Having worked in the restaurant industry through most of my adolescence and into my early 20’s, I was well aware of the old adage that went something like:

If a single upset customer tells 10 friends about an unsatisfactory experience, it’s conceivable those 10 friends could perpetuate that report to another 10… and so-on, and so-on… eventually damaging the restaurant’s brand bad enough to put it out of business.

Or, as Máma Brandcheffio said:

“Piss off one customer and you’ve lost 100…”

So, at a very young age, I was forced to learn two very important aspects to marketing.

1. Word-of-mouth marketing is very powerful.
2. The customer is always right.

WHAT? The customer is ALWAYS right?

Máma Brandcheffio used to tell me:

“Even if the customer is wrong, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.”

Even at 15, that concept incensed me.  Today it seems like a complete disregard to human civility (See last week’s post) and is entirely defeatist in nature.

Luckily, I came to my senses.

Chew on this:

Originally, one disgruntled customer could, with good effort, affect the opinions of 100 others with their own word-of-mouth marketing.  In 1983, that was a pretty big deal. With 100 potential customers talking about poor service or a fuzzy hamburger bun, over several days, maybe months, the reputation of the restaurant could be damaged enough to warrant inspections, improvements or to be ostracized out of business all together.

That was 1983 word-of-mouth. (Yawn)

Today, our “upset” customer can take a photo, text a gripe to their iPhone or Tweet it to thousands or tens of thousands before your gazpacho reaches room temperature! If “viral” enough, those thousands can make an instantaneous decision to re-tweet it to their lists reaching thousands more!

Word-of-mouth marketing has reached light speed!

Restaurants, from local and regional to major chains, are taking a “more than cautious” approach to social media marketing.  They want to make sure it’s not a “fad” before jumping in.

Have they lost their minds? Maybe in 1983 that’d be okay, but this is 2009!

Not only are social media tools like Twitter and Facebook the fastest growing user-based tools on the Web, they have moved the “Customer is always right” paradigm entirely into the customer’s control, forever altering the approach to marketing communication and public relations.

Restaurants may not want to get involved in a “marketing” sense, but can you imagine how fast they will have to scramble when the “Chris Brogan” of the restaurant industry sends a damaging Tweet or photos of one of their cooks, in uniform, picking their boxers out of their ass as they walk into the kitchen?

Mmmmm, appetizing…

To put it simply, social media WILL affect your restaurant. Ignoring it is not an option for today’s restaurants, no matter what size.

It’s better to use basic social media tools and participate in a brand management program.  Otherwise, you can watch your brand (and your future) carried away in the beak of that ubiquitous little blue Twitter icon.

Food for thought.

Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

How do social media tools work within your marketing plan?  Have you thought of how to integrate Twitter into your public relations strategy?  Is your employer brand reflected properly on LinkedIn?  Can social media augment all of these practices?

All very valid questions…

At this week’s Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau Social Media Marketing Workshop hosted by Love Scott and Associates, I led off the discussion with an overview of social media tools and how they integrate into a well planned marketing strategy.  Two other speakers, Claire Celsi ( @ClaireCelsi ), from The Public Relations Project and Ben Stone ( @BenStone ) from RPO Consulting took the helm after me to discuss social media as it integrates with Public Relations and Human Resources, respectively.

For over four hours we took turns stating our case for (and against) social media in traditional corporate marketing, PR, and HR environments.  There was tremendous engagement from a very curious audience and the conversations lasted long past the scheduled 12:pm adjournment.

But when it was time to come back to my office and decompress from the presentations, I thought to myself, “What would ‘C’ level decision-makers need to understand about social media as it applies to their brand?”

And then I thought of this:

“There’s a conversation going on about your brand.  Are you listening?”

(feed readers and Facebookers, click here to watch the video)

…and that was just about 30% of what I found through my Twitter feed, 12 hours before to immediately after the workshop.

It’s time to sit up and start paying attention.  If you’re not using social media to AT LEAST monitor the conversations going on about your brand, then you’re already out of the game.

Here are five simple takeaways from the marketing segment of the workshop:

1. Traditional broadcast marketing has been augmented with social media marketing, creating an online conversation about your brand.  You must be there to take part in the conversation.
2. Social Media Marketing is about building community AROUND your brand.
3. Strategic planning is needed to integrate social media tools with a company’s comprehensive marketing plan.
4. Social media marketing is measurable, but you need to have goals to measure against.
5. Social media marketing should not be taken lightly. Finding a marketing partner that understands how the social media tools can integrate your marketing is imperative.

