Happy New Year! I hope you had a fantastic holiday and feel refreshed and ready for the adventures ahead. Have you thought about resolutions? I’ll share one that has made a profound impact on my life in the past several years:
Develop habits and not checklists.
For any lasting change to happen we must develop habits and systems. Habits change not just our behaviors but our relationship to things. They allow us to integrate something into our lives rather than merely observe them and move on. Systems provide a framework that equips and empowers teams to support one another.
• A 10-day cleanse or a 30-day diet most often results in a short-term result. But changing a relationship with food altogether can lead to significant health benefits.
• Gyms are generally packed in January only to see attendance revert to a norm within 60 days.
• School nutrition marketing campaigns start with one individual with lots of energy and a checklist of tasks to accomplish. But when something else rises on the urgency list, marketing moves down and the story you’re trying to tell goes silent, waiting for someone to pick up the baton and keep going.
That’s author James Clear in his fantastic book Atomic Habits. And picking up on that, I’d like to encourage you to consider developing this mindset when it comes to marketing your school nutrition program:
“WHEN DO YOU STOP MARKETING?”
Someone once asked me, referring to school nutrition, “When are you done? When do you stop marketing?” My response was something like, “When McDonalds is done. Or when Coke is done. Or when Taco Bell stops.”
That may seem overwhelming, but that’s looking at it thorugh a lens of a checklist to complete and move on, rather than an ever-evolving journey presenting opportunities daily.
So if you’re ready to form a marketing habit, I have a few suggestions for you and your team on making marketing a habit and not a checklist:
START A MARKETING HABIT:
Put someone in charge. Make sure that there is one person to lead your efforts. People often talk about having a team approach, but without a clear leader you’ll end up looking around and thinking that someone else was supposed to handle it. It can be a department director, an RD, or anyone on your team, but you need a point person.
Empower and equip that person. If it’s someone on your team, let them know what sort of time and resources you are giving them to take charge. Adding something to someone's plate without the resources to do it isn’t a sustainable solution. This goes for yourself if you are taking it on.
Determine what is needed and how you can make it happen. Is it time? A software subscription? Training? Outside help? Determine what you need and make sure you’re equipped for it.
Have skin in the game: A director I spoke with recently said they were putting marketing in their spend-down plan to make sure it was a real priority and not just something they intended to do. It was factored in, committed, and accountable within the budget.
Expect wins and losses: Not everything will work the way you expect. This doesn’t apply just to marketing but everything we do. You try new menu items every year. Some are hits and some aren’t. It doesn’t mean you won’t try anything new - but it does allow you to learn from each step and fine-tune what you do.
Repetition matters: I can’t tell you the number of times I hear from school nutrition staff who are frustrated that students, parents, school staff, or administrators didn’t remember the email they sent about a menu change. Or the poster in the cafeteria. Or a new salad bar. There is a reason that advertisers run commercials with the same message over and over again: to make sure that their message sinks in and is top of mind.
When you and your team are tired of saying something, your audience is likely just starting to pay attention. Stay the course and it WILL sink in.
If you’d like some help getting started and building a model and momentum, please get in touch with us. We’re here to help you take control of your story and change the narrative around school food.
Happy New Year and cheers to new habits!
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