I never thought I would be a model, and then I became a marketer ....
There are some sweet marketing moves you can steal below, but let's connect on one thing first:
Marketing is a tough gig.
You’re always expected to be on. You’re always expected to improve. Your feet are held to the fire when sales are down.
Your budget is always the first to be affected when things go wrong and when they do go wrong, marketing is always the first to be blamed. When things go right, generally, the whole team gets credit ... which is the right thing to do anyway.
Marketing has a lot of moving parts that are constantly shifting and changing. Being that we live in a digital-first universe, we’re always fighting against algorithms that are out of our control.
And don’t get me started on customer preferences!
People do what they wanna do the way they wanna do it when they wanna do it, and no matter how good your marketing is, you’re not a snake charmer, you’re a creative strategist who executes on data backed hunches (right?).
Good luck with that!
Marketers are a lot more like the Borg from Star Trek than even they realize.
The best marketers group think all day long, and even though we aren’t so great at collective problem-solving, you can see the results of our work everywhere! If you have a sharp eye, you can pick up on the clues.
What the heck am I talking about? This is supposed to be about modeling!
And there’s the segue...
Every great idea I’ve ever executed, (and even the not so great ideas}, came from seeing what another brand is doing. You might call that inspiration. There are lots of creative people out there with lots of great ideas doing lots of really incredible work. If you keep your eye on it, they’ll never be short of strategies, techniques, and creative inspiration
Here are five examples of being a model marketer that have worked for me and the restaurants I’m working with:
HALF BIRTHDAY
Example: Chipotle Mexican Grill
Example: Burger King
Nearly every restaurant with a loyalty program does a birthday program, which means assuming your guest is signed up for rewards with other restaurants, and they are flooded with birthday offers from a myriad of restaurants.
How does someone even choose which to redeem?!??!
Do what I do they do at Chipotle and Burger King - offer a half-birthday reward. You can bet there are a whole lot less offers being sent out 6 months after someone's birthday.
We do this at Handcraft Burgers and Brew and even have an automation that helps us collect birthdays from our guests.
SHOW ME WHAT TO DO
Example: Shake Shack
Shake Shack wants people to use their app, so you know what they do … they promote it on Instagram.
But they dont just promote it, they tell people to download and show give them instructions on how to do it! They use a call to action and they follow through by giving the customer the next steps.
Want to drive more online orders? Want people to make a reservation? Want them to join your loyalty program? Use calls to action but here is the key … don’t just ask, tell people what is the next step. Lead them down the path!
Check out this video promoting our rewards program at Handcraft Burgers & Brew:
ALWAYS ON MARKETING CHALLENGE
Example: Dunkin'
Rewards programs are not for all guests, but for those that do use it and do love it, you've got to give them reasons to stay engaged.
Dunkin gets it. In their rewards program, if you make 12 purchases in a calendar month (at least an hour apart), you enter a 3x point multiplier. I've been in it for almost 3 years now. It has turned me from a sometimes Dunkin' guest to a several times a week guest. Don't you want that?!?!
We took this idea at Salad House and created our own always on challenge. Our best guests come weekly, so we thought, how can we encourage that?
Welcome to the Keep It Chopping Challenge!
Visit 3x in one month, and you'll automatically get enough bonus points that month to equal a 4th purchase.
This drove an additional $26,000 in revenue!
I'm excited to see where this campaign lands after 12 months!
What's one marketing move you have modeled from another brand (it doesn't have to be a restaurant!)
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Do you need help with any of this? Send me an email rev@brandedstrategic.net
- Rev Ciancio
WHAT DOES REV DO?
*I help restaurants to build guest marketing programs.
*I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.