Figuring out how to compete in a new, or underdeveloped, food or beverage category is a challenge — especially if you’re a disruptive natural foods business determined to shake things up!
Today on the Real Food Brands Podcast, host and Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva takes us back to revisit a great episode with Amy Zitelman, Co-Founder and CEO of Soom Foods, to talk about how they build relationships with influencers like food bloggers and top chefs to create excitement for a relatively underdeveloped category in the US. When thinking about marketing it can be easy to put selling your product as the focus. However, as Soom Foods has shown, by going a step further and focusing on building strategic but genuine relationships, successful promotion comes as a natural byproduct!
The original episode covers a lot of great topics about Soom Foods’ marketing tactics, but we also have an update from the team about how things have been going since we recorded the episode and what marketing tactic is really working well for them to build relationships today.
Competing in an Underdeveloped Category
It’s challenging to start a food company in an existing category that may be over-crowded, but there is a whole host of different challenges that come into play when you are introducing an underdeveloped category in the US market.
One of the greatest characteristics about food entrepreneurs is that they are not only able to identify an opportunity, they are also willing to take on the challenge of being part of the solution when it comes to developing healthier, more sustainable food and beverage options.
Starting and scaling a food or beverage business is not for the faint of heart, but solving problems and making a difference in the lives of your consumers and the food system – in a way your competitors can’t, or won’t — is extremely rewarding.
Amy Zitelman and her co-founders/sisters faced this exact scenario when they started their company Soom Foods based around a single product: tahini!
They knew they had something special with their tahini, which is a staple in other parts of the world, but not (yet!) in the US market. In order to get as many people as possible aware and excited and the versatility and health benefits of tahini, they reached out to influencers, many of them chefs—both award winning restaurant chefs and home chefs with a social media following–to sample their product. They built real relationships with these people, who not only loved the Soom Foods tahini, but were excited to help their new friends at Soom gain exposure.
Where Are They Now
Since we recorded the episode, Soom has several exciting updates. For one thing, Amy is now the CEO! They’ve launched a new product called Silan, a date syrup that can replace other sweeteners. Soom is working with a new retail distribution partner who has helped them get into over 400 stores between Washington D.C. and New York. Finally, they’ve been able to grow their online sales by over 100% on both their website and Amazon.
In this episode, Amy talked about the need for educating consumers around tahini since it’s not as popular in the US, and specifically using social media as a tool to do that. However, when we reached out to the Soom team for an update, they noted that email is becoming increasingly important in their marketing. Personalized, target emails have done a lot to drive engagement with their audience, and they’ve seen a big difference focusing on corresponding with customers who email them directly.
Take a listen to Katie and Amy’s conversation to see what you can apply to your business, then…let’s go shake up shopping carts!
A quick note to say that, as mentioned in the episode, I am delighted to learn the versatility of tahini for my own kitchen adventures. Most recently I’ve enjoyed making protein balls based with Vital Proteins, local honey and Soom Foods tahini, among other ingredients to flavor the protein balls. Check out Soom Foods’ website and Instagram for recipe and usage ideas.
In This Episode:
- How Amy and her sisters started Soom Foods
- How Soom built awareness for tahini, a relatively unknown product in the US market
- Why it’s important to have a diverse team with complimentary skill sets
- How to find and build genuine relationships with influencers, including bloggers and award winning chefs
- How Soom utilizes user generated content (recipes) in social media
- How to build associations with adjacent food categories to bring awareness to your own product
- How demos can help build your brand even if store traffic is slow that day
- Why Amazon can help small food businesses build an online presence
- How the Soom team uses social media to build something meaningful beyond sales
- What single # skyrocketed their visibility on social media
Quotes:
“There are so many people on social media these days who influence the food culture in our country.” — @amyz419
“Putting in the time to build authentic relationships with influencers, especially early on, makes them feel involved and excited to help a new brand grow.” — @amyz419
“We’re really proud to implement a more meaningful relationship to tahini than just sales, marketing, and social media likes.” — @amyz419
“We knew people working in the stores could be a voice for Soom even when we weren’t there.” — @amyz419
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