Telling specialty food stories in the digital age

With the Summer Fancy Food Show just weeks away, the Specialty Food Association is making the most of digital marketing and tools to help its members tell their stories, connect with retail and foodservice buyers and grow their businesses.

SFA represents a diverse array of specialty food and beverage makers, many of whom have been crafting their own digital marketing messaging and building their brands on digital channels and social media platforms.

Recently, we spoke with CJ Smith, SFA’s director of digital marketing, to learn more about how the association and its members can make the most of the new tools.

SmartBrief: Who is your audience when crafting marketing messages? Is your messaging more aimed at reaching prospective SFA members or retail buyers, for example?

CJ Smith: It’s a mix. At our core, we are a membership organization. We aim to deliver support to our member companies through education, discounted business tools, buyer connections and more. We are always looking to reach more companies that would benefit from becoming SFA members.

Now, a huge value for becoming a member is reaching buyers, like retail, foodservice, distributors and importers, at our trade shows. This is where we work to run campaigns reaching these buyers and sharing the breadth of on-trend exhibitors and products they can expect to meet at our shows. Our summer show, for example, has 2,500+ exhibitors, representing 55+ countries.

SB: How has digital marketing around the Summer Fancy Food Show evolved?

CJS: We are always keeping up with the latest trends in digital marketing and incorporating new technologies to help us reach our key audiences. From website and email marketing to social media and now AI, we’re constantly working to make the Specialty Food Association more visible by strengthening our digital footprint and communicating the value of becoming a member or attending a Fancy Food Show. Our goal is to connect with both specialty food makers and buyers through the channels and content that matter most to them.

SB: How do you measure the effectiveness of specific digital marketing efforts?

CJS: One of the beautiful things about digital marketing is that everything is measurable. Imagine buying a billboard ad next to a highway or paying for a TV commercial years ago. You can get some general numbers around impressions based on traffic patterns, or viewership on a specific TV Program, but measuring anything beyond that, and calculating ROI, is almost impossible. Not to mention, these traditional mediums don’t provide the advertiser with the ability to segment the audience in any meaningful way.

With digital, whether it’s ads within a search engine or a social media campaign, we can track impressions, clicks, traffic and ultimately conversions. We can measure this across audiences and use this insight to better understand who is finding value in our products and services. We can also learn what messaging resonates with different groups, and tailor our campaigns based on the KPIs we care about.

SB: Is there one social media channel that you have focused on or that has proved more successful than others?

CJS: It really depends on the goal of the campaign. Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) consistently deliver some of the most cost-effective reach and audience engagement. For lead-generation campaigns, we’ve often seen strong results from LinkedIn because of its professional audience. When our objective is conversion, search engine marketing on platforms like Google and Bing performs exceptionally well.

For trend-driven storytelling and brand awareness, platforms like TikTok have provided valuable opportunities to connect with new audiences and build relationships with potential customers. Ultimately, each platform serves a different purpose within our broader marketing strategy.

SB: Is there one type of content that works better?

CJS: While the answer varies by audience and objective, video content consistently performs well. Video allows us to combine visuals, narration, and storytelling to communicate a large amount of information in a concise and engaging format.

We also see strong results from testimonials and case studies. These types of content help build credibility and provide real-world examples of how SFA membership has supported businesses or how attendees have benefited from participating in our events.

SB: AI is a hot topic everywhere right now. Have you been experimenting with the technology? What are your thoughts on what roles AI can play in effective marketing?

CJS: Absolutely. We’re exploring AI in a variety of ways, from optimizing our content for AI-powered search experiences to leveraging AI-driven tools that help improve campaign performance and budget allocation. AI is helping marketers work more efficiently by uncovering insights, personalizing messaging, streamlining content creation, and improving audience targeting. We view it as a powerful tool that complements human creativity and strategic decision-making.

SB: This year brought the first Winter Fancy Faire*. Do you have some examples of digital marketing efforts around promoting and telling stories from that show?

CJS: As you mentioned, we launched Winter FancyFaire* in January 2026 as a new industry event designed to serve as the specialty food industry’s guidepost for the year ahead, showcasing innovative products, emerging trends, and meaningful connections.

One of the things that made Winter FancyFaire unique was its emphasis on engaging the local community. We launched the Campus Tasting Trail, a city-wide network of restaurants that created bespoke dishes featuring products from our member brands. We also hosted Culture in Common, an event held at a local nonprofit that brought together attendees, local startups, emerging chefs, and community partners through food and shared experiences.

Because this was a brand-new event, we couldn’t rely on footage or stories from previous years. Instead, we focused on storytelling through video content, interviews, behind-the-scenes coverage and partnerships with local organizations and community leaders to help prospective attendees understand what made the experience special.

We’re excited to continue building on that momentum as Winter FancyFaire returns January 17–19, 2027, in San Francisco. Learn more at www.winterfancyfaire.com