How to Build a Strong Gourmet Brand

You know you need to have a great product to succeed, but what does it take to have a strong, successful gourmet brand? It goes beyond your product assortment, yet all your branding centers around your products. If you’re ready to elevate your brand and further your reach, here are factors you need to have in place to maximize your brand’s success.

This is the first article in our series, How to Build a Strong Gourmet Brand. See the full series here.

1. Unique positioning. What makes your product better than others on the market? How is your product unique? Is it something consumers can’t get from any other source or is it competing among many similar products? Know your positioning, what makes your product stand out, and weave that into the foundation of your brand message. (Always know your competitors.)

2. Know your audience. Who wants to buy your product? What need or theirs does it fulfill? How does it relate or fit into their lifestyle? How does it enhance their lifestyle and/or make their life easier? Speak to your audience specifically. Know their likes, dislikes, pains and joys, and speak to those aspects. Know their needs, and convey how your product fills those needs.

3. Arresting visuals. It’s all about first impressions. Your product only has a 2–3 second window on the retail shelf to make an impression. Your product needs to sell itself on crowded shelf. Don’t skimp here. Make your product’s package effective, strategic and attention-getting.

4. Clear, concise communication. Make it easy for them. To understand your product, to learn more about it and its versatility, to buy it, to use it, to share it. This goes for packaging, point-of-sale, website and all print materials. You need to pack a lot of information in these channels but each is unique in its own medium and different best practices will apply to each area. For example, your packaging is only the most succinct copy that is essential at the point of sale, however your website will offer different levels to go more in-depth in terms of content and information.

5. Keep them engaged. Regularly offer new items, new products, new ideas for using your products—whatever is most applicable to your brand and product. Keep your product and brand contemporary and fresh in their minds.

6. Tell your story. Who are you? Where are you? Why and how did you start your brand? Why do you offer these products? Infuse your story throughout your branding even if on a subconscious level. The more you personalize your brand with your consumers, the more of an emotional connection you’ll make.

We’ll be expanding on these topics in our upcoming articles, so be sure to check back or subscribe to our email newsletter (to the right) as we explore each topic here in a more in-depth manner.