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Stories Taste Good

Successful marketing recipes for specialty food makers

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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?

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One restaurant, multiple locations, separate Facebook pages? Oh my!

How to use story marketing to manage multiple Facebook pages for one restaurant

kale salad - CopyFrom a social media perspective, a restaurant should have its own business page. But what if you have more than one location in a city? Each location needs its own business page and its own posts. Even with the same cuisine offerings at each restaurant, each location is still likely to have its own “flavor,” depending on the audience it attracts. And of course, there may be varied hours from location to location, and menu specials may change from day to day, too. But that may seem like a lot of work!

Here’s my recommendation. Create a framework of stories around the food that you offer, the ingredients featured, the preparations, the “secret” sauces, the background of your cuisine, your choices for sourcing, etc. And then I would rotate through a series of posts across each restaurant in a different week, so that no two restaurants are posting the same stories each week. Make a monthly plan – create a series of stories that will be posted in Location 1 the first week, Location 2 the second week, etc. The next set of stories will start in Location 1 during week 2, and then round-robin around to other locations.

Flying Biscuit2Finally, look for ways to tell similar stories throughout the year in different formats – and different channels. One quarter might have a blog post on a particular dish you’re known for, next quarter features the same dish in here’s-how-we-make-it video form, another quarter might offer Instagram photos from customers enjoying the dish.

As always, bottom line is there are multiple stories to be told and many formats in which to tell them. 

Just starting out? My advice is to start with a strategy – set your goals – then create a calendar that features overall themes you want to touch on in your social media. Remember that as seasons change, your offerings may change as well, so there’s another opportunity for more stories!