Burgers in the Digital Age

One of the best advantages of grad school is having access to world-class professionals who are at the top of their field. In today's Branding & Promotion class, John Moore, the marketing guru of Brand Autopsy, shared with us his insights. Particularly rich about Mr. Moore's talk are the principles he shared which are timeless and yet, never more applicable than now in the digital age. 



As I've previously discussed, organizations are catching on to how easy and essential it is to connect via social media and utilize digital tools, so the question becomes: if digital makes it so easy that everyone is doing it, how does one cut through the "digital noise" to effectively connect with their inundated audience? One obvious place to start is with data mining and the ability to target your audience with online tools. Yeah, yeah, yeah... like I said, that's an obvious place to start, but it lacks the teeth of solid business principles and the deeper understanding of an experienced marketer. 



To address this question of "cutting through the noise" Mr. Moore spoke about the need of setting yourself apart and being "talk-able" for your audience. Now, note, this strategy leverages digital tools - the tools are the means, they are not the ends, a mistake often made when getting caught up in the hoop-la of social media. Mr. Moore illustrates his point with burger restaurants. Now, a burger joint is a good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar business where, generally speaking, the product is pretty much the same from one place to the next. So how do you set your burger apart? Its those unique "touch points" that make the burger, the restaurant and the experience unique. Its the details of these touch points... from customer service, to the menus, to the furniture... in other words, the personality of your place that creates the resonance, the "talk-ability" of your organization. And talk-ability is what we want, digital or otherwise, as up to 50% of purchasing decisions are based on word-of-mouth marketing. 



My big take-away from today’s talk was creating that talk-ability factor for the long haul – not just one big splashy event or press release that people stop talking about in a few days or weeks. Its about creating something more significant than buzz... its about showcasing your organization’s personality throughout it's lifetime. Oh, and the other take-away… a shared craving for burgers that my classmates and I immediately satisfied with a trip to HopDoddy’s Burger Bar on SoCo!