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Ever wonder why inbound marketing is exploding? According to a new inforgraphic from Hubspot and Google Plus, the cost of acquiring a lead through inbound marketing is less than half of outbound marketing acquisition costs. Not only that, but inbound marketing leads tend to be more abundant. Research…
Tags: creative marketing, hubspot, inbound marketing, jon sooy
A client who recently read a very powerful white paper written by Greg Collins and Cal Popken asked me to explain the term ‘Tributary Supply Chain.’
So, I shall paint a picture.
Imagine, if you will, a canoe on the shoulders of a mighty river. Picture this boat as it gently travels atop the fast running and bountiful waterway. It can’t help but trust its’ provider as it bounces playfully along on it’s journey. The river and the canoe are a great analogy for how we should picture our customers, our business, and how the success of the latter relies heavily on a very long list of tributary products and services. As it applies to a restaurant, the customer enters your door and is counting on a safe and pleasant journey. They want to trust that the river that is to carry them through their experience is equipped to do so. Certainly any disruption can and will disturb the balance that we work so hard to maintain.
For example, if a river has a poor supply of water, the canoe will bump around violently because the water cannot protect it from pronounced boulders or other dangers. A river’s tributary supply is critical to ensuring that the canoe comes out unscathed by hazards.
Your customers don’t begin their experience by traveling from your small wares provider through a warehouse, loading docks, delivery trucks but rather they start their journey at the widest part of the river. Their ride is wholly dependent on the waters from upstream. If tributary items such as small wares, uniforms, paper goods, pop materials, POS supplies, etc are not flowing efficiently into your river, then the canoe will experience bumps from your teams inability to deliver the promise of a safe journey.
Too many businesses rely on themselves to keep the river flowing. For many small businesses this is possible but as we grow and add more locations, it becomes very difficult to keep that river running smoothly by ourselves. Recognizing that the management of your tributary supply system is an essential part of your growth is critical. It’s is an important step towards a bold and healthy waterway.
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: cal popken, jon sooy
Whether you’re an iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows Mobile user it has become clear that the ‘app’ is here to stay. What began as goofy gimmicks and games are now a tsunami of options and opportunities for mobile device addicts. As you navigate the marketplace, it is becoming increasingly difficult to figure out what apps are best for your particular business. It is interesting to me that despite the search capabilities within my Android phone, most of my favorite apps have been recommended by friends. Fun apps like HeyTell, Words With Friends, and of course Angry Birds! But what about business and productivity in general? Here are my picks for the top five apps for business:
Tripit - Available on all major platforms, this great app helps you organize your travel plans. Flight, hotel and rental car information is all in one place. You can add maps, directions and even share you itineraries with others. Even for the occasional business traveler, this is a must have app. More features here on the Tripit website.
Expensify - Available on Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Palm. This app has an incredible number of features. Highlights are the ability to scan receipts and how easy it is to create an expense report. You can also import data from your credit card. For the full rundown of capabilities, visit the Expensify website.
Evernote - Available on virtually every mobile device (not to mention every operating system). Evernote will keep all of your notes synchronized across multiple devices. I am also a Livescribe user and all of my handwritten notes taken with my Livescribe pen are saved to my Evernote account. I don’t know how I ever lived without it! On the road and forgot that contract? If you saved it in Evernote: no problem! Evernote Website.
Dropbox - For all those files that are not in Evernote. The Dropbox application places a folder on your system and everything you put into this folder is synchronized across whatever devices you wish to include. It works on Android, Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Sort of like Evernote, you can easily access documents and files on the go! Basically, any important documents you have on your computer are now in your pocket. The program is free up to 2 gigabytes and above that there is a small per gig charge. Dropbox Website.
Astrid Task - This is an Android only app but there are similar apps for other platforms. I just found this great app a few weeks ago and it’s beauty is in it’s simplicity. The feature rich alternative available on most other devices is “Remember The Milk.” Astrid is a simple task manager/to do list app that can be used as a stand alone or you can set it to synchronize with your Google tasks (which of course can be linked to your Outlook tasks). I was always tied to my Outlook tasks, now I have my list of things to do with me at all times. Available in the Android Market.
Are you an App Addict? What are some of your favorite apps?
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: jon sooy
I don’t see QR Codes fading into the realm of techno-gimmick anytime soon. A recent article in Print Solutions Magazine provides some compelling data that clearly suggests the opposite. The number of Americans who are only using mobile devices is dramatically increasing. From Print Solutions Magazine: “After all, one in five U.S. mobile phone owners uses the mobile Internet every day (“2011 Mobile Internet Attitudes Report,” Antenna Software). Not only this but according to On Device Research, 25 percent of U.S. mobile phone users are mobile only. In other words, they do not (or very rarely use) a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Internet.” (full article here on page 24) In other words; Americans are becoming very proficient at navigating our physical and electronic world with our mobile devices acting as our trusted sidekick.
