Mindshare Marketing

Knowing your perfect customer is only the first step in marketing towards them.  Knowing where he or she lives is still just an early step.  What you need to figure out now is why.

Why does your perfect customer live in a house rather than an apartment?  Why do they take public transportation when they could just as easily own a car?  Why do they buy groceries ten miles away when they live next door to a supermarket?  This information is called psychographics, and it can tell you much more about your customer than anything else can.

What you are looking at is behavioral drivers, the explanations behind your customers’ actions.  Here is a simple illustration.  Client A and Client B live next door to one another.  They drive the same cars, make the same amount of money in a year, and watch the same television shows.  Demographically, the two are identical.  Client A is concerned about low food prices, so he drives across town to the cheapest supermarket.  Client B is concerned about global warming, so he drives across town to a supermarket that boasts its energy efficiency and focus on “green” products. 

Both Clients A and B shop at the same grocery store, but for very different reasons.  If you want Client A to buy your products, you would work for the lowest possible price.  You would then advertise the bargain your products are compared to the competition.  If you instead want Client B, you would work for the most environmentally sustainable product offering and advertise it as such.  You would choose either strategy based on the nature of your products: a computer manufacturer might choose price (low prices do not have much negative effect on a computer brand).  The manufacturer of high-end fashionable suits, however, would choose sustainability (the price of a suit is as important to the brand image as the name on on the cuff).

Step one: Know your customer (Identification)
Step two: Define your customer (Demographics)
Step three: Understand your customer (Psychographics)
Step four: Market to your customer (Communication)

This is a linear system, and you cannot skip steps without severe repercussions.  Client A would not buy an expensive green product; investing in marketing towards him would be a colossal waste of money and would hurt your business.  If skipping steps wastes money, why jump the gun?

It is rare to find a really unique hamburger restaurant.  While visiting New York City, however, I found one!  Let me explain how I found this hidden gem:

While walking through Central Park, I came across a barbecue.  The scents made me really want a burger, so my girlfriend and I started searching for something with a higher quality than McDonalds.  She checked a guidebook and found “The Burger Joint” a few blocks from where we were standing.  We decided to hunt down the restaurant with the plain name and found ourselves at the doors to a very expensive-looking hotel.

In t-shirts and jeans we were highly under-dressed for such a fancy hotel; I was worried the “joint” would really be an upscale black-tie restaurant, so we almost left.  A brief moment of bravery led us inside, though, and we asked a hotel employee for directions.  He gestured to a hallway next to a large curtain.  It felt like a narrow service corridor, but sure enough, there was a small hamburger sign at the end of the hall.

The Burger Joint itself was fantastic.  It had the feel of a hidden speakeasy, and one of the best cheeseburgers I have ever tasted.  There were movie posters on the walls, great music blaring from the kitchen, a college football game on the TV above my booth, and signatures from members of SNL above my head.  The service was incredibly fast, and I never saw the line dissipate.

All with zero advertising, but LOTS of marketing.

The restaurant is positioned perfectly.  It is a hideaway burger cafe that you need to know about before you can find it.  There are no signs to the restaurant outside and zero advertising on the street.  This limits the number of people inside to a comfortable community.  The intimate design brings an equally intimate feel and makes you forget you are dining in a hotel you couldn’t afford to stay in.

The product was fantastic, the place is perfect, the price was just right, and the positioning is better than anyone could hope for.  Whether by accident or design, the Burger Joint in NY is an off-the-beaten-path restaurant with a neighborly feel in one of the most populated areas of the country.

You probably notice that I haven’t given you any links or any directions.  I think the advertising-free model the Burger Joint follows is perfect for their business, and I don’t want to threaten it in any way.  If you want help finding the place, though, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do.

I have decided on a tentative update schedule for the blog.  While I cannot guarantee posts every day, I will try for at least one update per week.  Here is what to expect:

Mondays - “In the Market” - My analysis of current marketing/branding strategy
Tuesdays - “Brand Building” - Free tips on how to build your brand in the market
Wednesdays - Guest Spots - Want to add your own two cents?
Thursdays - “Going to Market” - Strategies for developing your marketing plan
Fridays - “A Day in the Life” - Reflections on my own experience in the market

Feel free to contact me with feedback about the categories or requests for articles.  If you want to add your own content, send me an article and I will see about posting it on a Wednesday.

Like I said, I cannot promise to have a post every day.  If I do have a post, however, it will fit into one of these categories.