FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANUFACTURERS URGED TO BE WEBSITE-SAVVY FT011 A website acts as an online hub for 28 AUGUST 2016 Gain a competitive advantage with motor control from NHP • Motor starting & protection • Variable speed drives • Low voltage soft starters • Liquid resistance starters NHP Electrical Engineering Products NZ LTD 0800 NHP NHP | nhp-nz.com | FT118 102 x 67 format.indd 3 25/07/2016 11:01 AM MatM an Washing Solutions Ltd knows Crate Washing • Hire • Sales & service • Contract washing • Mobile units available Contact us today for all your crate washing needs www.matmanwashing.co.nz e: matman.cratewashing@xtra.co.nz m: +64 27 288 8299 t: +64 7 825 9190 9410 Matman advert 105 x 74.25 DRAFT.indd 1 8/05/12 11:50 AM a business, a central point where the rest of your marketing efforts will point towards. As such, it needs to accurately and effectively convey your brand image, as well as giving visitors exactly what they came for in the first place. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach that you can take towards websites, and even within specific industries, different businesses will need their own unique styles. You need to find what works best for you, and this comes down to defining your business objectives. In the food and beverage industry, you find businesses on both ends of the size spectrum. Deciding on marketing and branding depends on each unique situation, and can be limited by your choice of website platform. A large company with hundreds or thousands of products will need a powerful e-commerce platform like Magento, while a smaller business with fewer products will be happy using Shopify or Woocommerce. Those not selling physical goods might lean towards Wordpress for showcasing indepth content, or go with a fast and easy solution like Squarespace. Regardless of platform, there are certain design features that are commonplace in 2016; the most important of which is responsive design. This is the piece of code that ensures your website displays correctly on mobile devices. With more than 70 per cent of Kiwis using the internet on their smartphones, it is essential that your business website looks good on any device. Mobile internet use is only getting more popular as well, so things like single-page scrolling may be something to consider. Rather than clicking and having a new page open, a ‘hamburger’ menu (those three horizontal lines) up the top of the page can give viewers options to jump down the page. This style of browsing lends itself well to mobile devices. While ‘traditional’ online advertising like AdWords is still going strong, another trend at the moment is storytelling. This is especially relevant to the food/beverage industry as the availability of information has caused consumers to be increasingly interested in where their food is coming from. With all sorts of fad diets popping up, people are concerned about what they are putting in their bodies.It’s almost like consumers want to know the name of the chicken that laid their eggs. If your company caters to these needs however, it’s the perfect opportunity to market to this audience and build your brand by telling your story. Video is another option worth consid- By David Kelly ering, provided it’s done professionally. As internet speed constantly improves, video is becoming more seamless. You will start to see more and more websites with videos playing in the background in an unobtrusive manner. For those who are interested, the video can provide vital information and boost brand awareness and loyalty. If you’re looking at content marketing for your business, remember ‘The Three S’s’: Searchable, Shareable and Snackable. Keep content short enough to remain interesting, shareable on social media, use popular keywords and make sure your content doesn’t expire, as it will be online indefinitely. We are seeing companies develop a deeper understanding of their customer base and targeting their message appropriately. It’s easier than ever to collect information from people as they use your services, and by analysing this data, businesses are able to target their advertising efforts accordingly. Marketing will become more tailored for the individual… we can already see this to some degree when banner ads reflect recent search history. Advertising will only become more accurate and targeted in the future, while crossing over each of your devices as you use them. Most businesses these days will already have a website. From large manufacturers and exporters, to the smaller ‘mom and pop’ stores, an online presence of some kind seems to have finally become recognised as a necessity. David Kelly is founder and chairman of Zeald. M Y S AY
FT AUG 16
To see the actual publication please follow the link above