PREPARE FOR THE UPSWING IN CONSUMER SPENDING CONTINUED
PASSING ON MORE POSITIVE NEWS, RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INTRODUCTION
Spring into action!
As reported in our February blog, it seems Marcus the Mystic Pig was correct as we have seen glorious weather over the last weekend, confirming his prediction of an early Spring, and at the end of this month people will again be able to socialise outside in groups of six. In addition, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed grants worth £5bn will be announced as part of the Spring budget to boost retail and hospitality ahead of the further easing of lockdown – the so-called re-start grants of up to £18,000 will be made available to shops and hospitality venues such as restaurants, pubs and hotels. Good news for food and drink producers who market to these businesses.
BRAND COLLABORATIONS TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS
Brand partnerships offer like-minded SMEs the opportunity to increase sales and pick up new, loyal customers. From joint social media giveaways and competitions to more traditional hampers and bundles, partnerships can help grow your business’s following via cross promotion. Joining forces with like minded brands means you share the benefits of increased brand awareness and sales by tapping into each other’s fans and followers. Carefully chosen partnering with a brand with a similar ethos can boost the credibility and authenticity of your products as well, helping to position your brand in a ‘tribe’ cementing your values, attributes and, importantly, your consumer set.
As a starting point, make a list of brands that your products go well with and follow them on social media; in this way you can create a dialogue before you approach them with your ideas and establish what interests them and their followers. When you approach them with an idea think about how the target brand can benefit from being involved with you – putting them first in the negotiation on your proposal.
We ourselves have conducted many successful partnered social media campaigns for our clients over the last four years and with our extensive food and drink contacts we can provide further advice in this regard and help to introduce you to appropriate partners (as well as putting engaging campaigns together).
REFOCUS
As reported in the Fine Food Digest on 23 February 2021, customer experience specialists Insight 6’s Richard Knight says ‘now is not the time for complacency – it’s time to look again and think what could we potentially change going into April…..now is the time to look at which touchpoints could be potentially reopened and asking yourself how good were we on this pre-covid. Don’t lose sight of getting the personality of your business across online – top tips, short videos – a little personalisation will drive people’s connection with you. Ask yourself what is your goal for your customers, what do you want them to say, think and feel about your business this year? Finally, don’t neglect on line reviews – 90% of consumers in the UK will look at online reviews before buying your produce’.
THE ORGANIC SECTOR’S COVID BOOM
In its Organic Market Report 2021, The Soil Association Certification’s Organic Market Report 2021 states, that the UK’s organic market is now worth a whopping £2.79bn, revealing that sales grew by 12.6% in 2020, outperforming growth in the non-organic sector, with more than £50m being spent on organic food and drink per week. The sector is now on track to reach £2.9bn by the end of this year. Roger Kerr, Chief Executive of OF & G believes the organic industry holds vast potential ‘there’s such a positive outlook for organic in the domestic market, with continued growth and increasing consumer appetite. We must capitalise on this renewed interest by continuing to trumpet organic’s integrity and veracity, as the only globally recognised agroecological standard’.
Sources: www.insight6.com www.soilassociation.org www.gff.co.uk
Brand e Marketing
March 2021
