How do you get the word out? In a recent interview, when the successful artist Mark Poulin was asked what has been his best marketing strategy, he said, "Nothing will ever beat word of mouth, but advertising will get you pretty close!"
Certainly, word of mouth is not only the most effective, it is also the least expensive. If your customers are saying good things about you behind your back, you obviously have a good product, a good operation and are ahead of the game. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back, but never take your success for granted. Customers are fickle. The trick is to keep them coming back for more. But don't stop there. Not only do you want repeat business, you continually want to draw new clientele.
The next least expensive option is to get your message out there via social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -- that is, if you do it yourself. The trouble is, it's time-consuming, and unless you keep on top of it, its effectiveness is pretty nil. Sending out mass emails or direct-to-inbox online newsletters are other cost-effective ways to get the word out, but they require a concerted effort to accumulate email addresses. Doing so isn't impossible, but again, the effort requires time and know-how. Consider the value of hiring someone to take care of this for you, someone who can also keep track of reviews -- both positive and negative -- on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor and can spearhead marketing strategies. Paying for a social media expert is an investment, but it may be worth it to grow your business because it is so effective.
Free publicity by way of newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations can be hugely successful, but generally they require a timely hook. Are you planning a special holiday meal? Do you provide live entertainment every weekend? Can you connect your business or the building's location to some piece of history, or is your story of human interest? If so, take advantage of the opportunity. You will need to provide a thorough press release with the details of who, what, where, when and how for your chosen media outlet. It should go without saying that you will need to provide contact information, but too often those who are not public-relations professionals forget this important detail. An internet search will lead you to the proper format for a press release, but again, if you don't have time or aren't sure how to do it, you may want to enlist the help of a professional.
Printed materials cost. The sorry truth is that mail-outs have a low return for the investment -- two to three percent is all you can expect to receive. Do the math up front to figure out whether spending the money is worth it to you. Not only will you have to pay for the printing and the cost of mailing, you will have to invest time or money designing it. All of your printed materials should complement your current brand and concept. In other words, if you're selling seafood, you might want to include images of the ocean or fish, and you might want to incorporate water colors, like blue and turquoise, in your materials.
Probably the most effective way to get the word out is some combination of all of the above on a regular basis, budgeted into your costs of doing business. A lot of money is invested in advertising, and much of it goes straight into the proverbial trash. The trick is to make sure yours doesn't.
~ Ellen Ritscher Sackett, for Good Taste Buds
Make a statement
In a previous blog post, the question posed was "What is your restaurant's concept? Can you articulate it?" If not, take a moment and try.
Why is this important? Because when you know what you're selling, you can more easily sell it.
Newspapers, the Yellow Pages and search engines categorize restaurants by type. To slide into one of them enables potential customers to find you more easily. Is your food ethnic, eclectic, or vegetarian? Do you serve southern-style comfort food, deep-dish pizza, spicy wings or barbecue? Once you've established your basic menu, then you can include alternative options. A tea room may also sell coffee. A burger joint may also serve chicken. A wine bar might also sell beer.
What you don't want to do is confuse your customers. They need a clear picture of what you have to offer, with one concept at the top. Restaurants fail when they try to be everything to everyone, and they also fail when they don't offer enough choices. The trick is to know how best to balance the two.
Some concepts have inherent challenges. If you're primarily selling ice cream in North Dakota, you might have to offset your offerings to include hot coffee. If you're trying to appeal to professionals with disposable incomes, you might not locate close to a college campus. If your demographic is strapped for cash, you're not likely to succeed with a steakhouse.
Once you have a clear concept, then you can build your menu and your décor around it. In fact, make everything related to your business a part of that concept in the same way that a company makes decisions while continually referring to its mission statement. Adjust your statement as need be, but make a point to stick to your plan. That way, you will never veer off course.
~ GTB
Why is this important? Because when you know what you're selling, you can more easily sell it.
