When establishing yourself as an expert in the field of culinary arts, you may think that coming up with recipes and compiling them into a cohesive cookbook is the most important part of your job. However, even if you have the best recipes in the world, you won’t sell any books if no one knows your name. So how do you get your name in front of the right people?
Writing a good cookbook is essential to your success, but marketing it effectively is just as important. In fact, when it comes to making sales, marketing is the most powerful weapon you have at your disposal. However, building a strong, recognizable brand isn’t easy, especially in the beginning.
Fortunately, there are plenty of resources you can use to create your online presence, engage your intended audience and promote your brand. In this guide, we will discuss some of the best tools available to emerging cooking brands, as well as best practices for putting these tools to work.
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WEBSITE
A website is often the first outlet that comes to mind when you think about marketing your brand online. A website typically serves as a brand’s central hub. All of your other channels will direct consumers to your website, and you will use the site to engage them and encourage them to purchase your cookbook.
To get the most possible benefit from your website, you need to build a site that captures consumers’ attention immediately and keeps them intrigued until they have a chance to buy your book and/or connect with you via social media. To get an idea of how a good website looks, consider the example set by celebrity chef and cookbook author Chris De LaRosa’s website, which can be found at http://caribbeanpot.com.
De LaRosa’s website draws the intended audience in with plenty of valuable content and big images of tasty food. Caribbeanpot.com also connects directly to all of De LaRosa’s social media profiles to facilitate further engagement with consumers. Finally, De LaRosa’s homepage includes a link to his new book’s landing page, which is colorful, describes all of the benefits of the book and offers plenty of options for purchase.
AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL
Amazon’s Author Central is a platform that allows you to provide your readers with more information about your brand, post pictures, upload an author video, publish a full listing of all of your books and link to your other channels. Taking full advantage of all of these features gives you an opportunity to engage consumers who come across your name, show them all you have to offer and encourage them to establish a lasting connection with your brand.
For a perfect example of how your author profile on Amazon Author Central should look, visit the profile of cookbook author Hilah Johnson. Her profile picture is eye-catching and unique, her description is informative and all of her books are featured in one location with a direct link to purchase. When creating your own page, be sure to utilize the Twitter and blog feeds as Johnson has done in order to facilitate deeper connections with your audience. Adding an informative author video will also help to seal the deal.
BLOGGING
A blog is a platform on which you can publish articles, journal entries, pictures, videos and other content you want your audience to see. Launching and maintaining a viable blog is the perfect ways to keep your customers engaged with your brand between purchases. Blogging can also attract new consumers to your brand and ultimately direct them to your website, Amazon profile and other marketing channels.
Blogs are extremely popular, and almost every brand has one. To stand out from the crowd, it’s important to publish a variety of content on a regular basis. To see an example of effective blogging, visit Mark Bittman’s blog at http://markbittman.com. Bittman updates his blog at least once each week with interesting, valuable content that keeps readers coming back. He also posts a variety of content types, including recipes, pictures, articles and more. Furthermore, Bittman uses his blog to point readers toward his other marketing channels by including a Twitter feed, links to social media profiles and a prominent advertisement of his latest cookbook.
FACEBOOK
With more than 500 million users, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms currently available. On Facebook, you can create a brand profile and socialize with consumers in order to build loyalty. In addition, Facebook can also help you build awareness and spread your message by encouraging consumers to share your page with their friends, as well as by directing consumers to your other marketing outlets.
The most important thing to remember about marketing on Facebook is that it must be subtle. Facebook is a social network, not an advertising platform. Blatant advertisements will only drive consumers away. Instead, try to model your Facebook profile after the official brand page of Alia Al-Kasimi. Al-Kasimi updates her page frequently with personal information in order to build social connections with consumers. She also posts lots of pictures, especially of food. Al-Kasimi’s branded cover photo is colorful and memorable, and she includes links to her official website and YouTube channel directly on the page.
GOOGLE+
Although not yet as popular as Facebook, Google+ is another social network that can prove beneficial for marketing your cooking brand when it is utilized properly. Like Facebook, Google+ allows you to create a branded page, connect with consumers and post regular updates in order to keep connections interested in what you have to offer.
Because Google+ can be linked to a YouTube account, many content creators with Google+ pages simply rely on their YouTube pages to generate content for their Google+ accounts. However, this is not the most effective use of Google+. For an example of a well-designed and functional Google+ page, visit the profile of Bridget Davis, The Internet Chef. Instead of relying on her YouTube page to do double duty, Davis regularly posts original content directly to her Google+ page. She also includes lots of pictures, links to her other marketing channels and she makes an effort to reply to consumers who comment on her posts.
PINTEREST
Pinterest is one of the most unique social media platforms available, and it is growing rapidly. More users join this network every day, and you should too. Unlike Facebook and Google+, which are primarily designed for socialization, Pinterest is all about sharing ideas. Posts can be about anything from an organization hack to an idea for a wedding theme. Because of its artsy nature, Pinterest is ideal for cooking brands.
