Chef Marketer or Cook Marketer,
Which Are You?
How would you like those fried or boiled? ... It's not a question you'd ask of a 'chef marketer'. But it is the sort of question you'd get asked by a cook marketer in a simple cafe where you popped in for a quick bite.
You don’t have great expectations as to what will appear on your plate... You just hope it will be edible. It was the last time you were there… and it wasn’t expensive.
Eating establishments attract the diners they deserve
Set up a simple cafe (or food truck) with no airs and graces that serves OK food at OK prices and you’ll attract a good lunchtime crowd provided you are downtown in the business district.
Across the street, might be a fine dining establishment with a whole other clientele… Also busy at lunchtime on weekdays.
The former would be run by a cook. He or she wouldn’t dream of claiming the title of chef. After all, they never went to a culinary institute, have never worked in a Michelin starred restaurant, and have no ambition to do so.
The latter is the flip side of the coin. The chef has honed his craft in different kitchens around the world. He or she is passionate about creating inspiring dishes that leave diners’ taste buds tingling with delight.
They insist on buying only the best organic ingredients and pay attention to the ways these combine and interact to create extraordinary flavors and experiences.
There are cook marketers out there... And chef marketers too.
The cook marketers spin you the latest hacks and recipes. They are journeymen and women who tread conventional paths. They attract like-minded customers seeking a simple solution on a budget.
Like Pizza Hut attracts customers seeking an average predictable dining experience on a budget.
Chef marketers offer an entirely different experience. One might say an exceptional experience driven by the desire to serve their clientele to the very best of their ability and expect nothing else in return.
They go back to 'first principles'
...Spend half a lifetime testing and perfecting their expertise.
They do not follow anyone in particular.
In fact, well-known marketers discreetly follow them.
These chef marketers attract clients with the same expectations.
They’ve never followed a crowd in their lives.
They move on the instant they find they’re in the wrong place.
Clients naturally move toward marketers with similar expectations just like you naturally choose a place to eat based on your own expectations at that moment.
The good news is that…
We get to choose who we wish to work with and get to design the stories that we tell.
We get to set our own expectations. The businesses we create attract the ‘diners’ who match those expectations.
That's why the way it looks, the way it feels, and the way we talk are so important... They set those expectations and attract the customers we want to work with.
Working with a chef-marketer isn’t for everyone.
Many aspire but few are accepted.
So it’s about WHO first... Then WHY
And only then, can you talk about the WHAT and the HOW
The desire to improve the quality of their clientele is the ambition of every fine dining restaurant. Quantity is what the pizza joint around the corner is after.
This is why I spend so much time with clients positioning them in their market, deciding on the world they want to build for themselves, and understanding the ideas and beliefs that their ideal prospect needs to have assimilated BEFORE they are ready to work with them.
These clients are B2B experts (lifestyle coaches and consultants) who have unique business ideas. They have a ton of experience not to mention expertise that has been well-honed. And they are looking for a chef marketer like me to position them in the marketplace.
The good news is that they love to write about what they do and give insights that are actionable now, to people out there in client land.
They hold nothing back because they know that information is free but hard-won experience is like a well-cut diamond… Worth good money to the people who want results fast.
My ideal client is a guy called Chris (but if she’s a she, she’d be Amanda).
They are ready to invest in themselves and get things done.
They've bought a few online courses so have a nose for the right mentor.
Either way, they want to get rich slowly…
Post Script
You may be wondering why I chose the ‘Chef/Restaurant’ theme for this post. Here’s why…
I trained at the Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Paris so the world of fine dining is one that I am familiar with. In fact, when I had finished my training, I worked for a while in the kitchen of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the patisserie section making desserts for the heads of state who were visiting the President.
It was one of the best experiences I have ever enjoyed 