In a few of my public speaking engagements on technology, I have used the example of scanning regular bar codes in retail stores with my cell phone to find out if I find and item for less money at another store. In fact, in a bizaar coincidence, eBay did an Internet commercial to this effect and the actor here (Casey Robertson) happens to be a personal friend:
As our mobile devices become more and more sophisticated, the possibilities are almost limitless with regard to our ability to access information. QR Codes are one of the first mobile innovations that begin to bridge the gap between a brand and our ability to access to more information about that brand. Additionally QR Codes fit very nicely into the concept of engagement marketing (as opposed to interruption marketing) in that we, as the consumer, choose what information to access.
Here is some more data to support the idea that QR Codes are here to stay (taken from Print Solutions, June 2011 issue, page 26):
I think QR Codes are like many other great innovations that are just starting to take root. There is skepticism, disbelief and confusion about how they work and how marketers might use them. But, remember what people said about Facebook and Twitter when they made their way into the mainstream. I heard comments like ‘It’s a fad’ or ‘it’s just another MySpace’ or ‘it’s for kids, not business.’ Don’t be left behind with QR Codes because even if they do evolve into a different form down the road, understanding their potential now will put you ahead of your competition.
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: creative marketing, jon sooy
Innovators create tools to help people get more work done with less effort. Technology has brought us an amazing array of tools over thousands of years. As new innovations improve upon old ones we see a timeline that is really quite amazing. Consider how we listen to music, and how this has evolved over the last 100 years. It went something like this:
Extend your index finger and touch your monitor above where you personally first connected with this timeline. Fast forward and look at us now! Most of us walk around with our entire music collection in our pockets. Now we are beginning to store and stream music from the cloud. Apple just announced its new system called iCloud. Providers like Pandora, LastFM and Grooveshark enable us to create our own radio stations based on sophisticated metrics that we as individuals provide. Imagine that; a radio station that only plays songs that ONLY YOU like!
GPnet does for supply chain management what the internet is doing for streaming music (and other content, for that matter). With operational and marketing budgets being slashed and competition increasing, it is a simple solution to cutting costs and increasing profitability. Enabling your corporate staff and store locations to do more with less is having a profound effect on the success of some of the best brands in America (and the World). I imagine our GPnet clients have more free time to listen to music. What’s next? Perhaps the iBrain: All my music implanted in my head and all I have to do is think of a song I want to listen to. Need to reorder supplies for business? Just iThink it.
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: jon sooy
In an earlier post, I discussed QR Codes. I explained what they are and how they work. If you haven’t yet discovered QR Codes or are wondering how you might use them to market your restaurant, here are some ideas:
- Take-Out Menus: Print a QR Code on table tents, front door posters or anywhere it’s appropriate. Customers scan the code and are redirected to a digital version of your menu. A hotlink that enables them to call you is included for convenience.
- Recipes: Put a small QR Code on your menu next to different dishes. Smartphone users can then scan the code and be taken to the recipe. An alternative is where the user could be taken to a video of your chef preparing the dish.
- Coupons: Place QR Codes within your ads, direct mail pieces or anywhere you can imagine and link the code to a coupon.
- Facebook: Simply link the code to your Facebook Fan Page and get more followers! To entice them, offer a discount or coupon for clicking the ‘Like Us’ button.
- Nutritional Information: Place a QR Code on your menu or on a table tent that links to your nutritional information summary. You could also do individual codes for each menu item.
- Interviews: Link to a video of an interview with important characters within your company. This might be a CEO, Executive Chef, Chief Marketing Officer, or even the employee of the month!
- Specials: Does your restaurant frequently have specials? Link a code to a virtual ‘Daily Special’ chalk board!
- Restaurant Info: Link to basic information about your restaurant: address, phone number or perhaps even the restaurant’s history.
- Surveys: Put a QR Code on your receipts and get instant feedback on your customer’s dining experience.
I’m sure more great uses for QR Codes are out there. What ideas do you have? We’d love to hear them!
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: business tools, creative ideas, creative marketing, jon sooy
Below is an excerpt of Jon Sooy’s article as published in this month’s Franchising World: Unleashing Marketing Creativity
When working in any business environment, keeping ahead of the competition requires constant innovation and reinvention. In the restaurant world, experimenting, not just with the food, but with systems and concepts is critical, and should be a constant priority. If not, competitors will leave your company wallowing in their dust, looking like last week’s lunch special.
Leveraging your staff’s thoughts can be vitally important, and enjoyable. Rather than the owners and managers taking it upon themselves to rack their brains for ways to stay current, there’s a whole staff in your restaurant, many with long pedigrees in the service industry who are potentially fantastic resources. When the company hired these people, it hired them for a number of reasons, not just their ability to perform the tasks their job requires. Our system conditions people to follow instructions, to color within the lines. Seth Godin, author of Linchpin, calls us a society of factory-workers. I agree with Mr. Godin and abhor this system and challenge others to break the mold. What companies will find is that ignoring their hired talent is no way to get ahead. In fact, by embracing the opposite and empowering the crew to generate ideas, dramatic results can appear.
