Ahh the mature woman! Something all of us girls grow up to be…well hopefully. As I have embarked on this leg of my personal journey I have noticed more than ever the lack of significance placed on my role, generation and participation in the marketplace.

Is it marketers have counted me out? Do they think I am over the ‘hill’ and no longer am a substanable source of revenue for their bottomline?

It could just be our fascination and even obsession with “being young” but whatever it is…marketers that ignore this market segment are pretty stupid in my books.

November 2009 a white paper titled “The Rise of the Real Mom” was published by Advertising Age written by Marissa Miley and Ann Mack. It’s a refreshing look at just who today’s mom really is and what she really wants. A clear indicator of how out of touch companies are with women in general not to mention mature women!

In one of my favorite blogs covering marketing to women (Wonder Branding published by Michele Miller) she bares witness of how mature women are being undeserved in the marketplace and of all areas…in fashion!

In her article Forgotten Online: Older Women it was stated…

“When asked why the fashion industry continues to focus on ages 18-34, David Grant of ShopFlick (and formerly of Fox TV) responded:

It felt right because it’s what I’ve been doing all my career.”

Mr. Grant is 53.

Not to take the fashion crowd too much to task for virtually ignoring women 35 and older (especially ages 55-64, the fastest growing segment), but too often it seems that the industry can’t see the forest for the trees. The Internet, combined with societal shifts and a changing economy, will be a major force in the “great shake-out” of companies that do what they’ve always done, vs. businesses flexible enough to invent (and re-invent) themselves in ways that cater to the majority market [...]

I love what she said about the ‘great shake-out” of companies! Too bad many of these companies are not listening and not willing to transform. I for one have seen this coming for awhile now and believe we will see some major trouble in the retail sector very soon.

Mature women have been major contributors to the prosperity of business in our country. Yet, I have been seeing a sort of ‘hater’ attitude towards the mature generations going on out there on blogs and media sources and certainly by the fact companies are not focusing much of their marketing on the mature client thee days.

This really disturbs me because despite our generation’s downfalls…we have made and continue to make significant contributions to our world. We certainly made significant contributions in the pockets of the marketplace! Why now are marketers and companies undeserving us? Especially women.

I recently read a post titled ‘Welcome to the frustration decade’ on one of my favorite blogs by one of my favorite forward thinking leaders in 21st century business, Seth Godin. In this particular post he lists two of the most important trends he sees for this next decade one of which is is titled ‘Frustration’.

He states…baby boomers are getting old. Dreams are fading, and so is health. Boomers love to whine and we love to imagine that we’ll live forever and accomplish everything. This is the decade that reality kicks in. And, to top it off, savings are thin and resource availability isn’t what it used to be. A lot of people ate their emergency rations during the last decade. Look for this frustration to be acted out in public, and often[...]

While I agree and even marvel at many of Seth’s observations, I have to say this comment somewhat rubbed me wrong because it joins ranks with those persuasions that have sort of thrown us baby boomers out with the bath water.

The point I am trying to make here is that women have radically changed!  She is smarter than ever, more financially stable than ever, more savvy than ever, more connected than ever and certainly a market segment to be respected and served. Businesses that don’t welcome and embrace the mature woman consumer do not deserve our business. She is not your grandma of old. Surely there are plenty of new businesses out there looking for a profitable niche to serve? Well…come and get it!

Recently I took a road trip from Nashville, TN to Little Rock, Arkansas twice within a two week period! Is there some sort of an award for that? (LOL)

Of course one of the activities that go hand-in-hand with a road trip is making food stops. Even though I knew this would be a fairly long drive, I really had no plans on where to eat on this double trek trip except I did plan on getting some killer BBQ in Memphis which turned out to be a HUGE disappointment! But that’s another story.

I really ended up relying on roadside billboards and state highway signs to help me choose my eating stops.

[Sidenote] Speaking of these important influencers, as a marketer, I believe so many of the eating and dining places that rely on highway traffic are missing out on an incredible opportunity to capture hungry travelers by not using exciting creativity and strategy to ensure those signs really reach out and grab travelers emotions and imaginations to make them WANT to slam on the brakes and come on in. Those billboards are like their own personal roadside theaters! If they would only spend the time and money on them this could bring them a great big fat return on their investment.

Back to my story…
Working with the guides (highway signs) I had to help me make my decision on where and what to eat I found I had to decide on either fast food; and you know that is not going to be very exciting and in most cases very unhealthy for you or I had the option of a ‘toss of the coin type of experience’ pulling into a roadside dive…or lastly a chain restaurant; which is a bit safer of all the choices but takes more time and can certainly be more expensive than my other choices.

