Marketing for Coffee Shops Q&A w/ Maria Dogin, Marketing Director, GAIL’s
We spoke to Maria ahead of her appearance on the much-anticipated Marketing for Coffee Shops Panel at lunch! 24. Maria discussed the critical role of marketing teams and their importance to hospitality businesses as a whole.
Join us as we explore key questions with Maria and don’t miss her as part of the Marketing for Coffee Shops at lunch! 24.
What is it about the role of the marketing team that is so instrumental to successful hospitality businesses?
A good marketing team should be strategic, strong at planning and project management. They should be able to provide category insights panning customer, competitor and culture to help drive business decisions. This should be in the form of annual planning and ad hoc plans when things need to be optimised. They should also be great planners – in particular be able to process all the competing cross functional initiatives set to change the customer experience or tell the brand story in one cohesive plan. Finally they should also be outstanding project managers – and manage the execution of the initiatives in a timely fashion to clear measurable goals.
How has the role of changed since you came into the industry?
When I started almost 20 years ago at McDonald’s, the role of marketing was a lot more strategic. It was about devising strategies that encompass the 4 P’s and managing agencies and cross functional teams to execute it. Today it feels more deconstructed.
The marketing job is being split into various departments – the commercial aspect is more owned by food or finance. Brand is also growing and being split. Often sectioned off as another duty on a title or another department altogether.
In its place the complexity of running communications channels has increased, taking up more of the time of a Marketers time with the growing function of Digital Marketing changing the most.
What would you recommend about working in a marketing team to someone coming into the hospitality industry?
There are 3 lessons I would teach:
- Really understand how to channel the customer voice – this will always be your trump card in conversations. The most creatively stimulating insights I find come from qualitative research, especially in small businesses or business wanting innovation.
- Hospitality can be really reactive and if you do not plan well you will not be able to control the longer term narrative or play bigger moves. So learn good frameworks to prioritise and bring clarity to each initiative – tools like – strong calendar plan, good project scoping document, writing a good brief and methods for critiquing creative are evergreen skills to get you through.
- Learn the practical methods of driving sales overnight – digital marketing, in- venue experience, signage, business development/ local marketing, online reputation management and google my business are your best friends here.
Don’t miss the Marketing for Coffee Shops taking place at lunch! 24 on 18 September at 1:30 PM in Keynote Theatre 2 (sponsored by Lipton Ice Tea). Featuring:
- Maria Dogin, Marketing Director, GAIL’s
- Layla Yebaile, Senior Marketing Offer Development Manager – Europe, bp/Wild Bean Cafe
- Siobhan Lloyd, Head of Marketing, 200 Degrees
- Jo Lynch, Account Director, KAM (panel host)
You can also hear from even more marketing leaders in the Marketing for Coffee Shops, Marketing for Restaurants and Marketing for Pubs & Bars panels at both lunch! & Casual Dining. Your ticket gives you FREE access to two days of keynote seminars at both shows. Hear inspirational keynote interviews alongside revealing industry panels and cutting-edge insight.
BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE.
