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October 12, 2023 - By Hawke Media

5 Ways to Establish Your Food & Beverage Brand for Online Success

The food and beverage industry faces unique challenges with mounting manufacturing and regulatory constraints. Shipping can be a challenge in and of itself for products that are heavy, frozen, or have short shelf lives.

Despite these woes, the food and beverage industry is expected to generate $76 billion in revenue this year with 15-20% of global sales expected to be completely online by 2025.

Are you ready for this shift?

Here are some tried and true ways to build an online presence that leaves a lasting impact for your customers and bottom line.

# 1) Increase trust with reviews

  • Customer reviews are an integral part of online business and your website needs be optimized to have this capability.
  • Not only do 91% of consumers say that positive reviews make them more likely to buy the product but 76% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from their friends and family. (Source: BrightLocal)
  • Of course getting bad reviews is inevitable, but you can use them to your advantage by responding directly in a solution oriented manner. This can build trust with customers and reverse their sentiment. 
  • Yes, review management can be time consuming. We recommend vetted platforms like Yotpo and Trustpilot that can integrate seamlessly with your eCommerce store to help collect and easily manage customer reviews.

Source: Digital Silk

#2) Have a blog

  • Having a blog as part of your website creates a deeper connection with customers and helps them get to know your brand at little cost to you.
  • Blog articles make great content to repurpose through other platforms (Facebook, Pinterest, email, etc.) to draw customers to your website driven by their interest in your content.
  • For example, many people want to know where their food is sourced and how it’s prepared. Creating content around organic, vegan and sustainably sourced food and drinks is a great way to establish trust and earn thought leadership in the space. From there, your website can be optimized to turn like-minded visitors to your blog into consumers of your product.
  • You must make sure your articles, blogs, listicles and recipes are all SEO optimized so you can drive organic traffic as well. Having a repository of content on your site can drive 3 times the leads per dollars spent on paid search.

Source:

(Content Marketing Institute)

# 3) Offer a subscription model

  • Subscription models are a great way to scale your business with predictable, repeat revenue. There’s also ample opportunity to earn more through upsells and cross promotions.
  • Without subscriptions, you must constantly attract, delight and convert new customers or count on existing customers to come back in order to earn revenue.
  • In order to attract repeat buyers, you’ll need to focus on strengthening the customer relationship to secure that repeat revenue (with things like positive reviews, blogs, etc.)

Source: Fusebill

#4) Get on Amazon, the right way

  • 55% of global product searches start on Amazon so you need to be there.  With that amount of consumer traffic and volume, Amazon is an extremely competitive market place.  If you are a seller on Amazon’s platform you need to make sure you’re doing it right. 
  • Optimizing your Amazon presence starts with high quality product photography and videography.  Customers trust quality images and want to see detail.
  • Brands can further stand out from the crowd by having a Storefront with Enhanced Branded content.
  • All products must have SEO optimized titles and keywords weaved throughout the product description to drive as much organic traffic as possible.
  • Having a simple review strategy can also increase conversions by 4% and help you climb Amazons organic rankings.
  • Paid advertising can help drive thousands of potential buyers to your Storefront and product pages to help your brand scale. 
  • Amazon also has a built in subscription service that you can apply for to maintain long-time customers.

#5) Leverage Social Media Influencer Partnerships

Collaborating with social media influencers is a powerful strategy for the food and beverage industry. Influencers with a strong following on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube can significantly boost brand visibility and credibility. By partnering with influencers who align with the brand’s values and target audience, businesses can create authentic and engaging content that resonates with potential customers. This approach is particularly effective for reaching younger demographics and can be more cost-effective than traditional advertising. It also allows for creative marketing campaigns, such as influencer-led recipe videos, unboxing experiences, or behind-the-scenes tours of sustainable sourcing practices. Engaging with influencers for product launches, reviews, and live interactions can greatly enhance online presence and customer engagement in today’s digital landscape.

This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of the ways a brand in the food & beverage/CPG category can establish its online presence. For more, keep following or reach out to Hawke Media by filling out the form below to get a free consultation.