9 Reasons Chipotle Marketing Creativity Is Remarkable

Yes, Chipotle marketing is making their business better and better all the while. And their growth is all about a very successful marketing strategy. Of course, if you are a competitor in the fast food industry, you know this.  Or if you have noticed the growing number of Chipotle restaurants, you likely know this. Chipotle marketing creativity is clearly winning the day.

Chipotle, while not a small business, does have many marketing characteristics similar to those of a small business. They work with a small budget, barely advertise on TV, and do their own work in-house.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all but goes on making his own business better all the time.

–       Henry Ford

Related: A Story About Chipotle’s Non-Traditional Marketing Strategy

How’s that possible?   Have you noticed? It is hard not to notice, isn’t it? Let’s examine the reasons their marketing strategy is so effective:

Tagline and brand

The heart of Chipotle’s marketing strategy is its brand. The brand is built into and reflected by its tagline… Food With Integrity. It means they serve the best sustainably raised food products with great taste, nutrition and value. And it means a commitment to source organic and local use dairy from cows raised without the use of steroid hormones.  

They clearly understand that their brand is not about them. Rather it is about how potential customers see them, feel about them, and talk about them. They realize that their brand represents their current and future relationships. Their goal is to deliver emotional connection and a personality to their food and service. And they are doing it very well.

Content marketing

Chipotle puts content marketing to very effective use. It recently announced it would become the first U.S. restaurant chain to remove as many GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) foods from its menu as possible.  To complement the announcement, and to curb any skepticism about the source of their products, the company created and released a three-minute video commercial on YouTube called “The Scarecrow.”  

The video content marketing strategy was to appeal to emotion to make it extremely impactful. And it has been a huge success and it has been extended with new video series.

Web site

The website is the marketing center of this firm. Its design is simple, yet contains the means to integrate all the strategy elements we discuss today. It encompasses several ways to allow two-way client engagement, including email and many frequently asked questions along with consumer information about their products.  

Little to no selling. Their strategy reflects the belief that pushy sales pitches turn customers off, but personally relevant and interactive engagement switches them on. You can’t help but notice that all the material is put into the language of the customer community.

Embrace public issues

This practice keeps several public concerns front and center in their strategy at any one time. The company takes its messages on the issues to potential clients via its website as well as all its marketing channels. All of the issues on their agenda represent those that the public majority supports.

Advocacy advertising

Most of the issues that the company decides to support are introduced into its marketing as advocacy advertisements. These create very strong brand reinforcement.

Social media marketing

Chipotle puts social media marketing to very effective use. They are very active with videos and storytelling on Facebook and Twitter. All of these do an excellent job of customer engagement and presenting their story. All channels are used to engage and share all their material in a conversational manner. Always looking to engage. They do an excellent job of driving new potential clients to their website.

Adapting to change

A very progressive company that keeps up to speed on customer trends as well as public issues. They certainly are always eager to adapt their business to new things. And certainly always looking to try new things throughout their industry, including marketing.

Short and sweet messages

80-90% of the marketing messages are 15 seconds. Very simple and to the point or objective. As we said previously, many topics are used to produce many messages so as not to over-saturate the market with the same ideas.

Integrating the elements

All of these strategy elements complement the firm’s brand and messages. The integrating elements? The brand and the customer educational element. The key is to have a central theme for the brand. This is the most important part of the strategy.    

Here’s the thing, social isn’t just a new way of marketing, it’s really a new way of running a business. Chipotle certainly has figured this out and is using social marketing to rapidly grow its business. 

For a different way of marketing see our article on Marriott Marketing.  

Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. 

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.