Frog Blog

Strategic Marketing 2 of 3: No-Cost Marketing

No-Cost Marketing

When searching for a restaurant or bar to visit, various reviews, word of mouth from friends and advertisements can contribute to choosing where to dine.

Choosing how to present your restaurant or concept speaks volumes about your product. Two paths exist for promoting your business. Advertising and no- cost marketing. Advertising is the use of resources to present a paid, biased point of view regarding your concept. No-cost marketing on the other hand relies on the strength of your product and service to propel it into the minds of consumers. It boils down to promoting your product with a trusted source versus an untrusted source. Advertising lacks credibility because a company was hired to present a product from a narrow perspective. No-cost marketing can come in the form of a vibrant review from a local food critic or glowing praise from your neighbor. If one had to choose a restaurant based on a TV ad or recommendation from a friend, a friends word carries more weight. While the use of no-cost marketing may seem like an easy choice, many businesses choose traditional advertising and leave their concepts at the mercy of ad executives rather than the strength of their concept.

A popular restaurant built its name on one word, cheesecake. Without finishing the restaurant title, no doubt you filled in the full title of the restaurant, Cheesecake Factory. Advertising did not help Cheesecake Factory become synonymous with the best place in town to get a piece of cheesecake. Strength of product, great service and striking décor are what helped them become a category leader.

Cheesecake Factory took advantage of concept positioning and used category first, brand second to build its brand identity. Meeting customer expectations is vital to keeping and winning new customers. Many restaurants offer a product that is called cheesecake, but in some cases it’s a lower cost unbaked gelatin and dairy product. The lower cost gelatin product has a creamy texture but lacks the robust flavor of a true cheesecake. If Cheesecake Factory were to switch to the low cost gelatin product in the interest of saving money, that could be the end of their business. Positive word of mouth recommendations would decline, faithful customers would find other restaurants and advertising would increase in an attempt to pull in new customers. By the time the ads hit the airwaves the damage would be done.

In the last year a national pizza chain has shown how damaging a poor product can be to business. This chain had a great start, but began cutting corners on ingredients to save money. The pizza chains product suffered and customers fled. This pizza corporation has spent countless ad dollars telling potential customers or displeased diners they have made their product better. Those ad dollars could have been saved if a great product was offered throughout the life of the business. The national pizza chain is predicted to close in the next year. Cutting corners and failing to meet or exceed diner expectations is akin to alienating your customers. Consistently great product and service is key to taking advantage of no-cost advertising and meeting consumer expectations.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us and stay tuned to for our next Frog Blog.

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