Has the day of 'No Marketing' arrived for pizza brands?

It's hard to believe that it's been over 20 years since the cloud-based software company, Salesforce, debuted its legendary disruption campaign that was a call-to-action that ended up changing the way so many companies conduct business. Using the slogan "No Software" (with a logo featuring the word "software" circled and crossed out in red), Salesforce made a bold statement that echoed loudly, despite the company being a mere start-up at the time.

Was it literally true that software was to be completely eliminated? Well, no. But the idea of "No Software" still presented a vision for change that correctly labeled the status quo at the time as obsolete. And soon enough, the world moved to a more cloud-based system of software-as-a-service solutions. For instance, when was the last time you actually saw a floppy disc being used?

I've always admired that campaign. But more importantly, I think we can continue to learn from it. What other fields are ripe for disruption? Can we think about the elimination of old and tired philosophies, replaced by new ones that can create greater efficiencies?

Here's one that drives me — the promise of a world with "No Marketing."

That sounds like a radical take, especially in the physical retail world that relies on finding customers (in both offline and digital channels) and inspiring them to visit a brick-and-mortar location. But the reality of retail marketing holds an important truth that guides this vision: In most businesses, 15-35% of consumers drive 45-65% of its revenue. The most loyal and active customers are exceptionally important to nurture.

And here's where the marketing mistakes occur. Companies spend billions of dollars to fill the top of their consumer funnels, in an often-desperate attempt to find new customers. This wide, scattershot approach may reach millions of consumers and even convince many of them to try a product or service, but at an enormous cost.

This is most certainly true of traditional advertising on television or in print, but is also true of social media. Sure, you can target your campaigns more specifically on social media, but the cost of reaching new customers effectively and driving them in-store can create a sinkhole of marketing costs.

So companies spend the bulk of their funds to reach the anonymous consumers who make up the vast minority of their revenues. How does that make sense?

There's always a need to drive trial, but the marketing funnel seems upside down. The math just doesn't work.

What does work is retention math

Customer retention is almost always more efficient than acquisition. Once you've acquired a customer, the cost to market to them is usually a fraction of what it would be to find a new one. Develop a relationship with existing customers, learn about them and what moves them into action, and you'll more likely nurture them, through personalized offers and engagement, into the regular customers and super-fans you need to continue to drive revenues.

Loyalty, more than acquisition, is how marketers of today must focus. Focus less on trial transactions and more on your existing customers. Use outreach to create the feeling of one-to-one relationships. Develop them through the life cycle. Make their transactions simple and convenient. Reward them for their constancy. The volume always follows. And save your marketing spend on what works best.

We now have the ability to create stunningly effective loyalty programs on mobile devices, that when properly designed and maintained, have developed into a physical retailer's best friend. Mobile campaigns managed by loyalty programs can create connections and manage consumer data, including offline data that traditional marketing simply can't compile.

Mobile campaigns using real-time data on consumer preferences and behaviors can allow a pizza brand to know its customer with unprecedented accuracy, and create the type of relationship that feels more personalized and customized. It's as close to a 1:1 relationship as digital marketing can get, and that moves the needle more than mass campaigns with indiscriminate messaging.

Campaigns on systems like Punchh have seen redemption rates of 65%, numbers unheard of when thinking about acquisition campaigns. And during the start of the pandemic, the data clearly shows that sales from loyalty program customers dropped slower and ultimately recovered faster than anonymous ones. Loyalty sales were 19% greater at their lowest point and reaching pre-COVID levels six weeks quicker, compared to anonymous sales. In a fragmented world, these customers are the pillars to get behind and grow with.

Like the Salesforce "No Software" campaign so many years ago, the idea of "No Marketing" is not a whole promise. But for retail businesses like pizzerias, the days of indiscriminate acquisition marketing should be at an end, and the status quo should be replaced by a strategy and tools that are radically more effective.

"No Marketing," in my mind, means "More Loyalty." Know your customers first, deemphasize blind and expensive trial marketing and build around establishing loyalty channels that develop long, fruitful relationships.
Your existing customers are the key to your success, and they're waiting for you to speak with them. That's not marketing. That's just good business sense.