Last Thursday, I happened to arrive early for a meeting with a commercial printer. This happens to be a very large printer and I was trying to get some advice on putting a creative local, combined mailer project together for one of my clients. It’s a great tactic that involves sharing an envelope with 9 other local businesses and my client rides along for free.

While waiting in the boardroom, a man and woman walked in and sat down. They introduced themselves as part of an advertising agency based in Columbus, Ohio. They were going to sit in on the meeting and try to offer constructive advice on the project. They were friends of the printer.

After the meeting was over (and I politely listened to their goofy advice), I placed the order for my client and was headed for the door. Just then, the female rep. from the ad agency asked a rather pointed question.

“Local Store Marketing seems like a gimmick, how do you really think it stacks up against a high powered, well financed ad campaign from a firm like ours?”

Unfortunately, the poor woman didn’t know I had fielded this question many times. As a good friend and great franchise attorney pal of mine likes to say- “She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know.”

My answer went something like this:

“One has to understand the clear difference between Mass Marketing and Micro Marketing (the textbook, college name for Local Store Marketing).

Mass marketing establishes a brand and position and implies the same marketing mix for all consumers. Most of the traditional image advertising and brand building tends to focus on cuteness, cleverness and trying to win awards.

Local Store Marketing is born from the desire of the store owner: the store owner wants to distinguish himself from colleagues, he wants a local market. He wants specific customized actions tailored exactly for his community.

Local Store Marketing is the translation of marketing from the national level to local consumer needs.

Local marketing is the use of tactical instruments like assortment, logistics and promotion, at the store level.

Hence,

Local marketing is the customization of marketing mix variables to the store level based on consumer, competitor, and store characteristics.”

At that point, the conversation was over. LSM 1, Ad Agency 0.

When setting up a new Local Store Marketing program, nothing brings a blank stare quicker than when I first ask my clients if they conduct fundraisers.

Most of them know they should conduct fundraisers, but I find that few have sustained success with them. And that’s a shame because fundraising is a true LSM activity. It embodies networking, community benefit and low cost/high return.

Other than beating the bushes and chasing down school principals, here are a couple of quick ideas-

Create a tent card that outlines your fundraising program and place them on all your tables in the restaurant. Have a snazzy headline like ” Raise Dough for your Organization with Mario’s Pizza Fundraising Night!”

The other technique is to pre-print some fundraising letters that clearly explain the program and send them out to 100-200 targeted organizations.

If you need help or more advice on fundraising – let me know!

Akio Toyoda is the grandson of Toyota’s founder and heir apparent to the Toyota Motor Throne.

Imagine the surprise of an Ann Arbor Toyota plant when Mr. Toyoda showed up one morning unannounced. He asked to be taken to the production line for the Toyota Tundra and he wanted to see where the rear fender was assembled.

The problem was that Tundras were experiencing an unusually high percentage of recalls on this part and Akio Toyoda wanted to go exactly to where the problem was. This is a time-honored practice that Akio learned from his grandfather called ” genchi genbutsu”, which translated means “go to the spot.”

Combining efficiency with effectiveness- two wonderful Japanese business traits.

What does this have to do with your restaurant and what clicked in my head as I read this article this morning?

While things are slow – walk outside your restaurant and look back in through the window. Think like a potential diner. Go through the kitchen and see how efficient your cooks are, go grab a corner table and time how long it takes for a new visitor to get greeted by your staff, have a friend dine in one night for free and report back with comments and grading on the service, etc.

Take advantage of the slower time to root out problems. When things start to pick up again- you’ll be ready.

Last week I was invited in to speak with a large pizza chain. I was to meet with the VP of Marketing and the VP of Operations. While waiting in a conference room a man entered and introduced himself as the CFO of the organization.

He heard I was coming and said he just wanted to say hello. But he really wanted to ask me a question about marketing. After the introduction he asked, “I always have a difficult time spending money with advertising agencies. We have a track record of paying large retainers up front, receiving a lot of talk and gibberish and then having nothing left to show for it. What makes your agency different?”

My answer to that question made him reach his hand out to shake mine and win his vote of confidence.

Here was my answer to a very good question- “Spending money with advertising agencies can often be equated to spending money on your favorite charity. The reason that you write the check in both cases is to make yourself feel better and to gain a feeling of accomplishment. The difference is that you understand there will be no financial return from the charity. However, investing in our Local Store Marketing program offers you these quantifiable, tangible returns:

• Increase Same Store Sales as a result of LSM
• A system of tracking LSM activity
• Educating and empowering your franchisees to go out and get business
• Creating a partnership between our company and yours to get results
• We help to decrease the amount of store failures in your system
• You will have a virtual LSM division of your organization-planning, creating, updating, implementing and tracking Local Store Marketing activity

Local Store Marketing offers everything that traditional advertising and marketing cannot.

If you happen to be the CEO or VP of Marketing and you’re wondering how IntriMarketing might benefit you and your franchisees, take a moment to complete this free online analysis. I’ll review the answers and send you back a response.

I absolutely guarantee that you will learn a few things about Local Store Marketing and how it can help in your current situation. All communications are held in the highest confidence.

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