Advertising your restaurant may at times seem unaffordable, but the fact is you can't afford not to. Many advertising methods are quite expensive when weighed against the rate of return on your investment. To effectively promote your business, you have to develop unique and creative ideas that provide a big return without breaking your budget.
Instructions
Step 1
Eat at the restaurants run by your competition. You'll never know where you stand in your market if you don't keep tabs on the other guy. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses will help you create effective marketing tactics that promote your strengths.
Step 2
Introduce your restaurant to potential customers by offering samples of one of your products. Determine what product you offer that is a good representation of your menu and that is easily transported. Then designate one day a week to take a free sample of your product to a local business in your service area along with menu flyers or in-store coupons.
Step 3
Contact your local school administrators and present a program to provide school lunches during field trips. Select two different meals to give them a choice, but ensure both are healthy and can easily be prepared for a large group. Price them so that you create an affordable option for the kids when they're away from the cafeteria. Be sure to include flyers and coupons upon delivery, but more importantly, take the opportunity to get to know the staff and parents from the school.
Step 4
Designate early bird dining hours and give out special identification cards to seniors offering a discount on their bill when they dine during those hours. Have them register with a name and address to get the special card, as that will give you information for building a mailing list for future promotions.
Step 5
Give customers a coupon for a free dessert or discount on a meal as they pay their bill. Make the offer good for their next visit to help build repeat business.
Tips & Warnings
When looking for businesses to take free samples to, be sure to include schools and day care centers. In addition to the staff working there, there are countless parents you could gain additional exposure from as well.
When giving out coupons of any type, include a code on them designating which promotion they came from. It is important to track which of your programs gain the most response.
Shop around when having large quantities of flyers printed. There can be quite a difference in charges from one printer to the next.
Don't give customers coupons for freebies or discounts upon their arrival if your intention is for them to use them on their next visit. They may use the offer right away and then not come back for the second purchase, which dilutes your profits.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
How to Market a Restaurant?
Keeping the Seats Filled and the Customers Coming
Even on a shoestring, restaurants have to market themselves. Every restaurant has competition, whether it's the Italian restaurant around the corner, the McDonald's a half mile away or mom's Thanksgiving leftovers in the home freezer.
Guerilla Marketing
Guerilla Marketing is using a number of smaller tactics rather than utilizing larger tactics like the national TV ads that franchises use. Guerilla tactics are cheap if not free.
Top 10 Guerilla Tactics
Signage -
Make sure you have the largest, clearest and most clever sign that local ordinances will allow.
Flyers - Make sure people know you're opening. Give them 15% off an entree the first week you're open.
Sampling -
Having your best looking and most personable server handing out samples of your irresistable muffins in the morning or delicious pasta in the afternoon goes a long way to building a relationship with new customers. Tell people about the restaurant while they're stopping to grab a sample. Invite them to come back for something to eat.
Loyalty Programs -
Offer people something for free after they've bought 10 items at your restaurant. Give people a reason to come back often.
Public Relations Stunts -
Grab media attention. Have your staff dress up as chickens and walk around your neighborhood, if you serve the best roast chicken in town. Be creative. Do whatever it takes to get noticed. Hand out menus and cards.
Great Customer Service and Warmth -
Treating people graciously and making them feel special will create buzz. People will tell their friends about a great experience they had.
Promotions -
Offer special themed dinners, guided wine and cheese tastings and other fun events to give people a reason to come to the restaurant on a usually slow night.
Contests - Just having a fishbowl and collecting business cards allows you to collect valuable information about your customers. You build an email and/or mail campaign.
Customer Comment Cards -
Collect names, email addresses and birthdates of your cutomers. Email them a special coupon 3 weeks before their birthday.
The Web -
Having a simple website that shows people your menu, what kind of payment you accept, your operating hours and gives an idea of your restaurant concept is a great marketing tool.
Even on a shoestring, restaurants have to market themselves. Every restaurant has competition, whether it's the Italian restaurant around the corner, the McDonald's a half mile away or mom's Thanksgiving leftovers in the home freezer.
