67% of Food and Nutrition Suppliers to Increase Marketing Budgets in 2026: 5 Moves to Turn Spend into Proof

B2B food and nutrition suppliers have entered 2026 with bigger marketing budgets and bigger expectations. Survey findings from our B2B Food and Nutrition Marketing Report 2026, built on 282 industry responses, show 67% of suppliers plan to increase their marketing spend this year, with only 9% expecting cuts. Yet more spend alone won’t cause measurable impact. Real results come from removing buyer friction as they research, shortlist, and decide, not just from adding more activity. Think about proving product‑fit and compliance, reducing risk, and building trust—just some of the key insights revealed in our report (you’ll see more statistics below and can download your copy here). 

Additionally, suppliers direct 39% of their marketing budgets to digital, but too much of that investment maintains presence rather than provides proof. Now factor that food and nutrition buyers typically consume three pieces of content before making contact and build shortlists before they step onto the trade show floor (we’re talking events such as Vitafoods Europe and Fi Europe). This shows us that digital discovery happens first. 

The opportunity here is clear: make your proof assets easy to find and sequence them for how buyers evaluate. In this blog post, you’ll learn five moves to turn bigger 2026 budgets into buyer-trusted proof: build findable trust packs, automate a simple three step follow-up, route proof through specialised industry channels, track progress at each stage of the buyer journey, and run continuous activity with preplanned follow-up—so that every euro earns its keep.

Who are we? An Informa Markets brand, Smartcore is your best-in-class B2B food and nutrition marketing solutions partner for  smarter digital campaigns that help ingredient suppliers reach their buyers and drive business growth. As the official digital marketing provider  for exhibitors at Vitafoods Europe and Fi Europe, we boost your visibility and connect you with event attendees. Download our Digital Media Kit.

Move 1: Build Findable Trust Packs

Why this matters:

• Buyers shortlist before they speak to sales and typically consume three pieces of content before contact. 

• The primary driver of supplier selection is product fit.

• The biggest barrier to adopting new suppliers is the absence of trusted information. 

What to publish:

• Product specifications and permitted uses

• Compliance certificates and approvals

• 2–3 concise case summaries matched to buyer niches 

How to publish and in what format:

• Make these assets open, scannable, and machine readable on websites so search engines and AI tools can surface them.

• Sequence for how buyers evaluate. Lead with fit and compliance; follow with credible evidence and context.

• Buyers value three kinds of content above all: technical specifications, industry reports/ whitepapers, and case studies. Ensure at least one spec and one relevant case feature in the first three touches to avoid being ruled out early. 

Move 2: Automate a Simple Three-Step Follow Up and Reserve People for High Value Work

Place those assets on the channels buyers use during pre‑event research—your site, search/email, and organiser media.

Why this matters:

• 67% plan to increase spend in 2026 (only 9% plan cuts). But 49% cite limited resources/ team bandwidth.

• 68% still nurture manually via calls, one-to-one email, and LinkedIn outreach, which scales linearly with headcount.

Reserve human resources for what only humans can do (complex qualification, negotiation) and let applications handle the habitual (follow up reminders, scheduled campaigns, and automatic responses).

What to do next:

• Standardise a simple three-step sequence that surfaces proof in the right order:

• Specification snapshot

• Relevant case study 

• Certification list

• Templatise recurring work and automate routine follow ups and reminders, so teams spend time where judgement is needed.

• Tie each incremental euro to a buyer friction you remove (product fit, compliance, risk) and show how the spend delivers it.

Move 3: Route Proof Through Industry-Specialised Channels

This one’s specific to your exhibiting presence at trade shows and events such as Vitafoods Europe and Fi Europe. 

Why this matters:

• Buyers are hearing about events from organisers and set appointments based on pre-event research and organiser emails.

• Trade shows remain the anchor investment, but decision-making is moving upstream; pre-event promotion often leaves proof out of the message.

What to execute:

• Front load your ingredient, product, or service verification and time it 3 to 8 weeks before events so your highest potential moments have the right incentives. In short, distribute proof where your buyers are already paying attention:

• Organiser co marketing (targeted emails, content features, ad placements)

• Industry media opportunities that provide comparison and context 

• Use your website, organiser websites, and email as trust platforms that answer qualifying questions early (specs, certs, cases).

• Treat the event or trade show as the conversion stage: capture appointments pre-show and progress the journey before doors open.

Move 4: Track Progress at Each Stage of the Buyer Journey (Not Just Final Sales)

Why this matters:

• ‘Sales conversion rate’ is the most popular KPI, but it hides where improvements could happen along the journey and blurs signal-to-noise across quarters.

• With manual nurturing dominating now, opportunities for learning are rarer unless you capture intermediate signals.

What to measure:

• Lead-to-first-meeting rate (a causal, stage specific signal)

• Engagement with proof assets (spec page views, certification downloads, case study reads)

• Content-to-appointment connections (link clicks on proof assets through to meetings booked) 

• Execution of post-event follow-up and progression to meetings (ensure the designed workflow happens)

Make sure you set at least one causal metric at each stage of the customer journey to flag optimisations as well as outcomes.

Move 5: Run Continuous Activity with Planned Spikes Around Key Periods

This one ties in with move 3, where we encourage suppliers to consider a 365-approach to the marketing activity and not only centre it only around their exhibiting presence at trade shows and events such as Vitafoods Europe and Fi Europe. 

Why this matters:

• 39% of budgets already go to digital, but too often to ‘presence’ over ‘proof’.

• Buyers think year-round and self-qualify before trade shows and events. So should you. This means 365-degree marketing activities to prevent starting cold each cycle.

• Post-event marketing is a common black hole where value is lost if follow up isn’t designed in advance. 

What to do next:

• Maintain year-round discoverability, with a steady programme and planned spikes before major shows and launches.

• Establish thought leadership buyers value (e.g., publish whitepapers and industry data regularly and organise them into a useful ‘bookshelf’).

• Personalise pre - and post-show outreach using known buyer interactions (e.g., remember you downloaded our report in March?). 

• Pre-plan post-event workflows before the show:

• Pre-write emails for each segment.

• Set timing and triggers.

• Create a separate plan for the hottest leads likely to become key accounts. 

• Use automation so follow-up happens precisely when humans are least available.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Bigger budgets only translate into growth when they remove buyer friction and make proof impossible to miss. Put specifications, certifications, and cases in plain sight; route them through organiser channels buyers’ trust; measure progress at each step; and plan well-timed follow-ups. That’s how every euro earns its keep in 2026.

Partner with us:

• Year-Round Digital Marketing Packages: Explore pre-planned packages to help you achieve goal-specific success when it comes to brand awareness, GDPR-compliant lead generation, and thought leadership in B2B food and nutrition. In 2026, let’s make your increased budget work harder with data-driven digital marketing and measurable metrics that show real results.

• FREE Audience Reach Calculator: Uncover the audience segments you can reach with Smartcore’s solutions. Simply select your target audience from our global buyer database and segment by product and industry interest, job function, job level, and geographical location (across 228 data points). This helps you understand the granularity and personalisation you can act on and gives you an estimate of your first-party data reach with us, 365 days of the year. 

Read success stories from Smartcore clients about the impact we’ve helped them make. Contact us today to get started.