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Nicole Longo
Owner
The Cupcake Spot
Tampa and St. Petersburg
www.thecupcakespotinc.com
Tampa: 813-839-7077
St. Petersburg: 727-825-0572
Years in this position: 2.5
Years in marketing: 20
What inspired you to pursue a career in marketing?
I love a great challenge. Marketing, when done well, is the most challenging field I've found to date. I enjoy solving problems and leading groups. I enjoyed working with a variety of industries and fields before opening the Cupcake Spot. Once opening, I thrived on branding the business, AND introducing the Tampa Bay area to a new national trend. It was thrilling to generate awareness not only of our company, but of how popular cupcakes are worldwide right now. I find marketing is a great way to express my creativity and individuality and also creating a very finite way to review facts, etc. Its' a brilliant blend of creativity and exactness.
I think marketing is the second most important role in an organization next to the CEO. How a company deals with the media, their own employees, their different "publics", competition, etc., is so intricate, and being able to help maneuver the product and branding through these labyrinths is very addictive!
What is the first advertising or marketing campaign you remember? Why?
I lived an unconventional life because I come from a family of professional actors and also advertising executives. The first campaign I remember was when I was 6 and because I was also a child actor and starred in the television commercials! How COULD I forget it? I grew up with an advertising executive father so marketing campaigns were often discussed around the dinner table. I remember being 6 years old, accompanying my father to work, and helping assemble press kits for distribution.
Personally though, I think the first one I really remember was (fittingly because McDonald's targets children) - the Big Mac – two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, etc. on a sesame seed bun in the ‘70s. We used to sing it over and over. I also remember KOOLAID and the koolaid pitcher bursting through rooms - the appeal was definitely targeted at kids, with a likeable animated figure.
Consequently, while our Cupcakes are mostly gourmet and targeted towards a grown-up palette, our mascot and logo with the animated "Cuppy" character attracts grown ups and children alike.
What do you like most about marketing?
Using problem solving and creativity to drive awareness and ultimately, sales revenue. Reviewing history, making microscopic changes, understanding it's an organic, living plan. I love being able to influence behaviors. And when traffic into the Cupcake Spot stores increases, and we hear the positive comments lauding our product, I'm grateful for driving that traffic - I have personal satisfaction that our marketing efforts exposed the public to a positive, happy experience!
How do you measure your success?
With today's economy, success COULD be described as staying afloat, weathering out the storm and not going out of business. However, we are a profitable company, we opened right before the recession and EXPANDED in the heart of the recession. When I have hundreds of customers try competitors' products and then come in to report that they will never "stray" again, I feel very proud of our products. Recently the Cupcake Spot won "Best Small Dessert of Tampa Bay 2009" by the prestigious Tampa Bay Metro Magazine. The Times and Tribune food editors call me on my personal cell phone to compliment new flavors and encourage support of the company; any time a food critic lauds our cupcakes, I feel success. Any time a customer writes an email to share a great experience, I feel success. Any time a child smiles at the cupcakes, I feel sincerely rewarded.
We are very committed to giving back to the community – to schools, not-for-profits, and research organizations for things like breast cancer, AIDS, Parkinson's, ALS and Lupus. I feel gratitude for being able to share some profits with these important institutions. If I didn't have the Cupcake Spot, I wouldn't be able to give as much – definitely feel success giving back!
At the tactical level, I'm very goal oriented, so even if I have a social networking event, I try to set a goal of "meeting three new people" etc. Ultimately, with Cupcake Spot, each piece of the marketing campaign is assigned quantitative and qualitative goals. If the goals aren't reached, we try something else. We constantly measure the goals, weigh in extraneous factors like weather and other events, and re-evaluate. I think we have a very smart approach to marketing the Cupcake Spot.
Our initial campaign was purely PR – all five TV stations and the Tribune and St. Pete Times covered huge stories about our store. We are continually asked back to the TV stations for updates and to comment on stories like small business owners, etc. A strong media relations strategic campaign was our best marketing to date.
What has been your greatest marketing accomplishment?
Personally, I've been awarded some of the nation's highest marketing awards for various accounts over the last 20 years. For the Cupcake Spot, branding our cupcakes has been paramount. Our business cards are round - exactly 2.5 inches - the size of the base of the standard cupcake. I think branding Cuppy, our mascot, and the Cupcake Spot, have been huge accomplishments.
What do you think is the biggest mistake companies make when marketing?
The biggest mistake is inconsistencies in marketing ... to have different marketing activities working separately without any consequence. By this, many companies have a direct mailer department, an ad dept, a PR department, a graphic design department, a web design department, a way to answer the phone, different promotions, etc. It is imperative to have one person oversee and manage the consistency of the brand and understand how all of these important marketing tools can work together instead of simultaneously side-by-side. They should complement each other, not be in competition of each other.
Once I had a client that had a $4 million advertising budget and a $36,000 annual public relations budget. The PR was nationwide and amazingly helpful in creating a brand, but the executives wanted direct response. Sadly, the direct response didn't bring in the right target audience, where the PR did. If they had just mildly adjusted the dollars around, and used the ad campaign to reinforce the PR campaign, they could have gone gangbusters. As it was, they decided PR wasn't the right avenue, even though that brought in a better target audience, albeit fewer. Sometimes it is okay to sell 80 percent of your product to 20 percent of your audience.
What is the most interesting trend you see in marketing?
I think with today's technology and wide reaching social media that the strongest thing for the Cupcake Spot is to get down in the trenches and still do the oldest form of marketing - one-on-one networking. We're going back to old-school and creating relationships. Our customers appreciate the "old school" customer appreciation feel. We do more business meeting folks one-on-one than with major ad campaigns.
How do you stay on top of your field?
Constantly monitoring competitors' and field leaders' marketing activities - research media stories, new promotions, etc. At the Cupcake Spot, we aim to be cutting edge, bringing the best product to the most people. We have been approached by large companies to buy us out and incorporate our product into theirs. I think the "small town feel" of us knowing our customers will prevail.
What marketing resources do you recommend? (Books, magazines, web, etc.)
Yikes. This is a loaded question. Overall, my belief is that you either get or don't get strategy. You either see the 5th and 6th move on the chess board or you don't. Not to say it can't be learned, but there are only a handful of folks who can really fly with it. It's also critical to know what is going on with national trends.
I think polishing up on a basic PR book is critical – so many companies just send out press releases hoping their information is picked up – there are ways to manipulate the media and get them to positively cover your story and industry. I also think it's critical to "know thy enemies" – meaning to research all companies doing similar business and then create your own plan and identify your unique selling point.
I am not afraid to be upstaged - I have armed myself with the smartest and most creative people I know - ones who are experts in various fields of marketing who I meet with to discuss options. I also watch dozens of companies nationwide and locally to see how they are affected by certain things.
If you could give one piece of marketing advice to Tampa Bay companies, what would it be?
Support your local businesses. When we buy merchandise from large corporate companies, none of the money is returned to the local economy. If we band together and come up with strategic, lucrative and cohesive partnering marketing opportunities, we help each other AND we help the LOCAL economy.
Each industry and business is marketed differently. I find a lot of information and support meeting with other businesses and having them candidly share what does and doesn't work for them and sharing the same info with them.
I also find that we don't just compare notes, we make great partnerships at the local level!
Do you know a marketing professional or entrepreneur who should be in the spotlight? Email me with his or her contact information!
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