Guerilla Marketing
Guerilla Marketing is using a number of smaller tactics rather than utilizing larger tactics like the national TV ads that franchises use. Guerilla tactics are cheap if not free.
Top 10 Guerilla Tactics
Signage -
Make sure you have the largest, clearest and most clever sign that local ordinances will allow.
Flyers - Make sure people know you're opening. Give them 15% off an entree the first week you're open.
Sampling -
Having your best looking and most personable server handing out samples of your irresistable muffins in the morning or delicious pasta in the afternoon goes a long way to building a relationship with new customers. Tell people about the restaurant while they're stopping to grab a sample. Invite them to come back for something to eat.
Loyalty Programs -
Offer people something for free after they've bought 10 items at your restaurant. Give people a reason to come back often.
Public Relations Stunts -
Grab media attention. Have your staff dress up as chickens and walk around your neighborhood, if you serve the best roast chicken in town. Be creative. Do whatever it takes to get noticed. Hand out menus and cards.
Great Customer Service and Warmth -
Treating people graciously and making them feel special will create buzz. People will tell their friends about a great experience they had.
Promotions -
Offer special themed dinners, guided wine and cheese tastings and other fun events to give people a reason to come to the restaurant on a usually slow night.
Contests - Just having a fishbowl and collecting business cards allows you to collect valuable information about your customers. You build an email and/or mail campaign.
Customer Comment Cards -
Collect names, email addresses and birthdates of your cutomers. Email them a special coupon 3 weeks before their birthday.
The Web -
Having a simple website that shows people your menu, what kind of payment you accept, your operating hours and gives an idea of your restaurant concept is a great marketing tool.
Ways to Promote Your Restaurant
How do you get more customers to come through your door? And, how do you keep them coming back again and again with so many eateries to choose from?
Here’s a list of great promotion ideas to help you grow your business and win loyal customers.
1. Loyalty Cards
As an independent restaurant owner, how can you get customers to return on a regular basis when there are so many branded eateries around? Answer: Reward them. Give them a loyalty card that you print up, and every time they buy a meal, stamp it with your unique stamp. After 6 visits buy them a free drink or dessert. With a full card (10 visits) they can receive a free entree when they bring in a guest.
2. The Star Factor
It’s a tried and true method – to keep your eatery “hot” and popular, invite local celebrities in to dine on the house, take a photo of them with you, have them sign it and display the framed photo on the wall. If someone famous walks in, make sure to keep a camera handy by the register.
3. Teach
Whether it’s teaching how to run a restaurant at a local college or having your chef give a cooking demonstration at the restaurant on a night you’re usually slow or closed, teaching is a cheap way to get your name out there. Offer to speak to your local business group and give out menu and cards and offers for discounted catering.
4. Host a Benefit
Offer to host a popular charity event in your area or supply some of the food for it if they’ll advertise you as a sponsor in their posters and programs.
Food and other costs can be written off as charity. Check with your management for the specifics.
Here’s a list of great promotion ideas to help you grow your business and win loyal customers.
1. Loyalty Cards
As an independent restaurant owner, how can you get customers to return on a regular basis when there are so many branded eateries around? Answer: Reward them. Give them a loyalty card that you print up, and every time they buy a meal, stamp it with your unique stamp. After 6 visits buy them a free drink or dessert. With a full card (10 visits) they can receive a free entree when they bring in a guest.
2. The Star Factor
It’s a tried and true method – to keep your eatery “hot” and popular, invite local celebrities in to dine on the house, take a photo of them with you, have them sign it and display the framed photo on the wall. If someone famous walks in, make sure to keep a camera handy by the register.
3. Teach
Whether it’s teaching how to run a restaurant at a local college or having your chef give a cooking demonstration at the restaurant on a night you’re usually slow or closed, teaching is a cheap way to get your name out there. Offer to speak to your local business group and give out menu and cards and offers for discounted catering.
