If you are like many business people, you have attended meetings, conferences, and training programs that include a catered lunch. Can you remember the name of any of the caterers? Do you remember anything that would help you find the caterer if you wanted to schedule a lunch (and have more of those luscious brownies)?
For two Writing Tune-Up classes I taught recently near Philadelphia, the lunch meals were catered by Crocodile Cafe & Catering. Why do I remember? The paper napkins that came with the delicious, satisfying lunch told me all about the company and its "commandments."
I read the napkin while I ate lunch. The commandments made me compare the company's ideals to its actions. Was the food on time? Yes. Did the caterer forget anything? No, not from my perspective. Did we have enough food? Yes! Was there great variety in the menu? Absolutely.
Crocodile Cafe & Catering printed its commandments for all to see–and it lived up to them.
When I visited the company's home page, "10 Reasons to Order" grabbed my attention. Notice how the language of the commandments changes, in part, from "we" to "you":
"We will always give enough food" shifts to "You will never have to worry about running out of food."
"We will offer great variety" becomes "You will never get bored and have to call other caterers again."
Several commandments are distilled into "There's no first date anxiety."
Those changes from "we" to "you" make sense for communicating with potential customers who are researching the company on its website.
When visitors click any of the 10 reasons, they get details. For instance, "There's no first date anxiety" leads to:
We are happy to meet with you to showcase any of our menu items on Mondays or Fridays. Please give at least one week's notice. Need references? Give us a call and we will supply you with three references from events we have catered within the past three business days. How is that for current?
If I taught business writing near Philadelphia again, I would call on Crocodile Cafe & Catering to provide food for the class. The company offers great food, it communicates clearly, and it does not make me work to find out more. I'm sold.
And how could I forget a company called Crocodile Cafe & Catering, established in 8/8/88?
Do you like Crocodile Cafe & Catering's messaging?
Lynn
Syntax Training
Love it! I just did a post on persuasive language techniques and they aced many of them (in my humble opinion) – especially the alliteration one in their name – Crocodile Cafe & Catering. āŗ
Cathy, thanks for mentioning the alliteration. I love alliteration and sometimes take it too far.
Please give us the link to your post on persuasive language so we can check it out.
Lynn
Yes Cathy, please do send us a link I and I’ll bet other readers of Lynn’s newsletters and blog would love to read it.
Lynn this is a great example of how changing the context for different audiences can be effective for marketing.
Thanks all
Lisa
Thank you for the request for the link. I appreciate the link love. š
http://simplystatedbusiness.com/persuasive/
Lisa, I am glad you liked the idea of changing the content for the audience. And thanks for encouraging Cathy!
Lynn
Cathy, your post on persuasive writing at
http://simplystatedbusiness.com/persuasive is very helpful. I recommend it to people who need to write persuasively–that is, all of us.
Lynn
i like it
Good!
Power of marketing š
Good job.
This is a great way to retain your customers. Implementing the napkin strategy. Thanks
Agreed.