As global and national brands try to appeal to customers in the same way local businesses do, organizing the pieces (Social Media Marketing, Branding, Digital Marketing and SEO) become more complicated and harder to integrate. Implementing a community focused approach while using sophisticated tools and platforms can be extremely difficult.
One of the great advantages the Own Your Mile System is that it gives the you the same opportunities as the bigger and more well-known brands to compete for your share of the customer’s wallets.
Marketing can be a powerful in aligning people around your mission, vision and values while also getting your internal folks to think about why they are working there (besides the awesome paycheck).
As Chief Mile Owner, you and your team are always engaged in the fight. By setting the tone for your team when it comes to connecting with the guest, every touchpoint you establish will amplify your message with every guest every single day. When you have this orientation, it will be easier for The Own Your Mile system to allow you to be more-nimble.
By thinking globally, we do not mean not designing an offering, product or service for ourselves (we will cover customer personas later). We would like for you to be open to the possibility that many people outside of your core customer will enjoy your offering. A great example of this big picture thinking is in the consumer products goods space with the Swifter Product. The product was initially targeted to single guys living in small apartments in heavily populated urban areas like New York and Chicago; but the Swifter has a tremendous usage with married women with children in suburban areas.
Thinking globally but acting locally has the advantage of serving as sort of a tour guide that gives customers an opportunity to take the guesswork out of engaging within the community and finding experiences/services at their adaptive pace and level of readiness.
How Do You Do It.
1. Find Your ONLYNESS… Drive a Stake in The Ground and Establish a Strategy Around It
What are your key advantages over your competition? Whether you make a superior product or deliver your product with more convenience and efficiency, I urge every Chief Mile Owner to concentrate on its strengths and drive a stake in the ground to defend that turf. One of the wonderful advantages that a company like Chick-fil-A has is consistency. Whether I go to a Chick-fil-A in Chicago or Cleveland, I always get the same product with the same smiley faced team member that says “My Pleasure”. I don’t get that with their competitors, Their competitors know it and so does Chick-fil-A.
2. Flawlessly Deliver on Your Strategic Advantage
When you know what your strategic advantage is, find a way to execute on it with maniacal dedication and focus. It doesn’t matter if a competitor duplicates your recipe or your system or your product. It won’t be the same because you are the secret ingredient! Let’s take the “My pleasure” example from Chick-fil-A. Some of the companies in the retail space have started telling their associates to say “My pleasure” when you buy groceries, a shirt at the mall or a drill from a home improvement retailer. “My pleasure” seems a bit hollow when you had to wait for ten minutes for an associate to come explain the product benefits of the drill; and since their product is slightly better than yours, it does not feel quite the same.
3. Set A Digital & Local Marketing Strategy that includes Local Advertising
Online marketing is not just about boosting posts or advertising on Facebook. One of the mistakes people make is trying to be on every platform at the same time. The Own Your Mile system for digital and social is about finding your way and learning the success factors on each platform and putting those in motion strategically and intentionally. Though Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Snapchat, when approached with an open mind, present opportunities to execute targeted marketing, it is your strategy and timing that will make the big difference.
4. Know The Micro Community
Thinking Globally but Acting Locally has its roots in having market level intelligence. For bigger and more well financed brands, that means Business Insights that give you tons of data. At the local level, however, it is about understanding the people and places that are within your mile. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but if you don’t know all of the folks on this list, its time to start shaking some hands and kissing some babies:
- Local School Administrators (Principals, Coaches, Band Instructors, etc.)
- Local Spiritual Leaders and Houses of Worship
- Sports Complexes and Fitness Facilities
- Local Funeral Home Operators
- Businesses with over 25 employees
- Florist, Stylist, Salons and Dry Cleaners
- Chamber of Commerce
- Key employees at Hospitals and Medical Offices
CHIEF MILE OWNER TAKEAWAYS:
- Focus on what makes you different, not better. Designing a unique niche is one of the biggest and most significant steps you can take toward grabbing real estate in the minds of the market.
- Get out and meet people. Start building relationships and don’t stop. Your customers will buy from people they like. Your customers might initially buy because of a discount, but they will always pay (sometimes at a premium) because they connect with you.