4. Host a Benefit
Offer to host a popular charity event in your area or supply some of the food for it if they’ll advertise you as a sponsor in their posters and programs.
Food and other costs can be written off as charity. Check with your management for the specifics.
What is 100% Market Share?
Hotels often brag that they are running 100% market share penetration. If a property is positioned well in the market in terms of product and rate, 100% market share is what you get for opening the front door and not chasing customers out the back door with poor service. Over and above 100% is the result of an effective sales effort.
For example, a promoter said to me recently that the bad news was that one of his hotels was Rs.5,00,000 down for the month over the previous year but the good news was they were running 117% market share and 125% Yield index.
A simple definition of 100% Market Share is that if your hotel accounts for 20% of all available rooms in a market and you received 20% of all occupied rooms in a given time period, you achieved your fair share of the occupied rooms or 100% of your fair market share. However, you who may not have access to that report because you are in a small market that does not have enough properties reporting to Smith Travel to constitute a statistically valid competitive set or because you are not franchised or operate in a market with many independent, non-franchised hotels. In those situations, it is still relatively easy to calculate market share if the other properties will share their occupancies or if your area has a lodging tax.
Defined this way, it should be easy to understand why I say that 100% Market Share should be relatively easy to obtain. The other argument (excuse) that I often hear for maintaining less than 100% Market Share is that to do so would negatively impact the Yield Index or REVPAR Index. On the contrary, the opportunity to manage the revenue in order to maximize the Yield Index occurs when a hotel is running above 100% Market Share.
At less than 100% Market Share, it is difficult to pick and choose clients who fit your ideal client profiles (you did develop those didn’t you after reading last month’s article in this publication?). The hotel is accepting the business that comes to it rather than developing business that will be the most profitable for the property.
Going out and actively seeking business is key to market share penetration. In any given market there few, if any hotels, that have their sales people out on the street asking for the business. The sales team will not totally know which clients fit their profiles without qualifying all of the businesses or organizations within their market. A lot of time is wasted pursuing clients that have no potential for the property. That is a result of poor qualification techniques.
Once you have identified a prospect that you think may have business for you, do your homework. This is so much easier now with the resources available on the Internet. Log onto what you think may be their web site address or do a search. This will give you valuable information on the organization including the size, locations, mission statement or value proposition as well as key contacts. In some cases, especially with associations, it will also give you information on where they held their last meeting and annual conference. The location and the hotel that was used will tell you if they are in your ‘ball park’.
Going into an appointment prepared will impress your prospective client and give you some insight into how to approach them. The following are some of the questions to ask during the qualifying process:
Do you use hotels in the area? I know this sounds like a no-brainer but it amazes me how many sales people go straight into their presentation only to be told that the contact doesn’t use hotels. Who in the company (organization) makes decisions about hotel selection and reservations? How much time is spent talking to someone who has no decision-making authority?
Which properties do you currently use for your transient and/or group business and how many rooms do you use over the course of a month or a year? This will tell you a lot about their rate sensitivity, the amenities that are important to them and potential volume.
Why do you use them and are you happy with the way they are serving you? This question will give you insight into the ‘hot buttons’ or buying factors that are key to closing the account.
What rate range do you look for in selecting a hotel? You probably have a good idea on the answer to this one from the above questions but it will tell you if they have a negotiated rate at your competitors, that is, if you know your competition’s rate structure.
Are you familiar with my hotel? Many people in your local market may not have been to you property recently or at all. Outside of your local market, a prospective client may have heard of your property but the information they received my not be recent. You may have renovated or made significant improvements since they last saw your hotel. Don’t assume that they know your product or your rate structure. You may only have one chance to see this contact, make an impression and begin a relationship that could lead to new business for your hotel.
The answers that you receive to the above questions will allow you tailor your property presentation to the prospects ‘hot buttons’ or the things that are important to them in making a hotel selection. The key to a successful property presentation is to know your presentation so well that you don’t have to think about what you are going to say next and not to dwell on features that are unimportant to them.
