Food and beverage advertising can prove to be a major expense to your company. You may have to put out money for food and beverage promotions, print ads, television and radio spots and more.

Saving money on food and beverage advertising and marketing will involve finding ways to cut corners when starting a new ad campaign. There are many useful tools that will not cost a lot towards your food and beverage marketing budget, like online advertising.

1. Determine the most cost effective beverage and food advertising strategies. Look for ways that advertising in the food industry will prove beneficial at a low cost.

2. Save with online food and beverage ads. Cost effective beverage and food advertising will likely include the use of online tools, like pay per click ads.

3. Read online tips to help learn ways to reduce the bottom line of your food and beverage advertising budget. You should be well informed prior to hiring a marketing firm or launching your own ad campaign.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Receive consulting advice on advertising in the food industry

By hiring a marketing or consulting firm, you can discuss your ad campaign needs and figure out the way to reach your audience for the least amount of money. Look for niche agencies that focus mainly on food and beverage products.

I recommend: JKG Marketing is a firm that has vast experience with advertising for small scale food and beverage producers. They can use their research department to find ways to save your company advertising dollars. HSR Associates is also a company that specializes in launching new food and beverage products.

Save with online food and beverage industry marketing

The Internet is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise products and it has the ability to reach outside of your local area, unlike local TV/radio spots and newspaper print ads. Besides free ad sites, a popular choice for food and beverage companies is to consider pay-per-click ads.

I recommend: CX Digital Media outlines the benefits of pay-per-click advertising including the ability to run a smaller campaign prior to launching a larger food or beverage promotion. Digitalads advises on interactive food and beverage marketing, specifically towards children.

Get tips on low cost ways of marketing food and beverage products

You can find numerous online articles that detail ways that a company can save on their specific ad campaigns. Look for articles that go beyond the basics and give specific tips on how to target your audience.

I recommend: Ezine Articles has a featured piece on ways to save money while advertising your catering business. Many of the tips provided can also help other food and beverage industries. Content For Reprint has an article that advises convenience store owners on ways to use email marketing and other techniques in order to advertise their food and beverage products.

Food and beverage advertising is a virtual requirement for small restaurants. No matter how delicious your food, how amiable your staff, or how potent your potables, it's all for naught if no one knows you exist. The biggest mistake a restaurant can make is skimping on food and beverage marketing.

Food and beverage promotions may seem unnecessary to some small restaurant owners. After all, if your bar stools are full and you've turned the dining room 4 times on a Friday night, it can be tempting to think that it'll always be like that, right? If you're doing well, maybe there's no need to pour hard-earned profit into newspaper ads. Wrong. Unless you keep your restaurant's name fresh in the public consciousness, you will quickly fade into culinary oblivion.

Food and beverage marketing doesn't have to be expensive, but it does have to be effective. Keep in mind the following tips:

1. Decide what aspect of your restaurant will be the subject of your food advertising strategies.

2. Hit a target audience with your food and beverage ads.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Decide what food and beverage promotions will best showcase your restaurant

Whether it's spicy wings or patio dining, oversized martinis or top culinary talent in the kitchen, your restaurant has or does something that makes it special. The key to successful food and beverage advertising is deciding on that iconic subject: Focus on what sets you apart from your competition and spread the word.

I recommend: Don't be ashamed to get help if you aren't media savvy. Restaurant PR has a Virtual Publicist that offers professional consultation on market food and beverage programs. And Restaurant Experts offer helpful tips on developing and organizing your food advertising.

Focus your food and beverage advertising on a target audience

Cutting costs on the marketing budget can be a fatal mistake for restaurants. Spending your limited budget unwisely is only slightly less dangerous. Avoid running print ads in newspapers unless you're being placed in a dining or entertainment section. Keep your print dollars in restaurant supplements and monthly dining specials.

I recommend: To reach an even larger target audience, try sinking your food and beverage advertising dollars into restaurant review shows. Radio shows like Boston's Pat Whitley show and Frank Bruni's NYC Restaurant Review Podcast have dedicated followers and can cite proven results on advertising revenue.

Take advantage of your existing food advertising resources

Advertising in the food industry can be done with a minimum cost by utilizing your existing resources. Convince members of your staff to spend an afternoon handing out flyers. Work out barter arrangements with local newspapers and radio advertisers. Use your beer and liquor vendors to supply signs, banners, and prizes for beverage promotion nights.

I recommend: Constant Contact is an affordable, user-friendly way to maintain contact with your best customers through email marketing. For inexpensive flyers, postcards, hats, and other promotional give-away materials, try VistaPrint.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Food and beverage salespeople always have a trunk full of free stuff, whether it be hats, key chains, T-shirts, or bottle openers. Never, ever let a vendor leave your restaurant without getting something for free.

