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2. In the long haul, successfully branded items succeed because the user likes that the brand is noticed in daily use, either by others or even by themselves.
That's subtle but crucial. Does the very existence of the logo or the identifier or the distinction make the user happier? Can you imagine how crestfallen the debutante would be if her date didn't even know what a Birkin bag was? For even more Seth.... go here: http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/ Restaurant guests don't want cheaper prices......
....they're really looking for a better experience. (hey there, dealers and wholesalers......your customers feel the same; oh....and tabletop manufacturers - ditto)
Rochelle Moulton is a marketing expert skilled at making brands unforgettable and distinctive. In her video shown here, Rochelle talks aobut how to not let your brand personality be sucked out of you or your business. Listen to what she has to say and ask yourself....does your brand really have the personality you want it to have?
If not, here just may be an idea or two to help you get it back on track. After all, nothing could more important to a brand than making sure your brand has exactly the unique and distinctive personality that you want it to have. For more information or to learn more about Rochelle Moulton, check out her website by going here: http://rochellemoulton.com/ From the SlideShare.com blog page comes this interesting article on how to develop the right culture within your organization. At TabletopJournal, we speak often about the guest or customer experience making the difference for successful companies and often the guest or customer experience is driven by the culture of the company delivering the experience.....just ask someone like New York restaurateur Danny Meyer about how important culture is.
Culture is the backbone of every organization. But how exactly do you create great culture -- a place where people thrive and create great things? Four years ago, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings infamously gave insight into how he hires, fires and rewards employees, in his "Netflix Culture" SlideShare. Now three more companies are joining the discussion and revealing their secrets to being some of the best places to work: The Motley Fool, IDEO and Asana. For more information or to read the entire article "Culture Code: What Makes Companies Great?", go here: http://blog.slideshare.net/2014/01/08/culturecode-what-makes-a-company-great/ Sometimes good thoughts bear repeating and this is one of them. In today's overheated world of 24-7 marketing hype, buyers of all types are seeking AUTHENTICITY in making their choices. You don't have to look further than the success of sites like YELP, Trip Advisor, or the review sections of Amazon to realize that we are all looking for the "real inside stuff" when determining where we are going to spend our money. Studies also show that we are likely to also trust the opinions of strangers through social media more than the hype from various marketing platforms. However we determine it, we all want to know the truth about the brands we are choosing. We want the brands we choose to be AUTHENTIC. And, remember, the desire for AUTHENTICITY goes beyond the product itself and extends to the brand experience. If are a restaurateur and your restaurant is promoted as a premier dining hot spot, but in reality the overall food and service is something quite less, you've got a problem. With today's social media, you'll be outed in minutes - with pictures. If you're a tabletop manufacturer positioning your company or brand as a high-quality, high-end manufacturer of wineglasses or dinnerware and in reality, your product is so-so or you give a low quality customer service experience, chances are you're going to be perceived as a less than authentic brand, no matter how slick the website, brochures, and pictures that you had printed are. And, if you are a tabletop dealer who touts their high levels of customer service, but are perennially out of stock, have average quality sales and customer service staff, can't provide the right solutions for your operator customers, and generally is only interested in selling more stuff without regard to helping your customers be more successful...you're going to hard pressed to get people to believe your brand message of customer service. You're NOT as advertised. You're not AUTHENTIC. In today's internet world, there's too many choices for operators to buy products from for tabletop dealers to get away with being less than AUTHENTIC. Why does AUTHENTICITY in a brand matter? 1. Authenticity builds trust. Consumers, B2B buyers...all of us, want to believe in our brand choices. We want to be able to trust the decisions we make ...whether it's the restaurant we choose for dinner, the wineglass we choose to serve our wines in, or the dealer source we choose to buy that wineglass from. Nobody likes to feel like they made a poor buying decision and that's what happens when we find out that we made a decision to go with a "less than authentic"choice. Make your customers feel good about their decision to go with you. Be AUTHENTIC. 