How can you get the right people excited to try your products, know what to expect, intrigue them to think about how else they can use it, AND be excited to part with their money to get their hands on what you’re selling? It’s a simple answer that applies to every food and beverage business in some way, yet many emerging brands don’t spend enough time on — appetite appeal.
Today on the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva explains why being intentional about appetite appeal is important and how to use it for your brand.
Why Visuals Are So Important for Food and Beverage Brands
People often say that you eat with your eyes, and that’s certainly the case when they’re looking at visuals for your brand. Your imagery can be a visual bridge to help people take the leap between your product’s features and benefits like we talked about last episode.
As Katie says, “Well done appetite appeal can work like a magnet. In a matter of seconds, it can tell you what the key flavors are, how you can use the product, and just generally what to expect.”
How to Get Started with Appetite Appeal
So, how do you intentionally work with appetite appeal to support your brand strategy and attract your core consumers? One helpful place to start is the Five Why’s exercise that Alan Goodman shared with us in Episode 80. The answer to that question of “why does it matter?” is going to be different for every brand and product: it’s a tasty treat, it’s a healthy alternative, it adds a new flavor to liven up your cooking, etc.
Appetite appeal is about more than just how you photograph your food, however. Words can speak directly to someone’s palate to help add context: sweet, savory, crunchy, barrel-aged, small-batch, handcrafted…you get the idea. Colors can play a role, too. How can you create packaging that lets someone know what to expect from what’s inside it? How can your social media posts get people excited to try your products by highlighting certain flavors and usage ideas – whether your recipe and usage ideas or ideas the fans of your brand share and tag you in to show how much they love your products and brand.
As you’re thinking about where to apply the concepts Katie shares, think about your packaging, social media, website, your sell sheet, your Amazon listing—everywhere!
One final thing: Katie is restarting her Mastermind group for food and beverage business owners. It’s an application-based peer group where everyone is invested in their own growth, as well as the group’s collective success. Stay tuned for details, but if you’re familiar with the value of being in a well-curated and facilitated Mastermind group, drop her a line at katie@realfoodbrands.com and you’ll be the first to know when the application process is open.
Now, let’s go shake up shopping carts!
In This Episode:
- What brand strategy is and how to use it to make your brand stand out.
- Why visuals are so important for your brand, even though your brand is more than your logo.
- What we mean when we talk about “appetite appeal.”
- How to get people excited to taste your products.
- What appetite appeal looks like when it’s done well.
- How to start thinking about what you want, specifically, from your visuals.
- How user-generated content can help.
- Words you can use to activate the senses.
- How to learn more about Katie’s future Mastermind groups.
Quotes:
“Well done appetite appeal can work like a magnet. In a matter of seconds, it can tell you what the key flavors are, how you can use the product, and just generally what to expect.” – @RealFoodBrands
“They say a picture is worth 1,000 words and when it comes to food, it really is true.” – @RealFoodBrands
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