There are many ways on how to promote a food business. However, not all of them are effective and some of them may even cost you a lot of money without getting a good return on investment (ROI). This is why, in this article, we will give you 7 effective ways on how to promote a food business so that you can reach more customers and increase your revenue.
Food Business Marketing Ideas
We arranged the ideas below in a way that is logical and impactful to your business. However, you may wish to try any marketing strategy in the list based on the skills and resources that you have.
- Utilize Facebook to reach more people
- Create a Google My Business so that people near your store will know you exist
- Use Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)
- Attract new customers with mouthwatering photos using Instagram
- Be a Foodpanda Merchant or GrabFood Merchant
- Collect mobiles numbers
- Create a website
1. Utilize Facebook to reach more people
You may be wondering why we recommend using Facebook as the first strategy. Our reason is very simple. When you promote your food business, your customers want something visible and something that they can go back to when they decided to make a purchase. Facebook is the easiest and fastest way to do this. Setting up a Facebook account for your food business will enable you to show your products to potential customers. Instead of sending them pictures of what you are selling, send them to your Facebook page instead.
Why is Facebook marketing effective in the Philippines? The Philippines is the social capital of the world and data from Statista states that the Philippines have 80 million users as of July 2020. With this in mind, there is no doubt that many Filipinos are using Facebook. The question is, how do we use Facebook for promoting a food business? Luckily, there are many ways to do that but some may even require that you spend money. Here are some ideas to name a few:
- Post images of the food that you serve – posting mouthwatering photos of the foods that you offer is a very effective way to create food cravings. You know it because it probably worked on you too! The key here is that your photos should be clear and appealing to customers.
- Encourage repeat orders – A satisfied customer will surely buy from you again. This means that you’ll know if your business is growing if your repeat orders are increasing. In Facebook, you can encourage repeat orders buy giving your customers exclusive deals. Starbucks is very popular with this kind of promotion where customers can collect star stickers every time they buy from Starbucks. Upon collecting a certain number of stickers, these stickers can be used to redeem a planner.
- Post some awesome facts about the dishes that you serve – Did you know that eating oysters can help you last longer in bed? Well, I don’t know if that’s a fact but its interesting to know if it is. What is interesting is that that’s an example of some awesome facts that you can share to your customers if you are selling oysters. This strategy is very effective because engagement using this type of content is usually high.
- Use Facebook ads – this is the fastest way to reach potential customers in your preferred locations however, it comes with a cost. Facebook ads does not require that a Facebook user liked your page before they can see your post. You can set the criteria on who you want to show these ads to. You can start running Facebooks ads for as low as 50 Pesos a day. When running Facebook ads, start with a small budget first and learn what targetting method works for you. This way, you will be able to minimize risk and maximize return on ad spend.
There are many other ways to promote your food business using Facebook but this strategy will never work if you have no Facebook likes or followers. Be sure to have a strategy for increase your Facebook likes because only those who follow or like your page can see your post and other activities. You can invite your friends and relatives to easily increase your Facebook likes.
2. Create a Google My Business so that people near your store will know you exist
Did you know that there is a monthly average of 33,910 searches on Google that is related to “coffee shops near me”? The most interesting part however is that this increased by 65% in the last 12 months. If you don’t have a Google My Business (GMB) account set up for your food business, it is impossible for these people searching for your products to reach you. Whatever your food business is, it is important to have a GMB account so that you don’t miss high-potential paying customers.
Below is what a sample GMB listing from Army Navy looks like. Notice that they have more than 200+ reviews which suggest that thousands of customers already ordered from them.
If you are interested in setting up a Google My Business account, you may refer to these guidelines provided by Google.
3. Use Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family compared to other types of advertising. Nowadays, recommendations can be done virtually via social media, emails, and SMS. There are two ways to use WOMM, Organic WOM, and Amplified WOM.
- Organic Word of Mouth is when people naturally promote your product. This is very common in food businesses that have Instagram-ready servings.
- Amplified Word of Mouth is when marketers use campaigns to accelerate the effect of this strategy. This is so effective that is why big companies hire popular celebrities to endorse their products.
4. Attract new customers with mouthwatering photos on Instagram
Chocoberry MNL is one of the food businesses that we know has an effective Instagram strategy. They are famous for their chocolate-covered strawberries. They are very successful in such a way that you need to order 2 or 3 weeks in advance so that they can accommodate your order. They attract new customers using their Instagram account and they send their customers to their website where they take their orders.
Why should you use Instagram?
- Instagram is the second larget social media network with over 1 billion users as of this writing.
- Engagement with brands is 10 times higher than on Facebook
- You can promote your website on your IG account
- Hashtags and Stories can increase your brands visibility
5. Be a Foodpanda Merchant and/or GrabFood Merchant
There is no better way to sell your food than to sell it to people who are ready to place an order. Foodpanda and GrabFood are among the popular food delivery service available in the Philippines. With Foodpanda having 50 million app downloads, and Grab having 100+ million app downloads, there is no doubt that you can use this strategy effectively.
Advantages of using food delivery service
- People who uses the app has the intent of placing an order
- Reach customers near your location
- No need to worry on logistics
If you are interested in this strategy, you can learn more about this by reading these guides below:
1. How to be a Foodpanda Merchant/(Foodpanda Seller)
2. How to be a GrabFood Merchant/(GrabFood Seller)
6. Use SMS to encourage repeat orders
In Bulacan, there is a meat shop that collects the mobile numbers of their customers and registers it into their system. You will earn points by showing your mobile number to them every time your purchase from them. Sometimes, you will receive promos that they sent via SMS. You can also do this using a Facebook page. Every time someone placed an order, you may ask for your customer’s mobile number and register them into your system.
7. Create a website
About 81% of people do an online search for a product or service. Having a website can increase your brand discoverability because it allows your food business to appear in Google search results. Aside from Google, you can also use other marketing channels to drive traffic to your website. You can use Facebook, Instagram, SMS, and email to send traffic to your website.
6 Reasons why you should have a website
- Increase brand credibility
- Increase brand awareness
- Your website can sell products directly to customers and accept payments
- You can track marketing strategies that are effective using a tool called Google Analytics
- You can collect phone numbers/emails and send them promotions
- You can send push notifications directly to their mobile phones and inform them about your latest deals.
Despite having so many benefits, we put this strategy as the last strategy because it requires a lot of resources to accomplish. You will need to pay for a web host, domain name and hire freelancers if you don’t know how to create a website.
Conclusion: There are many strategies out there on how to promote a food business. When selecting a strategy, you should consider the amount of time that you need to dedicate, the amount of risk, and the impact of the strategy. Maintaining a balance between these factors will increase your chance of succeeding with these strategies. We recommend that you study each strategy and pick 1 until you master it.
