The world has changed, so have the tried and true marketing best practices and tactics
“The new customer experience begins when they wake up and ends when they go to sleep,” said Omar Johnson, former chief marketing officer for Beats by Dre and founder of OPUS, when he spoke at Restaurants Rise powered by MUFSO.
Johnson began his career in marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, then moved to Nike before becoming the third employee at Beats by Dre. He helped with ad campaigns for many high-profile brands and athletes. His biggest advice to brands is this: focus on product, people and storytelling.
Johnson stressed that the Beats by Dre marketing ideas were successful because the company abided by the three most important tenets of a brand: product, people and storytelling.
The most important of all, he says, is people.
Having a team that is diverse in terms of nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and race is important because they inherently understand their own group of consumers who identify similarly, he said.
And when you have a diverse group of voices, it’s important to listen to team members and empower those who may not feel their voice is important, typically younger or less experienced colleagues or minorities who aren’t used to being in power.
“The anatomy of great ideas is that they’re always a bit uncomfortable. If they’re comfortable, someone has probably already tried it,” he said.
So, how can you build a diverse team?
First, it begins with an honest intention. “I’m going to build a team that looks different,” said Johnson of starting his own team after leaving marketing at The Coca-Cola Company and Nike to move to Beats by Dre.
“You teach your people to respect the differences among each other which allows them to respect the differences in the customer base,” said Johnson of how people of so many backgrounds and identities were able to work together harmoniously.
But he also stressed embracing youth on the team and listening to their ideas, rather than making them fear speaking out.
“When you set the bar at great ideas, you can democratize the idea process. [Employees] know they’re all capable of big ideas,” said Johnson. “When you look at how elastic that younger generation is, you have to tap into that.”
Part of the youthful approach is a strength in social media, the key to communicating and marketing in 2020, especially during COVID. It’s the easiest place to tell your story, one of Johnson’s three biggest marketing “do’s”.
Promotions for sharing on social and increasing the brand’s exposure and using social to tell your story are important and inexpensive tools for marketing. Social media will be key moving forward and Johnson has already orchestrated a social media campaign, so he would know.
How exactly would marketing guru Johnson and his team approach marketing now?
Focus on indulgence. How does your product (rather than indoor space, as was the key before COVID) portray indulgence from the everyday reality of most consumers now?
Food as comfort. Food as escape. How does a food experience, either through delivery, pick-up, allow a consumer to escape?
Help. How do you help your customers or neighbors who need it and are busy or in financial straits?
Time. “We all need some more time,” said Johnson. How does your product give back more time?
“I think if you think about these really simple concepts, it becomes an interesting marketing idea,” he said.
Source: NRN.com / Oct 23, 2020
Watch The Best Idea Wins Session Here
Gje Greene-Wallace Director of Marketing, Fish City Grill
As consumer confidence and priorities change, so should restaurant strategies. What might have worked as an on-brand marketing message before the pandemic hit could be tone-deaf or miss the mark in what has become a changed industry.
What might have worked as an on-brand marketing message before the pandemic hit could be tone-deaf or miss the mark in what has become a changed industry.
Here’s what we learned from the "Marketing Matters: How to reach guests the right way in a changed world" session:
Chris Hollander CMO, Panera Bread
Two weeks before the pandemic began in earnest across the United States, Panera Bread launched what was supposed to be a revolutionary coffee subscription program . But they had to pivot quickly when it became clear that to-go coffee was the last thing on consumers’ minds.
“We had an ad ready to go featuring hordes of people descending on a Panera Cafe and we paused that and instead focused more on reminding people how they can still enjoy Panera with new experiences,” Hollander said.
It’s very easy to get caught up in trying the same strategies that everyone else is doing both during the pandemic and as everything is beginning to calm down, but the best marketing strategy is about standing out while also appealing to what the consumer wants.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but the ads feel like a sea of sameness, they all start with that lilting music,” Hollander, left, said. “Now you have to pivot and figure out what’s next to break though that clutter.”
It’s not enough to simply tell customers what you’re doing to keep them safe and healthy: You have to show them as well.
“Up until now, no one wanted to know what was happening behind the curtain,” Greene-Wallace said. “Our team members were good about washing our hands, but now we put in a dining room timer that goes off every 20 minutes and everyone stops what they’re doing to wash their hands. Customers can see what’s happening live.”
One of the most important aspects of their new marketing strategy, Greene-Wallace realized, was how much her customers missed personal interactions. So they decided to make their team members a large part of their messaging.
“People were starving for connection and missing their family and friends, so we took a new step and stopped trying to sell the same experience as always,” Greene-Wallace, left, said. “We featured team members in our social media posts and marketing materials so they can see faces of the people they remember seeing holding signs like ‘we miss you’ and ‘stay strong.’”
An important part of being flexible in the age of coronavirus is listening to what the customer wants because it may be different than you expect. Although Panera Bread began offering groceries as part of their emergency plan during the peak of the pandemic, that availability might continue as long as customer demand remains high.
At Fish City Grill, the plan is to continue offering the popular family meal packs even as dining rooms reopen, although certain features of their coronavirus-era business plan, like in-house delivery, will be phased out if they are not worth the cost.
Source: NRN.com / Jun 08, 2020