SALTY DOG MARKETING
This past summer I was in Longboat Key, Florida for my company's annual summer get-a-way seminar. It's a fast-paced
week of educational meetings, beach activities, social receptions and group dinners, but as far as work goes…. if you can
do it on a beach in Florida, it's a good day.
I usually have one night during that week without commitments or dinner plans. My brother-in-law and I were craving
hamburgers, french fries, chicken wings, fried cheese… anything greasy that we don't normally eat. We asked around for
recommendations and decided on the Salty Dog Restaurant just over the causeway off of Longboat Key Island.
"Their 'Salty Dog' was featured on Man vs. Food a few years ago. And the locals love it," the resort concierge told us. We
were sold.
We sat down and ordered a pound and a half of peel n' eat shrimp to start followed by two Salty Dogs.
It was love at first sight.
The Salty Dog is a fully-loaded foot-long hot dog deep fried in beer batter and then placed into a bun. To make it
interesting they top it with grilled onions and mushrooms, sauerkraut, four kinds of cheese and four strips of bacon. The
owner, who is a British transplant that settled in Sarasota calls it a "heart attack on a plate."
The crazy part: they sell about 150 of these… a day.
Just to get a handle on the magnitude of this, we added up all the calories while we were eating. Here's what we came up
with:
Foot-long hot dog with bun = 560
Deep fried in beer batter = 250
Grilled onions and mushrooms = 50
Sauerkraut = 30
Eight slices of cheeses = 560
Four strips of bacon = 280
Basket of fries = 600
Total calories = 2300
© Paragon Management Inc., since 1986 | theparagonprogram.com | 800.448.2523 SALTY DOG MARKETING
It's world famous… and it was fabulous.
So… the question is, how do they sell 150 Salty Dogs every day (Which by the way is what this entire article is about)?
Is it about the hot dog?
Do people walk into this restaurant and think to themselves, "I'm really craving a hot dog," see this on the menu and then
order it?
No.
In fact, are hot dogs typically popular items on restaurant menus to begin with?
No. Maybe on kid’s menus.
What's even more interesting is that I am pretty health conscious. I normally would not ever order a 2300 calorie meal.
That’s more than I eat in an entire day. In order to get me to buy this, you would really have to sell me. But they didn't.
Why?
What is it that people are actually buying? They are buying all the stuff on the hotdog. The condiments, the packaging,
the service, the creativity, the environment, the experience… the story. "It was on Man vs. Food and I ate it!"
It's the thing that doesn't seem to be the point, that is actually way more important than we think.
The hot dog is the main point of the dish, but it’s not the most important part.
Sure a better hot dog is appreciated. They could have created the world’s healthiest hot dog. It could have been their own
proprietary recipe and it could have been the best tasting hot dog ever. They could have bragged about how great this
hot dog was. They could have centered the whole menu or the whole restaurant even around this amazing hot dog. And
what happens? Nothing. No sales.
© Paragon Management Inc., since 1986 | theparagonprogram.com | 800.448.2523 SALTY DOG MARKETING
Because the truth is, if you want to sell 150 hot dogs every day, it's all the other "stuff."
When it comes to dentistry it can be real easy to focus on the… well… dentistry. It's natural to make the whole thing
about the quality of the service and your clinical skills.
It's the main point, but it's not the most important part.
And when people are buying the "dentistry," it's actually all the other "stuff" they're buying: the marketing, the friendliness,
the environment, the experience… the story, the condiments.
We can market “better dentistry” all we want. We can build our entire career and our entire practice around it. In the end,
you may not get the results you were expecting.
When it comes to marketing, one of the best questions you can ask is, “What are we selling?” Look past the clinical
dentistry and quality of service and talk about all the other “stuff” that doesn’t seem to be important… but is actually the
main point.
Paragon Management Associates, Inc. is the nation’s leading dental practice management firm with over 27 years of experience working
exclusively with dentists.
Joshua Scott is the Marketing Director at Paragon Management. He consults with doctors on creating strategic marketing plans for their practice.
He speaks across the country to organizations and study clubs on the subject of marketing and profitability. He lives in New Albany, Ohio with his
wife of 17 years and two children.
© Paragon Management Inc., since 1986 | theparagonprogram.com | 800.448.2523