Great marketing should be mouthwatering, scrumptious, and satisfying. Don’t you want customers pining for your next email, devouring every bit of information, and anxiously awaiting more?
We don’t always think about marketing in terms of a delicious meal,
but restaurants and marketers ultimately have the same goals. Give
customers a taste of something yummy, satisfy their appetites, and keep
them coming back for more.
Cooks have the advantage because they directly appeal to one of the
most basic human needs (nourishment) and there are few things—if
any—more satisfying than the perfect combination of dishes (okay, maybe
the perfect combination of dishes and beverages). For me, few things beat a perfectly seared medium-rare fatty ribeye steak with a bold juicy red wine.
If we start thinking about the reactions we evoke from customers in
the same way that culinary masterminds do, we can appeal more to their
basic needs and desires, achieving maximum satisfaction for them while
delivering profitability to us.
Here are five ways we can apply the secrets of successful kitchens and gastronomy to our marketing plans.
1. Be creative
Both marketing and cooking encourage and allow endless creativity and innovation. This is the magical allure of each.
But do not abuse the creativity by straying too far from your core
competency. Find ways to innovate and expand your audience from within
your brand voice and image.
If you’re looking for a new interpretation of the s’mores sandwich—of
course, a waste of time because it’s perfect—don’t try to make it more
savory with a garlic aioli. When sprucing up a traditional French dish, a
Tex-Mex flare might not be the most cohesive approach.
On the other hand, lemongrass matzo ball soup (it even sounds delicious) is a brilliant and delightful play on the traditional dish.
Courtesy of www.bonappetit.com
That’s what you want to be.
In the marketing world if you envision creating a viral video, a
piece of highly shareable content, or something to engage a new
audience, think about what’s on your menu. How can you take what you already do well, and elevate it by adding a new dimension?
Starbucks’ #spreadthecheer
hashtag on Twitter this past fall is a great example of a
discombobulated marketing flavor profile. Yes, it’s a thing. This
unfortunately coincided with widespread public criticism of Starbucks’
labor practices and questionable corporate tax
policy. Starbucks did not consider how all of the elements would mesh,
resulting in the equivalent of a lemon-curd mocha. Cheer was not spread.
Instead, take a lesson from something brilliantly simple like the Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment.
A perfect balance of two things many people like—Diet Coke and
Mentos—combined with a few things everyone loves—a sweet bass line,
theatrics, and synchronized fountains—yields over 16 million views.
That’s tasty!
2. Time it right
Whether cooking a delicious meal or brainstorming marketing ideas,
keen awareness of your surroundings is imperative. Both require
multi-tasking. When you know what’s happening, new opportunities arise.
Experienced and passionate cooks know that for optimal flavor, it’s
best to use the freshest local produce. Ideally, produce should not have
a long commute to your table. When selecting vegetables to cook in the
midst of Washington (Portent is located in Seattle) winter, discerning
chefs try to stay away from corn—it couldn’t have come from anywhere
local because it’s primarily a summer vegetable. Instead, one might opt
for the kale or apropos snow peas because they are winter vegetables
more likely to be sourced closer to home.
Whether taking advantage of the best seasonal produce or a trending topic for your marketing plan, utilize convenience and existing opportunities whenever possible.
If I planned this blog post better, I could have coordinated it with
the “Top Chef: Seattle” season finale last month. (There would have been
a lot of searches around “top chef.”)
Check the calendar,
look for upcoming holidays and identify potential opportunities to
coordinate with events that already attract a large audience like the Super Bowl.
How about a campaign for donating a percentage of your April revenues
to a charity supporting Earth Day on April 20? Do you have a grand idea
to coincide with the increasing ads for products and gifts targeted
towards Mother’s Day on May 12?
3. Practice good management
Gordon Ramsay has a very distinct approach to managing his personnel
and TV show participants: bitch, yell, intimidate, and then deliver just
the right amount of sincere praise (when it’s due)—all of it in an
entertainingly muddy British accent.
Iron Chef Morimoto is more demure and quiet with a head down
approach. (When you make ridiculously innovative and incredible food for
that long, people drop everything to listen at a second’s notice.)
The chefs have different styles of communication, but they both
balance all of the moving parts of their kitchen with impeccable timing.
They know every ingredient and item their sous chefs prepare. This
doesn’t come off the cuff; it’s strategically organized so that everyone
knows their role.
First choose a solid team able to execute your general marketing
idea. Consider the theme of your campaign: what is the flavor profile?
When that’s solidified, determine a specific timeline for completion of
each piece and decide if that piece is a dish served independently or
assembled into a grander meal.
If the campaign involves an aspect of outreach (which it likely
should), assign someone to research relevant parties, organizations, and
people to contact in advance. But remember: asking people to help or
participate never bears fruit immediately. Account for an estimated time
frame to hear back from contacts and build it into the deadline for
completing outreach.
Are the proper discussion points, graphics, and videos prepared for
your social media team to deliver on Facebook and Twitter? Perfect
timing requires the timeline and all supporting materials to be ready
well in advance.
When cooking, you must ensure the excellence of every ingredient. In
business and marketing, if each piece of the campaign isn’t quality by
itself, it will only bring down the entire dish. Realistically, things
happen on the fly all of the time, but it’s always best to account for
error and create as much time for review as possible.
This boils down to another element of timing: if the copy and
personnel are in place to contact potential supporters, but the graphics
and media aren’t ready, it can’t happen. Everything must be ready at
the right time.
4. Adjust as needed
When steak runs out and the kitchen has to 86 (cancel) the dish,
great chefs in nimble kitchens see an opportunity to create a new
nightly special by using excess available ingredients from other menu
items.
For example, a customer writes a scathing review on your Facebook
wall. Rather than ignoring it or responding defensively, use the
situation as an opportunity to showcase stellar customer service:
respond to it directly and apologetically, offering multiple solutions
to fix the problem, replace the product, or offer a free trial. This
turns what could be a blemish on your profile into a demonstration of
high quality, genuine customer service.
Or maybe you didn’t sell all of your discounted flash sale products,
leaving you with excess inventory. Instead of leaving it to collect dust
in your online store, use each item as part of an advertised giveaway
to collect email addresses or increase your social following. Be
creative to continue getting value from that inventory.
5. Present it tastefully
Chefs taste as they cook to ensure that all components of the dish
and meal (including its marketability) are on point. That means tasty,
unique, and cohesive.
The final product is only as good as the sum of its parts, or only as
good as the weakest link, or insert other overused business cliché
here. (These sayings are overused for a reason.)
Quality control at each step is essential. That doesn’t mean
micro-managing and smothering creativity, but there must be adequate
time to check every element.
When delivering a dish or final product, make it attractive. People
eat with their eyes and their nose before ever putting anything in their
mouth. It’s a mélange of the senses building to the most pleasurable
and successful experience possible. That is the crux of both brilliant
cuisine and marketing.
We don’t want our customers to just “go through the motions” by
clicking on our advertisements or entering an email address—both are the
equivalent of eating a bland meal. We want them overwhelmed with
excitement to get more information, join our community, or sign up for a
trial.
This pork marketing campaign
is a great example. A display ad showing an enticing image appears on a
cooking site—great initial steps with effective audience targeting and
appealing creative.
Click on the ad and it takes me directly to the website showing: a
great slogan (entirely echoing my sentiments that pork makes everything
better), beautiful images of delicious pork goodness, links to a variety
of recipes thus broadening appeal (people love options), an easy recipe
video, and a call to action inviting users to share recipes.
This isn’t perfect and it doesn’t apply to all forms of marketing,
but in essence this contains many of the core concepts we want our
campaigns to echo.
- Targeted audience
- Enticing creativity
- Engaging content
- Succinct and appropriate call to action
These aren’t brand new concepts to us as marketers, but next time
you’re planning a marketing campaign, or even a one-off email, try a new
approach.
Think about your favorite restaurant (your mother’s kitchen counts)
and the feelings you experience there. It can be anything from a dimly
lit romantic setting to childhood nostalgia. Then ask yourself: what do
you experience when eating the meal? Can you imagine the presentation,
recall the smell and excitement? At the end of the meal do you feel
entirely satisfied or crave more?
Now, change your approach to best evoke these feelings and reactions
from your customers to get them raving and coming back with their
friends.
