Restaurant Marketing Besides Online Maybe Direct MAil?

12 replies
Hey Guys i wanted to build a package for a small restaurant offline online marketing really has no much value or In other Words ROI What cheap but effective ways can they Get some local direct mail

I want to charge them say $497 a month etc.

Local Restaurants etc

-Ed
#direct #mail #marketing #online #restaurant
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    SMS list building.

    Get the customers is the seats more often.
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  • Profile picture of the author wilder1047
    I might miss the mark on this question because I'm not sure if I fully understand it, but here it goes...

    The great thing about restaurants is pretty much all of the services we are capable of offering will help them greatly.

    SMS Marketing (HUGE)

    Mobile website (In Toronto I believe there are something like 30,000 monthly searches for restaurants, and 5,000 searches from smart phones)

    SEO (gotta get in front of those searches)

    Google Places (gotta get in front of those searches)

    Adwords (gotta get in front of those searches)

    Social Media (Facebook, Google+, Twitter) Build credibility, take polls, shoot out promos on the spot..

    E-Mail Marketing -> E-mail promotions, Dominos has swayed my dining decision a couple times with a quick e-mail...

    and...

    Reputation management -> "Food tastes like crap", doesn't exactly scream "Eat Here!".. help them wash away those bad reviews. But, if the restaurant has a ton of bad reviews, maybe they're deserving of it.. so maybe skip signing them as a client.


    I think you`d have troubles ONLY charging $497 a month with this many services they could benefit from.

    Thanks,

    James
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  • Profile picture of the author swilliams09
    Originally Posted by Edwards WOrld View Post

    Hey Guys i wanted to build a package for a small restaurant offline online marketing really has no much value or In other Words ROI What cheap but effective ways can they Get some local direct mail

    I want to charge them say $497 a month etc.

    Local Restaurants etc

    -Ed
    You should read this thread. Run the numbers and see how many restaurants you need to make a profit and then get out there and make it happen. I have a master plan for local restaurants brewing in the back of my head but I'll say no more until I put it in action.

    Read this thread

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...onth-hero.html
    Signature

    Learn how to make videos that sell. Special $1 Offer for Warriors Only.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ml?view=modern

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    • Profile picture of the author Edwards WOrld
      Great Responds any others will do i am focusing on SMS for sure but addition what else?

      -Ed
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    Direct mail for a restaurant is going to crush any other method for bringing in business. SMS is fine but it's not going to bring in business like direct mail can.

    If you read the "$5,000 per month hero" thread of mine that was pointed out, you'll see how you can incorporate direct mail for your client.

    The great thing about mailing is that you can bring in NEW business, as well as returning customers. With a great offer, it will bring in some serious results for them.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      To add further to what Bob has said, you can target who you want.

      For example you can target those who are having birthdays. This is a very consistent puller of new diners.

      You can target those who have just moved into the area. Studies show they spend more in their first 30 days than long term residents do over 6 months.

      You can target those women who subscribe to wine magazines.

      You can target boat owners with a household income over $100,000.

      And when you mail out to them, you get 100% of them.

      In every market, there are those customers and clients who are measurably much more profitable than others.

      What you do is find out who these people are and use direct mail to reach more of them.

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author SpankinNewbie
    Confusion say: Restaurant with great food never worry about advertising...

    But to answer the question. for $497 you're not going to get a lot of pieces out. But you may want to consider doing some co/op advertising by pairing the restaurant with a movie theater and having them split the costs and both offer a deal. Big full color postcards, good mailing list. MONEY! Valentine's day is soon so get on it!

    Good luck
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    • Profile picture of the author warrioradam
      Bob's method and WSO is spot on. But if you are trying to do it cheap or next to nothing I suggest a few things.

      Depending on which type of restaurant it is...you can do simple to complex

      Simple starts at something as simple as going business to business making a stack of "VIP" cards that has a special offer on it that you give to that businesses employees as a way to say thanks for supporting the community.

      Get their card and special everywhere possible use Facebook/Twitter build email/text lists

      Really I could go on for days but you need to specify what your looking to do and what kind of facility your promoting.
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  • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
    From my experience with restaurants, their largest problem is getting the repeat business for them. How do you get them to get hooked on the restaurant and crave the food and tell EVERYONE about it. SMS is of course the best way to do that. However, you need to offer sort of a do everything for them package. They will pay to have someone on the other side of a phone call so when they want to run a special, you are there to blast the SMS for them. Offer these do it all services.

    Rep management is of course essential. I print up about 50 comment coupons for my clients every now and then and that way people can leave a comment right then and there instead of getting them to go online...then every now and then I stop in and pickup a stack of them and cycle them on the website with a simple php script.

