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Here at Good & Gold, we’ve carved out a nice space for ourselves in the food and beverage space by helping the folks at beloved Northwest companies like Stumptown, Evoke, Olympia Provisions, and others elevate their digital marketing.
With this experience in hand, we’ve got plenty of practical tips for marketers promoting food items, wine, coffee, or other delectables online. Let’s head to the main course!
We always start by evaluating how each digital channel ladders up to the business goals of our food and beverage clients before making recommendations. Is there an email or social strategy in place? If so, how do they support the on-page experience once someone reaches a website?
When improving your digital marketing strategy as a food and beverage brand, it's important to know how each channel works independently, but more importantly, how it integrates with the other channels.
For example, a subscriber who receives a newsletter needs to receive messaging and branding consistent with what they experience on a website. Alternatively, a social post promoting a sale should fit within the rest of your digital marketing strategy to offer familiarity and a seamless experience.
You can still embrace social media cues, use email best practices, and leverage other platform-specific techniques—but you should apply them knowing how they work together to elevate your food and beverage branding.
If you’re a digital marketer in the food or beverage industries, email automations should be central to your strategy. Automated flows like a welcome series produce 4x the open rates and 10x better click rates than other emails, and 50% of people who click an abandoned cart email convert. Automating emails also saves you time.
If you’re not sure where to get started, here’s our recommendation for essential automations to set up right now:
Our partnership with Sinegal Estate found us designing an email strategy that included newsletters and automations inspired by the elegance of their winery and website. By perfecting the cross-channel experience, we increased email revenue by 137% and transactions over email by 192%.
Digital marketing in the food or beverage industries is competitive, which can make it difficult to rank for organic search results. This is where Search Engine Marketing (SEM) channels like Google Ads can significantly boost your strategy.
We use SEM to help iconic brands like Stumptown expand their digital reach through targeted ads and on-brand creative. With our strategy in place, Stumptown saw improvements in key metrics across the board, including 622% total Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) and a 40% decrease in cost per acquisition.
We know SEM is one of the more demanding digital marketing channels to master, so we answered your questions here to make things easier.
Currently, 77% of internet users read blogs and 57% of marketers say they’ve gained customers by blogging. If you’re not ready for SEM or paid media, start a blog that focuses on SEO topics that offer your customers value.
Remember that your products themselves tell a story and offer your customers value. If you’re a digital marketer in the food and beverage industry who doesn’t know where to start, just pour your heart out about your products!
For example, we work with a winery called Evoke that runs an excellent SEO-friendly blog. We like their blog because they serve content that balances product highlights with storytelling and essential keywords. In turn, they rank well and offer their customers valuable content that improves their lives.
As content nerds, we love brainstorming blog topics that rank on the first page of Google. If you need SEO help or simply want a fresh idea for a blog, let’s talk.
Video has become a massive part of most digital strategies across every industry, with 80% of marketers reporting that adding motion increased sales.
Let's return to our dear friends at Stumptown for a minute and look at how they used video to increase brand awareness and push product sales. In one example, they uploaded a video to YouTube explaining How to Brew Coffee in an AeroPress.
We like this video because it's search-friendly, it's a great example of evergreen content, and its selling points are primarily organic. Many others clearly liked it too—the video has over a million views.
We recently talked about why outdoor brands should promote their values, including a stat reporting that 60% of people started prioritizing environmentally friendly or more moral purchases during the pandemic. Are these kinds of compelling values part of your brand story? Promote those values online over social media, email, or on your website—people want to vote with their dollar.
As we enter Q4, the holiday season brings both opportunities and challenges for lifestyle brands. This year, with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday falling later than usual, brands must navigate a compressed calendar. With only one shot to get their promotions right, early preparation and a well-executed strategy will be key to maximizing revenue. Here are some tips and a detailed roadmap to ensure your brand thrives during this busy season.
Now that you're armed with essential tips, here’s a week-by-week roadmap to guide you through the holiday season.
Week 1 (Early October): Establish Your Promotion and Budget
Week 2 (Mid-October): Prepare Creative Assets and Website
Week 3 (Late October): Build Campaigns and Get Gift Guides Live
Week 4 (First Week of November): Finalize and Test Promotions
Week 5 (Mid-November): Launch Your Holiday Campaigns
Week 6 (Thanksgiving Week): Make the Final Push for Black Friday/Cyber Monday
Week 7 (Post-Shipping Cutoff): Emergency Gifting and Gift Card Campaigns
To make the most of Q4, lifestyle brands must balance early preparation with last-minute flexibility. A strong, well-executed strategy—starting early, using personalization, and leveraging urgency—can help brands stand out in a crowded market and maximize revenue. Stay tuned for more service-specific holiday tips, and if you need assistance refining your Q4 approach, the team at Good & Gold is here to help. Contact us today for expert guidance.
