The healthy and fresh angle is trending hard right now and the latest to jump on board is Burger King. With this new angle and push, the King himself has been laid to rest. Yes, that creepy King guy is no more and my thoughts are: What a mistake.
The King had equity. He was recognized and understood. Burger King spent millions in ad dollars to push the “have it your way” and the “food for men” angles of their brand. Now, they’ve jumped back on the same trail as McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other chains who want a piece of the “healthy” action. The problem is, they aren’t healthy. Period. Nothing they can do can make their burgers and fried potatoes healthy for the consumer. So, what should they do?
The answer isn’t simple, but here are my suggestions.
1. Keep the King and invest in innovation. Think about new products that will make you the King of Burgers once again.
2. Embrace Truth. You’re fast food. It’s not healthy. It’s quick, convenient and affordable. Embrace it. Own it. Build products based on the truth of your offerings.
3. Keep it fun and keep building the brand you’ve worked on for the last 5-6 years. Fun, tongue-in-cheek, etc.
I’m not sure why they’ve chosen to stray. Maybe the bottom line isn’t looking to hot. Maybe their market share is failing. Maybe a new leader wants to make it his ship. I can understand the first two, but the latter is suicide. We’ll see how it plays out.
What do you think of the new ads?
Ps. Thanks to the guys at Matchstic for pointing this out. I actually didn’t even realize it was a BK ad until they did.
The United States Postal Service may have answered the question that marketers have been trying to answer for the last several months. “Are QR codes the real deal, or just a fad?”
In case you aren’t familiar with QR codes, they are those little white squares with weird patterns of black squares (see image above) that tell smartphones to do a specific action. A QR code (short for Quick Response code) is a specific two-dimensional code readable by QR code readers. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL, iPhone App, YouTube video, phone number, contact information (vCard), SMS message and many other intriguing call to actions.
There has been a great debate on whether the QR codes were going to be widely accepted in the US, as it has in Japan and other countries, or if it would fizzle out. In possibly the most impressive action of support to date, the US Postal Service announced on Monday, May 23 that they would partner with the mobile technology to offer businesses and non-profits a 3% discount off postage with the use of the QR code. That is a huge deal for marketers and advertisers who utilize the direct mail services. Tom Foti, manager, Marketing Mail said “This promotion is another step in our long-term strategy to ensure mail remains relevant as a key element in the overall advertising mix for an increasingly interactive marketplace.” Foti says the two-month Mobile Barcode Promotion marks the first mailing industry promotion based on a multimedia approach, and is designed to demonstrate how the value of mail is increased by interfacing with technology to engage customers.
There are a few minor requirements, but nothing to deter you from taking advantage of this wonderful promotion. You can read more about the promotion or the press release itself.
I know what you’re thinking, how is this going to work?
Regardless of your preconceived notions, the 4 most important aspects of developing a solid social media plan are eerily similar to topics discussed in a travel consult. Just as in planning for a family vacation, it requires a lot of planning to create a social media campaign that accomplishes whatever it is you’re seeking to accomplish.
Maybe you’ve been tweeting for a while. Maybe you’ve even created a LinkedIn page a long time ago but haven’t been back in 6 months. You’ve probably had a Facebook profile for a couple of years to catch up with old high school and college buddies. Or, maybe you’re like some of us that turn off the alarm in the morning and check to see what all of your friends are doing at 6:30 AM. Regardless where you are, you’ve determined that you want to start leveraging social media for your business, organization or your own personal brand. You’re a business owner, a youth minister, a realtor, a Pampered Chef consultant or a sales rep looking to make your quota. You’ve already asked yourself, “how do I start capitalizing in this environment?” Well, let’s look and see how would a travel agent would help you plan out such a journey.
CHOOSING YOUR DESTINATION [SETTING GOALS]
The first question that is going to be answered in a meeting with your travel agent is going to be, “Where are you wanting to go?” That’s exactly the same question that you need to ask yourself when you’re diving into social media. You can’t just learn a few tips on how to establish yourself as an authority in your field and put them to work. While it may gain you a bit of leverage, you don’t have any plan on how to use that leverage. You must first create specific, tangible goals. Do you want to get more sales leads? More subscribers to your newsletter, blog or YouTube channel? Increase sales? Create more awareness (comments, likes, etc.)? Whatever your goal may be, put it in writing. Create a metric. How many subscribers would be considered successful? 50? 500? 5,000? At this point, don’t worry too much about exactly how you’re going to accomplish these goals. Learning what works and what doesn’t work is part of the process, and we’ll talk more about implementation as we go along.
