Recipes: The Missing Ingredient in Many Food PR Content Marketing Mixes

Firing up a grill with a push of a button. Making taste buds tingle with flavorful hot sauce varieties. Creating memorable media experiences through product trial has long been a staple of public relations for food & beverage and related brands.

However, when it comes to maximizing overall ROI and audience engagement, an often overlooked but staple ingredient should be the good old fashioned recipe. While product trials and demos can whet an editor’s appetite for a story, recipes are rich content that can both maximize PR campaigns and drive measurable business results in multiple ways. Here’s a small taste:

• Google Trends can spice up recipes for media: Thanksgiving and other holidays where food has a central role often create seasonal editorial opportunities for food related consumer brands. Let’s face it though – if you’re pitching a turkey-themed recipe, odds are so is everyone else. This makes it that much harder to stand out in both the reporter and public’s mind. Just look at the seasonal spikes in generic “recipe” search traffic over the last 5 years in the U.S. according to Google Trends.

One way to spice up the pitch is using Google Trends early on to identify other food related trends and tailor your recipe pitch accordingly. Reporters will be thrilled to get content that is not only seasonal, but on-point with related trends that will help make their story that much more likely to stand out.

• Content to savor: For online weight loss brand Slimming World, the SHIFT Communications consumer PR team used Google Trends to identify a recipe for a delicious, protein-packed breakfast. The recipe showcased the brand’s philosophy around losing weight without feeling hungry, and created a rich piece of content that was further amplified through the brand’s social channels. The team then drove additional traffic to SlimmingWorld.com through a paid syndication campaign around a recipe earned media placement. This increased overall consumer engagement with the original article and more importantly, helped drive program sign-ups and conversions.
• Flavor that lasts: Once you’ve identified a reporter who is open to accepting branded recipes, spend time nurturing the relationship. Offer to meet with them to brainstorm on the types of recipes/content that tend to drive the most eyeballs and engagement for them. You may be surprised that these reporters are actively looking to fill content on an ongoing basis, and will be amenable to accepting rolling recipe submissions across seasons.

The next time you’re looking to add some spice to your food & beverage PR campaign, consider some of these easy to implement recipe tips to help you create a more full-flavored approach to achieving your campaign goals.