Most Popular for 2009
December 31, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
As we roll onto 2010 or “Twenty Ten” as many are calling it, I though it might be good to take a quick look back to some of the most popular blogs we wrote this year. Just like 2009, during 2010 we’ll try to write as many blogs as we can helping to educate advertisers, media buyers and owners on how to advertise online and reach your target audience.
So here we go…..
- 2010 Advertising Trends
- Targeting Grocery Buyers
- Online Drives CPG Sales
- Reaching Holiday Shoppers
- Grocery Store Loyalty Programs
- Display Ads Trigger Search
- Reaching Working Moms
- Creative Advertising
- More Cooking at Home
- Increasing Click Through Rates
- Interstitial Advertising
Maybe you had a favourite blog ?
Recipes for 50%
July 21, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
An interesting report from JupiterResearch called “Targeting Online Food Lovers — Identifying Segments and Online Advertising Opportunities,” reveals that 50% of online users are looking for food and cooking information online. Let me say that again – 50% of online users are looking for food and cooking information online.
Monique Levy of JupiterResearch noted that food fans typically are looking for the specific information found on food sites, rather than the more general food information found on health and wellness sites. “Online food lovers use food destination sites and manufacturer sites the most, rather than branded product sites and health- and lifestyle-related Websites,” Ms. Levy said.
This research shows that it’s not just foodies which use the internet to research recipes, but in actual fact it’s the wider internet audience who uses the internet as a resource for food information. This in turn means that advertising in and around recipes can have a huge effect at the supermarket checkout. One thing that the report also indicated was that people are not looking for cheap foods online, rather they are seeking information on gourmet or organic products.
So where does the half of the internet looks for food, recipes and cooking information online? Well if you take a look at the sites within the Gourmet Ads network, they are typically;
1. Recipe Portals
2. Regional Recipe Sites – like Australian Recipes
3. Nich Food Sites – like New Orleans Cuisine
4. Food Blogs
5. Chef and Restaurant sites
Major food manufactures as well as food equipment companies understand that people search for recipes online. Which is why online savvy companies like Nestle and Kraft have developed and published a wide range of recipe and food content on their sites.
So with such a volume of consumers coming to food and recipes sites, it makes sense for food and food related companies to advertise online to reach these large audiences. Add to this the diverse range of people looking for recipes also means that products which are not food related will perform – check out a blog we wrote sometime ago called “Not only Food, Wine or Beer”.
If you’d like to advertise in or around recipes on the internet, download the Gourmet Ads Media Kit or Request a Proposal from us.
Article Source ; http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1004743
Widgets for Branding
May 16, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
We’ve previously talked about Recipe Widgets which are useful for providing brand awareness on how to use ingredients in recipes. But these dynamic rich media units can provide significant branding opportunities for companies if executed correctly.
I’ve never really actually liked the term “widget”, as some early widgets were either desktop based or multiplatform, think Yahoo widgets which were installed on your machine. Brands had no control over how they were executed, installed or even metrics on how many people used them or engaged with them. How many times a week it was used, searched terms etc.
When we at Gourmet Ads refer to widgets, we mean a simple rich media units which are delivered using our advertising network. They are typically 300 x 250 island ad units. We traffic them to sites within our network and as such there isn’t any surprises and we can track engagements, displays, click throughs etc just like a regular ad unit.
So what can be delivered via a widget? Pretty much anything these days, from content including video, through to competitions, newsletter subscriptions, even CRM strategies can be delivered.. it may sound a little cliché but the ideas are endless with widgets.
Given the kind of content which can be delivered, the opportunities for brand awareness are significant. Even if users don’t engage with the widget, you gain brand recognition. Going one step further, as widgets are displayed and used, we can drop a cookie on the users machine tracking users which use your widget. We can then continue to target these consumers, either with the widget again or even a newsletter subscription form or any other relevant messaging.
Gourmet Ads is flexible in our pricing for recipe widgets as we believe that widgets are a long term branding strategy. Apart from production costs, we can either price them on a CPM basis or fixed quarterly, 6 months or even annually. What ever works for your budget.
If you’re interested in exploring how a recipe widget or anyother type of widget could play a role in your digital advertising strategy, please contact us for more information, or download a media kit.
Recipe Widgets
May 12, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · 1 Comment
When brand name ingredients are used in a recipe, the chance of consumers purchasing the product either online or offline is considerably high. I believe this is for two reasons. Firstly because the consumer now understands how the product can be used. Secondly, because they fear they if they don’t follow the recipe, it won’t work out properly.
So with this in mind, the challenge for food brands is to develop strategies on how they can deliver recipes direct to consumers, each and everyday, whilst being consistent. Sure you can create a recipe database on your brand’s website, and drive traffic back to particular recipes, but this can be hit and miss.
