As the saying goes, everyone has to eat. But what people eat — and how they consume food-related content — differs wildly. Because of this, food-focused brands and retailers are constantly searching for unique ways to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace so they can win the loyalty (and dollars) of fickle consumers.

One way to set yourself apart from other food-centric competitors: a smartly crafted content marketing program anchored in recipes and consumer insights. This not only provides your audience with an invaluable service, but it also positions your brand as a go-to problem solver, someone who can quickly answer the age-old question “What’s for dinner?” while providing engaging content that entertains, empowers and inspires action.

Let’s be honest: Building a robust recipe experience — complete with thousands of recipes and meal plans — is hard work. And it can feel particularly daunting to food-focused marketers and retailers who simply don’t have the bandwidth or resources. The good news? There’s a simple yet effective way to develop a high-quality recipe database that will resonate with consumers. And it’s budget friendly.

The solution is licensing recipes from trusted brands with a built-in following, like EatingWell, Real Simple and Better Homes & Gardens. These recipes have been tested and cross-tested to ensure that real cooks can achieve the desired (and delicious!) results at home. Best of all, you can use these engaging recipes at scale for your website, email marketing, social media and loyalty programs. It’s quick, budget conscious and easy — when you use the right content partner.

So how do you determine the best recipes (and content partner) for your need?

For starters, recipes should always include these basics:

  • Easy-to-follow ingredient list
  • Step-by-step preparation in a consistent layout (are the instructions bulleted, numbered, in a paragraph, and is this the same display across all of them?)
  • A professionally shot image of the completed dish
  • Nutritional data as analyzed by an expert, such as a registered dietitian
  • Detailed taxonomy of how this would appear in a site search (tags might include: chicken, baked, heart-healthy, kid-friendly, etc.)
  • The total time and the active time (for example, your audience should know that while bread dough ingredients come together quickly, it takes hours to rise or proof before you can start baking it)

Most content partners can curate the right recipes for your brand and audience. But the best ones go beyond that and build a data-driven content strategy that drives deeper engagement, lifts sales and improves ROI. At DDM Content Solutions, we provide clients with a roadmap for how to best position and amplify recipes. This includes everything from considering seasonality and health requirements — like gluten-free or diabetic friendly — to food trends and various cooking devices (hello, Instant Pot). We also make sure the recipes are on-brand for you. As delicious as it is, the Lobster Thermador recipe might not be right for a grocer who doesn’t carry seafood.

Finally, how to maximize your use of licensed recipes should be a part of the content strategy from the beginning. For instance, a well-crafted editorial calendar that combines tried-and-true learnings (like making sure you promote an easy-to-create flag cake around the Fourth of July on Instagram) with flexibility (like the ability to tap into emerging food trends) is key.

To earn bonus points with your customers, you can go beyond recipes and provide them with achievable meal plans (ever considered the Mediterranean diet, yet felt unsure of where to start?). Or you can offer them seasonal mini-cookbooks featuring scannable smart codes that can be used to unlock savings, share recipes with friends or purchase ingredients for in-store pickup or home delivery. The options (and potential) are unlimited!

If all of this still feels a little daunting, no worries. Your brand can simply plug into our turnkey recipe search experience known as RaaS (recipes as a service). Now let’s get cooking together. For more information on how to bring recipes to life as a part of your content marketing mix, contact us today.

Author Bio

Jonathan Whitbourne is an experienced editorial director at DDM Content Solutions who specializes in branded content and marketing services. He uses analytics and his years of experience as a magazine/digital editor to help brands tell stories that are smart, engaging and trustworthy.