    OK, my other thought on restaurants is this....and I still cant get owners to do this so may offer as a service later. Make them a flyer with a really good coupon in it. Take a huge tray of food samples around to all the local businesses and say hey, I just wanted to stop in to let you sample our food. We are just down the street and are trying to drum up some business. If you like it, here is a coupon for you and if you have a bulletin board, can I post a menu? I bet you could double their business in a day or two of doing this. Charge them for your time. I don't know ANY restaurant that would turn this service down.
    Signature
    I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jerry Williamson
    This may be a bit off topic, but I've created a video package for restaurants where they name "customer of the week" and we video tape the customer and then blast that on Facebook.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      I always like to back up what I recommend with past results in terms of money out, money in.

      In my previous post I mentioned mailing to people who have birthday's in the
      restaurant's location.

      I've got results from that here in the video.

      Another mostly forgotten method is to send out, or hand one to them at the counter after their meal, which has another deal which expires in 30 days and printed clearly on the card.

      This creates the repeat habit of coming back.

      That is also shown in this video.

      Enjoy!
      Ewen

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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Ed,

        Here's the start of a direct mail letter Dan Kennedy has written in his
        Magnetic Marketing package.

        He use's the letter as an example and model for most business types to model.

        Also he uses it as an example because most restaurant owners do not use direct mail,
        and if they did, it is done poorly and therefore are put off by it.

        So here's the beginning and how the campaign is structured...

        ""A Confidential Letter to the Husband of the
        House from Giorgio the Romantic Director of Giorgio's Italian
        Grotto." I'll read you just two paragraphs, "Dear Husband, women
        are different then we are. You're loving wife needs, wants and
        deserves special attention maybe more often then you think you
        give it to her. You are busy, preoccupied with work, aggravated with
        that dumb-dumb you have to deal with everyday at the office, tired.
        Who has the time or the energy to even think about romance? Twothirds of all marriages end in divorce, and the number one reason
        given by divorcing women is 'He just didn't pay enough attention to
        me anymore'" I wrote this while I was watching Oprah.

        The restaurant - goes on to present a solution to the problem,
        which in this case is a free packaged evening of romance, one
        priced table in a special section, five course meal, strolling violinist,
        rose in a bud vase, heart shaped box of candy to take home,
        souvenir photo - that's called an offer by the way and it's useful to
        know how to do one of those, however, it's not my point. My point is
        what happens to everybody that gets this letter and does not
        respond. Fifteen days later, they get the second one. This one too
        has a picture of Giorgio in real life where the circles are there are
        three pennies glued to the letter. The headline says, "Three Coins
        in the Fountain." To save you time I'll just cut to the chase, second
        paragraph says, "This is your second notice. Your romance wakeup call from me Giorgio the Romance Director, my bell tolls does it
        toll for thee. This letter goes on to restate the problem, restate the
        solution, remake the offer, and it works. It gets response that's not
        what's important to our conversation.
        What's important is what happens - everybody gets number letter
        number one, letter number two does not respond, ten days later
        they get letter number three. Letter number three has a picture of
        Giorgio, the headline says, "Here that Lonesome Whippoorwill - he
        sounds too blue to cry - dear husband, this is Giorgio too blue to
        cry, disappointed, attached are copies of the two letters I previously
        sent you", and the real stubborn ones that don't respond to that
        soon get a postcard that looks like this and it says, "Can this marriage be saved?"
        Now, here's what you have to ask yourself seriously for just a
        second - do you have any doubt that any household that gets the
        three letters and if necessary the postcard, he's not the topic of
        conversation. It doesn't matter who opens the mail, they're showing
        it to each other. They're showing it to their neighbors, are you
        getting this guy's mail? Some are, some aren't. Giorgio walks into a
        7-11 dry cleaners and the community people gather around him
        and tell him how much they enjoy getting his mail. When they got
        reservations at the restaurant, and they ask for his autograph for
        the price of three letters and a postcard, he is the dominant
        presence in his category of business in 45 days or less in his
        chosen target market. You can't do it more efficiently then that.
        Now, a few people are saying, "Now wait a minute. I sell very
        sophisticated stuff to very sophisticated people. I would never do
        anything like that. It's unprofessional." Well, you can separate style
        from structure. I want you to know this works even in business to business then it does in consumer because everything else they
        get in business to business mail is dull, institutional and boring. But,
        if you like, you can separate style from structure. What's most
        important is the structure. "
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        A car dealer came back with his results from using Dan's method...

        " This is an automobile salesman, "I'm amazed. I sold eleven cars
        last month through referrals brought into an event by past
        customers. All thanks to your mailing system, and we sent to only
        about 100 customers." A hundred customers, 11 cars."

        Best,
        Ewen
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