Nicolas Carozza

About Nicolas Carozza

Posts by Nicolas Carozza:

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Am I only selling food?

Mexican, Chinese, Italian; styles of food you may be offering. However, is it just the food you are selling? You might want to focus a bit deeper into what you offer in addition to what they eat. It is quite common for business owners or managers to focus solely on the product being sold while disregarding all the other aspects that come along with the purchase. In a restaurant environment, not only is the product the good being sold, but it a service, and in addition, and most importantly, an experience.

When referring to the good being sold, it is the actual food that you offer in your store. This can be presented in various styles, depending on your target audience and their preferences. The quality and price of the food will most likely determine the type of good you sell. In addition to this, you are also offering a service. People walk into your establishment expecting a specific level of service that varies depending on your business and is usually closely tied to the price and quality of the goods as well. You probably wouldn’t expect the same level of service from a fast food joint than you would from a five-star restaurant. Being able to evaluate where your establishment stands will help you analyze and adjust your levels of service accordingly to accommodate your customers. Lastly, and most importantly, is the product as an experience. Be aware that is a crucial aspect of your business. Think about this. There are countless amounts of restaurants just within the Miami area, with many serving excellent food at competitive prices. But how many of them give an experience that leaves an everlasting impression? Your store’s ambiance, theme, and even background music all contribute to the experience you are trying to convene and could be a determining factor for a return visit. Need some interesting ideas? Stephanie Resendes (Links to an external site.), Content Marketing Coordinator for Upserve.com has written an amazing piece with twelve restaurant design & decor ideas (Links to an external site.) you should take a look at. Ultimately, your goal as a business owner or manager is to give your clients an experience like they never had before!

So, remember, seeing your product as what it is – a good or service is important. However, if you take in anything specific about this piece let it be this – You are not only selling food, you are selling an experience!

By Nicolas Carozza

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.

ab-testing

Make the correct choice with A/B Testing!

As a business owner of manager, you are constantly presented with choices to make regarding your business. Many times, you may rely on your gut instinct to resolve these situations. However, taking into consideration raw data could also be a powerful asset! You may want to consider AB Testing in order to make a sound decision where you might not be exactly sure which choice to make. In short terms, AB testing is comparing two different forms of something in order to figure out which one is the most effective. By comparing the two, you can determine which one works best and can rule out the other.

The first step would be to determine what you would like to test. For example, if you are trying to promote a certain menu item on your website, you can create two almost identical graphics and would slightly change one from the item. You could take two different pictures of the menu item, maybe from a different angle, but keep the rest of the picture composition the same. You would then test them out. Let your original graphic (control) run for several weeks. You want to give the test enough time in order to receive enough data. Then, take notes on your clients’ interactions, analyzing its feedback. After this trial period, you can change the graphic to the second option (variation) and analyze its performance. Keep the variation running for the same amount of time and determine which one achieved the most success. In this case, the amount of clicks it received. By performing this simple test, you effectively determine which graphic is the one you should keep! Important! Make sure you only perform one AB Test at a time! Testing different things at the same time will only add more variation to your results and could give incorrect feedback. If done properly, this is a simple method of determining what choice to make, and figuring out the most effective one!

For more information and more examples of AB Testing, check out this great article regarding AB Testing for restaurants! Remember, making sound choices backed up with data is the key to success!

Nicolas Carozza

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.

Planning

A plan to save your Business!

Business not doing so well? Even if it is, you should take this advice into consideration if you haven’t already. Prepare a Marketing Plan! Regardless of you needing to save your business or expand it even further, you should always have a plan in mind and take the necessary steps in order to execute it.

The marketing plan comprised of 5 different steps:

  1. The Business – This is where you review your business. What are you all about? What do you sell and how much do you sell? Take the time to study your organization thoroughly to have a better understanding of what your business is all about.
  2. Market Research – Who are your clients? How does your brand stand out from the rest of your competitors? Who exactly are those competitors and what do they offer? Research the market and pay attention to who you are in relation to your competitors.
  3. Strategy – What specific clientele can I target based on their demographics? How can I reach them and what will I offer? How much should I allocate towards my marketing efforts? Properly strategizing is the key to success!
  4. Execute – Implement your plan. Create your plan, test it within whatever mean you can, and launch it!
  5. Analytics – Evaluate and monitor your plan. If you seem to be successful, great! If not, by analyzing your performance you can tweak it accordingly and get yourself back on route.

Check out this amazing article (Links to an external site.) for further insights as to how you can successfully carry out a marketing plan for your business!

Remember, by planning out your objectives you have a much higher success of running a successful marketing campaign. Organization is key!


Nicolas Carozza

Marketing Specialist 

Food logos

What is that place called again?

How many logos can you recognize from the picture above? Most likely all of them, if not most. Why is that? Companies such as these spend millions just to make sure you recognize them and retain them in your memory. Not only are they unique, but they are the visual representation of a brand. 

Logos come in all shapes and sizes. Some inspire happiness and joy, like the smile carefully and intentionally drawn into the hardee’s star. The company wants you to feel a sensation of delight, more specifically when eating one of their juicy hamburgers. Others have a more organic feel to them, like the subway logo, deliberately having a green outline, to represent nature and freshness. Even the words “eat fresh” are a representation of what to expect from your experience in the restaurant.

Your business logo is a powerful asset for your store and it is your job as a manager or business owner to find the one that properly relates the message you want to give your customers. Create something unique and distinctive that your customers can relate to! 