Read the rest of the article here.
Naomi Catalina
Designer at Large
Tags: creative ideas, creative marketing, jon sooy
Have you ever had a lot to say but not enough room to say it? QR Codes might just be what the doctor ordered. You’ve probably seen these odd looking square images pop up on posters, business cards, websites, billboards and even tattoos. QR stands for Quick Response and while it is just starting to take a foothold in the United States, the technology has been around for over a decade and is very popular in Asia. As more and more of us are migrating to smartphones, the use of QR Codes will undoubtedly be a powerful tool for marketing efforts and more.
What makes them special, as compared to a normal barcode, is the fact that they can relay much more information. A regular barcode contains 20 digits in a horizontal arrangement while a QR code can contain up to 7,000 digits, both horizontal and vertical. Simple to scan by using any smartphone with a scanner app, the user simply points his camera at the code and captures the image/data. Then the information within the code is read and pops up on the smartphone. It might be a link to a website, an image or text. Possibilities include but are not limited to: Text, Website URL, Telephone Number, SMS Message, Email Address, Email Message, Contact Details (VCARD), Event (VCALENDAR), Google Maps Location, Wifi Login (Android Only), Paypal Buy Now Link, Social Media, iTunes Link, YouTube Video and more. The possibilities are limited only by one’s imagination.
To make a code, you can do it yourself! A few websites that will generate a QR Code are Kaywa or QRstuff. If you don’t have a scanner on your phone already, just search the app store on your smartphone device for ‘QR Code Scanner.’ For Marketers, I recommend that you use QR Codes on your brochures, business cards, billboards, menus, wearables, websites or anywhere you have the need to easily connect your audience with more information.
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: creative ideas, creative marketing, jon sooy
Today I’d like to discuss cheese puffs and the social relevance of sidewalk art. I bet a co-worker that I could work that sentence into my next blog post. I win. This article has nothing to do with cheese puffs or sidewalk art. Or, does it? So other than the bet, why did I start off my article this way? To that I shout “Why not?!”
I don’t think enough people ask that question. Especially in the work place. Granted, it’s not their fault, as they were conditioned by years of systematic academic programming to follow the rules. However solving problems and creating an atmosphere of innovation is more fun and successful when you stop and ask “Why?” Heck, I’ve built my entire career around “Why?” Of course you must be sensible and if there is a reasonable answer to this question, then perhaps your current solution is the correct and appropriate one. That chain of thought is not as much fun to talk about though so I’ll stay on track with discussing the people who most procedure hounds and micro-managers might call “agitators”, “instigators”, or other colorful adjectives.
Ever hear the parable about the Holiday Ham? I tried to find the original source for this story but I couldn’t seem to find it. Anyway, it goes something like this:
A child stood and watched her mother prepare the annual Holiday Ham. The mother carefully cut each end off of the ham before placing it in the pan. The child asked, “Hey Mom, why do you always cut the ends off the ham?” The mother replied, “Well, that’s the way my mother always did it.” So the child called her grandmother and asked, “Grandma, why do you always cut the ends off the ham?” The grandmother replied, “Because that’s the way my mother always did it.” Finally, the child called her great-grandmother and asked, “Great-Grandma, why did you always cut the ends off the ham?” The great-grandmother replied, “I don’t know why anyone else does, but the ham was way too big to fit in my small baking pan.”
Are there people in your workplace that are following rules and procedures without questioning them? If so, that might be spelling trouble for your organization. Of course there are obvious rules and procedures that should be followed, but how many of your employees are cutting off the ends of the ham just because they were told to do so? Technology eventually brings about bigger and better baking pans. Every day there are technological advances that enable us to do more with less effort. Does your staff exist in an environment where it’s not only accepted but praised for questioning the way things are done? Growth, innovation and the future of your company might just depend on it! So now how do you feel about cheese puffs and the social relevance of sidewalk art? That’s no way to start or end an article! To that I shout, “Why not?!”
Jon Sooy
VP Sales and Marketing
Tags: creative ideas, creative marketing, jon sooy
Below is an excerpt of Jon Sooy’s article as published in Franchise Times: When It Comes To Customer Service, The Truth Shall Set You Free
Two things:
1) In the restaurant business, the most powerful marketers are your employees.
2) Telling the truth can be difficult.
Wife to husband: “Does this dress make my butt look big?”
Boss to employee: “What do you think of my new necktie?”
Customer to server: “How are the crab cakes?”
I was blown away this past weekend when I asked a server that last question and she (let’s call her Julie) made a face of disgust and recommended that I go with the sweet potato fries! She told me the truth. It was quite clear to me that the crab cakes were not her favorite. At first I was astonished and thought perhaps training was not a high priority at this restaurant. The more I thought about it, I don’t recall this ever happening to me but I must say, I really appreciated being told the truth.
Read the rest of the article at franchisetimes.com…
Naomi Catalina
Designer at Large
Tags: creative ideas, creative marketing, jon sooy
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