What the Consumer Does and Doesn't See Revisited

Ok, I had one final thought pertaining to the previous two posts. Looking further into how my family and I act at Pizza Hut and at other restaurants, I came to the conclusion that a business can better attract and cater to it's customers if they create a persona for the business or an environment that encourages different types of behavior that may make the customer feel more at home or more inclined to spend money. In the case of Pizza Hut, they have very successfully created a spot for families and friends to gather to have a good time and a tasty meal. This isn't just achieved with the somewhat playful nature of pizza alone. In order to complete the cycle and fully adopt the personality of a "McDonald's Playplace" for all ages, they must carefully hire and train their employees to help foster and add to the fun.

For instance, when we eat at the Pizza Hut in Hamilton, MT, my family and I have had the same waiter for almost all of the times that we have been there for the past 5+ years and if not him, than another waitress. Both of these individuals have mastered the art of crafting the atmosphere that Pizza Hut wishes to achieve. They have always had a smile on their face and a cheerful attitude while waiting our table. Yes, obviously the way they treat the customer will directly impact the tip that they receive, and one can even argue that they aren't trying to create this atmosphere and are solely competing for a better tip, but look at it this way. View the tip as a nudge to help the waiter or waitress create the desired atmosphere for a certain restaurant. For instance, if you take your family to a steakhouse or a pricier restaurant rather than Pizza Hut, you would probably further enjoy your experience if the one taking care of your meal was acting in a still personal, but more professional manner.

Take for example a time that my family went to a steakhouse to celebrate a birthday, While we could've gone to a Pizza Hut or similar restaurant for some inexpensive food and a good time, we elected to go to an establishment that provided a very high quality and well presented meal. For myself, I could say that subconsciously I wanted my waiter or waitress to act in the same high quality and professional manner. Though the waitress was well presented with regards to looks, she acted very bubbly and energetic personality, much like you may find at a Pizza Hut. She stood out like a sore thumb for this reason and to this day, my family will recollect this meal and make fun of her behavior. Had she been a waitress at a Pizza Hut-type restaurant, we would probably not have found her behavior to be out of the ordinary. But by going to a more expensive and higher quality restaurant, we expected a certain type of environment and held the appearances and actions of those in the establishment to a higher standard.

All-in-all, the way your business comes across to consumers, whether it's a restaurant, auto parts store, or whatever, will affect the amount of business you receive. Be sure to assess what type of person your business is catering to and allow your business to foster the behavior that that person typically has through like-minded employees and an environment that encourages the consumer to choose your business over another.

What the Consumer Does and Doesn't See

Looking back on the previous blog, I can say that how an establishment presents them self and how they act can greatly impact how much business they will get from consumers. This seems obvious, but there are many factors that can influence a consumers decision to give a company their business. For instance, location is a huge factor that will determine if a company will be successful, but it can go even further than that. If you offer a distinct service or have little competitors, your location will not be as important.

For instance, many steakhouses in Montana are far out of the way. The Broad Ax is a prime example. This steakhouse is located near Sula, MT (Which is barely a town on it's own). The nearest town with a grocer is about an hour away. How do they stay in business? Not only do they offer great meals, but they also provide an extraordinary atmosphere. They are located in a canyon surrounded by nothing but mountains, trees, and wildlife with the exception of a few homes. They embrace this and, in my opinion, made their surroundings a part of their business. Not only do they provide food to their consumers, but they also provide their customers with a pair of binoculars to allow them to get a better view of the deer, big-horn sheep, and other animals that make frequent appearances.

For locations that have immediate competition, there are far more factors that can influence how much business you will get. For instance, the way you upkeep your establishment can greatly impact whether or not a customer will walk through the front door. An eatery with a clean parking lot, facade, and neat landscaping will gather far more customers than an eatery with just a few pieces napkins in the parking lot and finger-print covered windows (the finger-prints may not have an immediate impact, but could hinder one to be a repeat-customer as they may have a subconscious feeling that they would be returning to a dirty facility).

