I am honored to be speaking today at the North Carolina Specialty Foods Association.
This is an organization of small to mid-sized companies who gather to share best practices for selling high-quality specialty foods from barbecue sauce to burrata cheese. My friend Chris who is a member thought that my background was well suited to address this community of foodpreneurs. Members include companies that are startups to those who have been in business for a long time.
My conversation will be about ten simple lessons about building a brand.
The ten key topics I’ll discuss are:
- Why a brand needs to solve a problem.
- Why focus is critical for marketing success – for any size brand.
- Why you must narrowly define your target.
- Why being different is vital to owning a position in consumer’s mind.
- Why every business needs to get better at telling their story.
- Why you must understand that a brand is a promise you make to a consumer.
- Why pricing sends a signal to a consumer about your product’s quality.
- Why sampling is important not just for food and beverage products but for all brands.
- Why advertising is an unwanted interruption.
- Why knowing your WHY is a critical linchpin in your success.
If you can’t attend, you can watch a version of this presentation here. I gave this speech at the Triangle Marketing Club in February of 2016.
I wish that someone shared this type of seasoned advice with me in 1977 when my wife and I were building our own specialty food company Rachel’s Brownies. We were fortunate to have advisors who guided us and did provide a roadmap.
Best Advice
The single best advice we ever received was to never compromise on the quality of the product. The superior flavor, taste, texture and ingredients were always our best marketing tool. Word of mouth is far more powerful than clever advertising or marketing. Marketing a terrible product is a waste of time for the long-term. Quality is the secret ingredient in most food brand’s success.
But if everyone is using outstanding ingredients, you need more marketing tools in your toolkit to help you tell your story, differentiate your brand and create an emotional bond with customers.
Have you ever dreamed of starting a food business? Read this post about starting a specialty food business.
Looking for advice for your specialty foods business? Let’s talk and please bring samples. You can reach me at 919 720 0995 or via email at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com