For maximum consumer penetration, recipes have to be in front of consumers where they are engaged and researching recipes and developing their shopping grocery list. So one such strategy is to develop a recipe widget or a rich media unit which uses your brand and product in every recipe. The recipe widget could deliver all the recipes from the website in a 300×250 ad unit size. Consumers could search and even deliver their shopping list all from the recipe widget. They could even bookmark recipes they like or even rate them. With recent changes to flash, we can also stream video from the widget, the ideas are endless.
The recipe widget can be delivered via our existing ad network seamlessly offering maximum penetration on our premium websites and blogs. We can track engagements, displays, click throughs etc just like a regular ad unit.
Gourmet Ads is flexible in our pricing for recipe widgets as we believe that widgets are a long term branding strategy. Apart from production costs, we can either price them on a CPM basis or fixed quarterly, 6 months or even annually. What ever works for your budget.
If you’re interested in exploring how a recipe widget could play a role in your digital advertising strategy, please contact us for more information, or download a media kit.
Food Bloggers are Sneezers
February 8, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Renowned internet marketing guru, Seth Godin, coined the term “sneezers” in his book titled, “Unleashing the Ideavirus”. Seth’s concept is that some people are “sneezers” or people who are very likely to spread your idea and cause it to “go viral”. Certainly everyone has heard of and seen the effects of an idea or concept “going viral” on the internet. If you are a food product manufacturer your best sneezers are going to be food bloggers, so it makes sense to advertise there.
In Seth’s book he talks about the fact that sneezers are only effective if they have influence over a group of consumers. Most food bloggers have a dedicated audience of food lovers, aka consumers who are likely to buy your product, and this can make them a powerful force in getting your product to go viral. Imagine the power that a viral marketing effort like this can have on your business. This is like throwing a pebble into the water and watching the ripple effect go on and on until it has affected the entire pond.
Gourmet Ads has the ability to place your product and advertising on the food blogs we represent. One good food blog about your product could have a lasting effect on the marketplace as consumers spread the virus (product idea) to one another. Often this might be done with a new recipe containing your food item, a new product launch or even a great promotion you are running.
Food bloggers usually have a great deal of influence over their audience and they know how to create excitement about anything food related. Their audience of food lovers creates a highly targeted group of consumers that are extremely likely to “spread the virus” and get the word out about your product or promotion which can have an incredible impact on your sales.
Learn more about Gourmet Ads by downloading our media kit.
Branding the Grocery Shopping List
January 7, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Comments Off
It is interesting to note that consumers will almost always buy exactly what they put on their shopping list. If they write down flour, they are going to buy flour. What do you think will happen if they write Gold Medal Flour on their list? Getting the consumer to write your brand name on their shopping list almost guarantees they will buy your product instead of your competitors, but how do you get them to do that?
The simple answer is continued brand advertising overtime. This helps cement your brand with consumers, but where do you advertise? Having your advertisements running next to the online recipes that mention your product will certainly build brand awareness. Especially since the consumer is usually looking at related recipes while they are planning their trip to the grocery store.
Of course, you could even take that whole concept a step further by providing the recipes on your website where you could also provide the shopping list for that recipe complete with your products brand name. Think of the possibilities…Some consumers don’t write their shopping list down or maybe their printer is out of ink. What would happen if they could get that branded recipe or shopping list sent right to their cell phone by email or sms text?
How about a branded iPhone application that would allow the consumer to look up the recipe and download their shopping list right in the grocery store while they are trying to decide “what’s for dinner?” The possibilities are endless once you start thinking outside the box of conventional advertising and meet the consumer right where they live.
Technology is becoming more and more integrated with our lives and the consumer is using the internet and their cell phones to help them with just about everything including planning their meals and grocery shopping list. Getting your product listed by name on their shopping list means getting your product in their shopping cart. The best way to get on their shopping list is to advertise next to online recipes.
To learn more download a copy of our media kit.
Advertising Growers Associations
January 6, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Growers associations provide a great way for growers of produce like nuts, corn, grapes or sugar to come together and pool resources to attract new consumers for their products. There’s growers associations for nearly everything that’s grown, for example; corn growers, apple growers, sugar growers, wheat growers, strawberry growers, potato growers, blueberry growers and cranberry growers associations to name just a few.
Unfortunately, even with an association, money is a limited resource and must be spent wisely. Advertising online is ideal for growers associations because it allows the advertiser to reach a highly targeted audience with their message which means their advertising dollar goes further.
Television ads are expensive and may not necessarily reach the desired audience, but online advertising can be tailored to reach the consumers most likely to purchase your product. Advertising for your growers association online with Gourmet Ads allow you to target foodies and those looking for recipes online. These are the consumers who really love food and are always looking for new experiences and tastes when it comes to food. Foodies enjoy researching and preparing new recipes that they find online and your advertising can be placed conveniently next to these recipes to entice them with your offerings.
A growers association’s budget is always a little tight, but in these tough economic times it can be squeezed even tighter. Advertising is a necessity to keep your product in the forefront of the consumers mind when they reach the grocery store, but you don’t want to spend more than is necessary to accomplish this goal. It could be the difference between consumers buying frozen products or fresh produce.
