I attended the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona last month and was inspired by the topics raised. Much of the discussion went back to the unique issues that QSR and fast casual restaurants are dealing with in this economic environment.  For example, while today’s customer seeks value, that doesn’t translate to “cheapest.” Customers have plenty of options and want the best quality for the price. Consumers also expect restaurants to connect with them in a way they will remember, whether it’s greeting them at the door, offering to carry their tray to the table if their arms are full or having an exceptionally clean store. In a nutshell, they want a pleasant experience.

Another theme discussed was the need to increasingly funnel more marketing dollars into local campaigns, but in a way that compliments the national marketing strategy. This ensures brand standards are maintained and messaging is consistent  – yet can speak to the uniqueness of the local market.

With social media so prevalent today, the conference spoke about how important it is to stay connected to your customers. It’s not enough to market your company; you have to engage in a dialogue by speaking with your customer, not to them. Whatever the platform is — blogs, social media sites or microsites — the conversation must go both ways.  And it’s imperative that we monitor the social media sites to collect valuable insights on what our customers are saying.

One final note is that community remains a strong force. Restaurants must be engaged in their community.  There are countless ways to be engaged in and support your community, which could include supporting local schools, participating in charitable events or just volunteering time.  When you invest in your community, you will see a return on that involvement.

RLC was well attended this year, and I look forward to another motivating event next year. If you attended this year’s conference, tell me what you thought.

Mass media (TV, radio) is still a large portion of marketing spend, and direct-to-consumer communications are primarily non-personalized Free Standing Inserts (FSI’s) and mailers. On-premise marketing also continues to be centered on POP signage that directly supports national campaigns with little or no localization.

All of these practices ignore changing consumer behaviors. The New Consumer expects retailers to speak to their individual interests and preferences.  This is true of direct-to-consumer communications, as well as on-premise signage at a specific store. These New Consumers want to feel a sense of relationship to the places they frequent. Walking into a store and seeing signage that speaks to your interests and lifestyle gives you a sense of ownership in the store. That ownership can mean the difference between a retail location being a convenience or a destination.

Responding to this need requires a rethinking of the retail space and the way you communicate with customers — both within the store and directly. Consider these ideas:

• Customize each store’s menu boards so it features local customer favorites
• Add signage that speaks to local events (high school teams, concerts, etc.)
• Include signage in other languages that appeal to local demographics
• Localize store signage to reflect community tastes and interests (specific products or traffic patterns)
• Frequently rotate the store’s graphic themes with changeable graphic panels (perhaps with graphics that reflect the community)
• Integrate direct-to-consumer communications (mail, e-mail) with store signage
• Build completely personalized direct communications (graphics, messaging and offers) based upon specific consumer preferences and community themes

There are other ways to create a sense of relationship with your customers. Many marketing campaigns may seem difficult or expensive; however, having the right partners to execute them can make this easy. Focus your attention on expanding your creative thinking and the rest will fall into place.

New Consumers aren’t just interested in relationships; they also have a thirst for new things to talk about in order to feed their social media habits. In my next blog post, I will discuss why agility should be a cornerstone of your marketing program.

Schlotsky's image from Stores Magazine

The April issue of Stores magazine features Synq Solutions in an article describing how we execute marketing initiatives for hundreds of Schlotzsky’s locations. The piece is titled ‘Marketing Synchronicity: Synq Solutions Helps Schlotzsky’s Franchisees Implement Marketing Programs’, and it’s a great, in-depth look at how we manage local marketing and the individual needs of each franchise. You can read the article in its entirety here.

image from PRNewser

For the month of April, we’re dedicating our topics of discussion to Restaurant and Retail Industry Trends.

To combat economic challenges, restaurants and retailers have created innovative ways of reaching customers. Some brands are honing in on shopper experience, while others concentrate on price reductions, health conscious consumers, local marketing and eye-catching promotions. We’ll cover these points and discuss the unique challenges of getting great marketing ideas from concept to in-store delivery in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.  Last, we’ll touch on sustainability in print to commemorate Earth Day on April 22.

As always, we encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions through commentary.

