Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2014 | Page 33

How do you work with other internal
departments and does technology
help? In today’s world, marketing and

IT must be joined at the hip. Over the
past few years, we’ve made a significant
investment in technology, setting the
stage for considerable gains in operational efficiency. As part of our increased
investment in technology, we’ve brought
in a new VP of information technology
who has become a tremendous partner
for me. (See above for relationships with
other departments.)
How do you manage costs and
budgets for the marketing department? Our marketing budget is

a fraction of our competition’s expenditures. Fortunately, we are nimble and I
like to say that we are “scrappy” in our
efforts. We lean heavily on our agency
partners for out-of-the-box ideas that
are cost-efficient for both our franchise
partners and company markets.
Do you see vendors as business
partners? Why/why not? Our ven-

dors are some of our greatest partners.
We challenge them to bring new ideas
and ways of doing things to our attention so we can continue to provide our
guests and franchise partners with the
best possible service. It is not unusual
for our vendors to use the word “we”
when talking about the brand. They truly
feel part of the family, embracing that
Corner Bakery Cafe is their brand too.
How have marketing strategies/
tools changed over the past decade? How have you adapted? Our

consumer is constantly on the go and
on their phone. Last year we introduced

“Looking just at
the past month,
comments about
Corner Bakery
Cafe on Twitter and
Instagram alone
reached more than
7.3 million people,
leaving more
than 40 million
impressions.”
a completely new website, incorporating a responsive design that delivers a
superior user experience whether on
desktop, tablet, or mobile. Our new
website has been very well received,
generating a 180 percent increase in
visits from mobile devices (and a 296
percent increase from iPhone users
alone). Catering is a very big part of
our business, representing more than
20 percent of our revenues, and online
ordering has been key to the incredible growth we’ve seen in our catering
business. With the introduction of our
mobile-friendly site and online ordering for to-go guests last year, we’ve also
seen significant growth in our online
to-go orders.
As I said, our marketing budget is a
fraction of our competition’s. Fortunately for us, social media can help level
the field for us. We focus on fueling
word-of-mouth conversations about the
brand. We use listening tools to monitor online conversations and sentiment,
engaging whenever appropriate and as
quickly as possible. Online community
engagement is critical to building our
business, and custom programs are
designed as core components of every
marketing campaign. In addition, we
do weekly Twitter chats with our fans
where ideas and inspirational thoughts
are shared. Most important, we’ve discovered that our guests just want to share
their Corner Bakery experiences. Social
media is some of the most influential
and cost-effective marketing we do.
Looking just at the past month, com-

ments about Corner Bakery Cafe on
Twitter and Instagram alone reached
more than 7.3 million people, leaving
more than 40 million impressions. Now,
that’s the kind of advertising I love and
can afford!
How is your marketing/branding
strategy developed, and how does
it flow through the system? As I

said, we take a “Sandbox” approach. We
invite our agency partners to participate
in the process. We look to our guests
for insights, to our franchisees for input, and inside and outside our segment
for inspiration. The plan is presented
to the Franchise Advisory Council and
shared with the franchise community
through a quarterly WebEx.

Grow Market Lead

our franchise partners’ ideas. This is
perhaps one of the greatest benefits of
franchising: the ability to partner and
think out loud. We continually learn
from our franchise partners and appreciate the benefits of sharing ideas
and best practices. This is especially
important as more groups are opening
cafes in new markets and are faced with
the challenges of awareness-building
and growing their catering business.

What advice would you offer to
aspiring CMO executives? Align

yourself with a brand that you truly love
as a consumer. Lead with your passion.
For my whole life, one of my greatest
joys has always been bringing people
together. I love to host gatherings of
friends and family over great food. As
CMO here, my job meets my personal
joy. How many people can say that?
And I love that Corner Bakery is committed to giving back. In 2008, I joined
the Share Our Strength executive team
to tour some of the hardest-hit areas
of post-Katrina New Orleans, one of
the most memorable and emotional
experiences I’ve had in my career. Seeing the floodwater marks left behind
on the elementary school walls and
crayon drawings of children’s storm
memories was gut-wrenching. But
walking outside, I saw busy children
happily planting gardens and enjoying healthy lunches. This was in part
due to the tremendous work of Share
Our Strength’s mission to end childhood hunger in the U.S. In 2008, we
joined the first Dine Out for No K