As an F&B PR agency we show what storytelling is all about and how effective it is for brand positioning.
Content marketing and storytelling are essential in successful B2C and B2B communication, since simply stating facts about a new product or brand isn’t always enough. That’s why an F&B PR agency’s marketing campaign has to be cleverly designed to spark the consumer’s interest.
Why is creative storytelling so important?
Storytelling aims to convey information by telling a story in a comprehensive and exciting way, thus arousing the target group’s emotions and interest. This helps establishing the brand and product in the consumers’ minds. And it’s much more effective than traditional advertising methods. Especially in food & beverage communication, lifestyle and travel PR, successful storytelling is key. Hoteliers, restaurateurs or producers of kitchen equipment, food and wine are able to stand out from the crowd when telling an exciting story around their concept. Whether it’s kitchen hardware, manufactured products, champagne or wine – they all have a story to be told.
Three questions before getting started
In order to tell a convincing story, you should be able to answer the following questions:
- What’s your purpose?
- How do you want to implement your content?
- What exactly are you offering?
It’s a good idea to always start with the “why” because that’s necessary for the story’s base and taking any further steps. It’s important that storytelling, especially in F&B PR, is lively and makes the reader want to know more.
Storytelling during the Corona crisis
Good storytelling in combination with crisis–related content marketing has been demonstrated early on at restaurant Carmelo Greco, owned by the Frankfurt-based Michelin star chef. Due to the current situation, safe travelling to Italy is impossible (why?). That’s why the team has come up with a new menu that brings a unique vacation feeling to Frankfurt (how?). Therefore, in addition to the degustation menu, there are individual dishes dedicated to a specific Italian region. If desired, Carmelo Greco also offers corresponding wines. There’s always at least one dish with meat, one with fish and one vegetarian alternative to choose from (what?).
Online relations with identity
In general, it’s important to always capture the target group’s attention. And to let as many consumers as possible be part of the brand or product story. This is especially indispensable in food and beverage communication. That’s why we advise investing in proper website optimization. For the majority of consumers, this is the first touchpoint – even before possibly entering a store. Therefore, a company should design their website as a platform that inspires and creates the best possible user experience. Classic texts are suitable for this. But so is cross-media content such as a corporate blog, videos or podcasts. This is where the story, positioning and a brand’s vison can be addressed according to storytelling criteria.
Social media storytelling
Instagram and Facebook are also good channels for telling stories and making them accessible to a wide target group. They have their own story functions that allow creative options. At this point, as a food & beverage PR agency, we also recommend investing in influencer relations, as they further strengthen a brand’s credibility. Bloggers and influencers can transport the brand’s core messages perfectly.
Best practice: “Spread the Love” blogger campaign
As a PR agency specializing in the F&B, culinary, lifestyle and travel sector, we have 15 years of expertise and already developed many storytelling campaigns.
A great example is the Californian wine brand Barefoot. Through their commitment to more equality towards sexual minorities and involvement in environmental protection campaigns, Barefoot Wine represents values such as tolerance, love and friendship. Thus Barefoot Wine stands out from other companies. To increase brand awareness in Germany and further highlight Barefoot’s values with a tailor-made PR strategy during Corona, we launched the “Spread the Love” blogger campaign. Four German bloggers inspired their communities on social media by saying “thank you” to family members, friends and loved ones, giving them a compliment and simply showing them how important they are.
We planned the campaign from start to finish. It included customized concept development, personal blogger selection, sample mailing and communication through a national press release, all parallel to the brand’s compliments campaign at the point of sale.
Storytelling as the F&B marketing strategy’s heart
Storytelling offers a great opportunity to the food & beverage industry. Properly implemented, good storytelling makes messages stick and thus sharpens long-term brand perception. Unsure about choosing the right content, target group or medium? As a F&B PR agency, we are happy to help!
By the way: check out our food & beverage PR agency’s case studies for more storytelling examples.