Grilling Makes You A Better Marketer
Fire up your grill AND computer this July! With cookout season in full swing and marketers itching to leave the office, it’s hard to believe that grilling and marketing could have anything in common. Well here are three concepts that are just as important for good marketing as they are for good grilling. WARNING: Don’t read this article if you haven’t eaten recently, it’ll probably make you pretty hungry!
High Quality Ingredients
As you prepare for your summer cookouts it’s important to find the best steaks, burgers and buns. While you might not be buying 10oz sirloins for your clients, quality “ingredients” should still apply to your marketing strategy. A marketing campaign is only as strong as its weakest link. If you have a killer website but a lame Facebook presence or put together an awesome ad but have a website from the 90s, your overall marketing will suffer.
Marketing Tip: With the growth of technology, an online marketing presence is crucial at every point on your audiences path. Take time in creating your website and social media accounts so that they effectively communicate your brand. Black Negative is a great example of a high quality website that displays several modern features and concepts any business could implement into their own digital platform.
Grilling Tip: When choosing a protein to grill, it’s important to consider its level of tenderness- even the best chef in the world cannot successfully cook a juicy chuck roast using a hot grill (it needs to be cooked slowly at a low temp). Check out this infographic to determine which ingredients will produce the highest quality result for your next cookout.
Just the Right Amount of Seasoning
As cookout and grilling natives, we all know that the amount of seasoning can make or break a good piece of meat. Too little seasoning results in a tasteless burger and too much results in your guests gulping water. The same problems can happen in marketing. Underutilizing your social media can result in outdated pages and uninformed clients, but sending an email four times a day can be equally detrimental. It’s important to find a good balance and “season” your clients with just the right amount of content.
Marketing Tip: According to CoSchedule, it is recommended that businesses post once per day to Facebook and LinkedIn, and tweet an average of 15 times per day!
Grilling Tip: Avoid harmful MSG this summer and instead make your own grill seasoning with this great recipe!
It’s All About the Experience
While food is definitely a major player in grilling, a true cookout wouldn’t be enjoyable without the music, people, swimming, etc. The surrounding atmosphere is what makes a cookout such a great experience. In the same way, marketers must create an experience and relationship with their clients- sending small gifts, follow-up emails and providing above-and-beyond customer service.
Marketing Tip: Every year, McConnell Marketing sends creative gifts to clients as a way to say thank you and to maintain positive relationships. This past year, clients received MM travel tumblers. Remember, even if you have the most slick marketing presentation in the world clients won’t remain clients if they don’t like the experience of working with you.
Grilling Tip: When planning your next cookout, use some of these great ideas for crafty invitations and decorations.
Think about some of our tips next time you go to flip a burger or post a tweet this summer! Until next time, be well.
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