Before the days of mobile phones and social media, independent food businesses were heavily reliant on word-of-mouth buzz, newspaper and magazine reviews and in-store traffic.
The situation is different in today’s digital age. Before customers purchase food products, they go on the web, access the information they need and make a decision. One study published in Pymnts revealed that 88 percent of consumers research online before buying.
The competition in the online food world, however, is stiff. If you’re selling healthy meals for families, for instance, you need to market your food business effectively to stand out from your competitors and reach your intended audience.
Here are five tactics to get more customers to visit your website and buy your food products:
Having a website isn’t enough. You need to make sure that potential customers find you when they search for food businesses near their area. Get a reliable SEO company to do local optimization for you.
By doing so, your agency will expertly publish content about your locale (while mentioning your brand, city and neighborhood). What’s more, they’ll get your food business listed on as many local directories as possible. These local SEO strategies will help your food establishment become more visible to local online searchers.
The blog page of your business website is incredibly valuable. Cooking tutorials and food blogs are highly popular on the web. You could draw up a large base of customers if you could make your blog page a great food resource site. Even if you’re not marketing the products directly, some of your visitors may turn customers when they click around or navigate to other parts of your website. By using your food products on your blog, you could convert hungry observers into paying and satisfied customers.
The blog posts you publish should be valuable to your readers. Even if your business doesn’t have the resources or means to produce a high-quality meal prep or cooking video, you could at least explain how you prepare the products you need through text and pictures. If your business, for example, is selling low carb pasta dishes, you could show the ingredients along with the appliances you usein making the pasta and the sauce.
Picture quality is important when you’re making a blog. Stellar food images grab your reader’s attention when they scroll and convince them check out the accompanying text. Make sure the images you upload on your blog are as aesthetically pleasing as possible for your readers.
Remember to update your blog regularly with valuable and interesting content. Your blog posts will help you rise in the search rankings and drive more customers to your online food business.
Influencers with a huge following on social media can effectively advertise your business by trying out your food products. Some are open to getting free samples from food businesses for tasting or review.
Consider asking influencers to review the dishes or food products of your business. Some influencers may require you to shell out cash for a sponsored or promoted post on their blog, YouTube channel or other social networking platforms. Paying up may be worth it if the audience of your influencer has a wealth of overlap with your target market.
If you don’t have the budget for it, you could send out delicious food care packages and hope that they’ll accept it as a form of payment. Whatever route you choose, just make sure you vet your influencers thoroughly before working with them. ;
Don’t just rely on influencers. Use social media platforms that are best suited to promote your product. Take note that food is visual. As the saying goes, you “eat” with your eyes first. When marketing your food business, use social media channels that enable you to visually curate your brand. A couple of examples are Pinterest and Instagram. Share photos of visually attractive snacks, dishes and other food products on your chosen social networking platforms.
The success of your food business depends on how much your consumers love your products. When you have customers ordering a product on your website, encourage them to leave a review. Then, use customer feedback to promote your business. You’ll enjoy a better reputation online when you receive lots of positive reviews.
Promote your food business to your intended audience according to the times. But adjust these strategies at any time by directing your resources to tactics that work for your unique business.