If your business involves producing or distributing any type of food or drink, you could greatly benefit from food advertising strategies. They can help you gain new customers and get existing ones to buy more.

Keep in mind that food and beverage marketing is not limited to traditional print ads. In fact, these may not be the best way to sell your products. Other things that you can consider are:

1. Holding sampling events to get new customers to taste your food and beverages;

2. Offering limited-time food and beverage promotions, such as cents-off coupons;

3. Selling your food and beverage items at new venues or at community events.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start your food and beverage marketing with sampling events

The best form of food and beverage advertising and marketing, for beginners, is to just get people to try your products. If they like them, they will tell their friends, spreading news of your business through word of mouth.

I recommend: Read the article on the W. P. Carey School at Arizona State University's site on why this kind of promotion works so well and how to do it properly. Then check out the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade Fancy Food Show website and see if you can get an exhibitor table at the event in your area. Also consider sampling at local grocery stores and smaller scale community get togethers.

Use food and beverage advertisement options that motivate customers to act

Those advertising in the food industry know they need to incent consumers to act right away, while their products are new and fresh. Otherwise they may decide they will try them some day, and by then they will have disappeared from the shelves due to lack of interest. A good way to do this is with limited-time coupon offers.

I recommend: Go to Home Business Center and read about how you can create your own coupons, with expiration dates, and distribute them in print or over the web. Then check out Wow Coupons' site and submit a request for a media kit. Even if you don't decide to advertise with the company, it can give you valuable insight into marketing strategy. Also, give current customers coupons when they purchase your products. Tell them to share them with friends.

Sell your products as part of your food and beverage promotion plan

Food advertising doesn't have to be mutually exclusive of sales. A great way to advertise, believe it or not, is just by selling your products somewhere besides your storefront or website.

I recommend: Go to LocalHarvest and search for farmer's markets in your area. Even if your product isn't produce, you may be able to rent a table. Farmer's markets nowadays have coffee, breads, pet food and more. Then search the MSN City Guide to find a "taste of" event in your area. These events allow a large group of food and beverage distributors to sell their products to a new customer base in a casual and fun atmosphere. It's a good thing to get involved with.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider putting out press releases as part of your food and beverage promotions. Write a new one each time you have a new product you'd like to launch and send it to your local newspaper or radio and TV station.

Food and beverage advertising and marketing covers an expansive marketplace. The companies that specialize in marketing and advertising services entice individuals and corporations to purchase food and beverage products for consumption based on cost, taste, quality of the food and the desire to want to consume that food or beverage.

Take the time to learn about some of the terms associated with the food and beverage advertising and marketing industry so that you can successfully do business with a company in that field. Here are some terms along with some resourceful links to help get you started.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Food photography

Food photography refers to taking images of a food or beverage product for use in advertising or promotion. An art form all its own, food photography strives to make the food or beverage subject as enticing as possible so the consumer buys the product.

I recommend: Visit the website for Gourmet Business Solutions, which specializes in advertising and marketing food and beverage products. Additional information about product photography is offerred on their website.

Marketing reports

Marketing reports refers to examinations performed by a company that relay information in regard to what marketing strategies are effective. They also report whether or not the consumer is being drawn to the product and at what price point the consumer feels comfortable paying for the product.

I recommend: Visit the website for Beverage Marketing.com for a further explanation of marketing reports and what they entail.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing, in terms of food and beverage advertising, refers to marketing or advertising the product directly to the consumer. Usually this entails some sort of tangible asset that they can hold. For instance, a flier with a coupon mailed to a customer is direct marketing. A free sample of cereal sent to a family is another example of direct marketing.

I recommend: Visit the website for Infood Marketing for more information and an example of a direct marketing campaign.

Test kitchen

A test kitchen in marketing and advertising terms, often serves as the location where the advertising agency and the food or beverage company 'test' how a product should be plated or made for photography or advertising. Many food marketing companies also have an in-house test kitchen which is smaller than the industrial sized kitchen of large companies where the products are physically made.

I recommend: Go to the website for Food Marketing Specialists for more information on how a test kitchen might operate.

Product design

Product design is the act of creating the packaging and labeling of the product inclusive of logos and text so that the product can be brought to the marketplace.

I recommend: Visit the website for Food Marketing Support Services for more information on product design and how it relates to the marketing and advertising of a product.

Brand management, branding

Brand management or branding is the act of creating images, packaging, logos and slogans that the consumer automatically associates with food. The management aspects entail consumer surveys and the like to ensure that the consumer is identifying the brand in the way the manufacturer intended.

I recommend: Go to the website for JKG Marketing for more information on brand management or branding.