How to Cook Up Online Marketing Results Like a TV Chef
If you like food, it is a great time to own a television. Not only are the cable channels filled with cooking competitions searching for the best professional and amateur chefs, but, are cooking shows all about entertainment, or is there something ‘marketing’ to be learned at the same time?
Believe it or not, the real insights might be for online marketers, not the would-be culinary experts. That’s because, even though surveys conducted by the food network show that most of the reviewers don’t actually cook very much, there are still a lot of things you can learn about business websites from watching someone whip together a five-star meal.
In fact, the next time you tune into your favorite celebrity chef, we advise you to notice three things in particular that can help you cook up online marketing results from whatever you have in the cupboard:
1. There is a big difference between knowing and doing.
One of the staples of food-based reality television is throwing an unexpected curve or ingredient into the mix. That’s because, even though the chefs in question often have a little bit of knowledge about different types of ingredients, palates, and ethnic cuisines, many don’t actually have experience with them.
In other words, they might know what to do with something, and a basic sense, but that isn’t the same as executing it correctly. This is an important point for business owners and executives, because it underscores how important it is to choose the right creative team to help you out. Having ideas and creativity can help you make the right start, but experience and execution are most important when you’re trying to get Internet marketing results that are easy to swallow.
2. Creativity and technique have to be used together.
It’s almost become cliché, on television cooking shows, to watch a contestant try something brave, outlandish, and exceptional, only to fail in the end. This isn’t just another aspect of the difference between knowing and doing, but also about attention to details, especially when it comes to complex projects.
The parallels to Internet marketing are pretty clear. Almost anyone can read enough books, or attend a few seminars, and come up with an online marketing plan that sounds great. But, where the true professionals distinguish themselves is an ability to stay on track, adjust to new market conditions on the fly, and keep up with the latest, best practices. It’s great to have an artistic sense, but that’s only helpful if you can combine it with real-world business knowledge.
3. There are many different kinds of results.
On cooking shows, dishes are graded not only on taste (something we can experience at home anyway), but also on texture, preparation time, presentation, and creativity. If it were as easy as just following a few recipes, everyone would produce the same things, show after show.
In the world of online marketing, social media, and search engine optimization, there are also different ways to engage and attract new sales opportunities. Although there is one result that really matters for your website – the ability to bring in new leads and translate those into bottom-line improvement – there isn’t any single template or technique that’s going to get you there. What you need in order to reach your goal depends a great deal on what you have to work with and who you’re up against.
Although cooking shows probably have very little to do with the reality of day-to-day life in a professional kitchen, they do illustrate how different skills and talents come into play, especially under pressure. With that in mind, it’s worth tuning into them once in a while just to think of the ways a top-class chef might approach your Internet marketing plan – and how you can use their examples to put more sales opportunities on your plate this year.
Are you looking for the very best in Internet marketing, from a firm that has developed a system to attract leads online? Now is the perfect time to talk to a member of the Kayak team and see what we can do to help your company grow.
