There are a number of factors that come into play when it comes to confidently creating your very own food business. Some factors can be controlled, but there are always some you can't control. Is your branding good enough? Are your prices right? Do your customers know how to find you and order from you? With the right resources, all of these things can be controlled.
Along with starting up your free online store with Castiron, there are a number of other tools — some free, others low-cost— that will help you put your food business in the best light. The way you market and brand your business is important for attracting and retaining customers, after all!
These easy-to-use tools can help you build and grow your business, whether you’re just getting ready to launch or have been running your food business for years.
Looka
What it does: Custom logo maker
Looka creates a custom logo for you, based on your design preferences through questions of industry, logo styles, colors, slogan, and symbols. How does it work? It all happens with AI.
After answering the questionnaire, you can edit your newly designed logo, changing the layout, palette, font and color pairs, background, and other features. Looka is free to design, browse, edit, preview, and save. If you want to download and use the logo, the Basic Logo Package is $20. A logo surely brings a business to life and Looka is an easy way to create a brand that will carry into all your future projects.
Lightroom
What it does: Photo editing tools
Lightroom is a beginner-friendly (and free) photo editing program. It may look intimidating at first, but in reality all the tools are labeled and are easily adjustable to improve the look of a photo. The adjustments range from exposure, construct, while balance, and vibrance. These all have their own individual sliders and by playing around with each of the options, you can truly make your products seem like they have been professionally edited. Here are some quick photo editing tips:
- Hue: Alters a specific color to a different color tone. For example, you can specifically take your yellows and make them appear more towards an orange or green tone.
- Saturation: Alters how rich a color will appear and can add a stylized look.
- Luminance: Alters the brightness of colors.
- White Balance: Removes incorrect color casts, which can be affected by the color of lighting you took your photo in. White balance ensures your whites are actually white.
- Clarity: Adds in medium tones to give your image contrast and details.
Need help with your photos? Check out this post that’s full of easy photography tips for smartphone photographers.
Canva
What it does: Graphic design software
Canva is a user-friendly graphic design platform that can be used to create a variety of visual content like social media posts, flyers, presentations, invitations, custom prints, and much more. There are design templates for almost any visual media you can imagine. The best part of Canva is that it is free! Yes, you can spring for the premium version, Canva Pro, but the free version offers many layouts, elements, texts, styles, and more. It’s easy to use, and its designer-made templates mean you don’t need any graphic design skills! There is always inspiration floating around on Canva and it can easily be meshed with your own ideas and brand elements.
Sticker App
What it does: Create and order branded stickers
Looking for a platform to create and print customer stickers? The Sticker App uses a built-in, easy editor to help you make quality stickers, labels, and decals. They are both scratch and waterproof, plus offer flexibility when it comes to customizing the size of the stickers. For customized stickers, the starting price is $26 for 111 stickers. For larger quantities, the prices usually come with a deal. Stickers go a long way in packaging your product and promotional efforts through the common placement of them on personal laptops, water bottles, on your vehicle, and more.
Looking for other low-cost sticker and decal tools? Try StickerMule, VistaPrint, or Sticker Guy. Or, for another option, consider getting your own custom stamp with your logo or business information on it.
Facebook Business Manager
What it does: Helps you manage your Facebook and Instagram accounts
An easy way to keep track of your marketing and advertising performance, Facebook Business Manager allows you to create ads and manage your assets like Facebook Pages, custom audiences, Instagram accounts, and more. The perks to Facebook Business Manager are you can separate your personal page from your business page, a centralized location to track ads/post performance, plus give access to other partners or vendors without any actual ownership of your assets.
Business Manager is an important part of your food business's marketing efforts, as it tracks how well your social media content is performing, and can give you suggestions on how to improve. The data can be helpful to ensure you are posting engaging content to your followers, that you're posting at the right times, and that you're posting the content your audience wants to see.
Final Thoughts
As an artisan, you are a creator and consistently trying to find ways to craft a product that speaks to who you are. You’ll always be pulled in countless directions when you first launch your business and it is still even likely after years of development for your business.
These marketing tools offer a good range of play, allowing you the flexibility to tailor them to the visual or marketing aesthetic you want to achieve. The creator in you will always lead with creative instincts, so we hope these easy-to-use tools can help bring your product and business to life that speaks to exactly who you are.
