The key to success in marketing

I hate cows. It comes from my youth. The neighbouring farmer never tended to his fences and the cows used to trample my dad's landscaped lawn. Mowing was a challenge with beastly hoofholes. The lawnmower wheels would get stuck in them forcing me lift and tug on the mower only to be met with a new challenge a few feet away.

Mowing was my job. Taking time away from valuable playtime, I hated mowing. The addition of potholes made my disdain even greater as I directed my anger toward my thousand pound nemesis.

Cows are good for two things: Hamburgers and Ice Cream.

There is nothing special about cows. Cow lovers will argue that they are pretty. That they are the backbone of our economy.

I have one word for Cow lovers: Blah!

We learned in school that a dog goes woof, a cat goes meow and a cow goes moo.

Wrong!
Cows don't moo.
Have you ever heard a cow wail away? Mooing is not in their vocabulary. The french say that a cow goes "meule". More appropriate in my opinion. Even the French need to give the sound more emphasis. A cow sarcastically screams from their stomach a sound that repeats no less than three times. The sound is a cross between a cat in heat, the sound of someone getting punched in the gut and the distress of an animal during childbirth.

Between the sound of these beastly demons and their escapades on virgin lawns, I loathe them.

Despite my loathing, I have learned something interesting about cows. They are everywhere and no one cares about them except those that benefit from their existence: the farmer's family.

There's nothing remarkable about cows that forces the average person to stop and take a picture of them. I don't ever remember seeing a Facebook post or a picture tweeted on cows. No instagram, Pinterest. No first page news in the local newspaper. Nothing. Because no one cares about the unremarkable.

Most restaurants are like cows. Unremarkable, with the only people caring about them being the owners friends and family.  50% of restaurants fail in the first two years of operation because enough people didn't care to continue supporting the cow-like enterprises.

If you want to get into a restaurant, do your family a favour. Don't become another unremarkable cow.

In Seth Godin's epic book, "Purple Cow", he explains how a purple cow will gather attention. It will force a bystander to pose questions. People will talk and share the remarkable while contributing the popularity of the cow. This cow is different. It isn't normal. It's beyond remarkable. It's shareable.

And most importantly, in its remarkability, it becomes memorable.

We already have enough cows. Don't contribute to the problem. Be part of the solution. You'll benefit greatly both financially and emotionally. I hate regular cows.

I love purple cows.

We need more of them.

The most powerful form of marketing

A friend talking about a new product, getting excited, will sell us on the idea that we should buy that same product a million times faster than some 30 second television commercial.

Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing that exists.

It's also the slowest to achieve any substantial results.

A friend recently asked me about the power of referrals. He wants to drive word-of-mouth marketing for his new business. But he wants it to happen fast. That's like asking an elephant to tiptoe across the floor. 

He wants to pay a referral fee to customers who generate new business for him.

Here was my response.

Money will motivate some people to give you a referral. Profit margins are good enough to afford referral fees. However keep in mind that most customers will gladly refer for free if you do a good job with an amazing guarantee. The reason most people don’t refer companies to their friends isn’t because they aren’t paid. They don't want to risk their friendship credibility. If the referred friend has a bad experience with the company, it could hurt the friendship. To most, credibility is way more important to them than a few bucks.

Think about the other side of the equation. If you were referred to a business by a friend and found out the friend got kickback, you might feel used.

With the exception of network marketers, most people don't put their friendship for sale. 

To combat that all those negative feelings, a business owner can create an insider’s deal or a friend’s and family discount.

Offer this instead:

If a client knows anyone else who might also like the product, not only give a referral fee, but also  give the referred customer a percentage friend and family discount. Now everyone wins and no one will feel taken advantage of by a friend.

Remember, the customer deflector shields will be up. How do they come down? When a business is able to help others. A pay it forward discount to our friends is seen as helping others and not taking advantage of a client's personal friendship network.

Social Media is a form of Word of Mouth marketing. It can speed up things significantly. But the credibility factor will be important to uphold. Most won't share in fear of hurting their own social standing. They will protect their network, and their credibility unless they know without a doubt that you won't let them or their friends down.

It's time to show off a bit

The Restaurant Ninjas is searching for restaurant franchises to be interviewed on its podcast. 

Our current listeners are both existing and prospective restaurant owners. They have asked for more experts in the food industry. The experts are franchisors. 

So we’re reaching out to you to be a guest on our show.

We’re looking for someone who can use the 30 minutes to share the franchise story, the company’s vision and its past successes. 

The real challenges of running a restaurant can only be understood by other restaurant people. The Restaurant Ninjas hate seeing restaurants fail. A closure means more than someone losing some money. It means they lost a dream. And to us, losing a dream is the saddest thing in the world.

"Doing the same thing and expecting different results" is the definition of insanity.  Using a platform like podcast interviews could be the springboard you need to take your brand to the next level.

Schedule an appointment to discuss this opportunity with Rick Nicholson at https://calendly.com/ricknicholson369.

Or email him at rick@therestaurantninjas.com.

Talk to you soon,

Rick Nicholson

The Restaurant Ninjas

http://www.therestaurantninjas.com