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Method
Marketing Newsletter: Volume 2 Issue 31
August 12th, 2002
Make it Meaningful
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Synopsis:
Coke
Marketing suggests that the trends of the search for safe
adventure and permissible indulgence that marked the '90s
are being influenced by the new realities of a post-9/11
world. We have an added need to find the authentic in the
everyday life, and make each moment count. Cheap thrills
won't cut it, and fakery will ruin you.
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" When we are
really honest with ourselves, we must admit our lives are all
that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines
the kind of men we are".
-
Cesar Chavez (Courtesy of The Artist's Way)
Your
guests define 'value' by the totality of the experience:
the service, the décor, the food and its flavors
and aromas and the cost: all details that create a memory.
The most memorable experiences come from an organized,
well-rehearsed and communicated performance. Great 'word
of mouth' is built note by note, scene by scene, act by
act, so that by the end of the visit your guest walks
away 'wowed'. Or bored. Or, worse of all, disgusted. It's
your choice. |
Recently,
I listened to those smart marketing folks at Coke give a seminar
on the business implications of changes in American lifestyle
post-9/11. Boy, do they have us pegged. We are in the sway of
"The New Normal", where our everyday life becomes
the source for soul satisfaction. We are less inclined to travel
to far off lands or believe in the prospects of fabulous riches.
Our indulgences tend to be more local. We pursue happiness in
our backyard. We perceive that there are limits and now look
to our own inner lives, families and friends for sustenance.
This trend is not new, but it gained enormous traction with
9/11, the first of what, many believe, will be ongoing dramatic
wake-up calls for the country. The 'Fabulous Golden '90s' turns
out to have been silver-plated, as one company after another
admits they made a lot of the numbers up.
We
seek meaningful quality in the mundane, because life is precious
and we feel less secure. Our time is more compromised than ever
by increased need for security. Yet, we accept it as part of
almost all our activities. The result? The time we retain as
our own gains in value. We hunger for simpler and safer times.
We still spend money, but it must afford a much better value,
a value determined by the memory it creates, not just the products
or services it buys. We appreciate more fully the unsung heroes,
those nameless folk who risk their lives to save others.
This
brings us to the inexorable conclusion that we are the best
source for happiness, that our own instincts are better than
any official authority. We redefine, once more, American individualism
to embrace customization of traditional norms, rather than the
creation of new paradigms. EBAY is the new marketplace, and
everyone lives in the present. We want deeper feelings, more
authentic experiences, and more lasting, truer connections with
others. We imbue routine occurrences like dining out with the
ritualistic importance once reserved for church. We want to
find 'The Third Place', that sanctuary beyond home or office.
We feel stress increase and want to age not just gracefully,
but feel better than we do today.
In
my world, where there is psychography, there is opportunity.
What's a restaurant to do? The Coke guys suggest the following:
- Make
it easier on the guest. Reduce stress. Find those points of
irritation or difficulty, and remove them from the guest's
experience. Don't consider this a 'nice to do, but I got a
restaurant to run' thing, but a 'I better do this, or my stressed-out
guest will go elsewhere' mandate.
- Create
an experience. (Hmm. That sounds like a familiar theme.) Consider
the entire time a guest is with you as a 'mood enhancing'
opportunity. Make the guest feel better. Get rid of affectation.
Embrace the spirit of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
- Re-orient
your operations to let the guest craft their own version of
your concept. Find ways to let the guest do it 'their way'.
Offer safe indulgences in forms that let the guest drive the
boat.
- Offer
options that work for singles and families. The nuclear family
has come home and wants to be together on occasion. Recognize
that sometimes guests feel like being parents, and sometimes
they don't. Ditto the kids.
- Use
technology that works. Rid yourself of the new fangled, and
use the stuff that makes things work right. Extend that philosophy
to your guest and their interaction with your restaurant.
Save time for everyone.
My
take-away? Anyone can produce 'stuff'. It takes smarts and courage
to produce an experience. Today, and increasingly in the days
to come, it's the experience creators who will rule our business
and America.
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Seminars:
Now, for a little shameless self promotion. Looking for a high-energy speaker,
capable of personalizing a presentation to meet your needs? Just email me at rkhendrie@linkincmethodmarketing.com.
I will get right back to you, so that we can discuss how I can be of service to
your organization.
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