Ep 49: Kieran Donahue is the Chief Marketing Officer for IHOP
Tackling the marketing for a restaurant chain during a pandemic is no small feat. Today’s guest Kieran Donahue took up the challenge when she became the Chief Marketing Officer for IHOP mid-COVID. While she is not solely responsible for the very impressive 40% growth that the brand recently announced, she did play a part in it. After a long career in hospitality with brands like Hilton and Marriott, Kieran joined this leading family dining brand to take on a new challenge in the restaurant industry. Today she joins us to discuss this transition, how she approached her new job, and what IHOP did pre-COVID that helped them survive the pandemic. She describes how she transferred some of the best practices from her experience in hospitality into her role at IHOP. She also talks about the importance of knowing your customers and how technology can be used to achieve this. To find out how IHOP is developing their brand and their tech stack in parallel, how they view their relationship with third parties, and insight into their new fast-casual concept Flip’d, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
Get to know Kieran Donahue, Chief Marketing Officer for IHOP, and a fun fact about her.
What it was like for Kieran to join IHOP mid-COVID and how she approached it.
Why she commissioned a comprehensive research project for the brand.
What IHOP did pre-COVID that helped them survive the pandemic.
Insight into how IHOP just achieved a very impressive 40% growth.
Some of the best practices that Kieran has transferred from her experience in hospitality into her role at IHOP.
The importance of knowing your customers and how technology can be used to achieve this.
How IHOP is developing the brand and its tech stack in parallel.
The current staffing challenges faced by the restaurant industry and how the marketing team is trying to help.
The changes that Kieron is making to her team.
How IHOP currently sees third parties and whether or not they intend to convert them to first parties.
To what degree SEO is a priority for IHOP.
Insight into Flip’d, IHOP’s new fast-casual concept, and its roll-out.
How the power of local marketing can be enhanced by thinking about it at a national level.
Thoughts on how customers became more connected to their local IHOP at a community level during the pandemic.
Kieron’s top four tips for anyone wanting to grow in the marketing field.
Other leaders Kieron would like to see interviewed on the show.
Tweetables:
“Creating ways to engage with our guests and having a better one-to-one relationship is critical for us.” — Kieran Donahue [0:16:39]
“I think SEO is absolutely a priority. It's one of the number one things we focused on in the hotel industry and it's one of the number one focuses I have here.” — Kieran Donahue [0:27:24]
“What [the pandemic] has actually shown [us] is that the power of national and local, working in a coordinated effort is more important than it ever was.” — Kieran Donahue [0:33:56]
“One of the best things about IHOP is that these business owners, these franchisees, they're entrepreneurs but they're also members of the community, and they employ people within their community, and they serve people within their community.” — Kieran Donahue [0:36:45]