How Email can Work for You in B2B F&B Marketing

In our previous article, we laid down the facts: email marketing works. It offers high returns on investment, establishes close client relations, and delivers measurable results to guide your next steps.

But let’s be honest… in the saturated food & beverage market, the competition for attention is fierce. It’s easy for your email marketing campaign to get lost in the noise of flooded inboxes, or shuffled into spam folders of potential clients and distributors. And sending emails that aren’t being read incurs significant opportunity cost.

Here, we break down how you can maximize the effectiveness of email in your B2B marketing mix— and make sure your messages get where you want them to go.

Tailor your types

Email is a versatile communication tool, and open to infinite customization: it can be tailored to any audience (domestic or global), and for any of your F&B marketing needs (whether it's delivering a message, promoting a product, or announcing a sales promotion). 

International B2B marketing connects manufacturers to distributors and channel partners, anytime and anywhere. F&B manufacturers trying to build their international distributor channels can benefit by developing a robust B2B email marketing system, based on a few common email types: 

• Sales catalogs should be sent out by manufacturers whose sales activities focus on a range of F&B products, to present specific offerings to prospective distributors. If you’re proud of your organic fruit snacks or craft beer flavors, show it!

• Announcements can include limited-time promotions or free product trials. To entice new buyers and get them hooked on your product, offer exclusive deals to distributors on your email subscription list.

• Informational emails can be used to build brand image and update clients on the company—what’s going on, what’s coming up, and what they can look forward to.

Step by step

When deciding which type of email to send, F&B marketers should also keep in mind who should be sent what. After all, B2B entails a longer buying cycle... and facilitating the lead-to-close process means your emails must be specific to individual buyers’ needs at any point in time.

That also means there is no “one-size-fits-all” email campaign— it’s important to develop targeted emails and lifecycle messaging strategies. In 2015, the DMA reported that email has an average ROI of $38 for every dollar spent, with 77% of that ROI coming from segmented and targeted campaigns.

By tracking the conversion rates on your CRM platform— seeing who’s opening your emails, and who’s clicking through— F&B manufacturers can deliver timely follow-up messages to interested distributors through drip campaigns, based on where each recipient is in the buyer’s journey.

An integrated marketing mix

Of course, it’s important to integrate your various marketing strategies into one cohesive whole. Email should be used to complement and reinforce other marketing channels.

Throughout the relatively longer B2B sales cycle, social media can be used alongside targeted emails to nurture leads. By delivering a steady stream of brief but memorable information through email and social channels, you can keep your company on prospective clients’ minds until they’re ready to make a buying decision.

Email marketing can also be used to support offline channels. Food & beverage trade shows like Gulfood, SIAL and Fancy Food are good avenues for brand advocacy and network-building. To stand out from thousands of competing booths and make sure you meet as many distributors as you can, send potential connections an email before the big event so they know who and what to look out for.

These general tips capture just a small part of the rich and diverse email marketing landscape in F&B. For more information on how to launch email campaigns that reach their intended B2B audiences—and achieve their desired conversion rates— contact us at Global Marketing Associates.

About us

Global Marketing Associates has been helping companies in their B2B marketing for over 15 years, including email campaigns. Contact us for a free consultation to learn more about how we can help your company succeed.