Why ‘Open for Everyone’ can be a fatal mistake
February 23, 2021
In this episode we discuss why marketing for everyone is actually marketing for no one.
One of the most fatal things a business can do is not to have their core values and their identity embedded into their brand. I see this mistake over and over where different brands will try to be inclusive of everyone. And they will try to be general enough, so they're not leaving anyone outside. And when you start doing that, when you start marketing for everyone, you're actually marketing for no one. Now I'm gonna share a story... during Ramadan, which is like the Holy month for Muslims. Um, I'm atheist, by the way, but my family, I was born Muslim.
So within the month of Ramadan, people fast during daylight hours and they break their fast at night. And my family, my extended family, like my cousins and my aunts and uncles and all of us, we decided to meet at this Turkish restaurant near Upper Kirby in Houston, and we were going to all break fast for iftar. So iftar is like the meal that people do when they break their fasts. So we decided to meet at this Turkish restaurant for iftar, and while we're waiting for the sun to go down so everyone can eat. The restaurant manager, by the way, tells me, Hey, by the way, everything on this menu is halal. So for those that aren't familiar with the term halal, halal is sort of like kosher. What kosher is for Jewish people, Halal is for Muslim people.
So you told me the menu is a lot and I said, Why don't you put this on the menu? That would attract the people that you're probably looking for. Everyone at this table that's actually eating at your restaurant right now would be excited to see that on your menu. And in fact, that's probably why one of my family members probably picked that restaurant, knowing that it was hollow on the menu. But they didn't have it on the menu, and the owner of the business told me he was scared to put that on the menu because this is Houston. Houston has a lot of conservatives, and the word halal will scare a lot of conservatives away. I looked around his restaurant. I didn't see a single conservative anyway, so why was he trying to leave his business open for these people that aren't even going to patronize his business.
And I think this was a fatal mistake because there was another restaurant that moved into town and they totally owned the word halal. And you, you might be familiar with the halal guy's food trucks in New York, in front of all the banking buildings. That food truck actually opened up its first brick-and-mortar store in Houston. Houston is a very diverse city, so Houston is definitely one of its more diverse than New York, actually, and it's definitely a good idea to open this kind of business up in Houston, they opened up a brick-and-mortar halal guys store, maybe 23 blocks away from this Turkish restaurant. And Halal guys were so popular in Houston, you had lines extending out the door. Um, everyone in their mom wanted to go eat. Hello, guys. No one was scared of the word halal. It was a very diverse crowd, and they stayed very busy. Not only were they busy, but they also opened up two or three more, I think two more locations. One and one, and I think Westheimer and another one in Katie Sugar Land area. I'm not really sure, but they opened up several different locations, and they were, they were doing really well.
These people stuck true to their identity. They struck true to their core values, and they put it in their branding. And because they were willing to take this dance and pick out the niche that they wanted to attract, they were able to get all these low-hanging fruit customers that were attracted by their business instead of being open for everyone. If this place was not Halal guys, and if it was named something generic like I don't know Texas Mediterranean or something like that, that might be a cool name, too. But if it was just something generic where it didn't speak to the customer that they're trying to reach out to, and they tried to be open for everyone. No one would have even heard about this. The people that already are familiar with the word Halal, they already know what that means, and it already piques their curiosity. And there's a lot of people in Houston that are familiar with that word as well. So they did, they did so well by putting that on the name of the restaurant versus even putting it on the menu. And now just looking back at that Turkish family that had that restaurant the opportunity that they lost by not being shoot to themselves.
And not only that, just living in anxiety, whether people are going to patronize your business, whether they're gonna like you or not, because you're trying to appeal to Trump supporters who aren't even coming in that business, like what that is such a horrible type of business to have. Why would you wanna have a business where the people that you're serving don't even like you?