Not sure about the power of logos? Take this fun test and see how many you can recall. 

Nicolas Carozza 

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.

Crowd

Are those really your customers?

As a business owner or manager, an essential part of your marketing efforts is to know who your customers are. Depending on the type of store you might have, you will encounter different types of customers. Knowing your buyer, however, can give you an advantage when making important decisions and can even be a determining factor between a successful or failed business. 

A vital part of this process is being able to segment your audience in order to determine which is your base clientele. To do this, you must first analyze any and all factors that determine who these people are. For example, geographics plays an important role in determining who visits your store. How far is your potential client and how far are they willing to travel in order to get there? Socio-economics is also an influential factor; are your products or services affordable, or are you considering quality over price? In addition, demographics are something you might consider; if you own an ice cream parlor, you might encounter a younger crowd. Even psychographics is a determining factor. For example, if your store sells organic fruit smoothies you will most likely have a more “fit” customer base, and if you sell burgers you might expect the opposite. For more information, check out this article (Links to an external site.) by Laura Lake as she dives deeper into market segmentation for small businesses.

Whatever the determining factors they might be, once you have found out who your customers are, your marketing efforts become much clearer. This way, you might want to focus your advertising efforts on the right crowd rather than spending away dollars and never reap the benefits of your campaigns.

Nicolas Carozza

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.

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Marketing communication modes to reach more clients:

For your business to thrive, it is essential that you understand how to properly communicate with your potential clients. If you want more people walking in through your doors you must be able to reach them in the correct manner. However, the question you might ask yourself is, “what is the most effective manner to reach out to them?” Allow me to share with you some insight into the different communication modes you might want to take into consideration when reaching out to your audiences.

Advertising is the most common form you can reach new people. Digital media and social media channels are an effective way you can do so. If you are not using these to advertise your business yet, you should consider allocating money to do so. You can also keep in mind more traditional channels, such as print. Local billboards, magazines, or even radio, can help promote your store as well.

If you are already advertising, you might also consider some sales promotions as well. An example of this would be giving out samples of a new product to people passing by your store. Coupons and discounts are also helpful to boost sales and can apply for both new and existing customers. These short-term promotions are an excellent way to temporarily increase customer reach.

Keep in mind these are only two methods you can use. Check out this article by Steffani Cameron further explaining and going deeper into the various methods of marketing communication you can apply for your business. Remember, marketing communication is an essential part of any successful company.  it’s impossible to acquire a new client if that person does not know your business exists.

Nicolas Carozza

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.

Qualitative-vs-Quantitative-Research

Quantitative and Qualitative. Which type of data is more reliable?

As a business owner or manager, you are always trying to acquire new clients. Getting people through the door and into your business can be complicated. However, properly analyzing and decoding your data can offer you a competitive advantage and make your establishment grow. But the question is: which type of data is more reliable?”

Keep in mind that we there are two types of data: Quantitative and Qualitative.  Quantitative refers to numbers. Anything that can be counted and measured would fall into this category. “How many customers did I have this week?”, “what were my sales?”, “at what time of the day do I receive the most customers?”. These are all questions you might ask yourself often and refer to this type of countable data. Smart tip: The more data you collect, the better off you are. Try and keep records of all type of quantitative data you might come across, this will make your business decisions much simpler. By having ample information collected, you can decide for example if a menu item that isn’t selling much should be removed, or if you should add an extra employee for certain times of the day, or certain days of the week for that matter.

Hidden between those numbers and statistics, however, lies another type of data that might be more challenging to analyze. Qualitative data refers to all that other information cannot be counted our measured. This data requires you to get into your customers’ minds and analyze what they are thinking and feeling. Although tricky at times, it is crucial that you take all of you clients into account and determine what their mindset it. This way, you have a clearer understanding of your customers’ wants and needs and cater to those needs appropriately.

A clever business owner or manager understands the importance of the two types of data. Both quantitative and qualitative are just as important and neither one of the two should be overlooked. Remember, the more data collected and analyzed, the higher the chances of making an intelligent business decision.

Nicolas Carozza

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.



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Walk in your client’s shoes

As a small business owner or manager, one must understand how your client chooses you over the competition, and what questions they might ask after they have visited your business. Understanding the buying decision process is crucial to determine why your customers decided to walk through your restaurant doors, or not.

It all begins with a desire or need, in this case for food. If the customer is alone for example, they would develop an internal stimulus in order to search for something to eat. If with another person that might be suggesting some food, that other companion would be an external stimulus. No matter whose stomach might growl, the search for a place to eat begins. Then, your customer(s) would decide what local business they will visit. This is when you as a local business want to stand out. Your customer at that time will begin looking for information. In this case, local places to eat. Hopefully, they would already know of your place, hence you be an internal source for them. If not, an external source such as your Yelp reviews would lead them to your place. Keep in mind that during this process they will also be evaluating other places to eat. With a bit of luck, at this point, they have decided to give you a visit and walk into your establishment. They would purchase a meal and evaluate their purchase shortly after, deciding whether to go back to your establishment, or even refer you to another person.

It is important for you as a small business owner or manager to analyze the buyer’s decision process in order to modify your business plan accordingly. Being able to walk in your client’s shoes will give you the ability to understand how and why they decided to visit you and what areas you might be able to improve upon.

Nicolas Carozza

Marketing expert specialized in small business food services.