Newspapers, the Yellow Pages and search engines categorize restaurants by type. To slide into one of them enables potential customers to find you more easily. Is your food ethnic, eclectic, or vegetarian? Do you serve southern-style comfort food, deep-dish pizza, spicy wings or barbecue? Once you've established your basic menu, then you can include alternative options. A tea room may also sell coffee. A burger joint may also serve chicken. A wine bar might also sell beer.
What you don't want to do is confuse your customers. They need a clear picture of what you have to offer, with one concept at the top. Restaurants fail when they try to be everything to everyone, and they also fail when they don't offer enough choices. The trick is to know how best to balance the two.
Some concepts have inherent challenges. If you're primarily selling ice cream in North Dakota, you might have to offset your offerings to include hot coffee. If you're trying to appeal to professionals with disposable incomes, you might not locate close to a college campus. If your demographic is strapped for cash, you're not likely to succeed with a steakhouse.
Once you have a clear concept, then you can build your menu and your décor around it. In fact, make everything related to your business a part of that concept in the same way that a company makes decisions while continually referring to its mission statement. Adjust your statement as need be, but make a point to stick to your plan. That way, you will never veer off course.
~ GTB
First Impressions
Whether you are planning your first restaurant or are a seasoned restaurateur, consider this: Every time someone walks through your business' front door, you have the opportunity to make an impression. What does that mean for you? It means you get multiple shots every day at demonstrating your best -- or worst, as the case may be.
Take a look around. Consider your restaurant with fresh eyes. It only takes a few seconds for customers to size up a place and decide whether to stay. Put yourself in their shoes. Use all of your senses and pay attention to the details of what you see, hear, touch, smell and will eventually taste.
Your first priority must be cleanliness. Nothing will drive a customer out the door faster than filth. If the front of the house isn't clean, one can easily assume the kitchen is far worse. It goes without saying that food safety regulations must be followed to the letter and good hygiene should be practiced by all employees. But what about a general impression? Do the floors look like someone could eat off them? Are the tables cleared quickly? Is dust collecting in the corners, on the ceiling fans and on window sills? One popular restaurant had double-pane windows, and between the glass, dead flies collected. At another, dried ketchup remained behind for years on artwork that hung on booth walls. While employees quickly become oblivious to these sorts of things, customers don't.
The next order of business is whether a customer feels welcome. Busy restaurants, in particular, need to take care to acknowledge new arrivals and attend to their needs as soon as possible. No one likes to wait for service, but worse is to be ignored. Employees must be trained in attentive service. Most repeateries do this well because their parent corporations make it a priority, even assigning mystery shoppers to time how long it takes to make that first connection. Small establishments need to take it just as seriously.
What about your restaurant's concept? Can you articulate it? While this topic is larger than can be addressed in a few sentences, it's worth mentioning here. A restaurant with a strong concept will likely make a stronger first impression than one that doesn't and will be better able to target its desired demographic.
Those restaurants with established clientele need be particularly aware. The owners may feel like they can rest on the laurels of earlier impressions. Not so. A restaurant that doesn't occasionally update its decor and menu may quickly become passé or boring, and loyal customers may decide to dine elsewhere.
Every so often, put yourself in your customer's shoes. Even be the customer on occasion. You may discover that this change in perspective will, in fact, give you a change in perspective -- exactly what information you need to run a better business.
~ Ellen Ritscher Sackett, for Good Taste Buds
Take a look around. Consider your restaurant with fresh eyes. It only takes a few seconds for customers to size up a place and decide whether to stay. Put yourself in their shoes. Use all of your senses and pay attention to the details of what you see, hear, touch, smell and will eventually taste.