By expanding on the facade, I will provide another example. Materials, colors and logos will also greatly impact an establishment with many competitors. Certain colors evoke certain feelings and are a more important factor to the success of a business than one might think. For instance, imagine if Subways colors were red and yellow instead of green and yellow. You may not think it, but it's not far fetched to say that you would eat there less often. The colors green and yellow symbolize a clean and fresh feeling while red and yellow symbolize something more along the lines of a classic feeling. Fast food establishments such as McDonald's and Burger King can capitalize on using the red and yellow color scheme because they provide more classic fast food entrees and have had those colors since their beginnings. In terms of materials, it is important that establishments refresh their look occasionally to keep up with the times. A face lift is a great way to signify innovation and success within a company to the consumer. For instance, Taco Bell has used stucco siding on their buildings to express their Mexican nature, but more recently have started to use new materials and colors on their buildings. They are starting to go for a clean, modern look by using more metal on the exteriors of their buildings.

Those are just a few examples of the endless factors that will both consciously and subconsciously impact how consumers view an establishment. This is a very interesting area of study that is really starting to reveal ways to capitalize on consumers, especially in the food industry.

When I went back home for Thanksgiving, my family and I went to Pizza Hut the night I got back. This can almost be considered a family tradition. Before college, we would go to Pizza Hut every once and a while, and we would never have a bad time. There was something about the atmosphere of the eatery that allowed us to be out playful selves. We would talk, crack jokes, laugh and have a great time every time that we went, even if we brought others with us. Now, whenever my brother and I return home to visit, we go to Pizza Hut to truly reunite.

What is it about that Pizza Hut that inspires us to reveal our jovial roots? I can count on one hand, in fact, one finger, the number of times that I didn't have a great time at a Pizza Hut. This time was in Bozeman and there were a few factors influencing why I actually had a somewhat poor experience. First off, when we were seated, the staff was extremely slow and couldn't decide which waitress would seat us (which was weird because we weren't a large party and there were only two other people seated in the establishment). Little did I know that this was just a gentle segue into what would be my worst experience with a Pizza Hut.

Once we were finally seated, we ordered our beers and the waitress rightfully checked our IDs. She then returned to the kitchen to allow us time to browse the menu. After a few minutes, a new waitress came to our table rather than our beers. She, for some reason, also took our drink orders and again checked our IDs. This redundancy subtly added to the frustration. Now, we were quite thirsty and were still without our beers. At this point, a large group with more than enough young children entered this ever so classy establishment. Not only was this a group of youth softball players, but it became apparent that it was also someone's birthday. That being said, it became quite clear that the parents had absolutely no intentions of trying to contain the children to act in a civilized manor while in public.

Shortly after their arrival, we finally got our beers. This was nice as we at least able to find some comfort in our scotch ales. After the baseball birthday clan got their drinks, the kids were quick to unwrap one end of their paper covered straws. The Pizza Hut which was once used to feed hungry customers quickly evolved into a war zone. Straw wrappers and even a few spitballs started flying across the restaurant. One even happened to land on our table. At that point, we were lucky enough to see a stereotypical parent put a stop to what I consider to be the largest paper straw wrapper that I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of person that gets pissed when others are having fun, but I just about popped a bottle of champagne when that display finally came to a halt.

To add fuel to the fire, this was all happening on Sunday, July 5th. As I'm sure you already know, this was the day that the US Women's World Cup team beat Japan, the team that they had lost to 4 years before. I kept receiving notifications on my phone: 3-0, 4-0... I scanned the various TV screens around the restaurant and was disappointed to find that none of them had the game on! To add fuel to the fire, they for some reason elected to air a Texas college football game from the '80's over one of the year's largest sporting events.

The poor service continued as we were now finished with our first beers and had just ordered our pizza and our second beers were emptied before we could take our first bite pizza. We finally got our food and ate a few slices. To my surprise, the pizza was actually average! After we were finished with our meal, we boxed up our food, quickly paid, and got the hell out of there. One thing that I will never forget is that it started raining just as we left the establishment. I thought that was very fitting to the situation as that was the death of that Pizza Hut in my eyes. I have never returned to that location.

