This week, BusinessWeek writer Karen Klein answered a question posed by a specialty food importer: How can I expand my business nationally without breaking the bank?

Klein offers a number of good options, but offers the following warning:

Just having an exclusive arrangement with your supplier doesn’t mean much unless you can convey that what you’re selling is highly desirable, says Ron Paul, president and CEO of Chicago-based Technomic, a food industry research and consulting firm. “You must convey why being exclusive is important. Say you have recognizable products tied to a well-known chef, or an interesting piece of geography,” he says. “For instance, just saying that you have an exclusive deal with a wine shop in Rome isn’t going to do much” for your marketing efforts.

This goes back to a fundamental rule of branding: before you can convince your audience why you’re worth it, you have to step into their shoes for a moment and consider what they’re realistically going to care about. Exclusivity isn’t fancy enough; “from Rome” isn’t fancy enough. When customers are going out of their way to buy imported food, they’re buying it because it’s super-special, or super-good.

The rest of the article has some really good nuts-and-bolts ideas for how to expand your specialty food business.