Food tourism plays an influential part of the decision-making process for potential visitors.
So, it's crucial to put effective marketing strategies in place for reaching your target audience when they're researching their next destination.
There are many ways you can:
- reach your intended market
- build a strong online following
- entice potential visitors to choose to spend time with your business as part of their trip to Scotland
Browse our key marketing tactics to help visitors discover their next food tourism experience in Scotland.
In this article:
- General good practice advice
- Tempting visitors with your social media content
- Collaborating with other businesses in your region
- Working with influencers
- Gaining global media coverage
- Making sure your website has all the answers
- Getting tailored support from VisitScotland
- Reaching an international audience with travel trade
- Helpful marketing resources
General good practice advice
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Know your audience
Which type of visitor are you trying to reach: couples, families, larger groups? Identify the audience or audiences you want to market to and understand how they behave online. Some things to consider are:
- which channels they use
- how they find inspiration for trips
- how they will book their trip
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Focus on data
Data-driven marketing is essential, so use insights to help guide the promotion of your business.
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Tell your story
What makes your experience unique? Take your visitors behind the scenes of your business to show them how the experience comes together. To make visitors feel part of the experience before they even arrive, you could give them teasers of:
- where your produce comes from
- the staff who make your experience happen
- the community that your business belongs to
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Focus on sustainability
Research has shown that seven in 10 visitors feel overwhelmed when trying to be a "sustainable traveller". Your marketing activity is the opportunity to tell your sustainable story. This will make it easier for the visitor to understand your offering and reassure them that they're making a responsible choice with your business.
How to market your business
Tempting visitors with your social media content
Visitors choose to book food tourism experiences in several ways. This will be influenced by their cultural norms, convenience, how familiar they are with the destination, and what platforms they use on a day-to-day basis.
Social media is one of the main sources of travel inspiration. It's often used for generating ideas of places to eat and drink and things to do before arriving at a destination. Some key things to consider:
- experiment with video content; short videos and reels are some of the most consumed content on social media and are a great way to showcase those behind-the-scenes aspects that humanise and bring authenticity to your online profile
- include high quality imagery
- be responsive and active across your channel to build trust with your followers
- other online channels visitors use are intermediary sites such as Google My Business, OpenTable, and TripAdvisor
Read more on how you can improve your online performance.
Use our marketing calendar to help you generate ideas for your social media content.
Collaborating with other businesses in your region
The region in which your business exists is as important as the business itself. Visitors are looking for an immersive experience which supports local communities, so the more you can shout about that the better.
Consider collaborating with other local businesses to promote access to local food and drink and offer mutual support. The WeeCOOK Kitchen have brilliant examples of collaboration that helped to take the business from strength to strength.
Browse the case study on The WeeCOOK Kitchen.
Working with influencers
There is no shortage of social media influencers who incorporate or have accounts dedicated entirely to food and drink. The right influencers can open doors to your desired audience.
Whether you're looking to attract more domestic visitors to your business or looking to use your social media activity to reach new and further afield audiences, influencer marketing can be a great strategy to achieve this.
Gaining global media coverage
Our press team pitches ideas to thousands of contacts across key travel and lifestyle media in domestic and global markets.
If you have a unique food and/or drink experience that can stand out from the crowd, share it with our press team via travelpr@visitscotland.com.
Making sure your website has all the answers
A simple but key step in your marketing activity is making sure your website provides as much information as possible to secure the booking.
Before booking, visitors may come to your website for more details. They might look for information on:
- accessibility by public transport
- accessibility for wheelchair users
- options for any dietary needs / preferences
- suitability for children
Depending on your target audience, visitors will have many different needs. So, make sure your website has as much information as possible to help answer any questions.
If they can’t find what they're looking for, make sure there is a contact option available and be transparent about when they can expect to hear back from you.
Getting tailored support from VisitScotland
Need some extra support on how to create a strong online presence? Our Industry Relationship Managers offer tailored support for businesses including digital reviews. These can provide your business with actionable advice to make sure your business is discoverable and bookable.
Find your Industry Relationship Manager.
Make sure to take advantage of our free web listing tool and add your business to our visitscotland.com website, visited annually by 11 million users.