PLANE, TRAIN OR AUTOMOBILE? [WHICH PLATFORM(S) TO USE?]
Determining which platform(s) to use is actually more important than you would think. Not necessarily because you might miss a great opportunity, but more so that you don’t waste your time in an arena with little return. If you’re trying to get leads, where are your customers spending their time? If you’re looking for interaction with industry professionals, where are they networking? If you’re looking to get subscribers to your social media channels, what other blogs and podcasts are they subscribing to? In this step, you need to think like an advertiser. There is a reason why commercials for cleaning products air during Extreme Couponing and not during MMA fights. I’m not trying to be sexist, but intelligent advertising is! The lesson to be learned here is to not over complicate things. If you want to reach your target, go where your target is. Don’t pour your time into LinkedIn when your prospects are tweeting and video blogging on YouTube.
SAFETY AND SECURITY CONSULT [IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER]
After you have booked your destination and your bags are packed, it’s still important to go over a few things to remember while traveling. When you’re new to the environment, don’t come in swinging. When you meet someone, you don’t say “Hi, my name is ________, please do business with me.” Don’t be ‘that guy’. That faux pas is even more emphasized online. People have the uncanny ability to figure you out. If you have an agenda, they’ll know it. You must remember a couple of key elements.
1. Provide Value First. Start everything by building a foundation of trust. Without trust your engagement is hollow and your words will fall on deaf ears. Give value first and you will stay relevant.
2. Promote Others More Than Yourself. The common rule is that you should promote others 12 times before promoting yourself. If you want to pat yourself on the back, don’t. Let other people do that for you. In the meantime, pat someone else’s back that deserves it. Be sincere and this will come back to you.
3. It’s About Engagement, Not Selling. Sure you’re goal might be to increase sales, but that doesn’t mean selling! People want to do business with people they know and trust, not people who sell them. Show them that your worth doing business with.
4. Be open with what you want to accomplish. When people get the impression that that may be getting fooled, your credibility is gone and you aren’t getting it back. If you are an affiliate, be honest with it. If you’re blogging about a paying relationship, be open about it. People will see your sincerity. Become a Trust Agent.
LEAVE SOME TIME FOR SPONTANEITY [GO WITH THE FLOW!]
While it’s extremely important to be prepared for your experience, don’t fall in the trap of planning everything. You’re new to this, and you shouldn’t be able to predict any uncertain endeavor. Just as the seasoned business vets will tell you, a business plan for a startup should go no further than 2 years. You’re wasting your time! Don’t try to plan a social media campaign for more than 12 months. Let’s face it, Twitter has changed a lot in the past 12 months. You can see the landscape of Facebook changing with the integration of the Like button, groups and fan pages. There might be a new microblogging tool that takes the web by storm. If you’re too invested in one avenue of engagement, you’re putting yourself behind the 8 ball. Stay focused, but keep your eyes open. If the ROI isn’t cutting it, reevaluate your time and effort and see if another platform will bring a better return.
Social media offers some great opportunities to really evaluate the numbers. You can gauge results far better than most other forms of advertising. With stats such as likes, followers, connections, comments and subscribers, there are many ways to gauge exactly how you’re doing. Don’t be wishy-washy, but don’t be afraid to listen to your results.
First of all I want to say “Thank You” for reading this. You’ve taken the time out of your day to check out my area of the web and I appreciate you for doing so. My name is Matthew T. Browning and I’m passionate about many things I’d like to share with you.
For those of you wondering what you’ll expect to find here, let me first tell you some things that you WON’T find here.
1. Sales Pitches
2. Political Views
3. Pictures of my two beautiful girls (although at times that will likely be more appealing.)
The ultimate purpose of this blog is to provide my community with information on topics that I am passionate about. The topics may be something of which I have years of experience, may have just dabbled in, or it’s a brand new idea and I’m trying to check it out for myself. Either way the subjects I have plans for are:
1. Community (Richmond, KY)
2. Marketing
3. Small Business Development
4. Leadership
5. Giving Back
6. Social Media
These categories aren’t necessarily in order of how much time and effort I will be applying to each. However, I encourage you that if you’re the least bit interested in any of the topics, click the RSS Feed icon near the top right of the page and subscribe to this blog.
Matthew T. Browning consults with businesses and organizations on traditional and trending marketing methods. He is the CEO of Surge Promotions, the 2010 Richmond Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year. He has 7 years of experience in marketing and advertising, social media and online communities.
Matthew T. Browning consults with businesses and organizations on traditional and trending marketing methods. He is the CEO of 
