5 Copywriting Tips for Food Brands
Copywriting ads for food brands involves channeling your imagination, using the right CTAs, and having the perfect combination of a certain amount of words. Crafting exceptional food ad copy on the other hand, involves all of the above AND adding different layers of flavor (every pun intended)! Depending on the type of food brand you’re working with, you may select descriptors that create an image in the customer’s mind, choose words that evoke their sensations, or focus on the nutritional benefits.
At ChuckJoe, we are passionate about the conscious food space and have created organic and paid evergreen content for many clients. With our expertise in the ever evolving digital landscape mixed with our years of experience, we’ve curated 5 tips to help you write copy for food ads like a pro!
1. Define Your Goals
Determine the most relevant ad objective for your business before you even draft a word! Perhaps you have a new fruit coming out next season, in this case you’ll want to increase brand awareness and reach. Or you have a new cooking demo on your website, instead you’ll need to drive traffic to your page. Knowing your goals can help develop copy that will guide your target audiences to take the specific actions that you want. Ad objectives will also determine which Call-To-Action will be the most appropriate for that ad. Don’t assume the reader will know what action you want them to take, so remember to choose a clear objective-based CTA.
2. Do Your Due Diligence
When you’re starting a new campaign, the best thing you can do as a copywriter is to… research, research, research! There’s no doubt that you’re a skilled and excellent writer, however familiarizing yourself with your client’s brand voice is the key. Research the nutritional facts, the pain points, target audiences, and learn all the minuscule details. Gather enough details to the extent where it feels like you can be their brand ambassador!
Learn how to adapt your writing style based on the food brand’s tone and personality. This technique will help your copy resonate with your current or potential audiences. This means that you don’t need to completely reinvent the cheese wheel! Chances are, the brand has already done the nitty gritty work of finding keyword differentiators that make them stand out. Take advantage of those keywords and use them as the base of your copy.
3. Avoid Writer’s Block
Once you’ve done your due diligence, start drafting copy right away! The hardest part about writing ads is starting the first sentence. There’s a famous saying, “write without fear, edit without mercy.” That still holds as great advice today. Don’t get caught up trying to create the perfect copy in the first attempt. Great ads takes writing, reading, more writing, and re-reading a couple more times until it can’t be revised any further.
Some additional steps that you can take to prevent getting stumped on words is to develop copywriting pathways, curate a collection of food adjectives, and focus on food benefits. Pull adjective inspiration from menus you’ve encountered at restaurants. Remember that consumers are attracted to products that can improve their lives. Highlighting benefits that they’ll receive by purchasing your product is the best course to take!
4. Ditch The Clickbait
Generally, clickbait has been a profitable marketing technique since the beginning of advertising for every industry. Though the times are changing and our millennial consumers are shifting more of their dollars towards conscious brands. You may be tempted to reel readers in with bait, but remember that it can damage your brand image and it can also break trust with consumers. Believe in your clever or out-of-the-box thinking, and you’ll be sure to come up with catchy copy that resonates better with your readers. Additional reasons why you should avoid click bait or engagement bait can be found on Facebook’s tips on how to avoid low-quality ads.
5. Quality Assurance
The last step is the most important of all, review your work! Even if you’ve won first place in your 5th grade spelling bee, it’s a best practice to QA your work. Grammarly is one of the best free tools on the web and can save your brand from losing its credibility. Another tried, true, and trusted tip is to read your copy out loud. If it doesn’t sound natural, there’s still revisions that need to be made.
When all is read out loud and done, your ad copy variations are ready to be tested! Whether you’re testing shorter or longer ads, this benefit or that benefit, there will most likely be a better performer of the bunch. Be sure to optimize towards your best food ad and never stop testing!
