Food and Beverage PR Pros Shares Tips For Introducing New Food Product

Food retail industry represents a $2.5 trillion industry with consumers making 1.5 trips per week to a grocery store.  Although there are many online food retailers offering home delivery services, many consumers still prefer to buy their food at the grocery store.

With so many food products on the market, our savvy food and beverage public relations professionals stays abreast of emerging trends to make a new product and an establish food item timely and topical for journalists.  Our team often shares our recipe for success to enable food clients to help them break through the clutter and stand out in this competitive and lucrative food industry.

Media Relations
Media relations, a cost-effective marketing tool, can generate brand and consumer awareness for new and established food products.  A credible third-party editorial story can do wonders to put the food product on the map and to stimulate sales.

Product samples are important for inspiring leading food and lifestyle print, broadcast reporters and bloggers to conduct taste tests and then feature the food item in the news.  High resolution photography also enhances our efforts to secure product placements for the new and established products.

Depending on our clients’ budgets, our team also highly recommends MAT releases, also known as camera ready articles, distributed to newspapers across the country.

Desk-Side Appointments/Media Tours
Our food and lifestyle public relations team truly believes one-on-one desk-side meetings with reporters in their office or for coffee or tea are another invaluable method to educate food and lifestyle journalists about the new product.

While New York City is the media capital of the world, it is also a good idea to travel with your client to other key media markets such as Boston, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to meet first-hand with reporters to introduce the new food product, as well as update them about product extensions with existing brands.
 
Chef Brand Ambassadors
Chefs are natural brand ambassadors to educate the general public about a new or an established food product.  Chefs often create innovative, easy to follow recipes for the general public to duplicate at home. It is also another cost effective way to secure credible third-party stories in major media outlets and ultimately stimulate product sales. 

If there is a health aspect to the food products, chefs can extol the benefits of incorporating these products into your diet.

In-Store Promotions
Food tastings or samplings are important for consumers to taste the new product and even gather fliers and promotional items.

It is important to have energetic and upbeat brand ambassadors for these in-store promotions because they are your company’s first point of contact for sparking consumers’ interest for the new food product.

Coupons are very good incentive to provide the general public with a limited time offer and a discount for purchasing the new product.

Trade Shows
The International Fancy Food Show, the largest food and beverage specialty show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City,  present endless opportunities to make connections with food distributors who can introduce your new product to specialty and established food retail chains across the country.

Our food and beverage public relations professionals always encourage our clients to secure a booth at well-known food trade shows – 1) to meet new customers and food distributors and 2) to offer tasting opportunities for the general public.

Cause-Related Marketing
Food-oriented charities such as Share our Strength, Food Bank and Feeding America (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest) represent excellent opportunities to position for a food company as a good corporate citizen doing its part to provide solutions for hunger relief.

It can be simple tactic such as when a customer buys a food product, then a percentage of sales will be donated to support a food-oriented charity.

Guerilla Marketing
Depending on our clients budgets, it always help to have a guerilla marketing team strategically located at high traffic areas during the morning and evening rush hour to physically place the new food item in the hands of potential customers.

Everyone loves a freebie. 

And, the brand ambassadors you place on the street are key getting your potential customer to try a product.

Social Media Outreach
It is important for food companies post frequently on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to inform loyal fans about new coupons, upcoming promotions, limited time offers, new products rolling out across the country.

Our boutique food and beverage public relations agency can help food marketers introduce a new product and capture your share of wealth in this food industry.
We are here to help.  Give us a call.

We are here to help.  Give us a call.

Source:  Statista

---