Talk to me about marketing
 

Seems like everything is digital yet I still get a ton of print advertising. Sure, in 100% it mentions a website and social media. But almost print all is about services and food. Places that you have to physically connect with like stores and restaurants as well as home improvement or things like pet services. Gyms, other 'destination' businesses. I'll leave medical out for now as that is different.

I come from a line of ad men. If I had followed my father and grandfather, I would be retired now as the 3rd gen ad man. No children so the business wasn't going to continue with me. It closed when I was about 30 anyway. My dad went on to work in L.A. for one of the big names in the biz. He was Don Draper from Mad Men to the core, so he died on the job so to speak. You can't live like that and live long.

Obviously it is a different world today just as it was for my granddad seeing television come to the household. They were print guys anyway from 1927 to 1975. Lots of newspaper and magazine campaigns, some radio, very little TV. Mostly local businesses until my dad went uptown and had American Airlines and Peugeot, to name a couple. They did TV, but it wasn't his deal. Actually by then he was involved with huge blocks of purchased TV time that was divvied up amongst advertisers (not resold as that is illegal). But they did have clout negotiating with the Networks and local stations.

Back to the beginning, almost all print is directed at the web, and most have a coupon which is the hook to not toss the whole bit in the can. I recently ate at a fledgling restaurant that didn't have much traffic. They are in restaurant row and next door to a going enterprise. Family affair with good intentions but not much marketing experience. I know it's a shoestring operation but I told them they had to reach out — reach out with coupons. People eat them up. Some are more realistic rather than "10 % off for seniors." I hate that; it's pure BS and my dad wouldn't have done it. My grandfather was too clever for that anyway. He also ran a mail order business on the side. If it wasn't for my grandfather, my dad would have sold cars or something.

Talk to me about marketing. What some or many businesses need is to drive customers to the door. The necessary social media aside, what motivates you to get out and go through that door?

Some answers I expect will hit on

• Word of mouth (that can be manipulated)
• Coupons, of course
• Displays and Event presence
• Call us, we're there for you
• Foot traffic (location)
• Local promotions (including charity)
  

If it's a restaurant, good food will get them coming in the doors for sure, especially if it's good quantity for the price charged.

Other than that I've got nothing to add.

Thanks, Scott. I need to go back before you got a taste. Or maybe I should say I'm not talking about repeat customers. That's another story, how to keep them after you attracted them. And that's not really marketing, that's being successful.

Google search. Plus a coupon would be a bonus but not a clincher.
Don’t have ****ty yelp reviews is big.

It’s what I do every time I’m in a new area.
Home too sometimes to see if anything new opened.

Marketing is pure sociology.

If you're asking how to market a restaurant, I'll assume people live nearby. The food should be fabulous and unique. Better to not be priced low, and to differentiate on other factors.

Keep the menu simple and have fabulous service.

They should design the menu around their local market, e.g. if they have offices nearby, have a lunch menu which is inexpensive and gets served FAST so people can be done start to finish during a lunch break.

If family homes nearby, have provision for kids, such as e.g. somebody who comes in and does face painting or hair braiding for free on a Sunday for kids.

They should have themed evenings highlighting different types of food e.g. kebab night, pizza night etc. Make them regular e.g. weekly so people can get into a habit of coming every week to the thing they like.

They should have an email newsletter containing offers, money off, for newsletter members. But don't give away your prime time high paying slots when the restaurant's full. Use it to get people in to e.g. the kebab night on a Monday when the restaurant would otherwise be under capacity.

Since prices are not low, discounts given in the newsletter still leave you profitable.

Flyer the local houses with your weekly calendar of offers, menu, takeaway details if you offer that. Include a voucher so the flyers have a value and people will retain them.

Facebook/instagram advertising will probably be effective in getting local people through the door, but the experience has to be excellent for them. If they book online, take their email and add to the newsletter. Don't sponsor posts. Instead make a video or carousel ad and don't use the audience network. These are low quality off-platform pages plastered with ads. Keep your ads on the native platform, ideally in the main news feed.

Advertise in bursts when you have high opportunity, e.g. at month end when people get paid, when you expect more people to be out. Going in bursts also helps you assess whether ads have impact. Don't think about the immediate profit on the customer, think about their lifetime value. You may initially lose money to build your clientele. Be aware of the opportunity cost of an empty restaurant.

Consider PROFESSIONAL food photography. If so, get a wide range of shots of all your dishes so you can market them all. If you use a pro, make sure they specialise in food and check their portfolio first. Take their advice and get every aspect of the shoot set up in advance so you can really make the most of their time. Make sure they agree you will have copyright in the photos, or at least will receive the photos and an unlimited license for their use for all purposes. In many places the artist owns the copyright even though you paid for their time.

