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I have been constantly studying marketing and sales concepts for months now and applying them to what I do and what I have studied and researched in gastronomy.
There is a recurring phrase in marketing and on the lips of many people I follow "the product counts for nothing (assuming it is great) compared to marketing"
One sentence right if you only studied marketing.
*Let's aside for the moment the talk about "taking for granted that the product is excellent" which in gastronomy is relative, you cannot take it for granted since there are no standards imposed by laws or standardized error-free methods. I will take it up again perhaps in another article. *
Do you think this phrase in gastronomy is true and applies as it does to all other industries?
No.
The restaurant industry is not a different industry. But it has a huge variable compared to other sectors.
Working for some companies, I have realized in recent months how no matter how well marketing is done, and even succeeds in attracting customers, punctually most of the time, it seems not to work or works at a tenth of what is expected, even though up to a few days before you had tested it on similar companies and it worked great.
Let's be clear, this is not strange; marketing is about testing and trials. Yet in gastronomy this phenomenon is most pronounced.
Only 2 out of 10 pizzerias that apply the same marketing strategy achieve satisfactory results. And this is especially strange if the strategy is proven.
Bizarre when we think that the product-which in theory matters little-is always the same, and the strategies used are calibrated to basic principles that apply to everyone, not to mention that then the demand for the pizza product for example is very high everywhere.
Yet, these strategies sometimes seem not to be effective at all.
Of course there are many factors that can return different results, but I guarantee that under similar conditions, more often than not the result is diametrically opposed.
So I racked my brains trying to figure out what could be the variables involved in the failure of marketing strategies, I almost went crazy.
Until talking to some of my colleagues, I became enlightened.
I started to connect the dots and found a constant in the companies that were successful.
I took some time to analyze everything, get my ideas in order.
The hunch was too important, and I wanted to make sure I hadn't made a mistake.
As I said, this variable goes unnoticed in the eyes of an advertiser. Because it is fundamentally outside his sphere of knowledge and study.
As professional as he is and as effective as his marketing is, this variable escapes him.
He should spend maybe 10 years studying cooking And to practice constantly to realize this.
Mind you, I am not saying that marketing is not useful, and that it is not important.
I am trying to explain how there is a variable that can make your marketing weaker or even twist it against you.
Why twist against?
Simply because if you attract new customers by ignoring this mysterious variable, you will end up with a large chunk of customers who will never return.
A variable that can frustrate;
ALT! I'm not talking about the quality.
I know you immediately thought of that one.
No, No.
It is not a question of quality.
Even a product with scarce ingredients can achieve success. And this is shown to us by the thousand thousand "crappy" products on supermarket shelves or the large fast-food chains that have enjoyed worldwide success.
While it is the merit of marketing on the other hand there is the mysterious variable that has allowed this "junk food" to take root and grow.
Yes you got it right even with scarce resources and low quality you can be successful, BUT you have to abide by the rules that the mysterious variable imposes.
Moreover, quality is now a standard that is taken for granted, everyone openly says they use quality ingredients, make quality products...
Today, quality is a parameter so obvious that those who flaunt it as the spearhead of their business-in an effort to break through and succeed in their target market-are actually driving their company into the abyss.
Come on maybe it's time to reveal what I'm talking about.
The mysterious variable is.
THE TASTE.
I can already see your face, from the series <>
Read on and I will explain how important it is and how much it is underestimated.
Let's start by saying that saying. "TASTE" Is too general.
The TASTE I mean, I'm going to call it from now on. "taste experience" - To make the concept better -.
It the can be divided into two stages
Taste design is nothing more than the stage primordial, in which you design the product and try to make it unique, balancing the flavors and elements, scents, and colors.
A story is built, a name is found.
In short si follow scientific guidelines and rules to build the UNIQUE and inimitable taste Of your product.
(for marketers, it is how to create a brand and its positioning)
It sounds strange but I repeat quality is not a necessary prerogative.
This is mainly the variable as big as a house that everyone underestimates.
The client tastes the food, and the taste buds process signals that are sent to the brain, which processes and makes interconnections with past experiences, emotions and other sensations.
Taste is a sense, a tool. And what allows us to perceive tastes are the famous "taste buds".
They are located on the tongue, on the palate, in the initial part of the digestive system, in the larynx and in the upper part of the esophagus. And taste sensitivity depends on the density of papillae you have.
