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Get Out Of The Branding Business

Written by: Scott Mader

Article Overview: The success of marketing your restaurant or franchised restaurant can be measured by how many friends you have made in your local community. It's really that simple. It makes little difference if you are a pizza franchisee who is one of 300, or you are Mama's Pizza and an individual operator. You must network your local community to succeed. Period. If you are writing checks for ads, if you are advertising on the local theater movie screen, if you have a radio spot, you are WASTING cash. This is true, even if you own a recognizable, branded franchise location. The only brand you should be concerned with is your own. And the only way to build your own personal brand is to get out of your office chair, or from behind the bar and go into your community.

Get Out Of The Branding Business

The success of marketing your restaurant or franchised restaurant can be measured by how many friends you have made in your local community. It's really that simple. It makes little difference if you are a pizza franchisee who is one of 300, or you are Mama's Pizza and an individual operator. You must network your local community to succeed. Period.

If you are writing checks for ads, if you are advertising on the local theater movie screen, if you have a radio spot, you are WASTING cash. This is true, even if you own a recognizable, branded franchise location.

The only brand you should be concerned with is your own. And the only way to build your own personal brand is to get out of your office chair, or from behind the bar and go into your community.

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Article Tags: checks, franchise location, franchised restaurant, franchisee, local community, local theater, mama, nbsp, office chair, personal brand, pizza, radio spot



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My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Direct Mail Postcards - [quote="jvprosperity":2r71nzqq]Kevin, your situation is very common. Get's me wondering if advertisers are just being lazy and "blanket" areas with advertising hoping that some will stick and get people to respond. mathew1 used the word "targeted" alot but I think that's what most advertisers are either not doing or not going deep enough in their targeting. I disagree that direct mail is more important to small business. Yes, it get's done more often within small businesses but that's 'cos of a small budget and them being forced to utilize it to it's fullest. Big Business focus so much more on Branding and Image Management since they have larger budgets but they also do a fair bit of direct mail and other methods.[/quote:2r71nzqq] Hi Andy, I'd say "naive" is a better word. In fact, "blanketing" areas with unwanted solicitation/ads is costly and will only hurt small businesses in the eyes of consumers (who will resent it).
Re: Direct Mail Postcards - [quote="Kevin":k7jhujz8]But how do you prevent people from just throwing out your direct mail as unwanted solicitation? Anytime I get direct mail, I toss it out. I've noticed solicitors using cheap tricks like printing the message in "hand writing" to make the letter seem more personal. Who are they trying to fool?[/quote:k7jhujz8] Kevin, your situation is very common. Get's me wondering if advertisers are just being lazy and "blanket" areas with advertising hoping that some will stick and get people to respond. mathew1 used the word "targeted" alot but I think that's what most advertisers are either not doing or not going deep enough in their targeting. I disagree that direct mail is more important to small business. Yes, it get's done more often within small businesses but that's 'cos of a small budget and them being forced to utilize it to it's fullest. Big Business focus so much more on Branding and Image Management since they have larger budgets but they also do a fair bit of direct mail and other methods.


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