Consider whether you should provide local delivery via a 3rd party online food app like Just Eat.

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In 2023 if you are not spending money in social media you are done.

As much as I hate "social influencers"... They can make you or ruin you

Not a restaurant necessarily although they are a prime candidate.
Good suggestions on the newsletter, I had omitted that. Although I thing NL's are Pass. Real estate loves them.

I didn't specifically say no social media, but others cover that too well. The lack of replies here gives me thought that there is an opportunity.

I have a degree in marketing that predates the internet. My granddad used principals he found in books from the 1800's. He was very successful in his time 100 years later.

The theme nights/or days mentioned above is what keeps me coming back...and I hear people mentioning "Wed lunch has a great roast beef sandwich special"...stuff like that.

^^^Word of mouth. Very good to have positive WOM. As I said, that can be manipulated. I should have said enhanced. There are ways to boost WOM. But honest pier to pier recommendations are the paramount force driving people to your door.

Yelp is as corrupt as the BBB. I personally know 2 people closely that pay Yelp around 500/mo. for posting only 5 star reviews and pushing their business listing to the top. Actually pretty cheap for what you get and I'd recommend it if it doesn't bother your conscience, which it shouldn't. But don't rely on Yelp as a customer. It's very manipulated. There, that's where that word belongs.

Do they use facebook?(I know everyone hates FB, but it's a tool and its free) Are they listed with google. These are all free to set up and don't take that much time.
When we changed form tastee freez to an independent restaurant I redid the google and the apple maps listings and it helped.
I got an email this week from google that our listing has had 400K views since 12/17/2019.

A few good pictures of menu items shared on facebook can really get things moving.

LET ME SAY THIS AGAIN. I am interested in non social media marketing and advertising that gets you as a customer to check out a business. Even if that means going to social media to do so.

Let me give an example for those that are challenged with understanding the question: Google ran full page ads in the newspapers for 2 weeks recently. Imagine that, Google.

Get it now?

You could do direct mailings or coupon inserts in local papers.

Thank you. When people wake up, they wake up and realize.
As the list shows, that comment about coupons was anticipated. I kinda know about those.

Want to examine a successful marketing plan? Look at Lee Valley tools, and how they market.

Products that are not very good or excellent don't get sold there. They identify their target market and contact them regularly, in an interesting and informative way. They build on quality, easy transactions, and no questions asked guaranteed satisfaction.

They still have catalogs, full of interesting items, and all excellent quality.

I have bought from them. Never heard a word back. Actually, I can't be sure as I've bought so many tools for antiques repair that I didn't have as a finish carpenter. And if I did, I may have been purged due to a time out built into their software. I know I have been purged from Rockler. Funny that as I have bought on Amazon and they were the sellers. I guess that would be correct as Amazon surely prohibits sellers from mailing a catalog directly. I could have bought directly from Rockler but it was actually a bit cheaper to use Amazon Prime even though I know shipping isn't "free."

The Lee Valley example is a good one, for sure. I suppose they and many like them such as Duluth Trading are all similar. Unfortunately, if I'm going to help a business with marketing outside of social media, or digital marketing as it's called, I won't be working with major mail order businesses.

An example of old fashioned marketing that is no longer viable was matchbooks. Beer companies made can openers stamped with their brands. These things don't exist anymore. Pens and other promotional items still do. There's always the ubiquitous T-shirt and caps. Overdone and now overrated. But necessary and the funny thing about those is they are for sale!

Imaging charging for a book of matches. Match books are somewhat unique as people would collect them like postcards. I ought to write a book about old fashioned marketing from medicine shows forward.

A great case study is Ringling Bros. It's long and involved so not for here. Fabulously interesting.

It's unclear whether you want to learn from experts or show everyone else what an expert you are. Maybe it's a bit of both.

Aside from Facebook, which is the best medium for a restaurant, the other great marketing medium which hasn't been mentioned above is a good footfall past your shop window full of happy diners eating delicious food.

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^^^never saw that. Love the cameos! Aretha, Ray, James, have to think about the coboy.

Both, but no one is an expert. There is one genius on here that may stop by. He was part of Chiat Day when Apple was barely out of the garage. That will never be duplicated.

Expert. I would call my grandfather an expert. He started out with 2 years of college and was dressing windows in a dept store in St. Paul when he got married to the daughter of the guy that put RyKrisp on the shelves as a wholesale grocer. My Great-grandfather then sold RyKrisp to Ralston Purina.

My granddad became an ad agency owner, president of Rotary and the local private country club. My dad was president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and lectured at USC, his alma mater.

Lots of pedigree for this mutt. I just wasn't lucky enough to not have some disabilities.