Your business is specialty food. Mine is words. Together, we can tell great stories to grow your business! Here’s how…

Stories Taste Good

Successful marketing recipes for specialty food makers

You are here: Home / Archives for Food Stories

Food Stories

by

How to find your best marketing stories – and never run out of ideas!

For many smaller food businesses, the challenge in marketing – and especially social media marketing – is in not knowing what to say. What can I share, they think, that could be interesting about what I do? First, I encourage you to remember that for people who are “food-connected,” there’s no real limit to their thirst for facts—they want to know it all! Second, remember that the knowledge that you have is not shared by everyone. Don’t write off an idea because you think “everyone knows that.”

So here’s an example of how to take something simple – an artichoke, for example – and find the stories that you can turn into something shareable.

The Tale of the Humble Artichoke

I chose an artichoke because it’s a quirky kind of vegetable. Not everyone is familiar with artichokes; many people only know them as artichoke hearts thrown into a dip. But the artichoke is so much more! Here’s an example of some questions that you could answer and share with your audience.

  • What’s the best way to cook an artichoke – boil or steam?
  • Can you eat them raw?
  • What is that “choke” stuff?
  • Is there a good wine pairing for artichokes?
  • How are artichokes processed? How does it get to your plate from where it’s grown?
  • What’s the best cheese to stuff an artichoke with?
  • If you’re a chef, how did you first discover artichokes?
  • Does someone on your staff LOVE artichokes? Ask them why.
  • What is the actual heart of the artichoke?
  • Where is the artichoke capital of the world? (There is one, you know – it’s Castroville, California, complete with an artichoke festival, the world’s largest artificial artichoke, and the producer of 75% of the US artichoke supply.)
  • Do you have a funny story about learning how to take an artichoke apart for eating?
  • Do artichokes grow on a tree?
  • Did you know there’s a company in the UK called Artichoke, whose stated aim is to “work with artists to create extraordinary, large-scale events that appeal to the widest possible audience?”

Or my personal favorite: Did you know that the spiral of artichoke leaves can be described by the Fibonacci Sequence?

Any one of these answers is easily shared as a Facebook post, a tweet, or on a Pinterest board.

These are all great questions for businesses who work directly with artichokes—packers, grocers, chefs. But maybe your business surrounds food, but doesn’t involve it directly. Maybe what you’re going to share is how a prepared artichoke looks on 10 different plate styles—or with various colors of table linens. Is there a blockchain application in artichokes’ future?

The point is, all food has tell multiple stories to tell, so if you think you have nothing to write about, you may need to shift your viewpoint and think outside the proverbial box. In addition to sharing fun or educational facts, what you’re doing is putting yourself out there a bit, letting people get to know your personality and feel a connection with you. This is a real goal of social media for business –building a know, like, and trust relationship with a potential customer, client, or partner.

So once you’ve identified your many stories, how do you pick which story to tell? Well, think of who you’re trying to reach – your ideal customer. Sometimes your goal is to entertain, other times to provide valuable information. So choose the story that you think will touch your ideal client. You may not get it right every time, and that’s okay. Over time, you can use metrics to find out what your audience thinks is valuable, and then find more stories in alignment with that type of content.

Use this post to spark your own ideas about the multiple stories you have in your own business, or let’s work together to tell your marketing stories. And hey, if you’ve got a new way to prepare an artichoke, leave a comment!

by

The return of the blog post!

Blog concept on white plate with fork and knife on red napkins

How this old-school marketing tool is “new” again – and packing a punch!

It seems odd to think that the world of digital marketing has been a “thing” long enough for everything old to be new again, but here we are. Recently, I’ve had several prospective client queries about writing regular blog posts. All of a sudden, it seems like many companies are rediscovering the benefits of consistent content creation on their blogs. What benefits, you ask?

Well, how about the fact that B2B marketers who blog generate 67% more leads than those who don’t? Or that 61% of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post. (Tech Client)

Then there are the SEO benefits. Google rewards adding fresh, relevant content to your website. And while quality may be in the eye of the Google beholder, there does seem to be at least some recognition that putting let’s-string-some-words-together-and-call-it-content is NOT the way to go.

My approach to a blog post is to treat it just like any other marketing vehicle, which is to say, it needs to tell a business story in a way that’s informative, entertaining, and/or engaging. Within this story marketing framework, I’m also thinking about the audience, the valuable information I can provide, and a call-to-action.

With all the buzz around social media for the last few years, I think some businesses started to neglect their own patch of the Internet. It’s easy to forget when you’re chasing likes on Facebook and Twitter retweets that those platforms do not belong to you – and it would be a strategic error to think that your presence will always be there.

Good consistent blogging also helps establish your brand’s authority on a topic, which is especially helpful for B2B companies in a longer sales cycle. Show your readers that you have the solutions to the challenges they face. A content-rich post that is informative and helpful is a great touchpoint along the buyer’s journey.

I’m noticing many F&B companies using their blogs only to share recipes. And while food companies should definitely share recipes, what I really like is the combination of recipes with other posts that are telling stories about the company, ingredients, employees, and customers. Remember that when people are into your brand, your products, your company, they want to know everything about everything!

