The size of your business shouldn’t dictate whether you should be doing some work on your marketing or not. Marketing your food service brand shouldn’t even be a question. The bigger brands are going at it non-stop after existing for longer and earning probably a lot more than you have. That fact alone should cause you alarm if your business is still young and developing or old and stagnant and you’re not pouring some effort into your marketing.

If you sincerely believe that you could use some marketing right now and were wondering how you can get your marketing moves started, here are 4 easy-to-follow W’s of Effective Marketing that you can review to compose the right message and deliver it to the right audience.

1. WHAT is my product?

It all starts here. It will help you a lot if you consider the Cuisine or Category that your food belongs to, The Presentation, The Flavor Profile, and the Pricing among other factors you should look into. Getting to know the details of the product you want to market and eventually sell will make it a lot easier for you to answer the next W’s and develop a marketing strategy. Take your time at this step to study your product inside and out. It also pays to have a solid back story behind your food that can help you later on when composing the message you want to send across your platform of choice.

2. WHO is the product for?

Based on your observations about the product, who do you think will most likely benefit from or appreciate something like it? This is the part where you get to identify the demographics of the customers you want to introduce the product to. For example if it’s a trendy food item, the younger audience might be a good fit. If it’s priced a little high, then maybe the best buyers for your product are those who are within a specific salary range. Using that information, you can even narrow it down to which industry houses more people capable of buying your item in that price. Don’t be afraid to go specific. It’s good to start with these focused groups of people because their testimonies will create a chain reaction that will cause buyers from outside that circle to try your product.

3. WHERE should I market my product?

Once you’ve correctly identified your right target market, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure this out. You have to know where the huge chunk of your target market spends their time online. For example if your target customers are teenagers, they’re most likely to be viewing things more via instagram. If your audience is a little bit older, probably they’re into Facebook. Doing this will allow you to maximize your reach in the medium that you choose instead of wasting a lot of money and time posting on different platforms where your audience might not be in.

4. WHAT should my message be about?

The message you want to convey should speak directly about your brand, your products, or your services. Moreover, it should be in line with what you’re trying to achieve with your marketing. Some businesses might want their marketing materials to focus more on strengthening their brand’s image while some businesses might focus their strategies on customer acquisition and conversion to sales. Remember that there is no magic formula that can guarantee an immediate response from or connection to your audience. One thing you should consider, however, is using imagery and words in your marketing material that your identified audience can easily relate to. Aim your ads to resonate with the values that they hold like family, friendship, and love among others. The tone of your material should also be consistent with the image you’re trying to achieve for your brand and your overall message shouldn’t stray away from the goal you wish to achieve through your marketing.

EXAMPLE

Let’s discuss a post I made for our pizza parlor’s Facebook page and see how I answered the 4 W’s of Effective Marketing to deliver our brand’s message to our audience and be well-accepted. In the photo, we have 2 of our long time friends, Joey and Enzo, facing each other across a table while raising their glasses of milkshake as if toasting to good life and fond memories. It’s a pretty chill photo with a warm vibe to it and this is how I came around composing it.

1. WHAT IS MY PRODUCT?

The post was published with the intent to introduce to our fans the addition of Classic Milkshakes in our menu. We then looked at the social significance of a milk shake, its fun appeal, and the price point we were trying to sell it at to further help us understand the different ways and people we need to get this message to.

2. WHO IS THE PRODUCT FOR?

Our pizza parlor generally houses people of all ages but I knew that not too many old timers will go for a milk shake. I was certain then that majority of the market who might want a glass of it ranges from children to young adults. Knowing what demographics our milk shakes’ audiences belong to, I then proceeded to find a common social norm that could be valued by everyone in this wide spectrum. After much thought, I decided to connote the milk shake vibe with the value of friendship because it’s one thing that children and young adults usually have among their peers. And besides, who doesn’t like a glass of milk shake with their buddies, right?

3. WHERE SHOULD I MARKET MY PRODUCT?

Having identified the group of people I wanted to introduce this new product to, I went on the biggest social media platform that is most accessible to them here in the Philippines – Facebook. I also released the same marketing material on Instagram since a large number of young adults are now turning on to this platform when deciding where to eat or hangout.

4. WHAT SHOULD MY MESSAGE BE ABOUT?

Having identified the Value of Friendship as something our target audience can easily relate to, I decided to center the message of our marketing material for our milk shake around it. I designed the caption to make the audience feel the friendship and the good times that the milk shake brings rather than the milk shake itself. This way, I could instill in their subconscious minds that our pizza parlor is a good place to celebrate friendship, while at the same time, drive people to grow curious about how delicious and comforting our milk shakes could be. Using these observations, I knew that a perfect photo would be of best friends (and also cousins) with their big smiles, raising their glasses of milk shake to friendship!