The true story of a coffee roaster – part two
“Wow, this was indeed easy and under my very eyes”.
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If you missed the first part of this story, you could read it here.
On Monday, I visited again this coffee company and the CEO had a big smile like he won the lottery: “I’ve found the answer to the question, and I didn’t have to use the card deck!” – the question was “Why should I buy your coffee?” I left him a Marketing Distinguo card deck that helps to solve the differentiation matter.
We started to talk, and I was curious about what he discovered. He continued: “We are in Rome, you know, the most famous city in the world! We are the coffee of Rome! A nice picture of the Colosseum and… done!”
“Well,” I said trying not to laugh – or cry “that is true, but we are targeting the Italian market. Moreover, are you the number one coffee roaster in Rome in terms of the number of retailers of the quantity of coffee?”
“No,” he replied “we are not that big. But Rome is Rome!”
“Yes,” I went further “Rome is Rome. And it wasn’t built in a day, so let’s start with day two…”
The unique and distinctive factor that differentiates a company from its competition must be a concrete characteristic or a sum of characteristics helping the potential customer to chose. Something that is going to be useful or worth for that customer.
The Marketing Distinguo method lets you go through the product or service characteristics, the company characteristics, the people or industry characteristics. It is possible to apply the method also without the card deck.
“So, let’s play cards,” I said. “Since you are not the biggest coffee company in Rome, we are not going to use this as the main topic. Of course, it could be important to underline that the company is from Rome, but only if it helps us to support your Marketing Distinguo”.
There are, in facts, many topics that this company can use in communication or advertising, for example, the certifications they have, or the fast delivery they can handle to retailers. These topics must be communicated somehow, on the website or brochure, but they do not have to be in the slogan or in the advertising if they don’t support the Marketing Distinguo of the company.
After a couple of hours analyzing all the 40 cards of the Marketing Distinguo deck, keeping main competitors on the Italian market in mind, we found what makes this coffee roaster unique.
They valorise the coffee as the most important value to make a real quality statement. It’s not only about the roasting part, but the whole process is managed to reach a precise goal: every bean has to give it’s best – which is already a claim itself.
Even if they buy raw coffee always from the same dealers they test and select every shipment so to have always the perfect blend.
The roasting is done according to the characteristics of the beans. Some are roasted slowly, some with different temperatures, and always separately.
The coffee rests for a few days before they prepare the blends.
Each blend is a unique mix of shapes and flavours.
“Wow,” said the CEO “this was indeed easy and under my very eyes. This is more or less what I always explain in person when I still have the chance to talk to a retailer. But yes, it was all in my mind, I really didn’t think that going through these cards I could clear my mind so well”.
So, we built Rome again, and it took only two days!
You can find more information about the Marketing Distinguo card deck here.
There will be two next steps: working with a copywriter and a graphic designer to find the perfect advertising to match the Marketing Distinguo, and reviewing the marketing strategy.
The Marketing Distinguo is a glue between the marketing strategy and the advertising campaign. This CEO now know where to focus his budget and effort to improve the company’s results.
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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