Hey there, it’s your friendly neighborhood Taco (AKA Micah). As some of you may already know, I am the proud, resident taco connoisseur here at Satori. And as the taco expert, I felt it my duty to educate the masses about one of my favorite things in the entire world: the taco truck. On the surface, taco trucks can be no more than a hipster fad, overrun with yuppie millennials in some glammed-out parking lot strung with Edison bulb lights. But if you really think about it, taco trucks (and all food trucks, for that matter) are some of the best marketers in the world. Here’s why.
When we build a relationship with another person, business, or service, we generally pass through four stages:
Aware > Know > Like > Buy
We do not pass through these stages independently, nor do we pass through them in the same amount of time. We must first be aware of something to want to know more about it, and we must first know about this particular thing to like enough about it to buy into it. That’s where propinquity marketing comes in. Yes, I just threw out a $10 word, but stay with me. In a recent webinar, Tom Martin, the founder of Converse Digital in New Orleans, turned me on to the idea of propinquity marketing. The way to effectively market in a propinquity world is to get your customers to know a whole lot more about you. It’s all about strategic proximity.
Pro•pin•qui•ty: the greater physical (or psychological) proximity between people, the greater the chance that they will form friendships or romantic relationships.
You may be thinking the same thing I first thought, “So you’re saying to increase customer awareness by bombarding my customers with targeted ads?!” Well, not really. The idea of propinquity marketing is to consistently create a physical or virtual proximity between you and your customer through not only advertising but content. The difference between content and advertising is that every time your customer sees an ad, they don’t necessarily learn something new about your company. The beauty of content is its versatility – its ability to communicate your message from all sorts of different angles. Make your customer learn something new about your brand every time they encounter it. As they learn something new, you increase their data set of reasons why they should like your brand. And what did we learn; which stage comes next after Like? That’s right…BUY! If you give your customer enough reasons to like you, they ultimately will consider your brand the next time they want to buy.
So, what does this have to do with taco trucks?
I’m glad you asked. Think of a restaurant. Restaurants build at their location, then spend a whole lot of money on advertising and promotion trying to raise awareness of their business at that location. Taco trucks, on the other hand, are a bit more clever. They don’t spend as much money trying to drive customers to their truck; instead, they figure out where their people are already hanging out and then they show up!
What does this mean for you? Start thinking less like a restaurant and more like a taco truck. Find your brand’s propinquity points. Define where your audience is already hanging out and consistently park your content there for them to get a piece. This could be search engines, social media, word-of-mouth influencers, websites (your own or someone else’s), conferences, trade shows, the list goes on and on. The sooner you start thinking like a taco truck, the sooner your customers will encounter your brand in a range of situations and settings. Their awareness will turn into knowledge, their knowledge will help them like your brand, and those customers liking your brand will turn into more dollar bills in your pocket.
I claim that tacos are the ultimate food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner – they always come through. It comes as no surprise that the trucks that serve this wonder-dish are gurus to be studied – the masterminds of their trade.
Don’t be a restaurant. Be a taco truck, and park where your people are.