Behind the Design | Lowcountry Local Realtor

KATIE MCCABE REAL ESTATE

Katie McCabe is a local REALTOR with The Pulse Charleston who knows how competitive the Charleston market can be. She knew that to be successful in the real estate market here, she had to figure out how to stand out and show her expertise. When she came to us at Creativ, she was ready to do just that. She had decided to target the James Island area of Charleston to focus on her niche and wanted her branding to represent that island lifestyle. 

James Island is filled with natural beauty from surrounding waterways like the Stono River, Ashley River and Wapoo Creek. When designing Katie’s logo and overall branding, we wanted to make sure that was incorporated. This design uses a combination of simple lines to represent the marsh seen all over James Island and negative space to create the beautiful shape of the waterways inside the shape of a house. We pulled colors you find in nature and made them brighter to represent Katie’s personality. 

Along with creating a logo that represents her and the lifestyle she sells, we also helped Katie brand herself as “The Lowcountry Local Realtor”. A targeted James Island newsletter keeps her clients and community up to date on what’s happening around town every month. To make the information accessible to anyone interested in community news, we set up a landing page on her website as well.

Learn more about Katie McCabe and James Island living at liveonjamesisland.com, sign up for her Lowcountry Local Monthly Newsletter, or follow her on Facebook.

Restaurant Week in Charleston

It’s Restaurant Week again. 

If you know me well, you know I feel some type of way about this week.

I’ve been sitting here for a minute trying to think of what kind of angle to take here that would be of value to you, whether you own or work in a restaurant or not. While working through my ambivalence about this popular week, I figured out it all comes back to one of the things so many businesses do to market themselves that drives me the most crazy. Even though I love eating out as much as the next girl (ok fine, waaay more than the next girl), there’s a lesson for anyone who owns or runs a business that we can learn from a promotion like Restaurant Week.

If you guessed that it has to do with how discounts can hurt your brand, look at you getting to know me better and reading my mind!

First, some history.

Restaurant Week is meant to be a celebration of our culinary scene, originally intended to drive traffic during the slower months by offering a discounted prix fixe menu to diners. It happens in almost every big city and started way back in 1992 in New York City, on the heels of a recession and before the internet allowed us to speak directly to people who might be interested in what we’re selling. The hope, still today, is that each participating restaurant will be discovered by new guests that have such an incredible experience that they turn into repeat customers. Ok, fine, I’m romanticizing it when you see it through the lens of 2020, but I do believe that is still its intention. Then and now, operators always knew that Restaurant Week was a loss leader. Given the times, that was ok with everyone in 1992, but now, it’s for a different reason. Today, operators know they’re really paying to participate in a collective marketing initiative, but what exactly is the message, and how much good is it really doing for their restaurant? 

Discounts of all kinds hurt more than help.

This is where it gets a little hairy for me.

I love a celebration around our restaurants, but I also know the resentment it can cause in the people who work in them and while that’s not a conversation for a marketing email, it is the result of a marketing initiative that is executed poorly given the times we live in. When we’re able to communicate directly to our customers, at any time, through a few swipes on the phones in our pockets, we have the opportunity to connect with them in all kinds of ways to show why we’re valuable to them. People have all the information about our business and the experiences we provide right at their fingertips. So, because all this information is available now, a promotion like this becomes less about introducing someone to a new place, and almost entirely about the discount. 

The conversation around this week is always about how people are finally able to try something new, something they otherwise wouldn’t be interested in, can’t afford, or won’t travel for, because the price is just low enough to make it worth it. What is the point of paying for marketing to introduce yourself to people who already know you exist, are only looking for a steal, who otherwise aren’t interested in, can’t afford, or won’t travel for what you have to offer? That itself already puts the very restaurants we’re trying to celebrate at a disadvantage before diners even get through the door. 

Why it’s time to stop.

I’m beating up on this promotion a little, but it’s nobody’s fault (also, happy to brainstorm how to make a week about restaurants work for everyone, GCRA!). It just hasn’t evolved with the times and it’s hardly alone in that regard. Discounts used to work, a promotion like Restaurant Week especially, and we generally tend to stick to what we know even if the world around us continues to change. It’s hard to keep up, but I think everyone can feel that what works in marketing today is drastically different than what worked even seven years ago.

Discount-driven promotions put all kinds of businesses at a disadvantage because as competition only increases and experiences matter more and more, we get further away from being able to be competitive based on price, and your brand will become your only differentiator. 

You know this… the only new people who respond to a discount-driven promotion today are people who are only motivated by a reduced price or a deal. Maybe you see a bump in the short-term, a boost in traffic and top line sales, but I will always argue that in the long run, this kind of customer acquisition strategy is way too expensive and a race to the bottom. The problem is that as soon as you do it once, it becomes the only price those new people are willing to pay because you haven’t led with any other context for them to attribute value to besides that discount. 

Do this instead.

If you’re looking for a way to get people’s attention, work on communicating why you do what you do, so people have a reason to become emotionally invested in your success. Share your story and humanize your brand. Yes, it’s a lot of work and it takes time, but better to start now while you’re ahead. 

