What are some compelling reasons to rely on direct mail marketing?

The Dangers of Relying on Social Media to Market Your Restaurant Business

Social media has certainly taken marketing by storm but research still shows that the most effective forms of marketing don’t happen online.  In fact, while word-of-mouth referrals are still the best way to effectively market your restaurant business, tangible forms of marketing such as direct mail and postcards reveal greater response rates and more obvious ROI (return on investment) than even social media campaigns.  Social media marketing is certainly inexpensive but in today’s fast-paced world, time is money, and the time spent on creating extensive social media campaigns doesn’t always translate into paying customers at your tables to offset the time spent on maintaining the marketing campaign online.  

This might come as a surprise to restaurant owners and marketing directors who have heard that social media is the new “must” in effective marketing.  After all—everyone they know has a Facebook account or Twitter account, right?  The simple answer to this is: yes, a lot of people have social media accounts and use social media each day to interact with friends and family, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into bringing paying customers to your tables.  

Think about it like this—despite the fact that the majority of people (particularly in the 20-40 demographic) might participate in social media with Facebook, how many of those people “like” a company’s page, only to uncheck the “show in news feed” option?  If you do a quick poll of the people you know with a Facebook account, you’ll find that many will choose to limit their news feed to close friends and family, primarily because if they don’t, they’ll be overwhelmed with messages they really don’t care to read.  

This goes to the heart of what social media is for and the role it plays in people’s day-to-day lives.  Social media is primarily used as a method in which to connect socially with people, not to see advertising or respond to it.  That’s not to say that your restaurant business won’t benefit from participating in social media or having a Facebook page—but there is an inherent danger in depending too much on social media marketing and avoiding other more effective, traditional, “tried-and-true” forms of successfully marketing your business. 

Marketing with Postcards isn’t Dead—In Fact, it’s Stronger Than Ever

With all the hype surrounding online marketing, many restaurants forget the power of simple postcard marketing.  In fact, it’s become one of the best ways to market because so few restaurants are doing it anymore!  Postcards are cheap to produce, cheap to mail, and are a great way to get the attention of potential customers.  Here are a few simple steps to take to make sure your postcard marketing campaign is successful and generates the results you want:

1)      Keep it simple

When you use postcards to generate website traffic or announce specials, be sure to keep it simple.  A quick message or easy-to-read coupon is all that is needed to generate the interest of the person looking at it.  Even though people tend to throw envelopes away before reading it if they believe it is “junk mail,” they will almost always look at a postcard before tossing it in the garbage or recycling.  If it has a coupon on it, the odds of the person keeping it will increase dramatically.  

2)      Alternate it with an email campaign

If someone constantly receives emails from you, they will put your email address into their spam filter quickly.  However, if you alternate postcard and email campaigns, your email messages will be less likely to end up in junk email boxes and you’ll also reach those people who, believe it or not, might not be email savvy. 

3)      Make it personal

Using a font that looks like handwriting makes the postcard seem like it is coming from a friend or relative, creating a more personal feel.  Get creative and make your postcard marketing campaign as personal and unique as possible and it is guaranteed to get results!

What benefits does postcard marketing still have today?

Are You Delivering Service With a Smile?

Did you know that the simple act of smiling can not only boost your mood—it can boost the mood of anyone who sees you do it?  The reason this one small fact is so important in running a business is that research has proven, when a customer’s mood is elevated, he or she will spend more money and have a more positive and memorable experience in your establishment.  Since making the customer happy and reaping the benefits of that in the way of profits are at the core of your success in running a restaurant, a smile should be the one thing you wear every day at work, regardless of what’s going on in your personal life. 

When customers are greeted with a smile, they “warm up” to your restaurant quickly, making the entire dining experience a better one.  When they are served with a smile, that smile makes the food taste better and the service seems better.  Service with a smile appeals to people of all ages and all demographics, and is appropriate in any type of restaurant—from casual to formal.  When your patrons are greeted warmly and served by servers who offer a welcoming smile, your restaurant immediately becomes a memorable place to eat and enjoy the dining experience.

Let’s face it—everyone has a bad day at some point in their lives.  It’s unreasonable to expect your servers or hostess to not deal with personal issues that cause them to be down-and-out while at work.  However, when they allow these issues to show on their faces—or worse, allow these issues to cause them to be rude to customers—they can seriously affect the business’s bottom line and its reputation.  That’s why it’s important to stress to everyone within your restaurant that, regardless of how you might feel, try to always offer smile to customers.  It will make the customer’s day better as well as uplift the spirits of the person having the bad day.  It’s a scientifically proven fact!

Direct Mail Marketing isn’t Dead

Since the recent marketing trends have pushed small businesses into choosing email marketing over direct mail marketing, some business owners have decided to completely get rid of direct mail in their marketing campaigns altogether.  After all, direct mail is often more expensive than email marketing, right?  

The problem with this line of thinking is that it underestimates the core of what makes marketing work—doing something different.  When you do something different as a business, you get attention.  Customers react to unique experiences and the promises of them, so they respond positively to any type of marketing that is unique and stands out from the rest of the thousands of ads they see throughout the span of a day.  

This is why direct mail can work for you. It’s not the newest, greatest trend in marketing, but sometimes that’s a good thing.  New isn’t always good and customers are more likely to pay attention to direct mail when it’s not what everyone else is doing, so don’t falsely assume that direct mail marketing is dead.  

Direct mail is still a great way to reach a local customer base and can be effective, given the right message and design.  Direct mail also has several advantages over email marketing, especially in its ability to communicate brand awareness and “stick” in the consciousness of potential customers.  It has the potential of reaching multiple people (instead of one person’s email inbox, where it may or may not be read) and if done right, can still be money well spent—even in today’s modern small business marketing strategies.  

With this in mind, why not try something with your direct mail campaign that will capitalize on the concept of uniqueness?  Allow your targeted audience to see how you stand apart from the trends in order to set your own.  

Should I include educational information in my emails to customers?