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I’m always interested in how companies position themselves and go about their business. I find myself analyzing the most mundane things like the importance of brand names on trucks and even the song selections in the background of TV commercials. I believe there are lessons to be learned everywhere in life depending on whether or not you are willing to learn.
So today I found myself analyzing the Burger King drive-through the same way I would analyze a business blog or web site. Believe it or not I noticed several things all bloggers and site owners should keep in mind.
Easy To Read
Drive-through menus need to be easy to read from a good distance during any weather day or night. The use of color, font and size is essential to make scanning the menu easy and effortless. You should take the same consideration when dealing with your fonts online. Make sure you take screen resolution and size into account as well as different operating systems and browsers. Also be sure that your text is easy to read/scan.
Organized by Category
A good menu has their food organized into recognizable categories like “Drinks”, “Burgers”, “Snacks” and “Dollar Menu”. There is no use being too clever here as the customer may be under time constraints and need to find what they want fast. You can’t expect your readers to browse through dated archives to find the content they’re looking for. Organization is key to getting your readers to come back time and time again.
Feature Items
Fast food joints are great at this. All of their best selling items can be found in an easy to reference “Value Meal”. Newer Items even get their own panels to themselves. If your readers are finding your site on Google, how do you expect them to read the rest of your stuff if they can’t find it easily on the page they’re already on. Your most popular posts are most likely popular for a reason, they’re probably pretty good. Make sure your readers can easily find this content without having to dig.
Imagery is Key
Those burgers look so delicious up on that menu sometimes. In fact, the picture of Burger King’s new Chicken Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar and Ranch was so beautiful I had to indulge. Pictures serve several purposes besides the fact that they are just visually appealing. They also give your reader a visual to associate with the post and further ingrain it in their memory.
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So next time you are buying some McDonalds or Sonics, take a second look at their menu and learn a thing or two. In fact, buy me a burger while your at it.
- Photo by iirraa
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Comments
05.14.09
Good analogy, but fast food is disgusting. One thing you don't mention about fast food is that the pictures rarely resemble what you get wrapped up and 'fast'. You also could mention that while the food is fast, it isn't healthy; the empty calories and lack of good fiber, protein and nutrients can leave a person hungry for more after 2 hours.
And did you ever see 'Super-size Me'. The guy became addicted to the food, it altered his mood in a negative and unpredictable way, plus he gained a ton of weight in a short amount of time. He was tired all the time and when he went in for the check-up the doctor couldn't believe how horrible his blood tests were.
So, although your analogy of a drive-thru menu is a great way to make your company appear worthwhile, in the end, the products fast-food offers just aren't worth the money or time. Therefore, you could learn both good and bad from fast food; good imagery and excellent advertising (even if the pictures are misleading), but as far as the value of the product, there is much to be desired. (At least if you're the kind of person that prefers quality over quantity :))
07.20.09
(lol) great logic huh. Although you are very right in the concept of catchy-imagery, I may say still that taste is more powerful. No matter the beautiful signage or food pics depict, if the food you ate taste aweful, you feel like being deprive.
11.09.09
I think anonymous up there missed the point of your post. lol
This post actually gave me an idea for a post on the mentality around the drive through, and the drive through menu in and of itself. These fast food chains realized that as much as they'd love for people to sit down in their facilities and eat, people go to fast food its convenience. Thinking, how can businesses cut out all the extra stuff (dining in) and just provide a more streamlined, convenient service for their customers (drive through).
Always good stuff Jon.
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