If you’re in a place where you need to make quick moves, offer something for free (strategically). Free things make people feel special, because they know it can’t and won’t always be! You’ll evoke the same interest from bargain hunters, but maybe even your actual target market also without cheapening your product, experience, and brand. As we enter a new decade, making sure you’re not setting yourself up for failure and maintaining your brand’s value has never been more important. 

4 Marketing Truths for 2020

This time of the year, everyone with a business-focused blog, podcast or YouTube channel puts out predictions for next year’s biggest trends. I’ve read and listened to the marketing-related roundups out there so far and it dawned on me that most of us are missing the whole point. 

While there’s truth to the most popular trends (like “Organic reach on Facebook & Instagram will continue to go down, so ad spend dollars on these platforms will go through the roof!”, or “Video is the next big thing!”, or “This is the year for virtual reality!”), none of them are helpful when taken out of context. 

Questions that you might have when thinking about your own marketing could be something like: 

• What new channel or social platform should we allocate a bit more of our budget to in 2020? 

• Is voice search really something my local business should be concerned about? 

• My local TV and print media reps are increasingly cutting me deals on spots and insertions, should I put less value into this kind of advertising? 

All great questions. 

But the answers to all of them is, “it depends.”

What a typical thing for a marketer to say, I know. But that’s just how it is. The right answer for you is dependent on the context of your business.

Instead of trends and predictions, I’m going to take you through some marketing truths that have real implications on your business today, whatever your business may be. Hopefully, this added context can give you some insight into how much energy to put towards specific tactics in 2020. More importantly, it’ll help you determine if you even should in the first place.

Marketing is changing faster than it ever has. 

What worked to connect customers and businesses two years ago is quickly becoming less relevant, while most of us are still doing the same old thing we’ve always done. At the same time, it’s unreasonable to think you can just dive into the next big thing head first. Still, if you’re realizing what you used to do may not be working so well anymore and you’re curious about how to adapt, you’re on the right track. Here’s why.

4 Marketing Truths for 2020:

Your customer has never been more in control of their relationship with you. 

It’s estimated that consumers are bombarded with around 4,000 ads, products, and brand messages daily. That’s a lot! But it’s also made us very good at being able to tune out messages that we’re not interested in or find relevant. In fact, 47% of people now take the extra step of intentionally tuning out by installing ad blockers so they never see your ads in the first place. Makes sense, especially when you think about how so many banner ads, pop-ups, and pre-roll video ads interrupt the experience of what people are actually trying to watch, read, and engage with. Frustrating!

Wouldn’t it be better if the thing your customers are watching, reading, engaging with comes from you instead of being interrupted by you?  

Advertising shouldn’t be the bulk of your budget, but investing in how you communicate with your customers and what you create to put in front of them (online especially) should be. 

If we know that consumers are increasingly become wary of advertising and that people are spending an average 6+ hours per day on the internet, the key is to understand how you fit into that time and that you don’t spend that time selling.

For example, while most of us understand that being on social media platforms is essential for a business today, we’re still using them to push what we’re selling. The point of social media is not to publish little mini ads on a daily basis. It’s about creating conversation and providing value. Humanizing your brand. Invest in ways to make your business more visible when people in your area start searching for something you’ve got a solution for. Stop thinking about what you want to tell your customers in all these different ways and start thinking about who they are, how they’ll find you, and how you can help them see that you’re the choice for them because you’ve invested in gaining their trust. 

You have to prove yourself worthy of your customers’ attention before they ever have the opportunity to experience you.

Here’s the thing. Because of the Internet and how much we use our phones, and because of how much further your customers’ opinions reach today, we’re at a point where 2/3 of our “marketing” is out of our hands. They’re telling their friends about you in all kinds of new ways, which in an increasingly loud world, is one of the only remaining sources that is trusted. You can influence their experience when they’re in your store, restaurant, or in how you conduct business, but if you don’t reinforce it online and in all the places that people are when they hear about you, it’s going to be harder and harder for you to get them to give you a shot. 

Your brand is literally everything. 

How do people feel about your business when they interact with you? We live in such a fast paced world that we forget that what happens after the transaction is as important as what comes before it. It’s the whole experience. You will never be the only person/business that sells what you’re selling. The “what” is also never the thing that people are buying, and definitely not if they’re buying from you over a lifetime. It’s the “why” and all the other less tangible pieces that add up to a positive experience that matter. Those are the things they’ll come back for and what they want to tell others about. 

We know this probably isn’t the best news you got today.

Guess that’s why they say that sometimes, the truth hurts. We hear you… things used to be easier!

Even 5 years ago, it was infinitely more simple to acquire customers and keep the ones you already have. But… there is a silver lining, as there always is.

When we no longer have the luxury of doing everything to capture the attention of our customers, we’re forced to narrow our focus and convey only that which absolutely differentiates us from competitors, resonates and connects on a human level. The good news is, you’re probably already doing this in your interactions every day. Make 2020 the year you extend these actions beyond your four walls!

Next year, we’ll be forced to be more intentional and efficient in how we communicate. We’ll have to show up at all stages of the customer journey and help them along so that when they buy, they buy from us. It won’t be easy. This is a longterm game and we’ll have to commit to it every single day. But it’ll be worth it. Once it clicks for you and you’ve figured it out, you’ll have those customers for life and you’ll be way ahead of the game.

Are you ready? Here’s to 2020!