The execution of POP campaigns can be divided into several overlapping phases:

1. Marketing Strategy – The practice of determining which products are of interest to consumers and how they will be sold, communicated and packaged.
2. Creative Development – The process that translates the marketing strategy into graphic messages that can be published for printing or online use.
3. Profiling – The process of matching specific marketing messages and POP elements to each store.
4. Production – The translation of the creative work into actual POP elements.
5. Fulfillment – The assembly of a group of specific POP elements that match the exact needs of a retail location into a POP “kit.”
6. Shipping – The transportation of each POP kit to each retail location.
7. Receipt and Installation – The receipt of the kit followed by the installation of POP elements prior to the start of the promotional campaign.

In practice, these steps tend to be chaotic and very dynamic; it is not unusual for retailers or QSRs to have hundreds of changes throughout the course of a single campaign. Meanwhile, the traditional buying practices of these companies tend to fragment these processes further as they seek to buy at the lowest price. The individual components may be at the lowest cost, but the net result is an inefficient and wasteful workflow.

Consider these opportunities:

• Speed – Based on my experience, more than half of the time consumed to execute a POP campaign is spent waiting for one party or another. What is speed-to-market worth to you?
• Cost – So much focus is placed on the per-piece cost of POP materials, and so little is placed on the total quantity ordered. Does every location require exactly the same items? What is the cost of the “extras” left over after a campaign because you are afraid to run out?
• Time and Focus – How much time does your organization spend trying to coordinate the overall process? Would that time be more valuable spent on your customers?
• Effectiveness – Do your marketing messages speak to local preferences? Are you keeping your campaigns simple just so they are easier to execute?

Consolidating the execution of multiple phases into a single qualified supplier provides the focus that is necessary to attack the inefficiencies inherent in this chaotic process. The cost and time savings that are derived can be sizeable; I have seen some companies save over 20% of the cost of their POP program by rethinking the entire process.

The consequences of something going wrong in a POP campaign can be very ugly, so it’s natural to want to hold on to your tried and true approach. However, the retail environment is changing and the opportunities for cost savings and improved speed, flexibility and effectiveness can make it worthwhile to leverage the synergy of services.

Qdoba’s requirements to present caloric information as well as the varying menu options and price points presented a complex production and fulfillment challenge. To prepare for the Craft 2 and Kids Menu rollout, Synq navigated through the variable data for the pricing and caloric requirements specific to the new menu offerings. In order to accurately account for menu variations within approximately 500 Qdoba locations, our system created over 3,000 unique print-ready files. Our intelligent profiling incorporated every variation imaginable, from price points, caloric information, nutritional verbiage and beverage options. Another challenge was the unique menu board and merchandising hardware per location (33 different sizes needed to be produced to accommodate the various hardware).

Synq’s unique Intelligent Profiling solution captured all of the individual store attributes and allowed Qdoba to rollout the Craft 2 and Kids Menu promotion successfully and within compliance to the various regulations specific to each locale, state, and city.

*image from Center For Science in the Public Interest

With a national standard for menu labeling and supporting legislation up in the air due to the uncertainty surrounding the status of the health reform bill, several local jurisdictions are forging ahead with previously enacted legislation of their own.

For example, Philadelphia is requiring that nutrition information be disclosed on menu boards, and is fining chain restaurants $150 for violations of the city’s new menu law that requires caloric content be posted. Additionally, by April 1st, Philadelphia will require that menus disclose information on saturated fat, trans fat, carbohydrates, and sodium. Other states and jurisdictions have enacted similar menu labeling ordinances, including New York City, Maine, Massachusetts, Nashville, TN, Oregon, and Maryland.

Needless to say, we’re hoping that the federal standards will be implemented before more states and localities are forced to launch countless varieties of requirements. In the meantime, the patchwork of local menu labeling standards doesn’t have to slow down marketing processes. Just as POP, menu boards, take-out menus, and brochures can all be tailored to the respective restaurant’s unique needs (including products offered, pricing, location information, and physical layout), so can required nutritional information.

I’d like to hear from you: how is your brand or organization handling the challenges of menu labeling and nutrition compliance?