Your first priority must be cleanliness. Nothing will drive a customer out the door faster than filth. If the front of the house isn't clean, one can easily assume the kitchen is far worse. It goes without saying that food safety regulations must be followed to the letter and good hygiene should be practiced by all employees. But what about a general impression? Do the floors look like someone could eat off them? Are the tables cleared quickly? Is dust collecting in the corners, on the ceiling fans and on window sills? One popular restaurant had double-pane windows, and between the glass, dead flies collected. At another, dried ketchup remained behind for years on artwork that hung on booth walls. While employees quickly become oblivious to these sorts of things, customers don't.
The next order of business is whether a customer feels welcome. Busy restaurants, in particular, need to take care to acknowledge new arrivals and attend to their needs as soon as possible. No one likes to wait for service, but worse is to be ignored. Employees must be trained in attentive service. Most repeateries do this well because their parent corporations make it a priority, even assigning mystery shoppers to time how long it takes to make that first connection. Small establishments need to take it just as seriously.
What about your restaurant's concept? Can you articulate it? While this topic is larger than can be addressed in a few sentences, it's worth mentioning here. A restaurant with a strong concept will likely make a stronger first impression than one that doesn't and will be better able to target its desired demographic.
Those restaurants with established clientele need be particularly aware. The owners may feel like they can rest on the laurels of earlier impressions. Not so. A restaurant that doesn't occasionally update its decor and menu may quickly become passé or boring, and loyal customers may decide to dine elsewhere.
Every so often, put yourself in your customer's shoes. Even be the customer on occasion. You may discover that this change in perspective will, in fact, give you a change in perspective -- exactly what information you need to run a better business.
~ Ellen Ritscher Sackett, for Good Taste Buds
What makes a restaurant a success?
Two restaurants within ten minutes from each other compete for the same business. They are both located off the beaten track, but along major town thoroughfares. They both about the same size, seat approximately the same number of customers, serve nearly the same fare and the meal prices are close. Even their customer demographics are almost identical. One of them does a booming business with a continuous line for an empty table and has expanded to multiple locations. The other? Barely surviving.
There's a relatively simple reason why one restaurant is doing better than the other. Restaurant "A" invests more in what its customers want: Value for their money. Mind you, hard-working folk frequent this restaurant. They don't have a lot of extra dollars lining their wallets, but they do appreciate good food. But no matter what the income bracket, good value tops the list of consumer priorities.
What about Restaurant "B"? The quality of the food is cheap, the meat is generally overcooked, and the bread would be better thrown away than eaten. The menu prices are rock bottom -- one can't imagine how the owner can charge so little and still survive -- but there's no value in the product. Those same hard-working folks would rather spend more at Restaurant "A" than pay good money at Restaurant "B." They view it as the same as throwing it away.
Good food for a good value are only two of many reasons a restaurant may succeed. Atmosphere, decor, service and location are also factors. Knowing your demographic is important. But often a restaurant's failure boils down to a simple oversight of a key element. Fixing that one problem -- or two or three -- can be enough to make all the difference. Of course, some fixes are easier than others. For example, if your restaurant is in a low-traffic area, you might have to compensate. Perhaps the rent is low, which is why the location was chosen to begin with, but then by necessity, you will have to invest in a heavy advertising campaign in order to spread the word.
Good restaurants are in high demand. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, Americans spend nearly half of their food budget away from home. In the last few decades, eating out has increasingly become a form of entertainment as well as a time-saver for busy families and individuals. Yet restaurants notoriously have a high failure rate. Hmmmm.
If your business is doing less than your expectation, then it behooves you to make your own comparisons. Take a look at a successful restaurant you know well. Analyze the elements that make it work and see how your own operation stacks up against it. Are there aspects to your operation you can modify? Can you compensate for the parts you can't? Are you flexible in your thinking so you can shift your priorities and even re-allocate resources, if necessary?
Let go of your vision long enough to see your reality. This may be the most important first step you can take toward making the two one in the same.
~ Ellen Ritscher Sackett, for Good Taste Buds
~ Ellen Ritscher Sackett, for Good Taste Buds
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