Within the industry, Sanders had come to be respected as a great marketer not just because his own face was plastered around the country. Rather, Sanders understood food and he understood what it would take to whet the nation’s appetite for his food. He was thus able to come up with a number of unique strategies for enticing customers to try his fast-food franchise.
One of Sanders’ greatest marketing strategies was to keep a mystique surrounding his recipe. While traveling around the country in the 1940s, armed with his pressure cooker and special blend of spices, Sanders’ refused to tell other restaurateurs just what exactly was in his recipe. As a result, they became even more intrigued by the taste.
As the franchise expanded, Sanders continued to carefully guard his secret recipe of herbs and spices, believing that the classified nature of the product was only helping to fuel its growth. After all, is there anyone who does not love a good secret and who is not eager to uncover the truth? The mysterious recipe gave a simple piece of fried chicken a little bit of cachet.
Sanders was so serious about protecting his top secret recipe that in the early days, he would hire two different suppliers to mix up different batches of spices. He would then combine these two batches into his special blend and mail the finished product to his franchisees. Even today, Sanders’ original KFC recipe remains locked up and hidden away in a safe in Kentucky, which only two or three company executives have access to. And, that is exactly how Sanders would have wanted it.
Another successful strategy on the part of Sanders was his early realization of the needs of working moms. He knew that more and more women were entering the workforce, and thus often not having enough time to fulfill their traditional roles of cooking dinner for the family. Once he discovered that, he decided to create easy take-out buckets of his special chicken specifically for busy mothers to be able to take home. He also added a number of side dishes so that they would have a complete dinner to present to their families.
Sanders also understood that in order to attract people to his stores, he would have to be in their faces as much as he could. He thus seized every opportunity to speak to the public or the local media. Whenever a new franchise opened up, Sanders would come to the opening to personally hand out special two-for-one coupons to customers. He would also have his pictures taken with children and speak to local radio and television hosts in order to gain free publicity.
Sanders was not only a trendsetter when it came to his recipes. Instead, he understood that if he was going to be successful, both the taste of his chicken and the flavour of his company would have to be different from the rest. Positioning himself as the company’s brand image was not enough. By adding a mysterious cachet to his product, understanding the needs of his customers, and telling the world about it, Sanders was able to achieve his goals.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
|
|
Harland Sanders Newsletter
Get our free newsletter to learn more about Harland Sanders and other famous entrepreneurs!
|
|
|
