Effectively Marketing Your Restaurant
By: Andrew Coppolino
If “location, location, location” is the mantra for retail success intoned by marketing theorists, promotions become an integral part of sustaining business amongst a sometimes fickle general dining public who are happy to move on to the next new flavour-of-the-month restaurant experience.
A plethora of promotion possibilities
Jackie Oakes of Flanagan Foodservice notes that when it comes to promotions to keep your restaurant full and popular, the sky is the limit, so be creative and energetic. “There are many options, so it’s just a matter of finding out what works best in your establishment.”
She adds that running promotions on typically slower nights is an effective marketing strategy.
“Consider offering a discounted dessert on a slow night or perhaps a cross-promotion with another local business like a theatre or museum. And don’t forget the power of sports. Focus your promotion on a sporting event, whether that’s a televised game or a gathering spot where local teams meet after games. You might benefit by contacting the convenor or administrators of local leagues for more information.”
Once you decide on your promotion strategy, the work has only just begun: make sure you advertise! Draw as much attention to promotion as you can muster through in-house and outdoor signage, neighbourhood-targeted flyers, the Internet, your website, and where possible with neighbourhood and local newspapers. Smaller parts contribute to the whole to make your promotion or event a successful one.
Go Electronic but Stay in Touch With Your Inner “WOMM”
Reaching out electronically to customers’ works, as Oakes knows from personal experience. Email is an affordable electronic contact with your customers.
“A restaurant I recently visited asked for my email address and birthday. A week before my birthday, they sent me a message for a free appetizer. So when my family and friends were discussing where to celebrate, I suggested this restaurant as it was top of mind and I had an incentive to go.”
This kind of connection and positive experience, according to Oakes, should show restaurateurs and operations managers just how powerful “word-of-mouth marketing” (WOMM) can be as an effective tool for restaurants.
Positive word-of-mouth marketing starts with a smile at the door and the way your customers are treated in your establishment, says Oakes. “A warm welcome and a great dining experience and your customers will do your marketing for you. Remember that word-of-mouth tends to be more credible than formal promotion methods because the message is coming from a trusted friend or relative.”
And in the evolving days of social network service, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs have become extremely powerful marketing tools, Oakes adds. “Blogs and other social media have added a new layer of WOMM allowing restaurateurs to invite customers to discuss their restaurant and spread the good word.”
Best part of WOMM? It’s free.
The tried and true still works well
Business cards are hundreds of years old, going back to at least 17th century England where merchants proffered up “trade cards” replete with maps in the absence of formal street addresses and house numbers.
Today, even with the blogosphere and Internet, the old standard business card is a good way for you to collect valuable information and assist you in your marketing planning.
“Having a place where customers can drop their business cards for a monthly draw is a great way to find out where your customers are coming from. Hand out coupons or flyers in those neighbourhoods to create some extra traffic,” says Oakes.
Related to the idea of coupons and loyalty programs, always be wary of the perception that you are “discounting” your product. Oakes suggests that restaurants encourage customers to come back to your establishment with “Frequent Diner” or “Dining Reward” cards—the purchase of 12 meals noted on a card entitles you a “lucky-13” free meal.
A Cool Napkin Tool
Napkins are, of course, part of the restaurant table top and they are a necessity, so why not use them to market your business at the same time?
In fact, printed napkins offer simple but strikingly potent opportunities for keeping—very literally—the name of your restaurant in front of your customers (and every time they dab the corner of their mouth), according to Oriana Mendoza, product manager for the Away from home division of Cascades Tissue Group.
“Printed napkins are a very, very good way to promote the logo and the visibility of your restaurant,” Mendoza says. “It creates a kind of loyalty. Every time customers sit at the table, they see the napkin and recognize the logo.”
It’s a tool, she explains, that is part of a promotion that C & I has offered for the last 10 years and which permits independent restaurateurs to order small quantities of printed napkins.
“They can put their logo on the napkins as well as their addresses and websites and even how long they have been in business. It’s a good way to promote the image of your restaurant and very cost effectively with only a 5% -8% added cost.” C & I also offers napkin dispensers for table top or counter that can carry your restaurant’s logo and image. Mendoza calls printed napkins a “cool tool,” especially for quick service restaurants. Customers take away their food order and with it some of the restaurant napkins printed with the business information. The napkins enter the customer’s home and any extras end up as reminders of the food and restaurant and can prompt a subsequent visit.
“We know that for this printed napkins promotion; we have many returning customers taking advantage. We believe about 30% of napkins out in the market are printed napkins showcasing the restaurant,” says Mendoza.
Web Expectations
A web presence is a no-brainer. Brent Blayney, system administrator Vision North Inc., agrees absolutely. “In this day and age, if your restaurant doesn’t have a website then you are completely off the radar in terms of your visibility with respect to your competition.”
An added media layer, Blayney points out, comes in the shape and form of the ubiquitous cell phone—and not just any cell phone but Internet-enabled cell phones that are active with texting and Tweeting, especially among a younger demographic.
“The phone and Internet is going to be their “go-to” resource when they want to find information about where to go for a quick bite to eat. They’re going to hit the web and see what’s out there,” adds Blayney.
What’s important to remember if you don’t have a website, or you have a rudimentary one but want to upgrade, is to think about who your target audience is. Is it a more sophisticated crowd? Is it a younger crowd? Is it a family restaurant? Are you catering to a take-out crowd?
The next step is to design a website that ties into that market at the same time that you evaluate what your competition is doing and whether or not they are successful with it.
“Your restaurant is your brand, so your website needs to show your own unique look and style,” Blayney says. “You want a homogeneous theme that corresponds with your business cards, stationary, and menus. It should be cohesive because you are creating recognition of your brand.”
What is “must-have” information for your website? Blayney recommends full address, contact information, a map of how to get there, hours of operation, examples of the menu if not the entire menu, and any special events or activities.
“That you offer live music or half-price wings on Tuesdays should be very prominent on your website and easy to find,” he notes.
Ultimately, the simple approach works best. People visiting a restaurant site want the information they are looking for very quickly, or they click off the site. Don’t distract them with unnecessary flashy gadgetry and relatively useless options and features. Just because the technology is there and offers the sky is no reason to fly off into the stratosphere, suggests Blayney.
“Websites can be built over time and at costs that can fit just about any budget. My whole approach when it comes to website design is clean, simple, and fast. Those are the three targets that I make sure I’m headed toward. You don’t want to have information buried and you want to avoid redundant or otherwise useless information.”
