Meet the Experts: Food Bloggers

It’s no secret these days that blogs are a highly valuable resource for everything from cooking, to sports, to health care, and all topics in between. Over 77 million adults 18+ in the U.S. agree that they visit blogs and personal websites. Source: Simmons National Consumer Survey, Winter 2017.

There are more food blogs than you can shake a whisk at, and brands are eager to reach audiences through these influencers, creating delicious content to entice their readers.

There are more food blogs than you can shake a whisk at, and brands are eager to reach audiences through these influencers.Click To Tweet

At Padilla, we’ve had the pleasure of working with an elite group of food bloggers over the years on recipe and content development. Last week, I met with Gwynn Galvin, a friend of the agency and an award-winning culinary professional with over twenty years of recipe development, food styling, test kitchen management and culinary innovation experience. Given the current media landscape, I asked Gwynn if she would offer her insight on how marketers can best work with food bloggers. Her thoughts below:

What’s the very first thing you want to know when being introduced to a new food brand/product you’ll be working with?

I want to know what it tastes like. Once I taste a product I can then imagine that flavor in a recipe.

I also want to know what products are included within the brand so that I can get an overall feel for the brand and the types of products it represents.

What can brands do to best familiarize you with their product?

A brand should provide samples of their product to try. I also like being provided with an overview of the product including nutritional analysis, typical uses of the product and a description of the targeted consumer and/or current consumer is also helpful.

How much lead time do you need to develop sponsored content for a brand?

Amount of lead time depends on the type of sponsored content the brand is looking for. Lead time is also dependent on how busy I am at the time with other jobs I may be doing and then we would have to compare calendars.

Typically, if a brand is asking for recipe concepts from me that then need to be approved by the client, this could be a two-week process allowing time for research, writing up concepts, submitting them and then getting feedback.

I prefer two weeks to develop recipes especially if photography is included in the job. If the recipe is developed and submitted, it goes through a testing process by the brand.  If changes are needed, additional time may be required to revise the recipe.

I would add an additional one to two weeks to the time frame when a video is also part of the project. I don’t start on a video until I have submitted the recipe and it gets a final approval.

Therefore, I would estimate four to six weeks from start to finish for recipe concepts and recipe development including a recipe video.  When several recipes are included in the project then more time may be needed.

If the project is to develop only one recipe, and I am given the approved recipe concept at the start, the turnaround could conceivably be just one week.

How do you like to receive pitches?

I am currently in several blogger networks which act as the middle man between brands and bloggers. The job is posted either directly within an email or in an email with a link back to the blogging network’s site and you apply to be considered for the job through the network.

However, I prefer to be contacted by a brand, or by the PR agency that is representing the brand and running the campaign directly. Having that direct contact, in my opinion, makes communication and feedback easier and happen in a more timely fashion.

What do you think the top trends for food will be in 2018?

With Baby Boomers becoming more concerned with health issues associated with getting older and millennials and Generation Z groups being interested and involved in their food preparation and food sources, I believe that some of the top food trends will be:

Visit Swirls of Flavor to learn more about Gwynn or to try one of her culinary masterpieces.

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