COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the F&B landscape. With more people staying at home, the demand for online food delivery has grown significantly. In fact, it’s predicted to reach over $151,526M worldwide in 2021 – which is an increase of 11% over 2020. In Hong Kong, the food delivery industry is seeing the same kind of boom. It’s expected to show an annual growth rate of over 5%, with a projected market volume of US$1,013m by 2025. If you’re looking to open a food delivery business in Hong Kong, now would be the right time to do it. But this doesn’t mean that it will be easy. Even if you’re serving the best food in the world, there’s a common struggle that all new businesses face: marketing.
The Importance of Marketing
No matter how good your food is, if no one knows about it, then you can’t and won’t be successful. This is precisely why effective marketing should be one of the foremost concerns for new and established restaurants alike.
So, before you start out with your food delivery business, you need to have a defined marketing plan. We’ve created this 7-step guide to help you effectively market your food delivery business in Hong Kong for the upcoming year.
Step #1 – Create a solid business plan
A proper business plan will lay out your short and long-term goals. This is essential for the success of your business and for creating your marketing plan.
Your plan should include:
● The type of food you’re offering
● Your Unique Selling Point (USP), which is what sets you apart from your competitors
● Your target market
● How do you make your products appealing to your target market
These are the basic elements of your plan. It will also include aspects that are unique to your business and product. Some other factors you may include in your plan are:
● Packaging
● How you can keep your food fresh during delivery
Step #2 – Focus on the Visuals
When you market your food delivery business, you can’t show how good your food tastes or smells. All you can do is show your potential customers how good it looks. This means that you need to have visuals that tantalise the eyes.
But taking great photos isn’t as easy as it looks. It involves a lot of different technical details such as:
● The right lighting
● Appropriate props
● Accent colours
● The right cameras and lenses
Unless you’re a professional photographer or have all this specialised knowledge, you should book a session with a professional food photographer for this part of your marketing plan. This way, you get beautiful photos that you can double up on and use across all your marketing channels.
Step #3 – Optimise your Google My Business (GMB) listing
These days, almost everyone looks online for restaurant and food delivery information. In Hong Kong, Google has over 89% search engine market share, making a GMB listing absolutely essential for any successful business.
Your GMB listing needs to include accurate and complete information, allowing potential customers to search and find basic business information on your delivery kitchen like:
● Hours of operation
● Phone number
● Website
● Address
Step #4 – Create a High-Quality Website
Everyone looks online for food delivery these days, so your customers and potential customers will look at your website. And if your website looks dodgy, incomplete, or doesn’t include a menu, then you’ll lose customers.
Your website needs to be well-designed, user-friendly and SEO-optimised. This will make it easy and pleasant for your customers to use and ensure that it’s easily found by search engines. It should also load quickly and be mobile-friendly so that your customers can surf it on their phones.
You should also have a complete menu on your website, one that includes your professionally created photos. Keep your site updated too with specials or menu updates to build interest and encourage your customers to sign up for offers and promotions. This is a great way to get their email addresses and names so you can send them special offers in the future.
Step #5 – Partner with Local Delivery Companies
Research the different delivery companies that work in Hong Kong and find the ones that best suit your business. This will most likely be either Foodpanda or Deliveroo, as these companies already have the delivery infrastructure in place as well as a well-established customer base, making them one of the most effective ways to get your food out to customers.
Step #6 – Build an Online Community
These days, customers are looking for more than an impersonal food provider. They’re looking to be part of a wider community. Some of the most successful restaurants have huge social media followings, and they can attribute a fair deal of their success to it. A large online presence allows you to quickly tap into an active customer base with new food items, new offers, and more.
Instagram is particularly popular among food delivery businesses. This platform will allow you to show off your amazing photos and share promos and deals that your customers can easily share with their friends and family.
You can build an online community organically or with paid advertising. Organic growth is an effective long-term strategy but, if you have the budget, buying advertisements on social media platforms can also help to boost your brand awareness, particularly if you’re a new business.
Step #7 – Create a mobile app
This is a step you might want to take once your business builds a solid customer base. Creating your own mobile app can be complicated and take time and money, but it will also streamline ordering and allow you to offer exclusive promotions and bonuses. These bonuses are brilliant for building brand loyalty and keeping your customers coming back time after time.
The Takeaway on Food Delivery Business Marketing Strategies
The online food delivery market isn’t going anywhere. If you want to be successful, besides offering amazing food, you have to market your food delivery business following these marketing essentials.
It’s also a great idea to consider working with a fully optimised kitchen provider that has the infrastructure, tools, and customers to make your business a success. Freshlane has delivery-only kitchens across Hong Kong that allow you to launch new locations fast and affordably. Our spaces are ideal for businesses who want to grow or adapt and get access to new customers.
If you’re looking to make your CloudKitchensTM delivery kitchen a success, then simply fill out the form below to get in contact!