Why Marketing is more important than the product itself in your restaurant?
Restaurant entrepreneurs and chefs are obsessed with producing the best products ie the best food in the town. Some times not even giving much thoughts about the marketing required for a restaurant success in this digital age of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. By any means I am not suggesting that the food-the product should not be the priority. But the level of priority of the food comes only after marketing.
What does the best product means when you don’t have a system in place to market those products. When you can not tell about it to other people then the best product means nothing but an object or a thing that sits on a ware house or at the cooler of a restaurant. There are good companies who have the best products but don’t have a system to market those products. Some times despite their great effort they can’t do the marketing well enough and they can’t sell even after having the best product. On the other hand there are companies who have the best marketing system with an average product and they are selling their food like hot cakes. The classic example of that restaurant is McDonald’s. So for a successful business or a restaurant it has to prioritize what to give importance first and to what degree.
Some of you may not agree with me. But let me put my argument here to back up my claim why marketing is more important than the product that you sell in your restaurant. Let’s take an example of the one of the most successful restaurant chain - McDonald’s. McDonald’s doesn’t have the best food in the town. May be it doesn’t even come close to the quality of the food that you serve in your restaurant and yet it is one of the most profitable company in the restaurant industry. They have best systems in place with a smart team who produces the best marketing campaigns which helps to promote an average quality hamburgers, fries and colas. That’s why McDonald’s is successful and more profitable than any company in the restaurant industry.
Should you have different viewpoints on this topics please feel free to express your opinions. With fruitful healthy discussion we can think not differently but opposite to traditional way of thinking and may be it will help us grow and succeed in the business that is changing rapidly with the growth of internet and social media.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Harold // Apr 27, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Nash, probably no surprise to you, but I pretty much agree with you here.
You can also look at another arenas like computers. One of the reasons Microsoft did so well for so many years was their marketing even though their product was sub par compared to the OS for Mac.
But the key is connecting with the consumer and keeping one’s business before them to remind them you exist and that eating at your place has it’s rewards. Those rewards can be the experience, specials, relationships, unique foods etc. Whatever it is, marketing is a lion share of getting people into the restaurant and selling more meals.
2 Nash // Apr 28, 2009 at 1:24 am
Hi Harold,
Yes, I am not surprised that you also have the same thought process.
I agree with you with the examples of Microsoft how they dominated the market with their brilliant marketing despite their above average product over OS Mac. The interesting thing to note here is though how again after so many years Steve Job comes back to the scene and with his brilliant marketing and introducing simple brilliant revolutionary product like iPhone is giving a run to Microsoft and many other software companies. Because I believe mobile arena has more market now. Just imagine we have over 4 billion mobile users world wide and may be 1 billion web users.The mobile usage is growing like crazy even more than web usage itself.
You are right again when you said that marketing is the first important aspect in opening doors to any products. The product could be food, experience, relationships and so on.
Thanks once again.
Nash
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