The Beginner’s Guide to Growing a CPG Food and Beverage Brand Online

Wanna know a fun fact? I turn away most of the CPG food and beverage brands that apply to work with me for social media management.

Not because I don’t want to help them, but because I know they need a stronger foundation. I want them (and you) to get the best social media results possible. But that won’t happen if you don’t have a clear brand strategy and functioning website.

Growing a CPG brand online is not about going viral as soon as possible. It’s about building a solid foundation and stacking the right strategies in the right order.

This guide was written as a resource to share with those founders. I never want to leave anyone hanging, so this blog post is something I can share when I think a founder is too early for social media management.

Start with Your CPG Brand Strategy

Brand strategy is not your logo (that’s brand design).

Your brand strategy answers questions like:

• Who is this product for?
• What problem does it solve better than existing options?
• Why should someone choose you over the brand next to you on the shelf?
• How will you position your brand, product, and founder story to attract your target customers?

Once you have brand strategy, the rest of these decisions become so much easier. It’s truly your roadmap to building the brand of your dreams the right way, the first time.

Work with a Trademark Attorney

One of the most painful and expensive mistakes new CPG founders make is DIYing their trademark research. Before you invest in packaging, production, inventory, website design, photography, and marketing, you need a trademark.

A trademark attorney will make sure your brand name is legally available, whether it’s similar to what’s already out there, and whether it could block expansion later on.

Many founders start by searching the United States Patent and Trademark Office database but I recommend working with a trademark attorney.

Work with a Go-To-Market Advisor

Once you have brand strategy and trademark, consider how you’re going to actually launch your product. And not in terms of launch marketing; in terms of retail strategy, positioning, channels, and generating demand.

Brand & Package Design

The fun part! Your brand and package design is one of the first impressions a consumer will have with your brand, no matter if that’s online or IRL. Great packaging doesn’t just look good; it reduces friction and builds trust.

Strong packaging should:

• Communicate your product differentiation in less than 3 seconds
• Be legible at thumbnail size
• Feel aligned with your price point (nobody wants budget look & feel with a luxury price tag!)
• Speak directly to your target consumer

In terms of online marketing, you want your packaging to:

• Photograph well (this is so overlooked!)
• Be recognizable in social media posts
• Look cohesive across your brand (so group shots look good!)
• Be clearly legible on your website

Product Photography is Non-Negotiable

For online growth, product photography is non-negotiable. I won’t work with a brand who isn’t regularly working with a photographer to support new launches, initiatives, and themes.

These photos will be used across social media, email marketing, your website, pitch decks, for press & podcast features, and in your paid ads.

Website Design

Your website’s job is to turn attention into confidence and confidence into conversion. Most CPG brands don’t need a huge, multi-page website. Especially during the early stages. You need to communicate:

• Your value proposition & differentiations
• Strong, well laid out and well-written product pages
• Easy navigation
• One page checkout (I will die on this hill!)
• Social proof like reviews and press features
• Email form to capture early subscribers, even if you haven’t created your welcome series yet

Based on the feedback from my own clients, I only recommend Shopify. It’s the most flexible and scalable, it’s built for e-commerce, and it integrates well with other tools like Flodesk and Klaviyo.

Your website doesn’t need to be complex, but it does need to be effective.

Social Media

Oh hey it’s my time to shine!

Social media is where you build demand. For CPG brands, social media works best when it:

• Positions your product within the market
• Builds trust over time
• Shows how your product fits into the consumer’s life
• Humanizes the brand, especially for founder-led brands

Instagram and TikTok are especially powerful for CPG food and beverage brands because they’re highly visual, discovery-driven, and community-focused.

As a CPG Food and Beverage Brand, When Should I Invest in Social Media?

I don’t recommend pre-launch or early-stage CPG founders invest in done-for-you social media management. This is when I recommend investing.

However, you still need social media as a pre-launch or early-stage CPG founder.

You can start posting before you have a website if you’re going to “build in public”. This creates hype prior to launch, gives you more information about who’s interested in the product, and it’s one way to gather social proof and product validation as early as possible.

Regardless, if you’re pre-launch, I recommend creating a waitlist as soon as possible. If you don’t have a website yet, do this with Flodesk.

TLDR: Your Guide to Growing a CPG Food and Beverage Brand Online

Here’s what many CPG food and beverage brands do to build their business the right way, the first time:

1. Clarify brand strategy and positioning
2. Protect the brand legally
3. Validate a go-to-market approach
4. Invest in packaging that stands out
5. Invest in strong product photography
6. Build a clear, conversion-focused website
7. Use social media to build awareness and trust

If you ever need an ear, book a 1:1 Clarity Call with me to review your social media approach or content. Or book a Make it Make Sense Instagram Audit for a complete review and optimization of your entire Instagram presence.

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Wait, Who Am I?

Hiiii! 👋🏻 I’m Sarah, a CPG social media strategist with over 10 years of experience. I went from starting a clean beauty blog right out of high school to managing social media for Canada’s largest wellness retailer. Now I live in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, helping high-growth entrepreneurs get SEEN so they can build a crazy fun life their business supports, and not the other way around.

If you liked this blog post and want more of the latest & greatest marketing advice (and a couple bev recs), here are a few ways to do just that:

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Scroll through the blog. If you liked this blog post, you’ll probably like the rest. Scroll through to snag my tried & true social media marketing advice. No gatekeeping here!

Get the marketing support your business deserves. I’ll manage your Instagram and TikTok accounts, audit your Instagram marketing, hop on a 1:1 Clarity Call, and more.

Explore the Shop. Each digital product is designed for CPG founders who want marketing to feel easy(er).

To get in touch with me personally, slide into my DMs or send an email to hi@seenandsharedmarketing.com.