Where do you find inspiration? Today on the Real Food Brands Podcast, host Katie Mleziva walks us through what she does when she or her food and beverage company clients need to find new insights and innovations.
Ideas sometimes come when you least expect them, and when you lets your brain rest that is often when inspiration strikes! In fact, in the podcast Katie shares that she even keeps a notepad by her bed to write things down that come to her just as she lays down to sleep.
And while letting your brain rest is a great way to allow those random insights come to you, there are also other ways to find those opportunities and ideas. “The way I like to reconcile this,” Katie says, “is that all day long I’m looking for ways to make things better, optimize, and do things differently, but I always like to carve out a little bit of time to process.”
A big part of that is making sure you get out of your office or production facility and into the world. It’s hard to be creative and innovative when you’re surrounded by the same thing day-in and day-out. Instead, get out there and draw inspiration from new places!
1. When traveling, visit a few local grocery stores.
With so many local and regional food and beverage brands out there, any time you’re traveling is an opportunity to come across new flavor trends, new packaging innovations, or differences in in-store displays. Chain stores tend to be a little more consistent, so Katie recommends making a beeline for local natural food stores.
2. Go into other aisles of the store.
Looking outside of your category can be a great way to come across new ideas for your product. Think about your ideal audience and what they’d buy a product based on their needs, then look through the store to see what other brands are doing to solve those needs. You may even identify a new usage idea for your product or collaboration opportunity for your brand.
3. Leave the grocery store.
Staying in the mindset of your ideal customer, try to think of other stores they might want to go to and take a visit. What are other brands they love outside of food and beverage doing with packaging and messaging to deepen their relationship with your audience?
4. What is your audience DIYing?
In the recent Expo West episode, Katie explained how she would mix extra strong green tea with sparkling water to wean herself off of caffeinated soda. While it worked great, it was a real pain to make on a regular basis. Listening in on blog posts, social media, and conversations can help you find problems your audience is trying to solve themselves.
5. Ask kids.
Kids are one of the best audience to focus group. They’re honest, less self-conscious, and sometimes downright whacky. If your ideal consumer is a mom, you need to be talking to the number one influencer in her life.
6. Alternative retail opportunities.
Alternative distribution opportunities to reach your ideal audience may be all around you! It’s always shocking how much junky food is marketed to athletes. Take a visit to your local sporting goods store and see if there are opportunities to clean up their act. What other stores does your audience shop at that may want to sell food or beverages to meet more needs of their shoppers, even if it’s not their primary product line?
Now, let’s go shake up shopping carts!
In This Episode:
- How to prepare for inspiration when it may strike at any moment.
- Why getting out of your office or production facility is so important.
- Why traveling is a great time to find new ideas to bring back home.
- The best way to find inspiration in other aisles than your category.
- What to look for when you visit other stores your ideal audience loves.
- How a DIY food combination can represent an opportunity.
- Why kids are great people to ask for feedback.
- Finding alternative distribution opportunities, such as sporting goods stores.
Quotes:
“You can pick up ideas for regional flavor trends, packaging innovations, and even how in-store displays may vary.” – @realfoodbrands
“Be a mad scientist and let yourself play around with hybrid products that could be a solution.” – @realfoodbrands
“You don’t want to be creating a problem so you can solve it. The problem has to be real.” – @realfoodbrands
“It always shocks me how much junky food is promoted to athletes. This is a group that should be very concerned with the food they’re putting in their bodies, but there’s not always great choices in the aisles.” – @realfoodbrands
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