The food and beverage industry is expected to grow by 10% annually, hitting $10 trillion by 2026! This prediction shows a very bright future for the food and beverage industry. However, it also indicates a possibility of tough competition. The market potential is there; now it’s up to the players to grab their piece of the pie.
To stand out, having great products and service is not enough. You need to come up with creative marketing ideas so that more consumers are aware of what you have to offer.
In this blog post, we’ll explore:
- What are the objectives of food and beverage marketing?
- 8 effective marketing ideas
- Food marketing examples from well-known brands
What are the objectives of F&B marketing?
Effective food and beverage marketing creates brand awareness, generates demand, and fosters customer loyalty to achieve long-term success in a rather competitive sector.
- Creating brand awareness. You can increase awareness around your products or services through various channels, such as your website, social media channels, traditional advertising, and word-of-mouth communication.
- Generating demand. The ways to drive demand include educating potential customers on your product’s supply chain, quality, taste, and value.
- Fostering customer loyalty. Ultimately, effective food and drink marketing will turn customers into brand advocates by nurturing relationships, encouraging repeat visitors, and rewarding loyalty.
8 Food and beverage marketing ideas
Before we explore marketing ideas, one important factor to note is your reviews. You should periodically check up on your reviews. 91% of users say that positive reviews make them more likely to buy the product. Respond to negative reviews and look for ways to improve.
Ready for some exciting ways to market your brand? Here are 8 marketing ideas for the food and beverage industry:
1. Social media
Social media can be a quick and effective way to reach and interact with your customers. Moreover, it is a great channel to boost your food and beverage branding.
Across all social media platforms, food and beverage brands are mentioned 32% of the time against other industries.
You can add in some gamification elements to entertain your audience. Game elements are a crowd pleaser and can easily boost post shareability. The more people share your post, the more awareness will be created for your brand.
Here’s one example by Barry Callebaut, and how one of their brands used a Spot The Difference Game with a scratch card at the end for the audience to win prizes.
2. Blogs
79% of consumers trust food blogs. 84% of consumers decide to purchase after reading about the product or service in a blog.
You can partner with bloggers to tap into their follower base and gain more visibility. Offer the blogger a free meal and feel free to throw in any extras, in return for a blog write up about your product or service.
3. Interactive Infographics
Bring your audience on a journey to discover what you have in store for them. Unlike a normal static visual, an Interactive Infographic allows the user to actively participate and engage with the content. They can click to view more, or to select a certain category and see more options. You can also add games for some extra fun!
Here’s an example of a List-Based Infographic template that you can customize to entertain while educating your audience about the products you have.
4. Interactive Menus for restaurants
Menus with delicious pictures is a definite plus point. It helps the consumer visualize what they are ordering and helps them make a choice.
Add some “seasoning” to your menu by making it interactive! An Interactive Menu would have pop–ups, questions, and even a Menu Finder to help your customers decide what to order.
Below is an example of an Interactive Menu and how a Food Finder can help you guide your customers for the perfect meal.
Related: What are Interactive Contents?
5. Product Catalogs for F&B Suppliers
Level up your game. Create a catalog that can help your customers to easily navigate and find the right menu based on their preference. Once selected, they can proceed to order directly form the catalog.
When the ordering process is simple, you increase your probability of getting more orders. Click below to view the template of a Food Product Catalog.
6. Interactive Website/ Landing Page
87% of consumers perform their product searches online. Having a website would help consumers find you and understand your offerings better.
Entice your audience with an attractive landing page. Bring their attention to certain images or points that you would like to highlight by using an Interactive Landing Page, like this Trend Report for Foods template below:
7. Behind-the-scenes
81% of customers want to know more about how the food is prepared and to explore “behind the scenes footage.”
Bring them on a Virtual Tour into your kitchen to see the chef in action! Use this Interactive Virtual Showroom template that allows the user to move around your kitchen, answer some quiz questions, and even spin the wheel to win a free side dish!
8. Food subscriptions
Do you prepare weekly or monthly meals for your customers? If you do, this Food Subscription Calculator would do you wonders by helping your customers through the ordering process!
From their selection, they would be able to view the options available and select the package that suits them. Our built-in calculator would be able to save your time in attempting to calculate each enquiry you receive. By using this template, just sit back and let the orders flow in!
2 Amazing food marketing examples
Let’s see some Interactive Content ideas in action.
Barry Callebaut
Callebaut, always seeking to inspire customers with innovative chocolate creations, developed the Chookie—a fresh concept. To enhance engagement and create awareness around this novel idea, Callebaut partnered with Dot.vu, resulting in an outstanding solution: an Interactive Video.
Read more about the Build a Chookie experience to get inspired.
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa, during the launch of their new decoration brand, implemented a spot-the-difference game across their website and social media channels. By challenging participants to identify five differences in product images, they successfully entertained and educated customers. Completing the game allowed customers to scratch a card for an instant chance to win prizes, while sharing their results on social media, creating a buzz around the Mona Lisa brand and encouraging others to engage and test their luck.
Read more about the Spot the Difference game to get inspired.
Time to flame up your food and beverage marketing game!
A large group of your potential customers are out there. Interactive Content is a great way to reach out and excite your audience. Studies show that interactive content is able to effectively generate conversions at least 70% of the time. Add in games with free sides or redeemable rewards to bring customers to you.
Create a free account and explore Dot.vu’s hundreds of customizable templates. It’s very user-friendly and customizable with drag-and-drop functions.
Each template is an idea that can make your audiences’ mouths water – even before they reach your doorstep!
