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MARKETING: It's not difficult to learn, but it's tough to master

There's no shortage of marketing ideas in the pizza industry, but there is a dearth of operators who know how to market.

March 16, 2005

Whoever believes marketing is easy, hasn't done it.

There is nothing simple about creating a well-crafted and well-targeted message that grabs customers' attention and brings them to a business. Even harder is the legwork required in finding out who those customers are and what motivates them to spend their dollars with you.

And yet, many believe otherwise, according to Al Ries, author of multiple books on marketing and co-owner of the Atlanta-based consulting firm Ries & Ries. In his recent Adweek magazine article titled, "Good Execution Can't Save Bad Strategy," Ries details American executives' struggle to believe that marketing is far more than just common sense. Few CEOs get it, he writes, because they don't understand the enormous effort and planning required to make a brand and its goods attractive to buyers.

Marketing is 90 percent strategy and 10 percent execution, Ries wrote. Developing the strategy is the hardest part, he added, and quoted renowned military strategist, Carl von Clausewitz, who said, "We fall into error if we attribute to strategy a power independent of tactical results."

How many of you would call your marketing program "tactical"?

In his March 1 editorial, Restaurant Business editor Peter Romeo wrote about the great lengths businesses must go to make their messages stand out and find purchase in customers' minds.

"Extreme isn't what it used to be, so restaurants are finding it tougher and tougher to get noticed, even if the public is more infatuated with them than ever before," Romeo wrote. "To be heard, you

Marketing takes a day to learn, but a lifetime to master. — Phil Kotler, Marketing Professor

have to venture into new mind space, preferably with Courtney Love as your tour guide."

Domino's Pizza knows what Romeo's talking about. In a clever, high-tech way, Domino's, which is the official pizza of NASCAR and a sponsor on two race cars, is leading race fans to its Web site to enjoy outtakes from its TV commercials featuring drivers Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. While fans view the goofs and gaffes of their favorite hot shoes, they see advertising for Domino's products, not the least of which is its current bargain-basement 5-5-5 Deal.

Solid, creative strategy, memorable results.

If you're an independent operator, the message that you must market your business better is more serious than ever. According to a Restaurant Business report, chain operations, because of their marketing muscle, increased their overall industry market share by 3 percent from 2001 to 2004. In a saturated market where any advance comes at a competitor's loss, that means independents lost 3 percent.

Michele Schmalm vice president of foodservice research firm, NPD, said sales weakness in recent years drove chains to develop new products and promotions that led customers to their doors. The result, she said, is "Independently owned restaurants overall are having a tough time keeping up."

Serious, targeted focus

Go to any pizza industry tradeshow where there's a discussion or seminar, and you'll hear independents' tales of woe. The questions I hear are so similar at each event, they seem scripted:

* "How do I compete with the chains?"

* "How can I compete with a guy who's on TV, in the mail, in the paper, on everybody's door knob?"

* "My advertising budget just can't compete with them; what do I do?"

Three pizza operators on a marketing panel during the recent Pizza Operators Workshop (held the day before the recent North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show in Columbus, Ohio) got an earful of these questions. Their notions on how to fix operators' problems varied widely, but everyone agreed on this single point: Find out what works for your core customers, and give it to them again and again.

No one said a thing about including steep discounting or a bank-breaking TV ad blitz, or freebies or two-for-ones. They encouraged operators to discern what made their products/services different from their competitors, and then to sell the heck out of those qualities.

For example, Ben LaMonte, who directs marketing for La Nova Pizza — a two-unit Buffalo, N.Y. phenomenon which generates $8.5 million a year in sales — said the company does no gimmicks or wild promotions, it only focuses on its brand identity.

"We are relentless about pumping the La Nova brand," said LaMonte, wearing a bright red T-shirt emblazoned with the La Nova logo. "Everything we do is about getting out our message about who we are and what we do."

What? No coupons, no TV, no print ads?

"The only (advertising) we do consistently is a full-menu mailer that we send out to our customers," said LaMonte, who just happened to have several dozen copies of the mailer on hand. Even among fellow pizza operators, LaMonte was marketing La Nova. "It looks huge, and, well, it is, because it's our entire menu. We feel it gives the customer a much better feel for us as a restaurant, much better than if we'd sent out something smaller with just a few offers or a partial menu on it."

Tom Potter, founder, owner and managing director of 155-store Eagle Boys Pizza in Brisbane, Australia, said nothing gets the word out like product trial. He suggested that operators looking to boost sales — especially operators just opening — should host a pizza party at their store from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offer pizzas for $3.95 (close to $5 U.S.) The price will draw customers to the store in an otherwise "dead period" during the day, and it will cover basic costs.

"We've learned over time that there are about 10 different things that will actually drive customers through the door and make them buy from us," Potter said. "But since you can't do them all, you focus on the two of those 10 that are the most successful."

For Eagle Boys, that meant preaching trust (in its product and service) and value (the right price, but not always the lowest) in all its messages at the height of the Aussie pizza price war. Now that the company has added a 2 Minute Instant Pizza system, the marketing gospel according to Potter is convenience and value.

Mark Ulrey, vice president of marketing for four-unit Flyer's Pizza in Columbus said his POS database is essential to his marketing plan. "We take a real surgical approach to database marketing." (Hmm. Sounds a lot like von Clausewitz's quote.)

As a delivery-heavy business, Flyer's is ever collecting customer data. That information is invaluable, Ulrey said, to helping Flyer's serve customers already in its hangar, not those still looking for a place to land.

Mining that POS data takes effort, but as Ulrey said, it's a lot easier and much more successful than guessing what new gimmick might work.

Pizza marketing guru Kamron Karington has said much the same many times: "Not every idea will work for every business. That means every operator has to go out and find what works best and do it again and again."

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

In his Adweek article, Ries quoted marketing Professor Phil Kotler who summed it up best: "Marketing takes a day to learn, but a lifetime to master."

* Read more articles on marketing in our Marketing Research Center.