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the curve is essential for any eCommerce and online business. One of the latest innovations shaking up the industry is Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE).
But what is SGE, and how is it impacting click-through rates (CTR) for eCommerce websites and online businesses?
This article delves into the implications of SGE for eCommerce businesses, exploring how this new technology affects search behaviors and what businesses can do to adapt.
Search Generative Experience (SGE) is Google's groundbreaking feature that uses advanced generative AI to enhance the traditional search engine experience. Unlike the standard search algorithms that focus on ranking pages based on keywords, SGE delivers more contextually relevant, personalized, and interactive results. This AI-driven approach aims to understand the user's intent better and provide them with comprehensive answers directly on the search engine results page (SERP).
SGE can generate detailed responses to queries, often pulling from multiple sources to create a synthesized answer that appears at the top of the search results. This innovation marks a significant shift in how users interact with search engines and, consequently, how businesses need to approach search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing.
This change aligns with Google's broader mission to make information universally accessible and useful but introduces new challenges and opportunities for online businesses.
The introduction of SGE is significantly altering the landscape of CTR, which is a key metric for evaluating the effectiveness of search-based marketing strategies. Here’s how:
With SGE providing detailed answers directly within the search results, users may no longer feel the need to click through to a website to find the information they need. This shift could result in a decrease in CTR for traditional organic search results, as users might find their queries sufficiently answered without leaving the search engine results page (SERP).
Traditional SEO practices, which have long focused on optimizing content for specific keywords to rank higher in search results, will have to evolve. Businesses will need to consider how to optimize for SGE, focusing on providing content that complements the AI-generated responses or offers value beyond what SGE can provide directly.
As SGE becomes more prevalent, the importance of securing featured snippets and rich results (like images, videos, and other interactive content) grows. These elements are more likely to capture attention within an SGE-enhanced search environment, offsetting some of the CTR declines for traditional links.
While overall CTR might decline, the traffic that does click through may be of higher quality. Users who proceed beyond the SGE responses are more interested in the products, leading to better conversion rates.
SGE is transforming the way consumers search for and discover products online, which has significant implications for eCommerce businesses. Here are some of the key impacts:
One of the most immediate impacts of SGE on eCommerce businesses is the potential reduction in organic traffic.
For many eCommerce businesses, particularly smaller ones, brand visibility on Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) is crucial for attracting customers. However, as SGE offers more detailed answers within the search results themselves, the space for traditional organic listings may become more limited. This can make it more challenging for eCommerce brands to stand out, especially if they are not among the top results or if their content is not featured in AI-generated snippets.
The rise of SGE asks for a shift in SEO and content strategies for eCommerce businesses. Traditional keyword optimization is no longer be sufficient. Instead, ecommerce businesses need to focus on creating content that is optimized for AI interpretation, such as by addressing common customer queries concisely and directly. Additionally, structured data and schema markup are becoming increasingly important to ensure that product information is easily understood and featured by SGE.
On the positive side, SGE has the potential to enhance the customer experience by providing more accurate and tailored search results. For example, if a user searches for a specific product, SGE could generate a detailed product comparison or a summary of reviews, helping customers make more informed decisions. This could lead to higher quality traffic, as users who do click through to an eCommerce site may be more ready to purchase.
SGE's ability to present rich media and visual content directly within the search results is another factor that eCommerce businesses must consider. High-quality images, videos, and other rich content formats play a more significant role in attracting attention within an SGE-dominated SERP. Businesses will need to invest in creating compelling visual content that can stand out in this new environment.
To thrive in the age of SGE, eCommerce businesses must adapt their strategies to align with this new search landscape. Here are some actionable steps:
Focus on creating content that is easily digestible by AI, such as concise product descriptions, FAQs, and other content that directly answers common questions. Implementing structured data is also essential to ensure that your products are prominently featured in AI-generated responses.
Invest in high-quality images, videos, and other forms of rich media that can enhance your visibility within SGE's search results. Consider creating video content that showcases your products, as videos are more likely to be highlighted by SGE.
As SGE improves the quality of search results, ensure that your website provides an equally high-quality user experience. This includes fast loading times, mobile optimization, and a seamless checkout process, all of which are critical for converting high-quality traffic into sales.
SGE is a game-changer in the world of search, offering users more detailed and contextually relevant answers directly within the SERP. For eCommerce businesses, understanding **what is SGE** and how it impacts CTR is critical for adapting to this new search paradigm. While SGE presents challenges, such as potential declines in organic traffic and increased competition for visibility, it also offers opportunities for businesses to attract higher-quality traffic and improve conversion rates. By optimizing content for AI, investing in rich media, and refining paid search strategies, eCommerce businesses can continue to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven market.
