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Restaurant Marketing Plan
Restaurant Marketing Plan
Does your restaurant need a restaurant marketing plan?
Or
is it enough that people come because the food and service are good.
Certainly, if your tables are full every day, you probably don’t need
one (unless, of course, you’d like to make a bigger profit). Simply
put, a restaurant marketing plan is a plan for success.
If
you agree that you need a restaurant marketing plan and are able to
write one, we don’t have to convince you of its importance.
But before you sit down to write it, keep in mind that a restaurant marketing plan has to cover much more than the 4P’s taught in Marketing 101 – product, price, place, and promotion.
Restaurant marketing
doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Great marketing is about solid operational
execution, effective positioning and the cumulative results of
marketing inside the four walls of your restaurant and in the immediate
trading area – not taking over the airwaves.
Effective
restaurant marketing must be built on a foundation of fact and
knowledge about the market, your competition, your customers, financial
history, marketing history, the industry, and outside forces that will
impact your business.
Be sure you’re keeping track not only of overhead and income, but know the answers to questions about business progress:
What
percentage of your business is new vs. repeat? For example, instruct
your serves to at least ask the very simple question, “Have you been
here before?” These first-time customers will establish their opinion
of your restaurant during this first visit.
How often do
existing customers return? Frequency is generated by developing
enduring relationships and loyalty among customers. It’s easy to
imagine how much business would increase if customers who come to your
restaurant once a month, returned once a week. And QMG and you know
there are many ways of increasing loyalty and frequency, without
spending money on media.
What’s your check average? Check
averages can be built through price increases, suggestive selling
programs, effective internal merchandizing, and through add-ons or
upgrades to name but a few techniques. If the check average shifts up
or down dramatically, be sure you know why and make it a part of your restaurant marketing plan.
Do
customers primarily visit alone, in twos or in groups? Whatever the
number, you’ll want to devise programs that encourage customers to
bring more of their friends with them for each visit. Examples of
programs include bus drivers eat free, birthday clubs and
refer-a-friend tactics. Encouraging party size turns customers into
advocates and enlists them as part of your sales-building team.
Knowing
all you need to include in a restaurant marketing plan is vital, but
how much should you budget for marketing? A typical restaurant should
allocate 3% - 6% of sales to marketing. It’s also a good idea to
allocate this money proportionally to your sales volume. Meaning, if
July is your busiest month, you should spend a proportionate amount on
your restaurants marketing budget in that month.
One of the most
common marketing mistakes is not spending money when business is good.
Fish where the fish are biting. If your location depends on seasonal
business, like at a ski or beach resort, it’s obvious you should
promote when the potential customers are in town.
All the money
in the world can’t bring in people, if the people aren’t there.
Likewise, if your location is not convenient for a happy hour crowd,
don’t throw away money trying to build one. Marketing can’t change
behavior; it can only influence existing behavior. Spend your marketing
dollar where it will have the best return for your restaurant.
And
remember, if your restaurant marketing plan is allocating a large
percentage of your marketing budget on print and broadcast advertising
to gain new business, you’re wasting your money. It’s sad really, but
up to 90% of restaurant marketing budgets are spent against new trial –
getting a new customer to visit for the first time. This is the least
effective place to spend your money.
The fact is, new customer
acquisition is 7-10 times more expensive than building restaurant sales
through increased frequency, check average and party size. All too
often, restaurant marketing isn’t always about what’s most effective,
but about what everyone else is doing.
Some restaurant operators
see that their competitor is on television or in the yellow pages or on
a billboard and they should be too. A much more economical and
effective way is to make yourself known to your market through public
relations.
Contact us to find out how Quantified Marketing Group can help your restaurant.
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