Top 10 Things to Consider When Using Consumer Trend Data to Market Your Food Service Brand
When it comes to staying competitive in the ever-evolving food service market, it’s important to understand and stay up to speed on the latest consumer trends. In order to reach more people and stand out from the competition, food businesses must have access to data-driven insights into how their current and potential customers are dining and the tech they’re using. With the right research and analysis, a marketing strategy”>marketing strategy can be crafted to maximize brand reach and profitability.
To make the most of consumer trend data, there are a number of factors to consider, including a range of industry-specific data sets, intuitive consumer data and engagement, sales prospecting, high-value customer relationships, and more. Here are 10 key components to consider when constructing your marketing strategy using consumer trend data for the food service industry.
1. Know the Data
Before diving into the data, know which sources are available and relevant to your brand and customer base. Some of the most reliable data comes from sources such as the National Restaurant Association’s market reports, surveys from food producers and distributors, tech analysts’ reports, and consumer reviews. While you should utilize all of the data from these sources, also consider tailored data accessible through a data-aggregator such as Brizo, who provides a board and diverse set of data for deeper market understanding and analysis.
2. Identify the Desired Outcome
In order to maximize the success of your marketing strategy, it’s important to identify the desired outcomes that you are looking for. Every business has different goals; the purpose of the data analysis is to help guide the strategy in achieving these objectives. It’s important to determine the target customer and set measurable objectives in order to be able to assess the yield of the data analysis. This part of the process is essential for successful marketing.
3. Create an Action Plan
Once you have identified the desired objectives, create an action plan that will allow you to achieve these goals. By understanding the data and applying it to a marketing strategy, you can determine what tactics need to be employed in order to reach the target customer. Make sure all members of the team are aware of their part in implementing the plan.
4. Use Data-Driven Insights
Data-driven insights allow for a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and preferences. By understanding consumer preferences through physical surveys, menu and recipe analysis, food and technology reviews, trends in restaurant openings and closings, and more, you can have a clearer picture of the consumer traffic or purchases in a specific geographic area, restaurant style, or customer segment.
5. Sales Prospecting
Equipping your sales team with the latest market insights allows them to make more informed decisions when it comes to prospecting and closing deals. Having access to information about the latest menu changes, technology trends, customer sentiment and competitor performance allows sales teams to adjust their strategies accordingly in order to make better decisions.
6. Marketing Analysis
By exploring various data points and trends, you can gauge the effectiveness of your current marketing strategies in order to maximize ROI. Analyzing the data can also provide actionable insights in terms of finding and targeting the right customer. Rather than using blanket strategies across the board, tailoring your marketing strategy to the specific customer allows for more effective communications and provides better results.
7. Foodservice Innovation
Knowing the latest foodservice trends and innovations allows for more effective streamlining of production processes. By utilizing data-driven insights such as menu analysis, industry forecasts, customer preferences, and segmentation findings, you can discover key areas of innovation and improvement. This holistic understanding of customer needs can equip foodservice businesses to stay ahead of the competition.
8. Data Enrichment
Using insights from the data allows foodservice businesses to take their systems to the next level. By employing strategies like system integration, customer segmentation, and enterprise data enrichment, data-enriched systems can provide more comprehensive market intelligence to make decisions with confidence.
9. Kitchen Expansion
Using consumer trend data to pinpoint the sweet spot of customers and analyzing the data to understand what they want and how they cook helps food businesses optimize production. By optimizing production, food service businesses can expand strategically and make better-informed decisions as to where to locate new kitchens or production sites in order to serve the targeted customer segment better.
10. Analyze and Reevaluate
Finally, it is important to continuously monitor the data to see what changes have been made and how the strategy should be adjusted accordingly. The data should be reassessed on a regular basis in order to stay up to date. Doing this will help to ensure that the strategy is up to date and informed by the latest trends and customer needs.
When it comes to staying ahead of competitors and developing an effective marketing strategy, data-led insights are essential for food businesses to identify the right customer base, improve operations, uncover opportunities, and create the ideal customer journey. By understanding the data and staying up to date, food businesses can ensure that their marketing efforts are effective and that they can maximize ROI for their efforts.