In the world of digital marketing, data is king. Understanding how your ads perform, where your traffic comes from, and how users interact with your website is crucial for making informed decisions. While standard ad platform tracking and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offer valuable insights, they come with certain limitations. In this blog post, we'll explore the pitfalls of standard ad platform tracking, the challenges of GA4, and how third-party tracking solutions can provide a more comprehensive and accurate picture of your marketing efforts.
Standard ad platform tracking, such as those provided by Facebook Ads or Google Ads, often suffer from platform bias. Each platform tends to attribute conversions to itself, leading to over-reporting. This bias can distort your understanding of which channels are truly driving results, making it difficult to allocate your budget effectively.
Ad platforms typically track data within their own ecosystem. This siloed approach means that cross-platform insights are limited. If you're running campaigns across multiple channels, it becomes challenging to get a unified view of your customer journey and overall marketing performance.
Standard ad platforms often use last-click attribution by default, which credits the final touchpoint before a conversion. This model can undervalue upper-funnel activities like awareness and consideration campaigns that play a crucial role in guiding customers down the funnel.
GA4 introduces a new way of tracking and analyzing data, which can be complex and require a steep learning curve. For marketers used to Universal Analytics, adapting to GA4's event-based model and navigating its new interface can be daunting.
GA4 often employs data sampling when processing large datasets, which can lead to inaccuracies. Sampled data might not fully represent your actual traffic and user behavior, leading to potentially misleading insights.
With increasing privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, GA4 has implemented stricter data collection practices. While this is a positive step for user privacy, it can result in less granular data and limitations on tracking certain user interactions.
Third-party tracking solutions excel in providing cross-platform attribution, allowing you to see the complete customer journey across multiple channels. This holistic view helps in accurately identifying which touchpoints contribute most to conversions, enabling better budget allocation.
Third-party trackers often utilize advanced algorithms and methodologies to reduce data inaccuracies and biases. This ensures that you get a more precise understanding of your marketing performance without over-reliance on any single platform's data.
Unlike standard ad platforms and GA4, third-party tracking solutions offer greater customization options. You can tailor tracking to fit your specific business needs, set up custom attribution models, and create detailed reports that align with your marketing goals.
Third-party solutions provide in-depth reporting capabilities, combining data from various sources into a single dashboard. This unified reporting helps in making more informed decisions and understanding the true impact of your marketing efforts.
Many third-party tracking providers prioritize privacy compliance, offering tools and features that help you adhere to regulations while still gaining valuable insights. This balance ensures that you respect user privacy without sacrificing data quality.
While standard ad platform tracking and GA4 offer valuable insights, they come with significant limitations that can hinder your ability to fully understand and optimize your marketing efforts. Third-party tracking solutions address these challenges by providing cross-platform attribution, enhanced accuracy, greater customization, comprehensive reporting, and advanced privacy compliance.
Investing in a robust third-party tracking solution can be a game-changer for your marketing strategy, helping you make data-driven decisions with confidence and ultimately driving better results for your business.
In the world of branding, every project tells a story—a narrative creative from collaboration, creativity, and a shared vision for the future. At Good & Gold, we've had the privilege of embarking on such journeys with remarkable entrepreneurs like Amanda Hughes, the visionary behind The Ice Cream Stand and Cream & Coffee.
In the summer of 2023, Amanda, the owner of The Ice Cream Stand nestled in Downtown Syracuse, approached us with a desire to breathe new life into her beloved ice cream shop. Collaboratively, we embarked on a mission to create a vibrant brand identity that captured the essence of her woman-owned ice cream shop.
From brainstorming sessions to design mockups, together we crafted a lively brand identity that perfectly complemented the spirit of her shop—a colorful celebration of homemade delights and community connection.
Fast forward to early 2024, Amanda approached us again with a new vision taking shape. Enter Cream & Coffee, the Ice Cream Stand's cool, homemade little sister—a fusion parlor nestled by the lake in Skaneateles, NY. With Amanda's business plan in hand, we embarked on a new mission, this time helping build a brand from the ground up.
Drawing inspiration from the rustic charm and historic allure of Skaneateles, we set out to create a brand identity that felt warm and inviting. Handmade touches, warm neutral tones, and a touch of nostalgia of the historic lake town formed the cornerstone of Cream & Coffee's brand identity.
The result of this branding journey is two unique brand identities, each hand crafted to honor the personality and individuality of the shops they represent. Our experience with The Ice Cream Stand and Cream & Coffee has been a testament to the power of collaboration, creativity, and a shared passion for capturing the vision and essence of a small brand.
At Good & Gold, we take pride in contributing to the journey of turning entrepreneurs' and small businesses' dreams into reality. To learn more about the journey of branding & logo design, sign up for our monthly newsletter to get access to our latest eBook - Introduction to Logo Design & Brand Development.