The food and beverage industry is thriving globally, and more products are being released than ever before. For consumers it’s fantastic news as they are spoilt for choice, but for brands in the FMCG space it makes it more difficult to stand out from the crowd and gain market share when there are so many competitors vying for the same customers.
So now that we’ve touched on what Food & Beverage PR is at its core, let’s delve into why FMCG brands should explore it. There are numerous reasons, but let’s kick off with the most crucial ones:
- It’s effective for all brands, not just household brand names.
No matter what your budget is, there is a PR strategy that can work for you. Many emerging FMCG brands shy away from PR campaigns because they fear they can’t compete with the budgets of larger brands, but this simply isn’t the case. If this is you, please get in touch to chat more about the best strategy for your particular product.
- It helps to build brand awareness, in an organic way.
When a product first launches, building awareness for it is key. Gone are the days where buying an ad in a magazine will suffice in spreading the word about a new product, and there needs to be a robust strategy to achieve this.
One of the fastest ways to build brand awareness in an organic way is a Food and Beverage PR campaign that focuses on seeding the new product with relevant media and influencers prior to the official launch date, so that once it is available to the public, there are reviews, articles, and social media traction around the product. Creating this buzz from the get-go helps to get people talking about the product.
A key element in this strategy is knowing which media and influencers to engage with to create the maximum impact. To help guide you on this, we’ve put together our tips and tricks on how to do that here.
- It helps drive sales, and keeps the product top of mind for buyers.
Ultimately sales are the number one goal for many brands, so whilst brand awareness is important, it’s essential that it converts into dollars. Having numerous touch points where people will see the product, for example, a review in the newspaper, and then again on their social media feeds, helps keep it top of mind when they are purchasing and increases their chances of buying it.
This is another reason why having a robust Food and Beverage Public Relations campaign is an effective strategy, because it ensures numerous activities are happening at once to build momentum and drive sales. It’s important to keep in mind though, that there are other vital metrics to track in order to measure success, including website traffic, SEO ranking for key words relevant to your product, and share of voice against your key competitors. To find out more about how we measure success at Agent99 above and beyond media clippings to ensure our campaigns really move the dial, click here.
- PR support makes the product more appealing to retailers and increases stockists.
With the retail landscape smaller in Australia than many other markets, having food and beverage products stocked at major retailers plays a large role in driving sales. Gaining listings with a retailer is one thing, but then there’s a whole different strategy that needs to be developed to ensure the product sells so the retailer continues to stock it. One element that consistently delivers, no matter what stage you are in promoting your food and beverage product, is PR.
Being able to showcase that you are promoting the product in the media, with influencers, and through strategic brand partnerships is a huge selling point for retailers. It gives them peace of mind that you are helping them sell the stock, and that you are investing in ensuring customers choose that particular product from the shelf over other brands.
While a Food and Beverage PR campaign may seem like a substantial investment, when you take into account the results it achieves and the doors it can help open with retailers/stockists, we truly believe in the value it delivers. But don’t just take our word for it, our campaign with Buderim Ginger not only drove widespread sampling and garnered national media attention, but it also helped increase their distribution across Australia in Coles and Woolworths. Read the full case study here.
Over the coming weeks we’ll take you through the best time to launch new products, the restrictions/legalities associated with promoting certain sectors within the FMCG realm, and more of our tips and tricks to executing a successful Food and Beverage PR campaign.
In the meantime, if you’d like to speak more with us about the benefits of Food and Beverage PR campaigns, please get in touch with us on info@agent99pr.com.
Agent Nic
