Presentation Is Key
When we were in Fort Worth last week we had breakfast at Yolk. It's kind of a hip place near Sundance Square.
As we were looking over the menu, I saw a few other diners getting served their food. It made my selection really easy. One glimpse of the French toast and my decision was made. The presentation was marvelous.
The description in the menu sealed the deal. They top it off with a scoop of yogurt and sprinkle a little granola on top. I never saw that done before. Who was the genius who thought of that?
The price was a little more than IHOP but where else can you get such a masterpiece of food? $12 vs. $10. No big deal. (But I might have hesitated if it were $15 or $20).
I wanted to get it just so I could take a picture of it. It was beautiful. My friends would be so jealous.
Growing up, my mom would make a lot of French toast with stale sliced bread. It's pretty simple. Just coat the bread with a simple egg mixture and brown it on a pan. No big deal. Put some syrup on it and any French toast tastes pretty much the same. I probably was making it myself when I was only 6 years old so it's not that hard to do.
But look at the picture. The presentation makes you go WOW and makes you willing to pay more than ordinary French toast at the Waffle House. The cost to have a little thicker slice of bread and to add a few berries and yogurt on top is pretty minimal.
Then you put the syrup in a cute little pitcher and you have a sight to behold. The little things add up to a very special plate. It was almost too pretty to eat.
But it doesn't happen by itself. It takes someone to plan it out and someone to get the right people to execute all of the steps and present it on a nicely set table.
Notice the water in the glass bottle. It's just plain old tap water but when placed in a glass bottle it seems kind of special.
I took the photo with my phone and it really doesn't do it justice. It was much better in person.
I told Rebecca that it's similar to marketing a home. I told her that I do the same thing when I hire my stagers. Chefs have an eye for presenting food in a desirable fashion. Stagers have an eye for presenting a home in a way that people take notice. It's what Joanna from the Fixer Upper show does at the end of a renovation.
They take an ordinary looking home and with a few accents here and there they create a home that makes people go WOW! It might have the same bedrooms and baths as the home next door but it looks so much better and people are willing to pay more because it's special.
I'm not a photographer but I do know some really good architectural photographers who I hire to capture the beauty.
Just like the servers walking out the plates and people like me taking notice, sites like Zillow walk out the beautiful pictures that entice buyers to stop and take notice. They read a nice description in the "menu" and say that they'll have to have one of those.
It's maybe a little bit more expensive than the other choices, but the few special touches make it so pretty that they just have to have it.
Marketing any product is pretty much the same. Get the right skilled people executing a well thought out plan and you end up with buyers willing to pay a premium because it seems so darn special.
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