complete rookie looking to help a nearby diner

TEST. That's the only thing you can be sure of the results for.

Test different marquee headlines.

Test different offers.

Test different days of the week.

You have, essentially, a billboard and traffic.

You have, zero experience. This place will not pay for zero experience. What you can do is this, go to them and explain that you will get their business, more customers.

Think of a budget, friendly marketing tactic and say that you will market their business, one-two months for free. If you can deliver, then I am sure they will pay your $1k fee. You can take this experience, to other places and charge much higher per month.

Right away you are selling from your heels. If you want to help them, try to help them. Quit worrying about what they will think or whether you have "credibility". You can't control that.

Jason is right, all you can do is test ideas. So get them to let you test a couple of ideas.

They will work or they won't. If they don't, you will live to see another day and have plenty of experience you can use on your next job/project/business. Nothing is wasted. All your experience in life comes into play on everything you do.

That said, you are overlooking the acres of diamonds in your own backyard. You said:

----"The intersection of one of the busiest roads in town and the main interstate is literally half a block from this restaurant." Sweet Caroline! Bingo!

I know you can think of 5 ideas right now you could do to get them business from that intersection.

----"There is a gas station next door that has hundreds of cars coming and going all day long while the diner sits mostly empty." What? Right next door??!!!

Holy Skillets, get a hold of that gas station owner and work a co-promotion! Hint: Ask the gas station owner how you can hep him/her, and work that in to the promotion.

One idea: For every fillup, they get a 25% off coupon for any meal Mon-Fri. Then, on Sunday morning, you hand out coupons to the diners where they get 25% off on an oil change (or whatever the gas station is willing to discount or "push"). These can't be crappy deals. They must benefit the consumer.

Next, go the Restaurant Association website and look for restaurants that have posted ways to drive business Mon-Fri. I found 10 ideas. Here are a few:

----Work week lunch. Go to local area businesses with flyers promoting work lunch specials.

----Trucker Appreciation Meals. Special meals for truckers available Mon-Fri 24 hours a day (or whatever hours they are open) It's a diner near an interstate. Holy 18-Wheeler! Get the word out about the Trucker Appreciation Meals.

Where to find the truckers? They are over at the gas station! Hand them flyers. It won't take long before the word gets out.

Want to go crazy with it? One day a month you hire a massage therapist to give out free massages like you see at the mall sometimes.

Tell me you wouldn't love that if you are driving 20 hours a day. Clear out one of the dead banquet rooms and set up two massage chairs.

----We support local farms. Get the head cook to create a couple meals made out of all local farm produce, or that feature a local farmer.

----All you can eat spaghetti night. People love this, it's cheap and you can promote it easily.

There's just a few ideas. You said you have lots more. Pick one and go with it. Build from there. It helps if the diner owner/manager knows upfront that it is a process of testing and trying, and that not all ideas will work. If it were me, I would be talking to that gas station owner tomorrow!

Get some excitement going. Create a ruckus. Set up a Facebook page. Post the promotions. Put up pictures of the guests having fun. Show the great food. Start tweeting. Get the town involved. Start an email list of customers. Sent them news and updates. Create email specials. Get a website going. Post regular updates. Be fun. Show energy. Be upbeat. Cold-walk the neighboring homes, shops and factories. Introduce yourself. Be a good neighbor. Tell them what is happening. Be friendly and cool. Pass out coupons. Etc.

Garretc8,

The reason most marketing consultants fail is because they don't know how to pick their battles.

You want deals you KNOW will make both you and the Client money. You want deals that are easy to close. Easy to execute. Easy to profit. You want the Client to SMILE as they write you that check thinking they got the better end of the deal.

Think "low hanging fruit". It's everywhere.

In other words: Trying to close a $1000 deal with a reluctant, probably cash-strapped client... in a cutthroat industry... who doesn't know you... who has to fork over the equivalent of 100 meals to you before they see dime one in revenue... with no assurances of success... and you with no experience is the definition of a waste of time.

Move on. There are better ways to make money.

- Rick Duris

The first step in helping any restuarant attract more customers starts from the inside.

What's the quality of their food? Where do they source it? Who cooks? How good is he/she/they?

Is the menu set up for profitability? Or do they have to order a lot of ingredients from their distributors that creates a complex inventory? (A complex inventory usually means a menu that needs to be completely redone.)

What's the waiting staff like? Are they friendly? Do they know the menu inside and out? Are they good at connecting with customers, answering their questions... and making them feel special? Do people come back just because of the waiting staff?

Do they have a system in place - so the front and back of the house works like a well-oiled machine?

Does the pricepoint of their food appeal to their target audience?

Lots of internal work to make sure everything is working correctly - BEFORE you even think about brining more customers in.

With a few exceptions...

Most restaurants that aren't doing well... aren't doing well for a reason.

From what you're saying...

They're getting a good amount of exposure.

But that exposure isn't "converting."

So your first job is to understand WHY.

You can't fix a problem... unless you're crystal clear about WHAT that problem is.

And Rick is right. (I'm sure he's sick of hearing that!)

This is a no-win situation for you... or them.

Your lack of experience isn't just limited to marketing. The restaurant industry has a bunch of nuances you need to know about... to generate a sustainable customer base.

Just from reading your OP...

You're not even asking the right questions yet.

Mark