I chose fast food most of time out of necessity and what I got was just that…it was the usual experience…nothing special…just some grub. However, I did opt to have a good hot breakfast every time I had the chance on those two trips. To me a good breakfast just adds that bit of excitement one needs to endure those long tedious hours you spend in the car trying to get from point A to point B ya know?

My choice for all four times I stopped to eat breakfast was the Cracker Barrel chain restaurants. I ate twice in Tennessee and twice in Arkansas. Oh, I also made one stop for dinner too to get a hot bowl of soup on a cold night!

I love their breakfasts and I feel no one on the road does it better than Cracker Barrel. Truth be told I really love the Cracker Barrel concept, good ole home style cooking, yum yum!

With all that said though, I was somewhat disappointed with all 5 of my visit experiences for several reasons which led me down the path to ponder while I continued driving down the road…what I would do if I were the one in charge of marketing for Cracker Barrel restaurants.

Let me state my disappointments came not from the food, although I did have two separate incidences with my food preparation. No, it came from what I call the ‘Ditto Effect’ and from the lack of vision to reach the ‘21^st century connected economy’.

So the first thing I would address would be the ‘Ditto Effect’.

Consistency and uniformity are important factors for chains of any size to ensure the customer gets that same ‘chain experience’ no matter what location they patronize.

The best darn example I have seen of this is the chain In-N-Out Burger (please come to Tennessee!) in California. They are the best chain experience hands down in that no matter what location you go to, you get everything exactly the same as the last place and it is always over the top in quality and service.

However, in some cases the Ditto Effect’ is not a good strategy. It really depends on your customer and your type of business model. When it comes to Cracker Barrel Restaurants …yes I like the fact I can get the same wild blueberry pancakes in Arkansas I got while in Tennessee and that goes for the rest of their menu.

What I am disappointed in is the fact is there is so much ‘SAMENESS’ it really does not intrigue me to stop in as often as they should want me to or think about my local Barrel as an eating out option when I’m not traveling.

Their country store is in the same boat. I see almost ditto what I see in one store and the next. This makes for boring shopping in my books.

If I were in charge of the marketing for Cracker Barrel Restaurants one of the first things I would change is eliminate the ‘Ditto Effect’ by changing every store into a Cracker Barrel Presents production where each store is master story teller of their area, region and state it is located in. These could be stories of the history of early settlers and folks of the area, local legends, points of interests, the local famous from the area, local progress, challenges, and contributions, geography, the children and much more would be incorporated in creative entertaining ways as well as a special insert menu featuring local culinary delights. Special events would be scheduled throughout the year such as store tastings of products carried, live entertainment events in the back parking lot (which I have never seen full) guest appearances of entertainers, chefs, and so on.

Bottom-line I would seek to transform this chain into an organization that understood the value of creating customer experiences and emotional moments through story telling theater experiences and delivering dining entertainment and shopping. No longer just a chain where you can expect a good meal and a quaint country store to shop at.

Another major positioning move I would make if I were in charge of the marketing for Cracker Barrel restaurants would be to ensure Cracker Barrel will thrive within all generational cohorts instead of possibly being a long lost memory with the upcoming generations. If you visit any Cracker Barrel you will find the ‘mature’ crowd (baby boomer generations) are the main customer demographics… not many young people or young families are there. Nothing wrong with that except you need to insure you are getting your entire possible market share in this 21^st century economy and to me the younger crowd needs to be wooed into the Cracker Barrel experience so they will take their rightful place in enjoying a unique rural dining and shopping experience.

In order for this to happen I would…

• Start with creating marketing campaigns that would be geared directly to the younger crowd
• Update the Cracker Barrel logo to be more relevant and brand dominate in the minds of their customers
• Create mouth dropping, clever roadside signage that shows “FUN” at Cracker Barrel and delicious food photos and exciting shopping (not ads like ‘Fireside Dining’ BORING!)
• Add family portion meal options (enough for a family of four) and expand kids menu (you know, putting the FAMILY back in your tagline of being a Family Restaurant)
• Create a Cracker Barrel  kids character and entertain and market to the young patron
• Transform the restrooms for the ladies and make them more lounge and pampering friendly and ensure they are super clean at all times (and put the hand lotions BACK please)
• Add a ‘this week’s sale’ insert on all tables featuring a few specials and some clearance (don’t forget the kids) from the store so customers interest can be peaked while dining.
• Setup digital kiosk with hotspots so folks can recharge their cell or use their laptops. This just encourages them to linger and spend more money.
• Create a fenced pet friendly station area outside to let pets stretch their legs and get refreshed. Also sell some unique pet goodies and supplies because lots of folks take their pets with them.
• Take Cracker Barrel to the digital masses by incorporating social marketing and networking into their strategies, creating mobile and GPS widgets, develop a killer website where you can continue on with the Cracker Barrel experience and also shop online year round (their current website is just horrible), email marketing campaigns, and much more digital.
• Believe me…I could go on and on but I won’t

