An Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing and Food Subscription Services

In the wake of lockdown, the food industry had to quickly adapt to the reality that most people will be cooking in their own kitchens for a while. Needless to say, the convenience of having everything needed to cook prepared for you was attractive to many of us throughout the past 6 months. This allowed the food subscription service companies to boom so much that it created a completely new market within a market, niche food and concession services. This means the makings of cocktails, gourmet meals and specific cuisines delivered to your door.

Food shopping to many was always a hassle, which is why food subscription boxes and services make sense to many households. Not to mention, they reduce food waste. The convenience goes further than arriving at your door, but many allow you to choose subscriptions. For example, some plans are weekly, fortnightly or monthly. You can also usually freeze your subscription for a period of time.

A Kantar survey found that during the weeks of October, online sales for take-home groceries were up 76%. This means one in five households now order groceries online. 

The popular food subscription services include HelloFresh (around £5 a meal), Gousto (24.99 per box) and mindful chef (£4.50 a meal). According to McKinsey, the subscription E-Commerce market is worth about $10 billion (this doesn’t even include Amazon Prime’s subscribe and save portion). Food subscription services have become so popular that even supermarkets themselves have rolled out their own subscription service. Morrisons has one that supports the local farming industry and donates £1 from each box to British Farming Charities.

Other retailers like Target in the US and Walmart have started their own subscription box services with beauty products. Amazon also is no stranger to the concepts, as the company has about 18 different subscription boxes available. Since subscription boxes are the perfect way to have the right dose of any industry, the number of customers planning to subscribe over the next few months is set to rise. In the US, it’s estimated that 25% of consumers are already receiving a subscription box service and 32% are planning to subscribe in the next six months. 

It’s not just the Gen-Z’s that are obsessed with subscription services, but millennials are getting on board. 31% of millennials in the US are already subscribed to a food subscription service, and 38% are planning to be subscribed in the next month. 8% of baby boomers are currently subscribing, and 22% are planning to do so in the next few months 

It seems that as the world gets more uncertain and overwhelming, consumers want personalised and simple solutions. This explains why subscription boxes are growing so much popularity, it’s a process that naturally created a relationship between the retailer and consumer that is loyal. 

This success found in subscription services proves that direct-to-consumer models are continuing to have a profound impact on retail. Attention spans are continuing to be shortened which means consumers are having higher expectations that retailers will align their products with personalised products.

How influencer marketing can grow your subscription service

The personalisation within food subscription services is best showcased and marketed through influencer marketing. Since there’s subscription services for so many different things, from Macaroons to books to cosmetics, it’s important for consumers to have as much knowledge on the products as possible. 

The key takeaways about subscription services are that they give consumers access to unique products and packaging. For influencers and influencer channels, subscription services provide many opportunities for content. They also allow sellers to know in advance what to order and how much, which helps retailers keep in track with their production. This is why influencer marketing and subscription services are the perfect digital marketing combination. 

If it wasn’t for influencer and micro influencer marketing, subscription service boxes may not be as popular. Unboxing videos were the tipping point for many, with the trend exploding on YouTube and Instagram. Now, unboxing videos are everywhere on social media. 

If your business has invested in providing a subscription service, influencer marketing is the perfect way to promote your service. It gives you an opportunity to enter new communities with pre-established trust and guaranteed ROI.

Here are some things to keep in mind with influencer marketing and subscription services:

1. Outline your business goals: It’s key to know what you are looking to achieve with influencer marketing. Setting realistic goals should be your first step. This could mean aiming to gain 1500 new subscriptions with one marketing campaign a month. Your numbers will determine the type of influencer you are looking to work with. 
2. Source influencers: It’s important to ensure you find the right influencers to share your products. Know their area of expertise. Try making a list of influencers who will promote your products. See how many interactions they get and their engagement rates as well. 
3. Think of unique initiatives: Offering a special discount or incentive is one of the most successful aspects of influencer marketing. This allows the audience to feel special and take part in promoting your products. This is particularly important when selling your recurring subscriptions over shorter periods of time. 
4. Think of ways to stand out: Think of ways you can put your brand messaging at the front and center of your product. This can come through unique content, such as an unboxing video. Asking people to share their experience with your content will keep the excitement about your service going. This also provides your own social media pages with new content.
5. Packaging: Packaging will be audiences and consumers’ first interaction with your brand, so think of ways that you can personalize it. It’s also key to think of how your packing will look on social media, and how to make it stand out. This could mean it’s made from recycled materials or it can be reused.

It’s important to familiarize yourself with influencer marketing and IGC (influencer-generated content) if you’re a brand that provides a subscription service. Influencer marketing is proven to be a very impactful marketing tool, as it’s quick to turnover, budget friendly and easy to monitor and manage. Influencer marketing on social media earns almost 8X more engagement than regular branded content. IGC is a win-win situation for any subscription service, as you can repurpose the content into your own paid social ads, website and social media channels.

Our Influencer marketing agency and Social agency are located worldwide, with our agency network based in the USA, UK, UAE and China.

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@ Socially Powerful

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