression happen? What drives you to create new dishes? What is your inspiration?

These are the kinds of stories that you can tell that will engage your audience, and make them want to come back for more. Stories are kind of the secret weapon here! They fulfill a very human need for connection, and connection is key to social media success.

And don’t forget the images! If you have good ones, use them. If you don’t, get some made! Change them out regularly. Remember, consistency is a key to social media success.

One general rule of thumb for social media is the 80/20 rule. So for every 8 stories you tell, you can offer two promotions or specials. (And I wouldn’t count posting your daily specials on Twitter as a promotion – you get a pass on those….)

And let me know how it goes! You don’t always need to tell stories about your own food business; sometimes you can talk about a food in general, or a cooking technique. And don’t forget about highlighting employees from time to time. How long have they been working for you? What is their background? What is their favorite dish?

Personal works – and stories are our friend!