As I said before…I love Cracker Barrel Restaurants and want to see it flourish in the new digital business era we now live in. But they are like many of the ‘old model’ companies out there today that are responding to an entirely new marketplace and an entirely new type of consumer the way they have always done and/or the way their industry does it. That is just not going to get it anymore. Most of today’s upper management, leaders and shareholders don’t understand the new era we are in so they resist it or they feel threatened by it and threatened by those who do know how to transform old model to new models. What they need is to embrace fresh, creative, strategic entrepreneurial experienced (A degree in trench marketing which you can’t get in any of today’s schools, should be the prerequisite you look for) marketing professionals that know how to serve, lead, and appeal to today’s ‘connected society’ and yet still keep true to Dan Evins vision that started the Cracker Barrel Restaurants back in the 60’s.

Their mission is pleasing people and today’s customer really wants to experience that.  If I were in charge of the marketing for Cracker Barrel…

Aah…the Thanksgiving holiday!

For many of us it conjures up memories and emotions of wholesomeness, family, fall colors, great food and of course, being thankful to God for all of the blessings we have.

Despite the fact Thanksgiving is just about being swept off the map and overshadowed as a major holiday these days…it will always be a significant holiday I will respect and honor in my lifetime.

I believe Thanksgiving 2009 offers up a special opportunity to those of us in business. No doubt it’s been a tough year for many of us here in the U.S. despite what the news says. I was just reading in my local paper that most folks say (that’s you and I not the talking heads) that the economy hasn’t hit bottom yet.  In fact, many were saying things like things like …

Don’t buy the bull! Anybody who thinks things are turning around is living in a dream world.

Worst yet to come. Hold on to your wallets folks. It’s only starting.

Something is very wrong in America. Have you ever known a federal government to do anything efficiently?

This one really hit home with me…

Stimulus didn’t work. No matter the media is reporting unemployment rose to 10.2 percent in October 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The economy shed 190,000 jobs in October for a total of 7.3 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007. That does not show any signs things are getting better. What are all those people doing to make a living now?

You can agree or disagree with these views but the point is the U.S. has had a tough year and many businesses have seriously felt the effects of those 7.3 million job losses and all the other things going on in the 2009 economy.

I point all this out to lead to what I call a “blessing in disguise for those of us in business”…and that blessing is wrapped up in this year’s Thanksgiving!

Why do I say this?

Well for starters, this holiday can be an extremely helpful milestone for us to look back over our should as to what the past 11 months held so we can learn from it. At the same it can be the pivotal point for looking forward to the new year and getting our bearings to make adjustments before the onslaught of the mad rush and stress the Christmas holidays and the New Year always bring no matter how hard we try to fight it off.

Think about it. If this is a part of your 2009 strategy, this alone could help transform your business for 2010!

But that’s not all. Thanksgiving also offers us the opportunity to reevaluate the heart of our business. What I mean is, in case you haven’t noticed, customers no longer will not accept lip service, status quo, missions statements, slick advertising or gimmicks and all that phony baloney stuff. What they want are businesses to walk their talk, demonstrate you deliver what you promise you will, be treated with respect and such. They want to be loved!

I know that may sound corny but it’s been said its one of the greatest need we humans have and we do some crazy things to try and get it. Why not sincerely give it to your customers… if it’s what they want? Thanksgiving can be the perfect time for you to fall in love with your customers again. It’s also a great time to redefine what kinds of customers you really enjoy working with too you know.

In addition, Thanksgiving is steeped in transition. Fall to winter, end to new beginning, and fast pace to slowing down. See the opportunities in transitions.

Every business that wants to succeed in the 21^st century needs to get very good at transitions. Business will never be the same as it was and as it continues to evolve and morph just like the seasons do, I believe anyone in business who does not embrace change in this new business era will likely not make it over the long haul. What transitions will you employ in your business for 2010? Keep in mind; transition without creative strategy is just busyness. Thanksgiving is a good time to seriously think about this and start planning.

Lastly, but not least…Thanksgiving 2009 holds incredible opportunity to transform your business because its very purpose is about being thankful and blessing others. Despite what has gone on with this lousy economy this year…anyone still in business, both large or small has many reasons to be thankful.

