Marketing Your Restaurant Series - Third Tip

Get Customers: Make it Worth their while

As noted in Get Customers: Let them know who you are, it is important to decide on what your business stands for and what you claim. Knowing this will make it easy to know how to market to the Customer you already know. The third step to get customers is to decide what benefit they get from visiting your restaurant and make it an easy decision - a unanimous one - let's eat there!

Using promotions tied to discounted prices is indeed a time-honored way to bring in new customers, followed by word-of-mouth recommendations from a family member, friends or co-worker. Looking to reconnect with less frequent guests? Add a new menu item just for them, a "good to see you again" menu item. Have a different menu item for all customer types like, new customers, out of towners, frequent visitors. New customers might like a sampler of your best dishes or the chef's recommendation. People visiting from out of town may not want left overs so a "no left-over guarantee" menu item might be appealing and fit their budget. Frequent visitors may like a "however you like it" menu item, substitutions allowed! Whatever the promotion, be sure to think it through by setting up a tracking system to measure participation and capture responses, and give the project time to evolve through experimentation.

Be careful with what you choose... Buy 1 Get 1 Free, set promotional prices, combo meals for a set price, discounted additions (sides, appetizers), free appetizers or desserts with entrée, free food/beverage giveaways, they all work to bring in newcomers, but will those folks come back when the deals are done? No recession lasts forever, but consumers will expect restaurants to continue promotions (and low prices) when good times return. Be sure your promotional strategy includes rewards for loyal customers and a way to build new business without eroding brand equity.

Promotions are short-term incentives targeted at specific consumers. Incentives include the use of coupons, free offers, rewards, contests and other trackable gambits that capture new business. The trick is to use them wisely, i.e., the coupon must be valuable enough for diners to want to use them, but not so valuable that they cut into profit margins.

Combine hot trends with common sense.

Since it doesn't pay to spend marketing dollars on expensive products, your restaurant could create a promo that introduces unique but less expensive Australian or South American wines and pair them with, say, imported lamb, but according to a survey of 1,500 culinary professions by the National Restaurant Association, the hottest trends in 2011 include artisan liquor, and locally produced wine and beer, and locally sourced meat, fish and locally grown produce.

Whether you introduce customers to lesser known wines or hook them up with local vintners and brewers, assist them with food pairings by offering half portions for less than full price (Don't cut the price in half; instead, consider two-third or three-fours the price.)

Special menu nights

Create menus that tie in with bestselling food books and movies (think Julie & Julia) as one Atlanta restaurant does. These kinds of events tend to bring in larger groups with an interest in both reading and eating. Consider themed evenings, as well, where your chef's skills with less expensive cuts of meat can be showcased with interesting cooking techniques, like grilling. And, of course, make the most of traditional "date night" holidays, like Valentine's Day. Or do all three as Cafe Atlantico in Washington DC did when it hosted a five-course feast inspired by the Aphrodite by Isabel Allende. Restaurants following trends for nutritionally balanced menus could develop a more serious (and longer-running) promotion by offering heart-healthy entrees in February with a portion of the proceeds going to the American Heart Association. Sign up with Share our Strength to participate in the Great American Dine Out.

Knowing how and why customers are choosing your restaurant (is power)

Did the phone ring? Did traffic increase? Was there a return on investment?

What is the target market for this particular promotion and how will you reach them? Different demographics prefer different types of contact. For example, a boomer crowd may prefer email. Offer the promotion and follow up with surveys via email, but don't neglect informal conversations while the customer is in the restaurant. When using surveys through email or online, offer participants a gift or discount card for their next visit to your restaurant.

Decide what do you want to get from the promotion? When setting expectations, be realistic. Are you looking for a bump in traffic of any kind? An increase in a certain, growing population? Have you changed your restaurant's focus and need to get the word out? Articulate the change you want to make and gauge the success of the promotion on that.

One simple way to track results is to use a word processing template or Excel worksheet. Input the per piece cost of the promotion, including distribution. Add a score for the buying action respondents take and create a tracking code to categorize how customers responded (telephone, email, Web or in person). Start with special coupons and use different codes for each message or offer. Track and tweak your promotions' responses, eliminating what's not working and focusing on what is.

Sound too technical? Talk to customers! Train staff to ask customers specific questions about their experience. This includes the parking valet, hostess, bar tender, wait staff and owner. Listen and reward those customers (and employees) with valuable insights.

Before purging old email lists, reconnect with customers who have not been in for a while. There are some 960,000 restaurants in the US, according to the National Restaurant Association's 2011 industry overview. These folks are eating somewhere; why not your place?

Links
http://www.restaurant.org/pdfs/research/whats_hot_2011.pdf
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/
http://www.strength.org/get_involved/opportunities_for_restaurants/
http://www.restaurant.org/research/facts/

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To Conclude: Know your Customer Type and decide on a specific promotion for them. Create a calendar

Next Tip: Make your Customers Happy: Employee Retention.