New Marketing for a Restaurant Chain

October 10th, 2008 by Kevin Dykes | Filed under Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing.

A friend of mine is part of a family-owned small group of restaurants. These places are an institution here, the original having been around since the early 1990’s. The newest is in a mid-to-high end suburbs and appeals to well educated, high-tech-oriented 30’s - 50’s something demographic.

He’s trying to grow and make this successful restaurant into an ultra-successful restaurant. Now, he’s also a traditional-marketing-thinking kind of guy. But, he’s realizing, like so many other companies, that his traditional advertising and marketing are no longer having the impact he wants. This target audience does not subscribe to the local paper - they get their news online. They are heavily impacted by social-review sites like Yelp.com. They are Internet-centric people and he has been doing non-Internet-centric marketing.

I’ve been having a very high level conversation with him about some strategies he could implement. What follows are just a few highlights that could provide a better foundation for relationships with his customers - one that extends past the restaurant walls and continues even when they are not thinking about coming that night. As everything I do, it is about trying to connect with and engage your target client/customer in a deeper way than traditional approaches.

NOTE: This is not a consulting client nor is the following a comprehensive approach that we implement for our clients. We always follow our New Marketing Process Map, which takes a client through Planning/Strategy, Training, Policies & Procedures, then Tactical Implementation.

Goals

I can’t adress the specific goals, but suffice it to say that we started with setting goals and how we’d measure.

Primary Website

Like many business websites, it is static, has some functional challenges and isn’t really “connected” to the business. Rather than a wholesale rebuild of the site which will cost many thousands, I suggest only a handful of simple, but key functional and design changes that can increase its usability as a marketing tool.

Since the concept of de-portalization - going to your consumers where they are - is the reality of the day, the current website is only one cog in the marketing wheel.

Blog Content Marketing Strategy

Again, rather than a wholesale revamp of his site, I’m suggesting adding a Restaurant Blog (as a micro-site) that will be used to engage his customer base in a deeper way.

Since he’s new to writing articles/blogs for his business, I suggest using our Content Synergy Method for a content development approach. This helps the business create a topic series that can be expanded as they become more comfortable with regular writing/content creation. It also becomes the foundation for engaging in Social Networks.

Topic Ideas

The Family Restaurant Story - an ongoing series detailing the history, trials & tribulations, successes and future plans of the restaurant. This needs to be real, genuine - with all the pimples and scars. This not supposed the the usual Restaurant Story that is seen on the back of a menu!
Focus on Environmentally-Sound Practices - This newest restaurant meets the highest standards of being a ‘green restaurant’. This was not done for marketing, but because it was the right thing to do. I think people should know about this. It can lead to press and a deeper understanding of the passion of the owners.
Special Events, Promotions and Upcoming Calendar (obvious I realize)

Because of the awesome power of the WordPress platform, this simple blog has a bunch of other benefits, including:

Allows customers to subscribe via email or RSS - effectively becoming the foundation for an email/RSS newsletter to opt-in subscribers
It will help local search results dramatically, often coming up higher in Google results than the Review sites and main website.

Social Media & PR Strategy

Engage in Reviews sites. It is important to make a regular presence in these sites. If a restaurant takes a ‘no comment’ approach, it only hurts their reputation. I think being honest and sometimes vulnerable makes a big impact. Take a stand here!
- Yelp.com & Others
- See a great listing here
Build a Facebook Page and allow people to connect here. Obviously Facebook is growing dramatically and, personally, I see huge benefit for engaging here early. It may be experimental for a restaurant of this type. But, I think it is worth taking this step because if you can engage an audience here, it could be huge!
Monitor SM through Google Alerts
Local food & community blogger/press outreach - Invite them to a special party or provide key influencers a Free Dinner Pass - Let them experience what this restaurant is all about.

Tell me what additional ideas or strategies you would have for this business. I’d love to ‘crowdsource’ the ultimate plan for him since he’s a good friend!

Tags: Content Marketing, content synergy method, Social Media Marketing, Transparency

Comments to “New Marketing for a Restaurant Chain”

Allan | 10/10/08

Restaurants usually thrive by word-of-mouth marketing or buzz. Of course, that kind of buzz can’t really be bought. It is voluntarily given by fans once you’ve earned their loyalty through delivering great service and great products. I think word-of-mouth marketing can be helped by social media efforts, but it can also be catalyzed in the offline world.

Kevin Dykes | 10/10/08

Great point Allan! In the case of this company, they are amazingly connected offline, with a strong group of regulars and an owner almost always present & involved. But, the point that we have to tell many clients is exactly yours - get your butts off the computer and actually go engage in person. I believe that Social Media should have a goal of fostering real world connections where possible - not just online.

Jonathan Trenn | 27/10/08

Hi Kevin

I just googled “social media” and “restaurants” and came upon this post. Here’s why:

I am:

1) a digital marketing consultant that is heavily involved in social media;

2) a part time waiter in a local restaurant here in Northern Virginia, an area that my be much like the Austin area.

I’m putting together a proposal for the restaurant company that I work for, Cafe Deluxe (http://www.cafedeluxe.com) There are three of them, one in DC, on in suburban Maryland, on in suburban VA. Nice restaurants, family oriented while being good place for singles as well. The one I work for is in the Tysons Corner area in VA…lotsa high tech.

What I’m hoping to do is a blogger outreach program for them. Luckily there’s this site: http://www.dcblogs.com that serves as a great database for potential blogges.

I don’t want to have an event. I’m hoping to reach out to 20-40 of them and send them $25 gift cards and invite them in and say it’s on us and we hope you’ll blog about it…give us a review. We won’t know when you come it, but we’re confident enough in our food, service and environment.

I’ll be reaching out to singles bloggers, to mommy and daddy bloggers, etc. I’ll be trying to target bloggers by location - so I can get a relatively even distribution to the three restaurants. The owners actually have a fourth one on Capitol Hill, but it is Tex-Mex.

The great part is that if people don’t use the card, then the restaurant is not paying for them. Since I’m going to try to establish this as a business, I’ll let them know that I’d like to build a relationship with them (the bloggers that is) and send them, from time to time, gift cards, coupons, guest passes, and samples. That will serve as an incentive to blog…because it they say “Sure, I’ll take the gift card” and either don’t use it (because we won’t be able to tell if they use it or not unless they blog) or us it and don’t blog, then I’d have to stop sending them offers that they may have an interest in.

It’s a bit more complicated than all of that and if you have any questions, shoot me an email. I’m just starting this so we’ll see how it goes.

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