So I think it's a fatal mistake to not have your core values and your core identity embedded into your brand If you are not if you're trying to market to everyone, you're not marketing to anyone. And if you don't like your customers, you are not going to like your business. I'll see you guys in the next episode.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
So within the month of Ramadan, people fast during daylight hours and they break their fast at night. And my family, my extended family, like my cousins and my aunts and uncles and all of us, we decided to meet at this Turkish restaurant near Upper Kirby in Houston, and we were going to all break fast for iftar. So iftar is like the meal that people do when they break their fasts. So we decided to meet at this Turkish restaurant for iftar, and while we're waiting for the sun to go down so everyone can eat. The restaurant manager, by the way, tells me, Hey, by the way, everything on this menu is halal. So for those that aren't familiar with the term halal, halal is sort of like kosher. What kosher is for Jewish people, Halal is for Muslim people.
So you told me the menu is a lot and I said, Why don't you put this on the menu? That would attract the people that you're probably looking for. Everyone at this table that's actually eating at your restaurant right now would be excited to see that on your menu. And in fact, that's probably why one of my family members probably picked that restaurant, knowing that it was hollow on the menu. But they didn't have it on the menu, and the owner of the business told me he was scared to put that on the menu because this is Houston. Houston has a lot of conservatives, and the word halal will scare a lot of conservatives away. I looked around his restaurant. I didn't see a single conservative anyway, so why was he trying to leave his business open for these people that aren't even going to patronize his business.
And I think this was a fatal mistake because there was another restaurant that moved into town and they totally owned the word halal. And you, you might be familiar with the halal guy's food trucks in New York, in front of all the banking buildings. That food truck actually opened up its first brick-and-mortar store in Houston. Houston is a very diverse city, so Houston is definitely one of its more diverse than New York, actually, and it's definitely a good idea to open this kind of business up in Houston, they opened up a brick-and-mortar halal guys store, maybe 23 blocks away from this Turkish restaurant. And Halal guys were so popular in Houston, you had lines extending out the door. Um, everyone in their mom wanted to go eat. Hello, guys. No one was scared of the word halal. It was a very diverse crowd, and they stayed very busy. Not only were they busy, but they also opened up two or three more, I think two more locations. One and one, and I think Westheimer and another one in Katie Sugar Land area. I'm not really sure, but they opened up several different locations, and they were, they were doing really well.
These people stuck true to their identity. They struck true to their core values, and they put it in their branding. And because they were willing to take this dance and pick out the niche that they wanted to attract, they were able to get all these low-hanging fruit customers that were attracted by their business instead of being open for everyone. If this place was not Halal guys, and if it was named something generic like I don't know Texas Mediterranean or something like that, that might be a cool name, too. But if it was just something generic where it didn't speak to the customer that they're trying to reach out to, and they tried to be open for everyone. No one would have even heard about this. The people that already are familiar with the word Halal, they already know what that means, and it already piques their curiosity. And there's a lot of people in Houston that are familiar with that word as well. So they did, they did so well by putting that on the name of the restaurant versus even putting it on the menu. And now just looking back at that Turkish family that had that restaurant the opportunity that they lost by not being shoot to themselves.
And not only that, just living in anxiety, whether people are going to patronize your business, whether they're gonna like you or not, because you're trying to appeal to Trump supporters who aren't even coming in that business, like what that is such a horrible type of business to have. Why would you wanna have a business where the people that you're serving don't even like you?
So I think it's a fatal mistake to not have your core values and your core identity embedded into your brand If you are not if you're trying to market to everyone, you're not marketing to anyone. And if you don't like your customers, you are not going to like your business. I'll see you guys in the next episode.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
Follow Me
Instagram: https://robin.ws/instagram
Facebook: https://robin.ws/fb-page
YouTube: https://robin.ws/youtube
Visionaries Group: https://robin.ws/group
Clubhouse: @rbn - https://robin.ws/clubhouse
Facebook: https://robin.ws/fb-page
YouTube: https://robin.ws/youtube
Visionaries Group: https://robin.ws/group
Clubhouse: @rbn - https://robin.ws/clubhouse
Book: https://mvmbook.com
Book a Call: