Easy and Effective Restaurant Marketing Ideas
Quick Win 1: Bring 'Em Back Restaurant Coupons
Give all first time restaurant customers a coupon with a straightforward offer redeemable on their next visit (perhaps a free of charge aperitif, dessert or after dinner drink). The offer should have no conditions and should be redeemable next 6 months. Tell the client to create in the restaurant coupon and make sure to ask for information that you could add to your database. Measure the results, modify the offer if needed, and when it brings you more business, make this section of your marketing system.
Quick Win 2: Cut Restaurant Costs
While you are busy, it literally pays to take time to review your restaurant costs every 6 months. An easy way to improve your bottom line is to spend less. When did you last renegotiate your charge card charges? Are you getting the best deal from your own wine merchant? Review your menu and check your income - which are the dishes that provide you the very best margins? Develop a special menu with one of these dishes to sell more. Eliminate your 3 worst-selling dishes and those with the worst margins. You may be surprised at how this regular housekeeping can affect your bottom line.
Quick Win 3: Increasing Restaurant Prices
"If your prices are 10% too low you have to do 3x the work to make the same profit. If your prices are 10% too high it is possible to lose 43% of one's business and still keep up with the same profit." - Larry Steinmatz
One of the fastest ways to increase your restaurant profits is to raise prices. Just a few dollars on several well-selling items gives you exponential growth immediately. That could appear to be a frightening idea, but take a closer look at the psychology of pricing and buying behavior and you will understand why 80% of restaurant businesses undercharge for their services and products.
Except in some particular cases, most people usually do not make purchasing decisions on price alone. Don't believe me? Just take a shop around at the sunglasses people have on around you. I bet you see plenty of Ray Bans and Dolce Gabbana sunglasses. This just implies that you can find other criteria for purchasing behavior than price.
So whatever you do, don't ever reduce prices, and certainly don't take up a price war. You don't want that to be your competitive advantage because anyone and everyone can undercut you. On the other hand, you should think about raising your prices. Don't let concern with competition or lack of confidence stop you. Should you have true differentiation, you have targeted your audience correctly and they see a perceived value in your product they are willing to purchase, then you can certainly charge premium prices. Actually, they will expect reduced service and will feel privileged, and you'll find yourself selling even more.
In most cases you will discover that dropping prices to market more actually loses you money, while raising prices, in case you sell less, raises your margin.
Even if it looks like a difficult move to make, test different higher price points for various offerings. Tomorrow raise your prices by 10%. You can observe not only how the price rise affects your business (you will either lose business, gain business or stay exactly the same), but you can then look at your profit margins and adjust accordingly.
Lots of the restaurant owners that we work with have experienced the following pleasing phenomena: they raised prices and found that not only did they will have more customers (the restaurant is regarded as higher quality), however they had a far more reliable and less complicated clientele that also spent more income and had higher overall tickets.
Quick Win 4: Celebrate Birthdays at your Restaurant
Birthdays, by their very personal nature, are an ideal time to distribute a very personalized offer. Of all occasions, it is the most effective so far as restaurant marketing campaigns go. Make sure to gather birthday and contact information in your exit surveys and begin a birthday campaign. Send an email or snail mail with a restaurant coupon for a complimentary dessert, drink or meal at the end of the month preceding the individual's birthday month. Permit them to use the restaurant coupon for the entire month of these birthday.
You can also propose additional birthday services. Think of Helpful hints that would make your customers life easier - supplying the cake at a particular price, giving a special group rate, or including party favors.
A special surprise like a complimentary piece of cake with a candle and the customer's name and birthday wishes written onto it is sure to appeal to the kid within any customer. You'd be amazed at the invaluable positive word of mouth a simple gesture like that can create.
You can even use a birthday campaign in an effort to recruit clients by buying lists with birthdays and postal codes and sending out your special birthday offer as a way to introduce your restaurant.
Birthdays are very personal, and as we will learn, business is personal. Don't avoid this fantastic opportunity to reach out to your customers and make sure they are happy.
Quick Win 5: Referral Restaurant Gift Certificates
Try out this activity now for an instantaneous increase in your restaurant customer numbers. At the end of a meal, give happy customers 3 different gift certificates with a quantity off because of their next meal at the restaurant (or any other offer that you feel is compelling). Then provide them with 2 more of the dining certificates and ask them to share the certificates making use of their friends. The offer should be compelling and have no conditions apart from a time limit. Supply the recipient enough time to redeem the certificate. Perhaps make the certificate best for 6 months, or for specific down times you are trying to fill.