A wise man once said that a rising tide floats all boats. In most markets the tide is going out and not rising. Those properties that don’t mount a skilled and effective sales effort will find themselves beached. Attaining market share over 100% is about rising above the tide.
For example, a promoter said to me recently that the bad news was that one of his hotels was Rs.5,00,000 down for the month over the previous year but the good news was they were running 117% market share and 125% Yield index.
A simple definition of 100% Market Share is that if your hotel accounts for 20% of all available rooms in a market and you received 20% of all occupied rooms in a given time period, you achieved your fair share of the occupied rooms or 100% of your fair market share. However, you who may not have access to that report because you are in a small market that does not have enough properties reporting to Smith Travel to constitute a statistically valid competitive set or because you are not franchised or operate in a market with many independent, non-franchised hotels. In those situations, it is still relatively easy to calculate market share if the other properties will share their occupancies or if your area has a lodging tax.
Defined this way, it should be easy to understand why I say that 100% Market Share should be relatively easy to obtain. The other argument (excuse) that I often hear for maintaining less than 100% Market Share is that to do so would negatively impact the Yield Index or REVPAR Index. On the contrary, the opportunity to manage the revenue in order to maximize the Yield Index occurs when a hotel is running above 100% Market Share.
At less than 100% Market Share, it is difficult to pick and choose clients who fit your ideal client profiles (you did develop those didn’t you after reading last month’s article in this publication?). The hotel is accepting the business that comes to it rather than developing business that will be the most profitable for the property.
Going out and actively seeking business is key to market share penetration. In any given market there few, if any hotels, that have their sales people out on the street asking for the business. The sales team will not totally know which clients fit their profiles without qualifying all of the businesses or organizations within their market. A lot of time is wasted pursuing clients that have no potential for the property. That is a result of poor qualification techniques.
Once you have identified a prospect that you think may have business for you, do your homework. This is so much easier now with the resources available on the Internet. Log onto what you think may be their web site address or do a search. This will give you valuable information on the organization including the size, locations, mission statement or value proposition as well as key contacts. In some cases, especially with associations, it will also give you information on where they held their last meeting and annual conference. The location and the hotel that was used will tell you if they are in your ‘ball park’.
Going into an appointment prepared will impress your prospective client and give you some insight into how to approach them. The following are some of the questions to ask during the qualifying process:
Do you use hotels in the area? I know this sounds like a no-brainer but it amazes me how many sales people go straight into their presentation only to be told that the contact doesn’t use hotels. Who in the company (organization) makes decisions about hotel selection and reservations? How much time is spent talking to someone who has no decision-making authority?
Which properties do you currently use for your transient and/or group business and how many rooms do you use over the course of a month or a year? This will tell you a lot about their rate sensitivity, the amenities that are important to them and potential volume.
Why do you use them and are you happy with the way they are serving you? This question will give you insight into the ‘hot buttons’ or buying factors that are key to closing the account.
What rate range do you look for in selecting a hotel? You probably have a good idea on the answer to this one from the above questions but it will tell you if they have a negotiated rate at your competitors, that is, if you know your competition’s rate structure.
Are you familiar with my hotel? Many people in your local market may not have been to you property recently or at all. Outside of your local market, a prospective client may have heard of your property but the information they received my not be recent. You may have renovated or made significant improvements since they last saw your hotel. Don’t assume that they know your product or your rate structure. You may only have one chance to see this contact, make an impression and begin a relationship that could lead to new business for your hotel.
The answers that you receive to the above questions will allow you tailor your property presentation to the prospects ‘hot buttons’ or the things that are important to them in making a hotel selection. The key to a successful property presentation is to know your presentation so well that you don’t have to think about what you are going to say next and not to dwell on features that are unimportant to them.
A wise man once said that a rising tide floats all boats. In most markets the tide is going out and not rising. Those properties that don’t mount a skilled and effective sales effort will find themselves beached. Attaining market share over 100% is about rising above the tide.
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