The Art of Food Marketing
Specializing in Food Marketing came naturally to our staff here at Bright Productions. Everyone dreams of finding a job where they can explore their passions and we are lucky enough to have that. Most of us came from some kind of food background before we got into marketing, so when we started landing specialty food clients, the original content came spilling out of us.
Writing and creating are the easy parts.
Coming up with recipe ideas and social media content for our clients is the easy part! I have been cooking most of my life. I started young, with my mother in the kitchen, teaching me our family recipes. Once I learned the basics of cooking, I started developing my own recipes.
So when a client comes to us and wants content, I’ve probably already thought of five different ways I want to use their product in a recipe. I’ve always been a writer too, so writing about food in an enticing way comes very natural to me.
Photography and competition are the hard parts.
Not everything about food marketing has been easy. One major challenge we faced when we first started marketing food was photography. I had taken a couple classes in college but I wasn’t particularly good at it. No one on our team considered themselves photographers either. When I look back on my first few attempts at food photography I cringe with embarrassment!
I still don’t consider myself a photographer, especially when I’m working with a “real” photographer on a big production. I realize I still have a lot to learn. But over the years I invested time in to teaching myself how to make food look good. Some shoots go better than others but I am proud of the photos I’ve taken and proud of the skills I have passed on to other staff members. When I watch their photography improve I just beam!
Another challenge we face everyday is competition. Not only are we competing with our clients’ competition, but we’re competing for eyeballs online. There are so many companies fighting for your attention online and everyone is doing their best to create content they think you will be more interested in. We’re competing with food brands and competing with every other company in the world that wants you to follow and engage with them.
How we’ve adapted to the ever-changing world of social media…
The photography industry has changed a lot since the birth of social media. It seems like everyone with a smartphone is a social media photographer these days and it’s becoming more challenging to tell the difference between a highly stylized production and a quick iPhone shot. We have had to adapt over the years and understand that there’s a time and a place for every kind of photography and photographer.
We pride ourselves in working with the best of the best for large projects and we’re also proud of the spontaneous picture for our clients’ Instagram story. But what good is a beautiful picture if no one sees it. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the disappointment of capturing a beautiful image and posting it, only to receive a few likes and comment from that one weird uncle that comments on everything!
For brands, it is essential to find a balance between organic engagement and the “pay to play” world we live in. If you’re an orange juice company, you’re competing with every other juice company on social media. In today’s social media marketing world, you HAVE to pay to see results. On the other hand, you don’t want to just buy followers and see no real engagement. Your content has to be great! So great that people want to share it with their audience.
Boutique is better!
Bright Productions considers itself a boutique marketing agency. We’re small. We have a small staff and we operate much like a family business. Because of this, we are able to produce content quickly and take risks. If I have a spark of inspiration, I can say to my team, “What if we added horseradish to a caesar dressing and then top it with bacon?!” If the idea is well received, I’m off to the test kitchen that afternoon and possibly taking photos that day as well.
In conclusion, we get to talk about food, write about food, cook food, and style food all day long and we feel like the luckiest marketing agency in the world to have found our niche! If you have questions about the specialty food industry or are looking for a team to improve your online presence, send us an email at info@bpwebsearchsocial.com.