Online advertising with Gourmet Ads is probably the most cost effective way to advertise for growers associations. Online advertising directly to your target audience with recipe ads allows you to reach as many consumers as is possible at a far more reasonable cost than most other forms of advertising. As your growers association searches for ways to spend less while reaching more consumers with your advertising message, you will definitely want to consider advertising with Gourmet Ads.
Request a copy of the Gourmet Ads Media Kit.
Advertising Consumer Packaged Goods
January 5, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Because consumer packaged goods (CPG) like breakfast cereals, detergents, tomato sauce and orange juice have a reality short lifespan in the household, they need to be replaced frequently. That is why it is vital that consumer packaged goods are continually advertised in order to influence and engage with new consumers as well as retaining existing consumers.
If you are looking to move more Consumer Packaged Goods you already know the importance of keeping your brand at the forefront of the customer’s mind when they enter the grocery store and face choosing from amongst a sea of competitors. But, are you aware that online advertising is fast becoming the best way to reach your target market right before they make that crucial decision? Many Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturers are becoming aware that the main grocery buyer is using the internet more and more and specifically to look up recipes to prepare for their families.
Advertising your Consumer Packaged Goods right next recipes online allows you to reach consumers right before they head out to the grocery store. These are also the same people who will share their product experiences with other people through forums and blog posts. If you are running a contest or advertising a coupon next to online recipes there is a good chance for your ad to go viral, with people posting a link to that recipe and ad all over the internet. Keep in mind that the main grocery buyer spends less time watching television and more time on their computer looking for ways to manage their lives more successfully, researching which products to buy and searching for recipes.
Gourmet Ads allows you to advertise right next to recipes as well as reach your target audience. This is why Gourmet Ads is the best choice for keeping your Consumer Packaged Goods at the top of consumer’s shopping lists. Download our media kit.
Reaching the Main Grocery Buyer
December 29, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · 3 Comments
If you are selling grocery products you are probably well aware that successfully, reaching the household’s Main Grocery Buyer (MGB) or otherwise referred to as the primary grocery buyer has the greatest impact on sales of CPG (consumer packaged goods) or FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) products. Sometimes, however, this task can seem easier said than done. Where can you find the main grocery buyer and how can you influence their purchase decisions?
The latest research shows that the Main Grocery Buyer spends a lot of time online and can often be found researching new dishes and recipes online. Gourmet Ads allows you to target, influence and engage with the Main Grocery Buyer while they are research dishes and recipes online by placing your ad right next to these online recipes. Recipe ads are extremely effective because the Main Grocery Buyer tends to look for recipes while determining their shopping list right before heading to the grocery store. That puts your product at the top of their list and makes it likely to be one of the first items in their shopping cart when they reach the grocery store.
The recipe ads facilitated by Gourmet Ads are highly targeted and highly effective. There is no easier or more cost effective way to put your ads right in front of the people who are directly responsible for making the purchase decisions—the Main Grocery Buyer. Having your product in the forefront of the Main Grocery Buyer’s mind right at the moment they are making the purchase decision is the surest way to get your product into their grocery cart. Getting the best ROI means getting your ads to reach your target audience and getting as many of them to purchase your product as possible. Putting your advertisements right next to the recipes that contain your product for the Main Grocery Buyer to see right before heading to the grocery store is about as highly targeted and cost effective as you can get.
Advertising Grocery Coupons
December 28, 2008 by Benjamin Christie · 1 Comment
Times are tough these days and most people are looking for ways to save money wherever possible. This includes using more coupons for grocery purchases. Particularly in America, discount coupon use is at an all time high and is only likely to rise as the economy is predicted to get even worse.
This is great news for food companies that want to sell more product. No matter how bad the economy is, people will continue to buy food, in fact we’ve seen a recent increase in grocery sales as restaurant sales decrease. Consumers will continue to seek out new recipes online and there is a great opportunity to promote grocery discount coupons along side the recipes. As a food marketer, you couldn’t ask for a more targeted opportunity than to advertise your product coupon right next to these recipes. You can’t get more targeted than that.
When you place a coupon in your ad, you are virtually guaranteeing increased product sales. Manufacturer’s coupons that are distributed in newspapers usually result in a 1% redemption rate. Why so low? These coupons are not targeted. Senior citizens receive coupons for baby formula and young mothers receive coupons for Motor Oil.
Studies have shown that people who view online recipes usually actually use them and often view them right before heading to the grocery store. Not only are you getting a targeted market, you are getting them while they’re ripe!
Finally, the greatest benefit about advertising your Grocery Coupons with Gourmet Ads is the tracking and statistics. It’s so easy to track your results of the campaign and you can truly see how successful your marketing campaign has been in a very short period of time.
To give your coupon campaign a boost, contact Gourmet Ads and request a Digital Media Plan.
