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Ask the Expert: Tammy Katz

Marketing Q&A with Tammy Katz, Katz Marketing Solutions

Q: I've just launched my food company and am beginning to sell my products. I only have $500 to spend on a website. It is better to wait until I have more money and do something nicer or should I get the basic information up with the $500 I have right now?

A: Get the basic information up now to reinforce your brand and credibility. Consumers, retailers and even local media need to be able to learn more about your company and products, contact you for orders, or for customer service. Even a basic website presence turns every email you send into a marketing tool. You@gmail.com) poses a question about your company’s future as opposed to you@foodco.com. You can develop a very professional, inexpensive website using low-cost domain and website template services like www.1and1.com well within your budget—if you spend extra time with planning, writing and layout. Make sure you understand and select critical keywords so that you can be found! Expect and budget a website upgrade once you establish several points of distribution. You will need a more professional, visually enticing and higher functionality website (still a $X,XXX investment for a small company).

Q: I have a young business and my packaging isn't holding up as well as it could and retailers are complaining. We've quickly come up with sturdier packaging but how do you recommend that I damage control?

A. As with any issue, be quick, apologetic, ‘make them whole’ and over-communicate. Assuming your packaging structure is disappointing (and not failing), apologize and provide your retailers with an incentive (such as a price reduction, sampling or free goods) to acknowledge and take responsibility for the issue and potentially their costs. This also allows you to get your new, improved package to consumers faster. Communicate clearly with your salesforce and accounts how you have resolved the problem, when they will receive the new packaging and incentives, and how you will make this change easy and/or invisible for them. Depending on the severity of the problem and your budget, you may also want to accept returns. Meanwhile, make sure you’ve fully tested this new packaging structure (simulate or test travelling through your distribution system, in the most challenging situations, including presentation at retail). Retailers will typically forgive one mistake, but never two. Handle this properly, and you actually have the opportunity to demonstrate that you are a high-quality, committed retail partner. But learn an important, hard lesson for the future: Get it right the first time.

Q. How do you decide what social media outlet is best for you?

A. Ask these questions before you do anything: Who is my target market? What do I want my target market to do? Which social medium is my target using the most frequently to influence that decision? (And is social media my best investment of money and time to drive that desired behavior?). For example, if you want to build a cult following among highly engaged or loyal consumers, highly targeted Facebook advertising and participation in relevant groups is most effective (e.g. a new specialty vegan brand). If you want brand awareness and credibility in the trade, specific food bloggers are often best for your brand. If you want to do a specific promotion in a finite geography or store radius, partner with your retailer(s) to communicate the promotion on their preferred social medium, such as many specialty retailers’ Facebook fans or Twitter followers.

Food and beverage brand marketing expert, Tammy Katz, is CEO of Katz Marketing Solutions. She has led numerous Fortune 500 and specialty food brands and launched over 100 new products with cumulative sales of $2 billion. Katz serves on the Board of Directors of several food companies and is Adjunct Instructor of Brand Management at the Fisher College of Business MBA Program at The Ohio State University.

Submit your marketing questions to Tammy Katz at editorial@nasft.org