| Reaching Out |
| Web Exclusives | |
| Monday, 29 June 2009 | |
 The most important question is to ask what your customers want and what you can do to meet their needs. At the recent NRA show in Chicago, public relations/marketing expert and media trainer Lisa Ekus-Saffer teamed up with Virginia Willis, a best-selling cookbook author, cooking teacher and TV producer, to discuss how companies can effectively market their brands to their customers. The most important question is to ask what your customers want and what you can do to meet their needs. The “I care” attitude is what customers look for, they say. For example, KFC offered to patch potholes in certain cities for free. KFC left behind a stenciled brand with the company’s name on the patch. “When [companies] are putting money into the community, people are more likely to support that,” Ekus-Saffer says. “That draws people in. ‘I care’ speaks for itself and that filters all the way through your business.” Another way of staying visible – but often overlooked – is for the restaurant’s chef to come out and interact with customers. “Most chefs are great, but they don’t necessarily like to go out of the kitchen and talk to customers,” Ekus-Saffer says. “As a diner, people get excited when they see chefs. It creates a connection and makes customers feel special.” ‘Double-Edged Sword’ The growth of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter is another medium that companies should take advantage of. Ekus-Saffer and Willis refer to the use of Web blogs as “viral marketing,” a good virus that drives people-traffic. Rather than see this as a tool to compete, companies should cooperate and network instead, they add. “It’s a double-edged sword,” Willis says. “PR doesn’t equal sales, it equals visibility. It’s the pork chop theory: if you’re cooking only one chop and the heat is up too high, the chop will burn. But if you have two chops, they will feed off of each other and they’ll be fine. That’s being cooperative rather than competitive.” Willis adds that restaurant owners don’t have to spend a lot of time on viral marketing. “[Restaurant owners] can have their bus boys work on updating their Facebook or Twitter accounts three hours a week,” she states. Although there are concerns about a competitor copying an idea, Willis says it is something restaurateurs should not worry about. “They are paying attention because you are most likely doing something right,” she states. “Imitation is the best form of flattery.” |
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