That does not hold true for all Pizza Hut establishments as again, I have a positive view of the franchise and still enjoy their food, but I refuse to eat at the Bozeman Hut based solely on the single experience that I've had there.

How do you market an edgy product?

Though it may seem so, marketing is not necessarily an easy task. On the surface, yeah, all you are doing is promoting products in a way that consumers find appealing, and one may think that is an easy feat. However, finding out how people will react to certain campaigns and finding out what people's preferences are can be a fairly taxing and tedious process. Also, there is vast diversity among consumer preferences that it is nearly impossible to appeal to an entire population. Everyone has their own personal beliefs and preferences. It is a marketer's job to find out how many people share those beliefs in order to market a product. 

Marketing can be a difficult enough task on it's own, but how do you market a product that a large percentage of the population views as edgy or socially unacceptable? In my opinion, the United States is overly sensitive on many topics. For instance, consider the debate on marijuana. While the drug does have drawbacks, those drawbacks can be considered minimal when compared to the risks associated with tobacco and alcohol use. However, because of how much of the public views the narcotic, it is difficult to market the product in an appealing way.

One way that is used to market the product is to extract the active ingredient from the plant and infuse it into other products like candy and baked goods. These are called edibles and come in a large variety of ways and strengths. Again, this faces much hate and ridicule as it can be mistaken for a normal treat. It is also extremely difficult to market anything that has to do with marijuana as it is still illegal in the majority of states. These legal barriers force dispensaries to market their goods in less traditional ways. For instance, packaging is becoming a leading way to attract new customers in the professional and older populations. The traditional packaging of buds in a Ziploc bag has graduated to branded and more sophisticated packaging. Also, as seen in the image above, parody branding can be used to attract the younger generations that may or may not already be users. But again, that poses a threat to those that may accidentally mistake the edible for the normal candy bar that they are used to. Many dispensaries are also expanding into the drink industry. Each of the above ways are excellent ways to market the good as they are creating customers by expanding the products in the industry, however, new laws and regulations are very common in this industry and constantly create new obstacles for providers to overcome.

Other examples of products that are tough to market include birth control pills and abortion clinics, illegal automotive accessories or removal of automotive parts such as the catalytic converter, and countless other goods and services. 

Apple/Smart Gear

What is it about Apple that makes their customers so loyal? Other companies such as Samsung and LG create similar products that to some are considered better than Apple products. Personally, I have owned multiple Apple and Samsung products, and to I do not think one is truly superior over the other. Both are god enough to please the consumer, but they both also have their flaws. But why are Apple users so loyal to their brand?

Apple is a very well known brand and everyone knows that one of the smartest men on the planet, Steve Jobs, lead the company to its great success. Apple has always been either leading the way with technology or perfecting what others had already tried. They have always had reliable products and now carry that standard with them. While Samsung and other companies also have good reputations, they will likely never achieve the level of respect that Apple receives from their most loyal customers. Again, this is because Apple was the first major company to start introducing quality innovative electronics that revolutionized the way people access the world and their media pleasures such as music, videos, books and more.

Apple has also always had a very attractive looking product that others have since tried to simulate. This shows their customers that they are still a leader that other companies are using as a lead to what they should be doing. Some companies do end up creating new valued products before Apple gets to it. For instance, smartwatches started coming out far before the Apple Watch. Apple did however manage to take an idea that another company had created and perfected it. So far, it has not been as successful as predicted, but I think it's too early to measure the success of the Apple Watch and other smart gear. This is a new radical idea that people may need some time to find value in. Along with that, maybe a value in smart gear is still to be created.

I have always been interested in smart gear and actually am one of few with a smart watch. I don't have anything special, just a cheap used one that I bought to test the waters. Though it is a cool gadget, that is all that it really is, a gadget. Yes, it tells you the time and notifies you when you get a text or phone call, but all it is really doing is allowing a human to be more lazy than they already are. If a company were to create a reason for consumers to need this watch in their day-to-day life, something that would again revolutionize the way people do things, I am sure that smart gear would be a huge success.