Has your company started integrating social media into its every day marketing, PR or HR strategies?  How well are you listening?

Food for thought.

Keep Cooking (community-driven conversations)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

What is your brand doing to maintain relevance to its audience?  If your / your company’s brand is dependent on continued exposure in a specific market, what are the steps you’re taking to maintain that contact and staying “top-of-mind?”

Back in “the day” it was a combination of marketing, advertising, public relations and good ol’ fortitude and gumption.  But today, that model has been twisted a bit.

The average consumer doesn’t have a lot of faith in “traditional” advertising (check out this Nielsen study).  Even online advertising has fallen to the wayside as far as credibility or trust is concerned.  And social media has pulled attention from traditional outlets with a force that was completely underestimated just two years ago.  Today, it’s more about connections, referrals, networking (online and off-line), and building credibility and trust through your brand relationships.

So, how do you maintain the “top-of-mind” awareness that your brand so desperately needs to survive?

Here are seven simple steps to staying socially top-of-mind:

1. Always Learn - Explore the latest trends and study the practitioners within your market.  Use that information to stay mentally sharp and abreast of how changes in your industry will be affecting you / your company and your customers.

2. Educate & Share - Pass what you’ve learned on to those that need it.  Whether it’s a small tip on social media techniques (re-tweet and comment often), or an article on market trends that would be relevant to a client; if you become a resource for knowledge, you’ll position yourself/company as a trusted leader in the marketplace.  And eventually they will come to you for more.

3. Engage - This is where the first two points come in handy.  The marketing world has turned into a giant conversation.  If you’re busy telling and not talking, you’ll quickly be shut out of the discussion.  “Engaging” is one of the four base criteria for TRUE Branding, and in this social media marketing world, Engagement is more necessary that ever.

4. Set Goals - This sounds like an obvious point, but I’ve seen too may stand at the edge of the chasm yelling and yelling just to hear the whisper of their own echo floating back at them.  Set a goal, a target with specific results in mind.  You can’t just set out telling your story unless you have a plot line to follow and a great ending for the audience to anticipate.

5. Build Measurable Tactics - Every goal you have will require tactics to execute.  To know the success or failure of those tactics, you need a mechanism for measuring.  Whether that’s web site traffic, office calls, client leads, or bodies through the showroom door; make sure you measure.

6. Compare, Refine  & Redo - With measurable results, you’ll better be able to find flaws in trend predictions.  You’ll have the ability to compare the results of one campaign to another.  If you’ve built success with one tactic, take that approach and modify it’s properties to suit another less-successful one and try it again.  When you’re reaching the right people and building a conversation with truly measured intentions, you’ll discover amazing results.

7. Keep Pushing - While trends are showing that social media and other tools are becoming bigger influences on many markets over traditional marketing channels (advertising, radio, print, TV, etc.); make sure that your market is truly being affected by the change.  If you pull your efforts from proven channels, your market could lose contact with your brand message. Then how top-of-mind would you be?

There are many, many more, but if you keep in mind these basic tips, you’ll be well on your way to maintaining great brand awareness.

Please…  Tell us what YOU do to to maintain top-of-mind awareness for your brand.  Is it community networking, cause marketing, something else?  We’d LOVE to hear from you.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Before you delete that “junk mail,” you may want to reconsider…  And here’s why…

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t get a lot of email through my Studio 24 site. I rarely look at it and it’s grossly out-of-date. When I do get email from there, it’s usually SPAM.  So, out of habit, I hit “delete” – without even reading!

REALLY BAD IDEA…

Recently, I almost messed up a HUGE opportunity for the Brand Chef blog to be included in some pretty heavy company.  It was a simple oversight, but looking back on it, I realize what a monstrous gaffe it would have been.

***

On a quiet Sunday morning, over a bowl of Grape Nuts and a cup of coffee, I decided to weed out my in-box - after over a MONTH of negligence…

You know how it goes…  Facebook notice…  delete… delete…  Twitter…  delete…delete…delete…  SEO Guarantee…  delete…delete… I was in a pretty good groove!  “Special” offer…  delete… delete… “Need a Date?”…delete… delete…

and then…  BrandManagement.com… de-HUH?… I had to pause.

I read it again. “A Message from BrandManagement.com”

Edward Mance, Co-founder and CEO of BrandManagement.com sent me an email.  Odd. But odd because of the long path his message took…

Edward found me through my old blogspot blog, and subsequently through the form on the Studio 24 web site.  This simple fact shows that he made a concerted effort to contact me.