Several studies have also confirmed that there is a direct connection between smell and taste.
Their function is not limited to that of perceiving taste. It also regulates immune response, appetite, etc.
The papillae have receptor "buds" that they can sense;
(I'll stop because I don't want to bore you with too many scientific concepts).
The goal is to be able to stimulate all these receptors with a product with a unique taste. It involves creating a unique and unforgettable bite experience.
Throughout our lives we collect many of these experiences and connect them to our emotions to our memories.
Understand well that the final judge for how well your marketing is done remains the customer's taste.
Whereas in other areas, for any other product, we rely, by evaluating it, solely on sight and touch or we simply receive irrefutable, scientific evidence to confirm the seller's claims. With food, it's a different story.
Primarily being able to catch the right target audience that has a taste not flattened by, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, medicine or who knows what else is not easy.
And then because creating a product from taste design is complex, and requires great knowledge:
And virtually no one has the will to do it, except the big star chefs or multinational corporations.
<>
Quiet doesn't mean you can't do it, you just need people to help you do it.
Another point is that it is also not easy to get the spark between taste and emotion going if the customer has never had past unique taste experiences, because it is as if he or she has a new palate and has no reference to know whether what he or she is eating is exceptional or not.
If you follow taste design you will be successful, which combined with good or excellent marketing will lead you to become rich and famous.
Don't you believe me?
See how McDonald's with a pickled cucumber and a little ketchup managed to make hearts break. To this day they still go crazy for the taste of their sandwiches.
Just as potato chips or many other junk foods manage to become almost addictive.
RedBull is now the leading Brand of energy drinks. Even, it was she who created the new category of "energizing drinks"... Yet, in early tests, people considered it a lousy tasting drink. But the uniqueness and distinctiveness of that flavor made a segment of the public fall in love with it.
Or as happened to these guys. https://forbes.it/2018/09/20/sir-kensingtons-ketchup-storia-crack-lehman-brothers/ who have succeeded in ousting ketchup giant Heinz by creating a product with a "different taste" that has found its audience.
If we go more general, the most popular products in the world are:
Products that are high in sugars (which strongly stimulate the taste buds) but are combined with lots of other ingredients (salty, sour, bitter, umami, sweet) thus balancing the addictive taste.
You see. As powerful and persuasive as marketing can be, it does not take all this into account. How can it be truly effective by glossing over these facts?
Now imagine a real-world context where the vast majority of entrepreneurs do not have large economic resources.
Imagine you are among those you are unable to make large investments in marketing to create a "unique buying experience," but you try and spend thousands. You neglect the product, deluding yourself that marketing is enough because you have been told so.
Here the customer comes to your establishment, sits down and likes your service, then orders, you promptly and quickly serve him the best. He tastes your product and from that evening once he pays the bill you never see him again.
It has no reason to come back, because it subconsciously perceives that your product is the same as so many others, or even worse, it has eaten better somewhere else. All your effort in creating persuasive marketing with attached money spent to implement it gets sucked into a black hole with no return.
Do you also understand why a pure marketer in the restaurant industry will never be able to best help you?
They do not have the capacity.
Unless you are a great professional at designing the taste of a product that gives a perfect taste experience by working alongside great marketing.
Or you have huge capital to hire award-winning chefs and make gigantic investments in marketing, investing in it before you have even conceived and optimized the product is suicide.
So don't underestimate the product.
In gastronomy, in catering, the product, and even better the taste experience, is as important as the marketing.
If taste experience became part as a basic requirement in marketing strategies it would completely change the results.
Now I'll bring you back a quote
SME and professional brands are built with referrals and defended with direct response marketing
Frank Merenda.
So I can state that. brands of SMEs and professionals in gastronomy are built by taste experiences, survive through referrals, and defend themselves with direct response marketing.
What does it mean?
What first you have to invest in optimizing the product.
Then you build on it above that product a marketing strategy.
A product With a unique taste experience without good marketing makes you survive but doesn't allow you to grow.
Vice versa well-done marketing without a product with a unique taste experience allows you to keep new work coming in but sooner or later it will run out of effectiveness and at that point You will sink into the depths of failure.
So what do you have to do?
You have to let yourself be helped, you need someone who can help you build a unique taste experience and then sew a scientific sales strategy on top of it.
Only then can you be successful in this area.
Who am I and why can I help you? Read my story and then run to the home page to read the rest if you haven't already done so
Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash