Manizesto

How a booming hot dog stand does zero marketing

I live in a college town, home of both UVU and BYU, which means we have tons of cheap places to eat. One of the most popular is a small, 5’ x 5’ hot dog stand that sits just a block south of BYU Campus called JDawgs. The menu is simple; polish or beef dog with various types of onions and peppers to top it off. No ketchup is offered; instead they have their home-made and secret recipe sauce that has a sweet BBQ flavor. The buns are steamed and the dogs are fresh, and JDawgs has been a huge success.

Here’s the catch. Jason Edwards, JDawgs founder and Provo native, has done virtually nothing to market his hot dog stand. He has never bought an ad, has never introduced a loyalty program, has never sent an email to customers, and does not even have a sign on his small red shack, yet the stand always has long lines with both students and faculty every day. Business is booming.

How can a business like this thrive with no marketing?

Here’s what Jason is doing right to make JDawgs such a smashing success: 

1. He has the perfect location. BYU’s south campus is severely lacking quick, cheap, delicious food within walking distance. JDawgs has basically no competition.

2. He is personal. Everyone at JDawgs is friendly, casual and confident in what they’re selling. When was the last time you got to listen to funk music at a fast food joint?

3. He has something unique. Would people travel all the way across town to “get a JDawg” if it weren’t for the sauce or the steamed buns? No way. That unique point differentiates himself.

4. Word of Mouth. The best kind of marketing is the kind that does not come from the horse’s mouth, but from other horses who’ve seen that horse in action. I’m talking about word of mouth marketing. When you have customers that are evagelists for your business, you will acquire more and retain the ones you have. People always trust other people more than they trust an advertisement. JDawgs word of mouth marketing is his key to success.

That said, I see endless opportunities for JDawgs to expand. Why not get a portable hot dog stand and sell them outside the BYU Football stadium and the numerous baseball fields? Why not offer catering to local businesses? Why not have loyalty cards where the 10th dog is free? Why not host a hot dog eating contest and give away a year’s worth of dogs to the winner? Why not build a website and start an email program? Why not allow people to order their hot dogs via text message so it’s ready and waiting for them when they show up? Why not franchise?!

JDawgs success despite not marketing his business only shows how great his product really is, which is why with a little marketing, Jason could easily double or triple his business over the next couple of years. 

Hat tip to Brock R. for the insight.

Subscribe to this blog to get regular insights on small business marketing. Photo courtesty Chicagoeye. 

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Why I hate spammers more than you

We all hate spammers. I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t want to run into one in a dark ally and dislocate his jaw (and clicking fingers). Spammers are the reason identity theft is so prevalent. They are the reason junk folders were invented. They are why companies spend billions on security filters and helping customers who’ve been duped by fake emails. In fact, I’m guessing the only folks who like them is Pfizer, the makers of V!@gra (and maybe the Nigerian government).

But as much as you probably hate spammers, I hate them more. Why?

I’m an email marketer, which means I use email as a marketing channel to send relevant, timely offers to our customers and prospects who have indicated it’s okay for us to communicate with them. Each person who I email knows they’ll be getting emails from me, they can clearly see who the email is coming from and they can unsubscribe anytime with the click of a mouse. But spammers make my life hell! Here’s why:

1. Formats. Because of them, I have to create a separate email format every time I send an email to AOL customers, because AOL has had so many spam problems they have blocked traditional html emails.

2. Spam buttons. I don’t send spam, but it never fails that once in a while a subscriber will click the spam button in gMail or Hotmail when really all they want to do is unsubscribe. The result: black marks on my reputation as an email sender, and too many of those will lead to…

3. Blacklists. Just like the ones during McCarthyism, email providers, like Hotmail, gMail, Yahoo!, AOL and individual companies with their own have blacklists of companies they’ve deemed are spamming their customers. Too many spam complaints (regardless of how relevant the emails are or if they’ve opted in) and you’re out. No more sending any kinds of emails to them. See how messed up the system is? You have to prove you’re not a witch instead of being proven you are. 

4. Spam Filters. One of the biggest topics in the email marketing world is how to make sure you’re emails don’t automatically end up in a Spam folder. Obviously, if a person has given their permission for us to send them messages, it would make sense that they be allowed to receive them instead of rifling through hundreds of spam messages in order to get my relevant ones. It’s a constant, uphill battle. 

5. Whitelist payments. To stay on the good side of email providers, most legitimate email marketers have partnered up with companies who help them make sure they’re emails get to the right place and that our domain is not put on the blacklist. The companies send updates (Some even call them report cards) on your spam complaints and lets you know if you’re too close to the threshold of acceptable complaints.

In all truth, there is a lot good email marketers can do to minimize these problems, but if people weren’t sending crappy, unsolicited emails all the time, these problems would mostly go away.

Spammers are why Spam buttons, AOL formats, blacklists, Spam folders/filters exist, and those things are why I deserve to loathe spammers more than you do.

For more reasons why I hate spammers (and other cool stuff) subscribe to this blog. Photo courtesy of rbatina.

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I'm self-smarted, basically, by myself

Watch this video. It’s a hilarious interview with a prisoner who talks about how he “self-learned his self” through doing drugs. I have no idea if this is real or not, but can you imagine how successful a viral marketing campaign would be that had videos that were this funny?

Here’s the lesson: many people are online looking for entertainment, and if you can create entertainment and weave a marketing message into it, you’ll have a successful viral marketing campaign on your hands. It’s a great way to stand out in a crowded marketplace.


SelfSmart from Jonathan Munk on Vimeo. Comments