2. Building trust through being authentic builds brand loyalty. All of us tend to return to the brands we trust when spending our money and retaining loyal customers is a lot easier - and cheaper - than gaining new customers. Build loyal customers. And show them you appreciate them. Be AUTHENTIC. 3. Being authentic is easier. Being who you really are is always easier - and, often less expensive - than pretending to be something you're not. Don't try to "X" if you are really "Y". If you are really "Y" no amount of marketing hype or slick advertising is going to make you "X". So, just go be "Y"....and be a great "Y". But, most importantly, be AUTHENTIC. Finally, while bad news may travel faster than good news - positive reviews on brands still travel. A positive review on YELP or Trip Advisor helps make first time restaurant customers more confident that they're making a good dining choice. Chefs certainly talk about tabletop brands and a positive comment from a colleague or friend goes far further in helping make a choice on which tabletop products to choose....and where to get them ... than any trade show booth or literature a manufacturer may produce. And, social media is today's word of mouth when it comes to AUTHENTICITY. So, whatever you are, your company, or your brand is....be sincere. Be honest. Be AUTHENTIC. Your customers will appreciate it more than you know.
In a National Restaurant Association article on how restaurants should market themselves to millennials, author Jeff Fromm makes the point about the fact that this key demographic group doesn’t just want to buy your brand, they want to be a part of it. “They’re looking for ways to participate. And they want to understand why you do what you do not just what you want to sell.” We think many of the same concepts apply for hospitality tabletop companies and the products they bring to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Restaurants, like millennial consumers, define themselves by the brands they choose. More and more, the "why" of what products tabletop companies produce is as equally important as the "what" they produce to today's restaurateur. For instance…. Quality
Fromm talks about how “key basics” such as great food, money for value, etc. are simply the price of admission for doing business with millennials. We would say that those same “key basics” apply when attempting to bring tabletop products to the hospitality industry. Product quality, ability to deliver in a timely manner, and good value are “basics” in most any industry – the hospitality tabletop segment is no different – and are not truly differentiators. Restaurateurs have come to expect these basics in the tabletop products they choose. Tabletop companies who fall short on these basics are not serious competitors in the hospitality tabletop game. Uniqueness Millenials seek unique flavor experiences according to Fromm, and we agree. A quick trip to any supermarket will confirm that. But, the same applies to tabletop as a participant in that helping to showcase and deliver that unique flavorful, often – but not always – ethnic experience. Tabletop products such as cast iron, terra cotta, colored-glaze dinnerware that reinforce a particular culinary experience are more popular than ever. The overall dining experience continues to be important to the millennial customer and tabletop products that contribute to that overall experience will continue to realize higher levels of success. Like the foods they serve, restaurateurs more and more seek truly unique tabletop products to enhance the dining experience of their particular dining guests. Authenticity and Transparency The truth in how and where products are made is just as important to tabletop products as it is to the food products that restaurants serve. We continue to see tabletop companies that produce their own products in their own factories finding favor versus those who simply source from a variety of factories that have cheaper costs of production. Increasingly, millennials care about not only what materials go into making their tabletop products, but how, where - and why – they are made. Tabletop products that are perceived as authentic and transparent to the dining experience will only grow in popularity with today's forward thinking restaurant decision makers. As millennials continue to evolve into a more participatory level of brand and product involvement, tabletop companies must realize that this concept applies not only to the foods millennials choose to eat. This trend extends into all areas of where this key demographic chooses to do its consumer spending. We see it in the foods they choose to eat….the wines they choose to drink….and the tabletop products they use to consume them. So, yes....tabletop matters. You can read Jeff Fromm’s very interesting article by going here: https://www.restaurant.org/Manage-My-Restaurant/Marketing-Sales/Promotion/Millennials-are-changing-the-definition-of-brand-v |
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Ment'or Inspiring Culinary Excellence Archives
November 2021
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