How To Market A Homemade Food Product

Making a living as a home-based foot artisan is becoming that much easier with each passing day.  Thanks to technological innovation, it is now possible to make a living selling a homemade food product.  If you have a delicious food or beverage you would like to turn into a legitimate business or interested in learning how to market a food product, you have surfed the web on over to the right place.  Let’s take a look at how to create a food product and sell it on the web. 

Take Advantage of the Many Online Channels

Selling food products has become surprisingly easy with the rapid expansion of the internet.  You can build momentum for your food product using the many different channels on the web.  From Facebook to Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and beyond, there are seemingly countless web-based channels to highlight the merits of your food business ideas 2021.

Creating an account on the top social media platforms will not be enough alone.  Continue to update your status, add written posts, publish images of your food/beverage item and interact with your social media followers.  Include links to your online storefronts in your posts so your social media followers and others who find their way to your page can easily convert into loyal, paying customers with the click of a couple mouse buttons and a few keystrokes.

Online Storefronts

Do not be intimidated by the prospect of selling your homemade food product online. There is no shame in admitting you are unsure how to introduce your food business to online customers. Web-based storefronts are quickly replacing conventional brick-and-mortar stores. Internet e-tail specialists such as Wix make it easy for budding entrepreneurs such as yourself to set up an online storefront and process payments. It won't take long to create a website and mobile site with Wix’s online drag and drop style tools or those provided by a similar company.  So don’t assume you need a degree in computer science or user experience design to set up a website.  Websites including but not limited to Squarespace, Shopify, Square Online and BigCommerce have everything you could possibly need to launch your website. Sort through the leading ecommerce platforms, select the one that best suits your specific needs and you will find selling your food or beverage product on the web is easier than anticipated. 

If you feel a bit flustered by the plethora of online storefront options and avalanche of information surrounding them, consider using Castiron to get started. Here, you will find a simple website template that you can customize, add products to, and more. Continue to add your new food products to the online store, set up payment processing through Stripe, and it won’t be long until your delicious items are selling like hotcakes. 

Packaging Design and Requirements

If you are curious as to how to get a food product packaged, you are not alone.  You cannot simply put your food items in boxes and ship them to your customers.  Here is a quick look at how to sell homemade food legally. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established specific standards as to how to package and sell a food product and also the manufacturing process of those items.  Unless you are limiting sales to your state, the FDA’s standards will apply.  Most homemade food businesses sell outside of the state in which they incorporate in order to maximize market share.  If you are unsure as to whether you are in full compliance with the nuances of the FDA’s packaging requirements or if you are unsure if your package design infringes on that of another company, contact a business law attorney for guidance.  Local universities that have food science programs also provide such guidance for startup businesses such as yours. 

Your food product must have a nutritional label that explains:

• Exactly what ingredients are included
• The specific amounts of those ingredients
• The recommended serving size
• Ingredients’ aggregate weight
• The name and location of your business

This information should also be included in the product descriptions included on your website.  If the food product does not require refrigeration, add a label that states “perishable.”  If the food item must be refrigerated or requires another form of alteration in the context of temperature, form an alliance with a shipping provider that performs climate-controlled shipping.

Don’t forget to make mention of the food allergens within the product such as peanuts, fish and soy that might trigger a potentially deadly anaphylactic reaction.  Fail to mention such ingredients and it is only a matter of time until you are served with a personal injury lawsuit. Above all, the space used to make the food item(s) must adhere to guidelines for food production as established by your state and the federal government.  If you don’t want to spend the money to convert your home kitchen into one that is commercial-grade, consider renting a licensed kitchen so you can sleep soundly knowing you are not breaking any laws. 

Food Business Marketing Ideas

Let’s shift our attention to how to market a homemade food product.  If you are wondering how to market food products online, you are not alone. Instead of searching the web for “how to market a food product online”, or “how to sell food products to supermarkets” follow our clear and cogent advice for web-based food sales set forth below.

Social media is only one way to market your food business.  Though YouTube is sometimes categorized as social media, it is somewhat distinct from the rest of the socials as it presents a golden opportunity to reach the masses across the globe with captivating video content. Upload videos of your food during production, post-production and in its packaging so interested parties know exactly what they are buying. 

If you are struggling to build momentum for your food product, consider launching a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign that strategically places ads on search engine results pages (SERPs) and other websites your target customers are likely to frequent.  The beauty of PPC is the cost of advertising is determined by the number of clicks.  If your ads receive few clicks, you won’t spend much.  Alternatively, if your ads are popular, the advertising cost will increase yet it will also steer that many more food-seekers to your website. Beware — these costs can quickly add up. We always recommend setting a spend cap for your ads to avoid overspending.

Your website and email list will prove invaluable in your quest to provide the masses with the best food products to sell online.  Invest the time and effort necessary to create a polished website.  Add an email signup form to the homepage as well as the contact page and it won’t be long until you have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of interested prospects looking for more information about your food or beverage product.  Continue to send email messages to these interested parties at least once per month, shining the spotlight on your latest food/beverage concoctions, product improvements, discounts, industry updates and other insightful information your audience is sure to appreciate.