When building your profile on Pinterest, consider the example of Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen. Her Pinterest page is well organized and includes multiple themed boards with colorful pictures of tasty food. Halvorsen posts new content to her page frequently in order to keep users coming back for more. Remember to post various types of content to Pinterest to maintain users’ interest, including different types of recipes, cooking tips, cooking videos and more. It’s also important to direct users to your other marketing channels so that they can interact with you even more frequently.
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PODCASTING
Podcasting is a marketing technique that involves creating audio files or “shows” and distributing to users interested in your brand or topic area. Podcasting is similar to radio broadcasting. However, the content lives online, and it is continuously available for users to play whenever they want to listen to it. Users also have the option of choosing which shows they would like to hear, pausing them when necessary and revisiting them later when they want to listen to the content again. In addition, consumers can add comments to the files and share them with friends and family via social media.
When developing your Podcasts, refer to the example set by Cooking with the Moms. This podcasting channel includes a branded image consumers will remember, as well as a variety of content on different cooking-related topics. New content is posted on a regular basis so that consumers will revisit the channel frequently.
TWITTER
Responsible for generating new buzzwords like “tweet” and “hashtag,” Twitter has had a significant and lasting impact on the evolution of social media. Twitter is a platform that allows you to connect with other Twitter users and share series of short messages, or “tweets.” Tweets can be categorized for searches based on the hashtags you include. Twitter also allows you to include images and videos with your Tweets to draw even more interest from your intended audience.
Twitter is an active social network, and success for your brand requires frequent tweeting. Before building your presence on Twitter, take a look at the profile of Award Winning Chef Nikki Miller-Ka. Miller-Ka’s Twitter is always active, with multiple posts each day. Miller-Ka varies the content in her tweets and writes about everything from inspirational quotes to cooking tips. She also includes photos frequently to draw attention to her posts, and her Twitter profile is linked to all of her other marketing channels, including her official website. Miller-Ka includes hashtags with most of her tweets so that they will appear in user searches.
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YOUTUBE
YouTube is a social network built around user videos. Users can create video logs, or “channels,” which are pages that include only the videos that user has posted and elected to include in the specific channel. Some content creators even build multiple channels with different themes. Other users can subscribe to these channels, which means that they have easy access to the channel and receive a notification any time a new video is posted.
When utilized properly, YouTube can be a powerful brand-building tool. Consider the example of popular YouTube personality Laura Vitale. Vitale has launched a total of three channels to build her brand prior to the publishing of her first cookbook: Laura in the Kitchen, The Vitales, and the Vitale Style Channel. Each of these channels is updated frequently, and Laura in the Kitchen alone has more than one million subscribers. Note that not all of Vitale’s channels focus on cooking-related topics. In fact, The Vitales is a vlog detailing Vitale and her husband’s recent trip to New York to meet with book publishers. Even though these channels don’t promote Vitale’s brand directly, they still help her to build a following.
ANDROID APP
An Android app is a software application developed to run on the Android operating system. Once it has been built, your app can be downloaded by any user with an Android mobile device. The app may include a mobile-friendly version of your cookbook, access to some of your most popular recipes, cooking tips, videos and any other content you’d like to provide to users who download the app.
To get the most out of an Android app, you must create an app that provides consumers with enough useful content, tools and convenience to make it worth the space it will occupy on the consumer’s mobile device. To see an example of an ideal app for a cooking brand, consider Betty’s Kitchen, an application designed by cookbook author Betty Givan. This app includes instantaneous access to Givan’s recipes, which are categorized according to type. The app also offers a search function, a browse function, a list of Givan’s latest recipes and some quick cooking tips. Note that the app is branded with Givan’s logo and packed with colorful pictures of Givan’s completed recipes.
With so many tools available, creating a strong online presence for your brand is certainly doable. It may not land you a spot on the USA Today best sellers list or the NYT best sellers list, but it can definitely get the word out about your brand. Smaller goals, such as raising your sales ranking on Amazon or increasing your profit by 50 percent, are realistic and well within reach if you put these marketing tools to work.
What Will You Do Now?
Which of these examples sparks some ideas to market your own brand as a cook and author?
Keep in mind that building a successful cooking brand requires a wealth of knowledge in the field of culinary arts coupled with consistent efforts over time. Even with all of these tools in your arsenal, it is highly unlikely that you will become an overnight sensation. However, with some dedication, hard work and smart marketing, you can steadily increase your exposure, gain more followers and grow your brand as a whole.
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AMANDA MONROE
Amanda Monroe is a professional writer, and has published more than 600 articles on such topics as business, law, finance, education, tax, and family topics. Amanda enjoys singing, shopping, spending time with family and friends, and reading. She also enjoys building and promoting websites.
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