The true story of a coffee roaster – part one
“If you want an advertising campaign that is not only stunning but also sells more coffee, we need to work on the core of it. And the core is very simple: why should I buy this coffee?”
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In Italy we have more than 700 companies roasting coffee for a market worth 3.5 billion € (Cerved 2017).
Yesterday I was in one of these companies discussing their marketing strategy. Or well, as almost always happens, I was discussing their marketing strategy, and they were discussing their advertising strategy… Too often marketing is confused with advertising which is just a part of the marketing strategy.
The CEO was complaining because they are not selling enough in Italy and he’s sure they need a new creative and stunning advertising campaign. The problem with the Italian market of coffee is indeed those 700 companies selling more or less the same product.
Some years ago, when the world was very big and disconnected and it wasn’t so easy to travel even between cities of the same country, every city had his coffee roaster company, happy to buy a good coffee with a taste specifically designed for those citizens.
Then these companies became bigger and the country – and the world – became smaller. Now we have 700 Italian coffee roasters – more or less all with the same offer of blends – instead of 700 cities with a dedicated coffee company – and localized blends. Moreover, these companies now have more competitors than ever: Nespresso, foreign coffee roaster entering the Italian market, small coffee shops roasting their own coffee.
So, I started to talk about advertising, too: “If you want an advertising campaign that is not only stunning but also sells more coffee, we need to work on the core of it. And the core is very simple: why should I buy this coffee?”
Even if I wanted to discuss the marketing strategy and not the advertising strategy, I started with something that the CEO could understand. Lucky me, the Marketing Distinguo concept, aka the answer to that very question, is also the glue between the marketing strategy and the advertising campaign.
I used that question – and the method of the Marketing Distinguo – to move the conversation to the topic I thought it was most important for that client: differentiation.
How is this coffee roasting company different from the current competition it has to face on the Italian market?
Or how are its blends different?
Or is it people making this company different?
For sure it won’t be the price.
I left this CEO with all these questions and a card deck of the Marketing Distinguo. Next week I will meet this company again and I will send you an update!
Read the second part of the story here!
Why should I buy your product? Here the analogue tool to help entrepreneurs, managers, consultants and freelancers to answer that question!
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