Start by finding out everything you can about the way they run the restaurant and how their staff interact with their customers. If they have no one recommending them now you have to get to the root of the problem. Although they have great reviews on TA doesn't mean they are going to get customers from it.

Before committing to help them make sure they are a restaurant that serves great food and takes care of their existing customers, if they can't get this right then there's nothing you can do that will change it for them.

Start with a great sms vip loyalty program for their current customers and also make sure that it encourages their existing customers to share the vip with their friends after joining. Get a contract to manage their social places for at least 90 days so you can tie it in with the vip or train them how to do it effectively.

Plus the usual flyers and newspaper ad publicising the vip club.

One important thing to realize before trying to push social related promo like sms, facebook and such is if the biz owners are willing to be active participants.
What good are these "things" if owners wont aggressively seek signups or wont actively engage with the facebook fans.

Most small biz owners arent used to that concept, they are used to writing a check for yellow pages, tv ads, newspaper, ragazines etc and just sitting back and thinking that business is just going to pour in.

You have to know they have an open mindset and are going to go all out to do their part, it may require active training on your end in addition to the introduction of the new technology, so dont short sell your efforts.

DO NOT prescribe any ideas or recommendations....

..they'll either take your ideas and go to a competitors who'll do it cheaper than you.

or whatever you say, they'll try and chip u down in price.

So, DO A MARKETING AUDIT first, to find out why their marketing isnt working.

Think, if you were in the medical fraternity and simply prescribed recommendations WITHOUT ANY DIAGNOSTICS, you'd either be STRUCK off or worse......SUED.

Charge them to help them find out WHY its not working.

Then charge them to put a WRITTEN plan of action together WHAT needs to be done.

Then charge them to IMPLEMENT the plan of action.

(most people end up sending out proposals detailing the plan instead of getting paid to write it from the OUTPUTS of the audit - which the client will give you )

Hope that makes sense



Fraser

TonyD....you hit the nail firmly on the head.

Before you drive traffic....check the sales page.
Translates as......
Before you send diners.....check the food and service.

If the food is not tip top you are flogging a dead horse (I hope they're not ;0)

Why not charge them to do a mystery shop first?

Obviously the food has to be good.
Put a glass jar in the restaurant and collect email addresses of the diners.

Offer a bribe to diners to get their email - Lucky draw free meal.

Then target affluent people in your local town with direct mail.

start a birthday club where the customer would get a free drink/app/entree/dessert, whatever restaurant wants to offer. Birthday people bring other people. A good way to get people to opt in for a list.

Here are some ideas you might find helpful:

# Offer a free meal for your birthday to diners.

They just need to join the email list so you can send them the
gift by email when their birthday comes around.

You can use QR codes so diners and even people passing
by the restaurant can use their mobile phones to subscribe.

People don't eat alone on their birthdays so this can be a
profitable strategy.

It also gets diners on an email list so you can make other
offers to them (free coffee, free dessert with a meal etc).


# The return on any promotion is going to depend heavily
on how well the staff are trained in add on sales.

The money in a restaurant is really in how many extra sales
are made in bread, entrees, drinks, coffee, dessert.

Also in the staff's ability to successfully recommend meals
that have a high net profit.

A pasta that sells for $20 might make 3 times the net profit
of a steak meal for example.

Staff who are trained to say something positive about the
special meal of the day "the pasta today is fabulous with
a special source that Chef Robert makes perfectly..." etc
etc.

Same with entrees, breads etc.

Smart restaurants are promoting lines that make them high
net profits and they make sure they deliver premium quality
delicious food with this high profit lines.


# Reviews, reviews reviews.

There are multiple ways of getting positive reviews for a restaurant
but one of the smartest is to have some kind of incentive you can
offer for people who make a review and a QR code right there on
the incentive so people can get on their mobile while they're in the
restaurant and make a review on the spot (you can give a free
drink, coffee, a return voucher with a free gift etc etc).

The real secret is for the staff to identify happy diners and offer
them the incentive...remember you want mainly positive reviews.

If it's an incentive they have to come back for and you put a
date of use on the incentive that is a little shorter time span
than that diner would normally return to eat then you can
also increase the frequency your happy diners eat with you.

In other words if someone comes in every money and you give
them a voucher they have to use in 2 weeks before it expires
then potentially you're doubling the number of times they eat
with you.

That can amount to substantial increase in business.


# Use your reviews as content in multiple ways.

Positive reviews are often keyword rich. Diners talk about
the specific meals they ate and you can create a page for
each diner on your website with the review.

On that page you can also have a call to action (an offer
or call to book etc).

So someone searching in your town for Chicken Parmegana
will find a positive review from someone who ate in your
restaurant and under that a note saying book early to
ensure your seat on xxxx.

When you have dozens of positive reviews on dozens of pages
on a website that's going to bring in some serious business.


# You can also do video reviews, put them on youtube and
embed them on pages on your website.

It's so easy now to use a mobile phone or have a camera
in the restaurant where you can get diners to say what
they loved about their food and the restaurant.

You can also take a photo of happy diners and put that
with their positive review on your website.

That gives them a reason to go to your site too...to
download their photo.

And it gives you an excuse to get their contact details
which leads to...


# Learn to say thank you.

You can send a thank you email to every diner your staff
likes.

Staff can write these emails at the end of the shift (make
it fun and pay them for the extra 30 minutes and they'll
be happy enough to do it).

The psychological effect of thinking about specific nice things
to say about diners every night is VERY powerful.

Also when was the last time you got an email from a restaurant
thanking you for dining there and saying something nice about
you?

I'm still waiting...lol.

Are you going to eat anywhere else next time?

Are you going to tell your friends about a restaurant like that?



This is just scratching the surface...there are so many things
you could do.

One huge key is having incentive for the staff to promote high
net profit lines, get reviews and write thank you emails.

And starting with good staff to begin with.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh