What Does “Dave’s Hot Chicken’s” Business Strategy Have to Do with GovCon?

I am a huge fan of Brad Haley, MBA who is the Chief Marketing Officer for Dave’s Hot Chicken (Former CMO for IHOP, Carl’s Jr., and Jack-in-the-Box). While listening to Episode#78 of “Clicks2Bricks” while slowly opening my eyes to begin the day, my unconscious was connecting the dots on Dave’s Hot Chicken successes to the #GovCon small business market space. My take-aways:  

1. Have an excellent product! As you grow, continue to have an excellent product. Dave’s Hot Chicken offers one protein: Chicken, cooked two diverse ways with multiple ways to flavor. The company started as a pop-up stand in LA. How many offerings could they have? Six years later, as franchises pop up throughout the country, one of the founders remains engaged as the chief brand officer to maintain quality standards. 
2. Have social media game! Dave’s Hot Chicken’s popularity was initiated on Instagram. The street vendors invited a social media influencer to try their product, loved their product and shared the experience with followers.  
3. Have influential investors! Celebrity investors enhances the brand, opens doors, and brings franchise investors to the table. 
4. Have a corporate market strategy with flexibility to incorporate local flavor. Street art is part of the corporate brand, but each store is unique in its design with local culture incorporated. 
5. Search engine optimization.  This is key to competing with the larger more established brands.  
6. Be authentic. Social Media breaks you if you fake it. 
7. Be brave. Data Analytics is great for measuring ROI for current markets. But creativity and risks against a well thought out business strategy are the keys for growth. 

How does this relate to GovCon Small Business Market Strategies?  

1. Have an excellent product. As a small business with 1-3 principles in the front office, how many product or service offerings are you able to provide that will offer consistent customer satisfaction? Think about what you do well, then sell it! You can have various flavors and nuances, but the ‘protein’ remains consistent. 
2. Have social media game. For GovCon, that’s LinkedIn. You need a company page. You need followers. You need influencers who will comment, like and share your content. Need help? Reach out to Mark Amtower for consult. 
3. Have influential investors! For GovCon, those are folks who can open doors to customers, industry partners and marketing influencers. Would you rather have 100% of $1M, or 60% of $40M? 
4. Have a corporate market strategy with flexibility to incorporate local flavor. As your company grows into new states and agencies, understanding the cultural nuances is important to attract and retain quality employees. 
5. Search engine optimization. Here is where you use your investor’s money. Hire a specialty GovCon Marketing firm such as ArtForm Business Solutions, Ocean 5 Strategies or Piper Strategies to get you where you need to go and how to maximize ROI. 
6. Be authentic. You may fool the government once, twice, but bad CPARS and poor employee retention will catch up with you, quickly! 
7. Be brave. Have a solid business strategy but create a culture that will ‘swing for the fences’ to try to get into new markets. You cannot win if you do not try.  

I would love to hear your thoughts! Please comment and share and let us keep the conversations going.  

-Katie Helwig