Food Biz Feedback

Ideas to gain authentic evaluations that encourage growth and may even lead to new collaborations

I recently met with some food industry movers and shakers. In what seemed like too short an amount of time, they asked me to role play selling their product to them, the idea being that I could provide a fresh perspective of their brand. It was an excellent game to gain authentic feedback and it got me thinking of how other growing businesses can apply similar strategies to their growth.

When you’re living and breathing a brand, it is nearly impossible to see your product from an outside perspective. Yes, you know your competition and you understand your industry top to bottom, but it can be next to impossible to know what the casual consumer thinks when they see your product on a shelf. Improve your success by utilizing some creative feedback options.

Poll Your Audience

Call on your existing followers and fans to give feedback. If have an email list, huzzuh, but if you’re just on socials or website, you can use this tactic too. This article in Forbes highlights the benefits of social media polling and shares tips on how to see success with it. Incentivize customers with a BOGO Coupon or discount on next purchase. Ask questions that are important to you such as perception on how big your team is, what they love about your messaging and brand, distribution range, importance of emphasis on quality, community, or sustainability. To encourage creative thought and more detailed feedback, include some weird questions like: what shoe company most reminds you of us, which TV show would be most likely to feature our product, if you could pair us with one other product what would it be?

Embrace Newbies

Get in touch with a brand or organization that intersects with your audience and ask them to do an information gathering collab. This one may cost money, but the benefit is real. Pay for an Email or Ad requesting feedback from folks who are unfamiliar with or only tangentially familiar with your brand. Don’t be afraid to ask, “Hey, why do you think our Ad is on this site, what do we have in common with (organization).” Again, it may significantly boost your results to offer a deal or discount - nobody wants to do something for nothing. However, this article from Survey Monkey discusses the pros and cons of survey incentive and provides some creative alternatives.

Roleplaying - Not Just For RPG

Do what this company I met with did and ask industry people to roleplay selling your product to you. Though I wasn’t expecting it and was a little stressed at first, the exercise turned out to be fun and generated great conversation about their brand. I was able to comment on trends that I follow that may not be top of mind for their team. Trading knowledge with folks who are active in branding, growth, and your industry can lead to authentic and thought provoking conversation with lively think tanks. This article from the CIPE discusses how thinks tanks can be beneficial by raising awareness, initiating discussion, and showing creative ways forward.

Fun Fact: Some of the most successful industry collaborations have come from the wildest ideas, listening to feedback and noticing areas of overlap across industries. One of my recent favorites is the New Belgium Brewing x Vans collab, where they both partnered outside of their industry to create a powerful and trendy campaign that spoke to both my inner skater kid and craft beer lover. Clearly, I’m not unique in my apparently now 'classic' intersecting passions, but being basic may be worth it for the content they cranked out.