Food Business Marketing 1-2-3

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Tips for advertising and marketing your food product business.

The survival of your business depends on it's customers. It's important to have a marketing plan and budget in place before you start your foor business so that you don't end up losing money and wasting a lot of time.

Whether you're selling packaged food products to retail stores or specialty gourmet food, gift food items or pre-made meals directly to consumers, either online or offline etc.. you can generally use many of the same marketing techniques listed below.

Placing ads in your neighborhood yellow pages and local newspaper is a starting point. You can also get creative in your advertising strategies, which can mean lower marketing costs and reaching a more targeted market. The more different marketing methods you use, the greater exposure you'll have, which can bring your more customers for your food products.

Keep in mind that marketing a food business is ongoing, but it's a good idea to focus much of your effort when you first launch your food company so that you can start a client base, from which you can obtain referrals and repeat business. Investing more money wisely up front can mean that you will not have to spend as much money or time on advertising in the future.

Business Cards, Free
Yes, you can hand out business cards so that people have your contact information, but you can include much more information on them to essentially promote your food products like an ad would. You can design your own business cards online - and get simple tips for increasing your sales.

See also: 30-50% off postcards and brochures. Design your own marketing materials online using professional templates. Designs provided, printing done for you.

Get Free Publicity
Write a short and simple press release or "letter" to your local paper announcing the grand opening of your new company - or (if your business is not new) an event that you will be hosting (like a drawing for a prize, a workshop you are hosting or event you are sponsoring).

Your press release can be short and simple, and you can find press release samples you can follow on this page: How to Get Free Press

Advertise with Coupons
Customers love saving money with coupons, so it can be a very effective way to bring positive attention to your cooking or food product business. Even coupons that are not redeemed give you publicity in newspapers, magazines, online or in neighborhood coupon mailers. More information: Advertise with Coupons


100 Postcards from $1.99 | Postcard Marketing
You can send a more targeted or specific message to prospective clients by using postcards. You can save money by using online services for qualified customer leads, postcard design and printing.

First, decide on a special introductory offer or discount. Second, design your postcards online using professional postcard templates with VistaPrint (you can get 50% off here). And third, get targeted leads through a lead generation network (where you can compare several lead providers to get the best price) like Resource Nation.

Custom Car Door Magnets
Easy online tools let you design your own car magnet for cheap, and then you can basically get free advertising whenever you drive around or park your car in a public place. Make it clear and easy to read by using large print and not too much text. Images work well only if they help communicate your business service.

Set up a Website
Whether you sell your specialty food items in a store or online, a website can help build your business simply by providing more information and answering questions for customers. People may want to know ingredients, cost, packing (for gift items), where they can buy, etc.. You can save money by creating your own website with simple online design programs, or outsource the job. Build a Website

Local Search
More and more people are looking for local businesses online (instead of the traditional yellow pages) - and you don't want to miss out on this market. Local Search sources that are affordable and receive substantial traffic include: Google Local, Local.com, Yelp and Super Pages.

See Also: Business.com for a $100 free advertising credit.

Advertise on Facebook
Facebook is growing fast in popularity, and they've made it really easy to advertise on the site. You can pay-per-click or pay-per-impression. Either way, you have the ability to target your ads to a very narrow market, using their ad filters. For example, you can filter by location, age, gender, education, interests and more. This way, you're not wasting your ad dollars advertising to the wrong market.

Advertise on MySpace
Get a $50 advertising credit now when you use coupon code: MYCJ.

 

Work with a Marketing Strategist
If you would rather pay someone to do your marketing for you, Bourn Creative can handle all of your online and offline marketing tasks. They can launch a complete campaign for you, design your logo, build a website and help you create your brand.

Bourn Creative is an award-winning marketing and design firm that does big business, but treat clients like friends. The company is headed by Marketing Strategist Jennifer Bourn. Get a complimentary Strategy Session for your business.

 

You can also get free quotes from multiple providers in the marketing service that you want:
Online Marketing | Telemarketing | Lead Generation | Search Engine Optimization