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The food industry is a crowded market filled with lots of competitors and a limited number of stomachs, making it a great environment to learn how to stand out. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
1> Make it obvious
2> Go to them
3> Keep it a secret
4> Check it out: Analog Craigslist
1> Make it obvious
Great marketing makes great benefits obvious to the potential customer. When KFC recently rolled out a low-calorie meal, they helped highlight the benefits with their penny-per-calorie promotion — pricing it at $3.95. If you’re trying to show off your advantages, look at other ways to remind customers with your pricing, your warranties, or your guarantees.
The Lesson: Telling the story of how great you are goes beyond your ads and publications.
Learn More: Nation’s Restaurant News
2> Go to them
How can you make it easy for people to get your stuff, wherever they are? Pizza, for example, is something you typically get sent to your house or your office, not parks and beaches. But in the Netherlands, Domino’s experimented with delivery points in these places, complete with white doors, their phone number, and doorbells for the delivery guys to ring when they arrived. The concept served as not only some outdoor advertising for Domino’s, but also an easy way for customers to get a pizza in places they might not think to otherwise.
The Lesson: Don’t let a narrow focus on just a few customer touchpoints hold you back. Figure out how to get to them wherever they are.
Learn More: Advertising Lab
3> Keep it a secret
One of the classic ways to get people talking is to create a secret. California Tortilla — a small chain of burrito restaurants — created a bunch of buzz by sharing a secret password for a free taco to followers on Twitter and Facebook. In just two weeks, they gave away more than 800 tacos and drove a bunch of foot traffic through their stores. Not only did the promotion help followers of California Tortilla feel like insiders, but it also helped the brand quickly put some numbers behind the potential of their word of mouth and social networks.
The Lesson: People love to share a good secret — and it doesn’t always have to be a freebie or handout. Think insider news, sneak previews, and first dibs at sales you were already planning.
Learn More: Fast Casual
4> Check it out: Analog Craigslist
Ever wonder what a real-life Craigslist might look like? These goofy, spoof postings in real-world locations offer a pretty good idea.
Check it out: Analog Craigslist
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