Tales of the marketing unexpected

Episode 1 - "The Restaurant"

Once upon a time a lady was seeking an experience that would fuel her day and offer all kinds of new tastes, sights and smells to enhance her mind. She saw a place where she felt her needs may be met.

As she came into the restaurant she was greeted by a waiter with a complimentary drink. He showed her to a seat and offered her a menu, she looked at the menu but then simply asked for "lunch"

This was unusual and the waiter replied, "What exactly would you like?" The lady simply said, "I am busy, I just need lunch so if you could bring me lunch, that would be great!"

Not wanting to disappoint, the waiter hurried to the kitchen where the chefs went into a kind of panic as they knew they needed to offer a result and fast but there was no real clarity on what it was the lady wanted. In an attempt to solve the issue, deliver something and meet the deadline, the waiter served the lady some beans on toast with a side garnish of parsley. With a startled look on her face, she said "What is this?" The waiter replied "Its lunch madam". Immediately, she felt this would not satisfy her appetite or meet her desired needs. The waiter was so keen to help but felt confused about how to solve the situation. The lady had some of the beans on toast but then wanted to leave and see if there were alterative places that could help her with her appetite.

An difficult exchange took place at the till where the lady was not sure what the value of the beans on toast was and certainly didn't agree with the price being offered. The waiter was also frustrated as he felt that there was so much more he could have offered that would have delivered a more fulfilling experience.

Whilst all this was going on, a man was sat at the other side of the restaurant observing and listening to the events as they unfolded. He got up to leave the restaurant where he said these words to the waiter.

"I spent some time watching what happened with that customer and this is my take on it. From the moment you two engaged, there was a clear lack of communication. In fact, it started with the lady being unclear what lunch really meant. For you, its an experience to light up all the senses and delight the body, mind and soul- to her it was something that she knew she needed but didn't really know how to define it or feel she had the time to even figure out what it could mean and how to create the desired outcome. This then led to avoidable issues. It may seem her expectations were not met, although, I could see how enthusiastic you were to ensure she had the ultimate dining experience."

He concluded with these words "This is just the same as marketing. It needs to start with full clarity on what it is so when choosing from the marketing menu, we can clearly see what is available to us so we make the right choices for our business appetite. We also need to remember that we need marketing each day to help fuel our business. The secret to marketing success is communication at all levels and joined up thinking. Where there is total clarity from the start and we see marketing as a full menu of all courses and not just a snack - we can begin to design something that powers our performance, feeds our success and gives us an experience that keeps us coming back for more"

THE END

Thank you for reading our story - perhaps its worth considering the marketing menu as the plan that supports your business - just like a menu can excite and open your eyes to dining opportunities - a marketing plan needs to motivate, support and encourage you to carry out tasks that are aligned to the outcomes you need. If your marketing menu (plan) is segmented into outcomes (aka courses) then its really clear what you can do and why!