And you don’t always have to re-invent the wheel. Most organic food company blogs have several posts about what organic means, what the benefits are, or why they chose to go through the organic certification process. Your job is to put your own spin on it, and share how the topic fits in with your brand story. And by the way, these type of posts are a great example of evergreen content which can continue to educate and inform your visitors year after year.

So long live the humble blog post – and welcome back!

Question: Has your blogging strategy changed in the last year? If so, how?

by

How to use stories to replace the hard-sell in your food marketing!

If you don’t like hard-hitting sales pitching in your marketing, I’m with you. That’s why I’m a firm believer in stories as a powerful way to engage readers, connect with them, and bring them to your brand.

Sharing stories is a more natural approach to building a relationship with your customers. In a restaurant, for example, your marketing is a direct outgrowth of the warmth and hospitality you extend to your customers on-site.

But what I hear from clients is that they don’t know what stories to tell. They feel like they don’t have any interesting stories, or that they’ll run out of stories after a week or so.

And that’s when I share my “secret” for food businesses who want to use story marketing.

Well, actually, I have more than one “secret,” but this is the most important one:

It’s not about you. You need to shift your perspective to approaching story marketing from your customer’s point-of-view. Sometimes we’re all too close to our own products to really know what makes them great. This is the time to step back and look through your customer’s eyes.

What might they be interested in? Think about what they don’t know about your restaurant, your food product, your farm, your partners and purveyors, even your cattle and pigs (if appropriate).

How is a product prepared? How are the ingredients sourced? Where did the idea come from for this new dish?

Your stories don’t have to be dramatic or life-altering. A simple human interest story works just as well.

And for social media, you get a nice feedback loop built in; as you share different types of stories, you can quickly see which ones get shared more often, which ones garner comments, and then tailor new stories based on this info.

Honestly, for foodies, I don’t think you can run out of stories to tell that they’re not interested in!

Here’s another idea: “borrow” stories from your suppliers, customers, employees. If you’re sourcing local produce from a farmer, their stories are also your stories. What crops do they grow? What challenges do they face?

Finally, keep your marketing hat on at all times. Once you are in-the-groove to focus on looking for stories in your business, they will appear everywhere. And with just a little bit of thought, you’ll start to see where these stories should go in the social realm – “oh, perfect for Instagram,” “great Snapchat story,” “let’s tweet these daily specials.”

Stories have always been a powerful way to grab someone’s attention. Social media and the reach of the Internet means that stories are now being told – and shared – globally. At the same time, the intimacy of storytelling means that they are great for bringing together local communities around shared values or ideas.

If you want help with finding your stories, or more information on how to tell them, here are some ways I can help.

by

Micro content: Can you tell a good marketing story in just a few words?

I’ve been reading lately that the 1,000+ word blog post is returning as a marketing tool, and I have to confess that as a writer, I welcome that trend, but am a bit skeptical. Most of my clients are trying to squeeze big stories into small bites of content – and that’s not always easy.

Here are some suggestions to help create effective marketing with limited words.

I always start by writing out everything I know about the product or service or idea I’m marketing. It’s a brain dump of everything I know or have researched, combined with info from the client. This free-flowing writing covers who the target audience is, the goal for the copy, the features (and those all-important benefits), what makes the product/service unique in the marketplace – in other words, all the traditional tools of Marketing 101!

In addition, I like to do some competitive research to see how others are describing a similar product or service in the marketplace, just to get a feel for what else is out there.

The next step is to think in terms of the context of where the content is to be used. Does it need to grab attention on a grocery shelf? Stand out amidst a thousand tweets? Work with images in a video?

The “venue” for the content can affect your choice for word placement as well as length. You may be restricted just by where the content is placed – Twitter or AdWords, for example – or you may be constrained by the real estate of a physical package, flyer, or brochure.

Something else to consider: Is the copy supporting other content that is nearby? So for example, if you’re writing product copy for the front of a package, is there a back panel that you can use to expand the main idea? A website you’re sending folks to that can tell the story more fully?

After I get everything I can think of on the page, I’ll go through and look for common themes to determine what the most important points are.

I always look for the one main idea in the content, which is usually the biggest problem we’re solving for our audience. Especially in short content, it’s important to keep your eye on this prize – the power of one main idea.

From there, I’ll start writing much shorter variations, probably two to three paragraphs each; I’m starting to distill the information into more manageable chunks with fewer distractions from my main idea.

As I edit and edit and edit, I ask myself if the words that I’m choosing are essential, if they’re communicating the message, and if they’re encouraging action. (Bonus points if call-to-action is stated in the tone or style of the piece or includes keywords!)

This can be a time-consuming process but it’s so important. It’s not enough to edit for only word length, change a paragraph to a sentence, or even a semi-sentence. These few precious words must still accomplish the goals before I send draft off to client.

If not, well, I keep fiddling with the words until it’s right. Keep in mind: one main idea and clear CTA can go a long way to achieving the best outcome. Sometimes I get down to more than one “best” option and then send to the client for a final decision.

These “short” content projects sometimes feel like walking on a tightrope! My vote is to always be thankful when you have lots of words to tell your story, and be extra judicious when words are short.