With the push of a button, the story could have ended there. But it didn’t.

As I opened the email and read, my jaw about hit the counter (thank God it didn’t, my mouth was full of partially chewed Grape Nuts)…  Brandmanagement.com was being launched in late May, and according to Mr. Mance,

” …a significant element of the site will be comprised of leading thought writers’ most current, daily/weekly works.“

And he continued on to say,

“In short, we love the blog entries on your site, and we would love to republish those entries on the BrandManagement.com site as they become available on your site…”

Wait a minute… Me? I had to read it two more times and once to my wife, just to clarify who it was really addressed to…  Not only was I honored, but I was astounded that someone else (besides me) thought I had something of value to say.

As I reviewed the site, I realized that Mr. Mance was including The Brand Chef in a pretty darn respectable group of branding consultants, professionals from advertising agencies, the marketing communications field and respected commentators and branding advocates – people that I’ve read and respected for years – Oliver Blanchard, Anna Farmery, Tom Fishburne,  Katie Konrath, Laura Ries,  Dan Schawbel, and Chris Wilson just to name a few!  Go here to see a full list.

I immediately gave Edward my contact information, my RSS feed and anything else he asked for (could have asked for my first-born son, I would have considered it).  And, low-and-behold, the site was launched, on schedule, and there I was, right next to some of the biggest names in branding commentary and blogging.

What’s my return?  Self respect.  And click-through traffic has jumped a bit, but the sheer fact that I was included is return enough for me (honestly).

So, as a direct message to Edward Mance, Thank you!

My lesson learned from this?  Be careful what you delete from your inbox, because opportunity may be knocking - albeit quietly.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Fact: Newspapers can’t survive unless they change the paradigm in which they practice. Customers, including yours truly, are jumping ship for digital media content that is more up-to-date, accessible and relevant. Long lost are the days when newspapers produced engaging content and – in turn – sold ad space to generate revenue to support what (once) was a tremendous source of public information.

Why?

Newsgathering has shifted from being a passive act—tell me a story—to a proactive one—answer my question.

According to journalism.org,

“…Pew Research Center survey. The figures for almost every traditional media platform are now at historic lows. For instance, the number of Americans who said they read a newspaper “yesterday” has fallen by 40% since the 1990s—to 34%. The number of people who watched the nightly network newscasts yesterday has fallen even further—by half—to 29%. Radio news is at 35%. Regular readership of weekly news magazines is down to 12%.”

So, what does that mean for us? Where is that 40% going to get their news?

Blogs, baby. Blogs! Not to mention podcasts, vlogs and heavy-handed translations of traditional media to online, user-driven sites, and micro-sites.

With that, yesterday, I ran across this story: On January 27th, Joshua Karp (follow on Twitter: @theprintedblog) will be launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in Chicago, San Francisco and later in New York City. The content he will be publishing will be solely from BLOGS!

“So what,” you say, “Nothing novel there?” Hold on. Joshua has a little twist for you.

His intent is to aggregate local content from blogs and print them in tabloid form in time for the morning and evening commutes… The advertising - focused to reach targeted, local audiences - supports the newspaper (of course). It will also include classifieds (of course).

From Joshua’s venture, The Printed Blog web site:

“The selection of content in The Printed Blog is based solely on the votes of readers and their geographic location. In such a way, The Printed Blog revolts against the top-down, ‘one size fits all’ model of newsprint, as we know it. Instead of one paper serving hundreds of thousands of people, as is often the case, The Printed Blog publishes hundreds or even thousands of highly-localized editions based on what a community declares is important to them. The papers are distributed to neighborhood pickup points in A.M. and P.M. editions, and will incorporate rapid turnaround reader comments.

… As our society moves towards individualized information, The Printed Blog has the courage to respect our readers. We recognize the value of what individuals have to say, we publish the information they create, and provide them with the information they demand.”

News = information relevant to the people. When traditional news sources become irrelevant, or self-serving, people go to their community for relevance.

I’m interested in Joshua’s new venture. The online community will drive content. Readership will be driven by the local community. Advertising will benefit from a more targeted audience. Hmmmm…Where can this go wrong? Market? Content? Commuters? Advertisers? Classifieds?

Can you combine the past with the present? Why not just keep it all online? Why take it to press?

What do you think? Take a look at his formula and give me your thoughts.

Until Next time…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
- The Brand Chef