3 Simple Steps to Market Your New Food Product

How to Market a Food Product in 3 Simple Steps

Launching new products is exciting yet challenging. Whether you're selling coffee or protein bars, check out these tips on how to market a food product!

You've been tinkering with the perfect brine recipes for your own pickle line for a year. They've finally passed your inscrutable standards, and are ready to hit the shelves.

Or maybe you've leveled so many cups of rice flour perfecting your gluten-free cupcake recipe that you're starting to see the stuff in your dreams. Regardless, it's paid off; they're perfect.

Next step: your food product marketing plan to increase customer loyalty and get those pickles on the shelves. Still scratching your head over how to market a food product, though?

Read on for three simple food marketing steps that'll set your brand apart and sell your product!

How to Market a Food Product

Marketing a food product isn't always a piece of cake (pun intended). It requires careful strategy and tons of market research. The most clever way to market your food product is simply to do your homework.

1. Determine What Sets You Apart

First off, ask yourself how your product differs from the others on the shelves. Take a visit to the grocery store and note details about similar products.

Are they branded for special occasion uses or everyday enjoyment? Does the branding appeal to a certain type of consumer, like millennials or children?

After assessing similar products on the market, determine what makes yours special. This is the cornerstone of marketing food products toward the right audience, which is really how to market food products toward your buyers.

2. Gauge Brand Awareness

One of the key elements of marketing is branding, and branding is all about how the consumer perceives your product.

For instance, a major salt company once changed up it's branding so it was unrecognizable to its most loyal consumer base. Naturally, sales plummeted. The product didn't change at all, but key consumers simply couldn't find it anymore.

Gauging your brand awareness is about more than just your label, though. It's also about figuring out how consumers feel about the quality of your product.

Do a focus group to find out what consumers really think about your product. If they love that hint of cranberry in your holiday protein bar, there's your ace of spades when it comes to marketing it. If they think your product exudes elegance, that'll influence your branding and marketing decisions.

3. Harness the Power of Social Media

If you don't want to host a focus group for your product, simply use social media to get the answers you need. It's easier than ever in today's digital world.

Send a tweet out that asks a specific question you need to know the answer to for market research. Modern consumers love to see real, behind the scenes glimpses of companies, so they'll love your transparency.

Even better: offer them a free promotional item for their feedback. This'll not only create bonds of trust between your audience and you, but it'll help get your product out there, too.

Don't Go It Alone

Now that you know how to market a food product cleverly and strategically, you're probably ready to dive in and get your product out there. It can be a lot to take on with the stresses of running your own small-scale food business, though.

We can help. We can take care of all things marketing for you, so you can focus on the good stuff: perfecting your recipes. Get in touch to talk about how.