What's Cooking?

How to get customers to remember your specialty?

Yes. I strongly believe, that creating a well differentiated product / company / brand is based on the same principles of creating a dish that will make this buzz among people in the big bustling city.

In a new dish as well as in a new product, creativity will generate uniqueness and marketing strategy will place the creativity in the market ecosystem; maximizing the vision, building organizational consensus, moderating learning curves and waste of valuable time and resources.

It is clear and known that Israeli start-ups deliver amazing novel ideas and technologies.

But that’s not enough.

In today’s global hyper competition where markets are changing so rapidly it is a real challenge to break into the awareness and catch the attention of our target audiences.

Marketing strategy and branding is an essential factor to move forward and maximize your potential.

(Don’t get panic. Strategy does not necessarily mean a long process and huge budget. Today, we also know how to do our best to adjust processes to companies’ needs and to deliver.)

Marketing and Brand strategy with strong strategic planning is extremely important. It reduces situations that require change of route. It defines the goals and aligns them with the whole organization. It saves resources.

Facing global and varied markets and having decent budgets at stake requires a solid and well-defined strategy.

It means to put all the ingredients on the table and analyze them.

The product / brand best ingredients
Whole list of potential customers
A variety of partner options
Marketing channels
Competitors. No doubt you have some. So, identify them! *
Your customers' pains
The things they can gain from your proposal
All your benefits
Drain 1-3 benefits YOUR CUSTOMERS would love and want
The things that will create an impact on your customers
The reasons for their identification;
and don’t just say “it tastes good”

*Never claim you are so unique that you have no competitors.
Because mostly you do have. It can be either direct competition or conceptual one in your customers’ perception.

I may sound biased saying this, but if you’re at this juncture I would suggest considering corporation with a marketing strategy company.

One that can join your journey and contribute his broad knowledge of marketing strategy, while being a "mirror" to enlighten topics and bring its creative added value and knowledge to the process.

While being overloaded running your organization, such a corporation will allow you to dive-deeper into a focused research, open your mind to additional perspectives if exists, gain an additional objective and professional force in your team and save your most precious resources. Your own resource.

Experience the recipe below (:

Feel free to contact me at eli@cdh.co.il if your company wants to hear about a marketing and brand strategy process

Limoncelli

If you also have this passion for food and cooking, prepare this Limoncelli while thinking how to make your customers (at dinner) enthusiastic and not just from the taste. I'm sure you'll find out how it generates creativity and how similar it is to the process of building a marketing strategy.

BTW. I made it and it was just WOW.

Materials

Base:

90 gr soft butter
90 gr (3/4 cup) powdered sugar
3 gr (1/2 tsp) salt
2 egg yolks at room temperature
120 grams flour
10 gr bag baking powder
45 gr (1/2 cup) ground almonds

The lemon cream:

1 large egg
60 grams of butter
60 grams (5 tablespoons) sugar
60 grams (4 tablespoons) lemon juice
3 egg yolks

Vanilla Cream:

1 container (250 ml) sweet cream
granules from 1 vanilla bag
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
2 teaspoons of honey

For candied lemon peel:

2 peel ribbons from lemons (only the yellow part) sliced into thin matches
100 ml (1/2 cup less 2 tablespoons) water for the preparation of the syrup
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees and place a large baking pan in baking paper.
Prepare the base: Mix butter, powdered sugar and salt in a mixer with a guitar hook for airy cream. Gradually add egg yolks and mix until they are absorbed in the cream. Add flour, baking powder and almonds and mix briefly until soft dough is formed.
Spread the dough in the padded pattern into a layer 1 cm thick with a spatula.
Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown.
Prepare lemon cream: Beat eggs and egg yolks in a bowl. Heat butter, sugar and lemon juice on Bain Marie until the butter melts. Add the eggs and egg yolks and cook until the cream thickens the texture of a patisserie cream (for those who have a baking thermometer until the mixture reaches 83 degrees).
Remove the cream from the Bain Marie and mix with a crushing rod until you get a smooth, shiny lotion. Attach a plastic wrap (not to make a crust) before the cream, and store in a refrigerator.
Preparation of vanilla cream: Whip all ingredients for soft whipped cream.
Prepare lemon peel: Boil water in a small pot and simmer for 2 minutes to neutralize bitterness. Drain and repeat the operation twice more.
Bring water and sugar to a boil in another pot and simmer for about 3 minutes on medium heat for syrup. Add the lemon peel and cook for 15 minutes until the peel becomes transparent. Cool.
Make the dish and serve: Break the base into medium pieces and place in the bottom of serving cups up to a third of their height. Cover one third of the glass over lemon cream and finish with whipped cream. Sprinkle over lemon slices and serve.