Marketing checklist for brands: best practices for selling plant-based foods

Introduction

We’ve compiled the top marketing strategies for plant-based brands and created a summary checklist for busy brands. These insights are based on our market research across tens of thousands of households in Europe and the US, along with extensive interviews with more than 50 leading plant-based food brands. For deep dives into these and other topics, check out our full catalog of articles on the ProVeg New Food Hub. But first, let’s explore your marketing checklist!

Front-of-pack checklist:

• Emphasize indulgence (flavor and taste) above all else. This is the primary consumer motivation.

Back-of-pack and side-of-pack checklist:

• Make preparation methods clear – flexitarians are often unsure how to cook/use plant-based alternatives, which suppresses sales.

Influencer-marketing checklist:

• Your strategy should be to connect with plant-based influencers and offer them free products, in the hope that they will share positive reviews with their followers. Gifting several smaller influencers is likely to deliver a better ROI over the long term than paying a single big influencer for promotion.

In-store promotions

• Offer long-term promotions when launching new plant-based products. Price is the primary motivator for the majority of consumers, so long-term discounts give consumers enough time to notice, try, and familiarize themselves with a particular plant-based alternative.