8 Essential Marketing Strategies for Food and Beverage Business

Food is an essential part of our lives. It is impossible to imagine our world without food. Which brings a lot of opportunity to the people in the food and beverage industry. Food is being sold and purchased since time known to man. Through what was called as “inn”.

Over the time, hotels and restaurants have evolved the way they operate. And so has its marketing strategies.

Initially, food and beverages were marketed through display ads. In ancient Greece and Rome, retailers carved or painted their ads on a building or large rock nearby a path. Later, the industry occupied a huge slot in the television for advertisements. And today, we have a plethora of mediums to promote your brand in the market.

In this article, we are going to talk about all the different types of marketing mediums and strategies to promote your business.

But before that, if you are looking to boost the revenue of your business, make sure you entice your customers with your food. Provide food that excite your customer’s taste buds, because how your food tastes will determine the future of your business. The presentation and pricing of the food also matter; however, it is not going to help your business grow without good taste.

Alrighty! Let’s discuss the 8 tried and tested marketing strategies for food and beverage business.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a classical technique for promoting your brand, it has proven to be effective across various industries.

You can use email marketing’s efficiency to your benefit. You can build your own email list by collecting the email addresses of the people that visit your restaurant.

Start an email marketing campaign, where you send relevant emails over a period in regular intervals. Keep your customers engaged by informing them about exciting seasonal offers, new products or dishes, discount coupons.

Email marketing can be a boon to your business, when you choose the right frequency to send out your emails. Too many emails might annoy your customer. Hence choose the right frequency.

Social Media Marketing

Did you know that around 57% of global population is on social media?

And around 3/4^th of the US population is on social media.

With such a huge user base across countries, it is preposterous to not create your business’s social media page.

Companies like Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, Chobani, Sour patch, KFC, Domino’s are taking ‘promoting the brand through social media’ very seriously. And guess what? It is successfully creating the buzz about these brands.

Posts go viral, people watch, and boom! People are aware of your brand.

Leverage Food Blogging

Food blogging is a massive hit!

People from all around the world like to read a detailed review about your restaurant. So, why not leverage this situation to your advantage. Team up with prominent food bloggers from your locality, it is a great opportunity to endorse your brand to their audience.

Also, publishing blogs on your website is a great way to give your SEO strategies the boost it requires. Additionally, well written blogs help your website rank better on search engines.

Partner With Established Brands

Partnering with already established brands will help you promote your brand in their guise. Companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola do this all the time, these beverage companies have successfully partnered up with major brands like KFC, McDonald’s, Domino’s, etc.

The secret is to highlight their products in your marketing campaigns. Affiliating your brand with other brands that are already popular will give their customers the confidence to accept your offering.

Another successful way to promote your brand by teaming up is onboarding your restaurant on a third-party food delivery service. Especially during this pandemic, food delivery companies like uber eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, etc. are playing a vital role in driving revenue to restaurants.

Reconstruct your Brand Image

This is a strategy that involves a lot of creativity. Global brands revamp their brand image regularly to stay relevant to the current trends.

Brands re-invent their image by changing their logo (or at least the colour of it), get creative with their advertising campaigns, change the packaging of the product to match the current generation, including creative designs and graphics to grab customer’s attention.

Prefer Appealing Package for Your Food

The food that comes in a good package leaves an everlasting impact on your customers. Judging a product by its packaging is a human tendency. Therefore, make your product packaging visually appealing, place your logo or brand name on the packaging.

Moreover, even a discarded food package lying in garbage after use sometimes grab people’s attention, making them aware of your brand.

Event hosting

Hosting events at your restaurant or café is another great way of luring your customers. You can organize food festivals, or host events on valentine’s day to attract couples.

Also, you can offer your potential customers to host their birthdays, wedding parties, and any other occasion of significance. People attending the party will become aware of your brand and your hospitality when they are to visit your restaurant.

Remember, word of mouth is still one of the most successful ways of marketing. people who have had great experience at your restaurant are more likely to suggest you to their friends and family.

Pay attention to the Feedback

An effective marketing technique masquerading in the name of feedback. Just like we mentioned above, word of mouth is a great of way of marketing. Provide your customers the best experience they have ever had. Let their taste buds savour the best of your dishes.

And when they write a review about you online, it is going to influence the purchase decision of your new customers. So, monitor your customer’s feedback closely and rectify the problems your customers face.

Wrapping up…

Understanding the interests and behaviour of your customers is the key to program a successful marketing campaign. There is an ocean of opportunities for the people in food and beverage industry, as the industry is expected to grow to USD 7,525.7 Billion by 2023. Considering the massive potential of the industry, you can effectively promote your brand through these essential marketing strategies.