This has been one of the toughest times to be in business this country has seen in a long, long, time. Being thankful for our business, our employees (if we have them), or customers and vendors just does something magical to your outlook and purpose for being in business.

Business is people serving people. That’s why it even exists! People are at their best when they are thankful and that most certainly translates into their businesses.

Man, I love Thanksgiving and all the blessings God has bestowed upon me even though I have had one tough year in business. I also love I can have a business in the greatest country in the world, America.

Have a very ‘blessed’ Thanksgiving everyone.

Interesting snapshot of the impact the digital age is having on us all. This wonderful snapshot is courtesy of the fine folks at Pew Internet and American Life Project. The 21st century will most certainly demand digital savvy business people who understand the old models for doing business will not work in this new economy. Different times, different people, need different approaches.

Mind boggling! The entire business landscape is going through a metamorphous of sorts…nothing is business as usual anymore! Really, nothing is!

I see business sector after sector old standby models falling apart everywhere. New approaches are being developed; existing business systems are being redefined and challenged while others are completely collapsing. It’s as though someone took a giant stick and hit the business piñata and bam!!! We have an explosion of winners, losers, new kids on the block staking claim, giants falling, bewildered and confused executives and shareholders, fraud, fear, excitement, status quo and just as Elvis Presley said “A Whole Lotta Shaking Going On!”

The way I see it is we are in the midst of what I call ‘The Great Business Digital Divide.’ On one side of this gap we have two groups; the various companies, businesses, entrepreneurs, etc. who are not even aware of what is going on and/or they don’t realize we are in a brand new business era that looks and feels nothing like the past 100 years or so. Then there is those who know and sense things have changed but have no clue as to what they should be doing, what kind of people they need on their team and were to go to get the help they may need to successfully go through this transition.

On the other side of this gap are two more groups as well. One of these are those who have understood they needed to make some radical changes in the way they run their business because it is certain what they have relied on for years is no longer working. They have begun to institute some things that to an untrained eye give them the appearance they are plugged in and are 21st century business mavericks. Very much what Seth Godin described in his book Meatball Sundae.

The second group is those who have not only embraced the digital business revolution going on but they have had a hand in its birth and development. I’m not talking about techies here. I am referring to digital savvy, fresh thinking creative’s who have been on this journey for quite sometime…some longer than others. These are the ones who understand things like mission statements and status quo are DEAD and for those who hang on to this mentality, they are most likely on their last leg. This goes for the giants in business to the local auto repair shop. This is the group who are excelling and getting positioned for market share that will move them into dominance in their niche.

So what’s a business to do if they are not in the latter group?

I for one believe their doing should only happen after they have done the work of defining their unique and tactical strategy. Let me make myself perfectly clear here, this is not a one time activity I’m talking about, no; it must be an ongoing part of your marketing and business development!

One of the most frustrating things I see going on with many I come across in business today is they are in such a hurry to get out there they don’t invest the time, effort and money to develop killer strategy to ensure their success. The truth is, without well defined strategies in today’s new marketplace you are either going to fall into the category of a ‘me-too’er, a ‘clueless’ or a ‘that’s how it’s always been done in this business’ type. All of which will not cut it anymore.

Why? Mainly because the consumer is in charge not you…and today’s world is driven by technology. These have never really been factors of consideration most existing business models were designed around. Add to that, there is such competitor saturation in the marketplace many businesses are finding it very hard to stand out and get attention.

Clearly…if you want to be successful in this new marketplace one essential asset you must posses is you highly value and prioritize strategic thinking and planning when it comes to your business.

The dictionary defines strat⋅e⋅gy  as;
a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result: a strategy for getting ahead in the world.

Creating your strategy involves creative thinking, LOTS of research and feedback, planning, execution, experience, etc. to name a few. Marketing research is one of the fastest growing sectors in business today. Recently Inside Research recognized comScore as a leading market research industry publication and as the fastest-growing major global market research firm over the past five years. Why is that? Because understanding your target market and planning your strategic approach of action are more valuable and important than ever! Business is changing and evolving very, very fast and you do not have the luxury to lean on much trial and error or not being in the know. Knowledge is a key factor in creating strategy but so is creativity.

Maybe now is a good time to take a fresh look at who you have on your team? Any creative’s around? Any strategic thinking detailed people in your corner? Are you plugged in to research and feedback for your target market?

The New Business Era Currency…Got Strategy? If you don’t, I suggest you get busy to find those who can help you get it!