Monthly Archives: October 2009

What is a Brand?

According to Wikipedia, A brand is a name or trademark  connected with a product or producer. So a logo, sign or slogan of a company could be associated with the brand. For eg. name Starbucks and it’s logo is a brand for the coffee.

How is Branding in an age of Social Media different from the Industrial Age?

In an industrial age when access to information was not easy to the consumers then, the only way they had to rely for the quality of the product was by looking to the familiar logo or signs. But today due to the easy access to the information via social media the branding has changed dramitically. No more can a company  rely on the their one time proud logo or sign permanently without satisfying the minds of the most socially aware consumers of today. Branding today is not permanent by nature  and can change over night if they can not satisfy the needs and desire of the consumers.

For example I was a great fan of Sony company. Sony Brand meant best to me as a growing boy. I used to own Sony Walk man, Sony Camera, Sony CD player, Sony Phone. Today as a growing young man I don’t use any of those Sony products. Instead I use Apple’s product. All those service that I require I get them from one single device called iPhone. Apple was smart enough to figure out that converging all those different devices into one would make my life easier and that I would be convinced to choose Apple over Sony. Apple had made accurate prediction and made a right move long before I was their customer. Sony was a great company but could not innovate itself to be great any more in my mind. So Sony has lost that brand image and Apple has won over me for their brand.

Why it is important for brands to remain on top of customers mind and remain positive everytime?

Like Sony brand, just because you were the most admired brand, you can not sit relaxed and feel that your customers are gonna love your brand forever. There is so much competition right now among different brands to be on top of their customers mind. If your restaurant can’t figure out how to be on top of the customer’s mind by engaging them in media like Social Media and making sure that your company is perceived positive then they might leave you at a click of a mouse or touch of a button on their smart pphone. Just like I dumped Sony for Apple they will do it to your brand if you can not satisfy their needs and desire. So please engage with your customers on Social Media to get their feedbacks and be on top of them. Listen to them and provide the product and service as they desire and you will remain positive brand in their mind.

How the marketing field has become  plain for both BIG brand and small independent restaurants?

In the television age the entry to broad casting media marketing for small restaurants was virtually impossible as the cost was so high. Only those BIG brand chain restaurants with huge marketing budgets could buy those prime time slots for tv advertising. But today with the birth of Youtube and Social Media small restaurants can do pretty much the same thing-online video advertising  leveraging Youtube. Infact if you execute it well it could be far effective than those tv advertising because with online video you can target your market segment and also track the results where as you couldn’t do on traditional television

Advantages of Small Restaurants Over Big Brand Restaurants.

Though I have seen Big Brand Restaurant into Social Media, I still feel that small restaurants still have more advantages over BIG brand Restaurants. Social Media has empowered the little guys to even battle huge guys. So why not take advantage that it offers. Right? It becomes more fun to see when little guys despite their size beat up BIG guys and make them cry like a baby. Well you can have that fun if you can understand the advantages you have over those BIG chain restaurants and execute them to your advantage.

Speed

First thing is the speed. Small guys tend to run faster than those BIG fat guys. So as a small  restaurant being small you have the speed that BIG restaurant chains don’t have. Just to make one decision they have lots of redtapes, beauracracies  to go through before any thing gets approved. But as a indpendent restaurant owner you are the one who is making that decision. You don’t have to ask permission for President and then Vice president and VP of Marketing and on and on….   !! If the idea makes sense to you you approve it right away and execute it right then and there.  You could have used a creative idea on the fly and benefited right away. Where else those ideas would have been obselete or moved on to another new marketing strategies by the time the BIG chain restaurants would approve the previous marketing idea.

Passion-

Another advantage you have is the Passion. You as a owner would definitely have more passion and interest in your business than some one who is just working there . You would give your heart and soul to make it happen. You would go extra mile to serve your customers. That means you would be serving yr customers when and wherever the customers required help. It would not be dictated by the clock in and clock out time. You would still be helping those customers in need if required. This is clearly seen by your customers on Facebook or Twitter. That would show a passion to serve yr customers which would make them greatest fan and inturn they would now help you to succeed.

Creativity wins over money.

Though you have less money and less resources than the BIG brands, it doesn’t matter any more. Money is not the issue now in an age of Social Media because the entry cost is zero except your own time. What matters is the creativity. Can you be creative enough to execute the targeted marketing. Now you might argue that they can hire great Social Media Marketing Strategy guy. Well again it is gonna cost a huge chunk of salary to create those creative marketing and may be not with enough passion as yours. So now you with your creativity combined with passion you have a chance to even battle huge company with BIG marketing budgets.

I hope it gives you an idea what advantage you have as a restaurant owner or operator over BIG brand chains.Now it’s time to go and get it. Go get them. And good Luck!