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[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Infographic: 5 Step Guide for advertising on Facebook

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Plan for Success this Summer

It’s pretty clear that we love warm weather here in Michigan. With the excessive amount of cloudy days and snowstorms, Michigan residents have been known to bust out the jorts and flip-flops at the first signs of spring. With a limited amount of Michigan summer sun, and a seemingly infinite amount of restaurant choices, here’s some helpful tips to consider as you seek ways to get more foot traffic this summer.

Step 1: Make Sure You Have A Mobile-Friendly Website

If you want to make a splash this summer, the first place to start is a mobile-friendly website. Undoubtedly, tourists and travelers turn to their mobile devices as their top decision-making tool for what restaurants to visit. Do a quick check — pull up your website on your smartphone and find out if:

a) The menu is easily accessible

b) The menu formats to a mobile device (images & PDFs don’t translate well to mobile)

c) The menu is up-to-date

d) Specials & events are up to date, and listed in an easy to view format

Step 2: Claim & update online profiles: Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, & Facebook 

Like sipping a cold drink on a patio this summer, a presence on online review sites is an absolute must. Making up 80% of mobile restaurant discovery, it’s extremely important to keep your profiles up to date. Make sure you have not only publicly responded to any negative reviews, but that all information is accurate as well. (That includes contact info, hours, pictures & categories/tags).

Step 3: Put systems in place to collect & manage guest feedback

Don’t get burned this summer. If you don’t offer an in-house feedback system — you’re sure to invite negative reviews online. Start by looking at your restaurant through the lens of your guests — if they can leave your restaurant without knowing how to give you feedback, start there. We recommend handing each guest a card inviting them to give you feedback at the end of their experience (not just the person receiving the bill).

Step 4: Update your social media profiles There’s something about warm weather that makes people want to eat, drink, and also share absolutely everything fun they did on social media. Be present on the platforms they’re using for this. Make sure you have profiles set up on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Set a plan for keeping these profiles updated regularly.

Step 5: Set up your marketing calendar

30. That’s not only the SPF level we recommend for sunscreen use, but also the minimum amount of days you should be planning out your marketing calendar content. Plan out what content & LTOs you will be running early. Every lost minute during your busy season can equate to huge revenue losses, so take a day now to write content that is ready to post later.

Step 6: Run ads on Google Adwords Express

Google Ads are totally hot right now. Once you have your Google ‘My Business’ profile set up, create an ad that displays anytime someone searches on Google for a restaurant within the radius of your business. Go to google.com/adwords/express to set up your ad.

Taking a small amount of time to complete these steps now, will set you up to make some serious waves. We hope you feel empowered and excited for the crowds coming!

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Earn Some Extra Green This St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day offers restaurants great potential for increasing their revenue. Maybe you already have an exciting and extinguishing bar, and know what kind of crowd to expect on March 17th, or perhaps in the past your restaurant hasn’t seen much excitement on this holiday, and you’re looking to draw some inspiration from the magic of the Emerald Isle. Whether you want to bring the fundamental style of Irish cuisine to your menu on March 17th, or use alcohol as your “big ticket item”, we’ve created some free graphics for you that should help you create a last minute plan to have that pot of gold by the end of the evening.

Looking For Gold? It’s Your Lucky Day                                                

Green Beer can be a huge hit, we’ll admit that. However, if you’re wanting to go a classier route that doesn’t involve food coloring, offer some traditional Irish Beers that will have all the local hipsters going crazy. 

Pinch Proof. Wear Green. Get Lucky.                                                  

Share the St. Paddy’s Day love by offering an exclusive discount to anyone wearing green!  It can be as easy as $1 off drinks, or you can even upsell by offering a free dessert with the purchase of an entrée. Promote the deal early using social media, or have customers come in to your restaurant to find out what the discount is. The options are endless on this one! 

Luck O’ the Irish. Anything green gets a discount!                             

 Not everything about this holiday has to involve boozing it up. Alcohol seems to get quite a bit of attention for this holiday, why not highlight some other non-liquid menu options instead? 

Today, Everyone is Irish!                                                                    

The holiday is not only about honoring the traditions of Ireland, but also the unique cultural that came with the Irish immigrants. Irish heritage or not, let this holiday become a ubiquitous celebration for everyone.  .001% Irish or not… 

Don’t forget, if you’re a Restaurant Logic Customer, these graphics are already conveniently uploaded into your dashboard. Be sure to look at these, and other graphics we’ve created for upcoming holidays! 

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Eat Your Heart Out With These 4 FREE Valentine’s Day Marketing Ideas and Graphics

We’ve rounded up four Valentine’s Day Marketing Ideas we know you will love! We’ve even included 4 FREE graphics for your marketing ease.

(Of course, if you’re a Restaurant Logic user these graphics are already located in your dashboard because, well, we know the way to any restaurant owner’s heart is convenience.)  

L-O-V-E. It’s a four letter word, which ironically is exactly how many ideas we’ve created for you. (Ok, ok. There’s nothing ironic about it – we totally planned that.) But before you read on, there’s one rule. You have to sing the rest of the blog to the tune of the original L-O-V-E. Because nobody gets you in the Valentine’s Day spirit better than Nat King Cole.

On that note…    

1. L is for lips. Which is literally the only thing your customers need to take advantage of this deal! All day on Valentine’s, offer your customers a FREE appetizer just for sharing a kiss! The smooch can be shared with their spouse, loved one, or heck, even a random stranger! This will be a huge hit!

2. O is for Opportunity. Holidays are a perfect opportunity to give back – and the giving doesn’t have to be limited to the Christmas season. Along with Valentine’s Day, February marks American Heart Month. Show your support for the cause by giving back a percentage of your proceeds from your Valentine’s Day sales to the American Heart Association.

3. V is for views – which is exactly what your social media outlets will be getting with this idea. Have customers share a photo from their Valentine’s Day visit and tag your restaurant, in exchange offer them a special promotion. The deal is totally up to you! We recommend offering them something that will get them in the door for a future visit. Not only will you be getting some regular customers from this gig, it will also help increase the traffic on your facebook or twitter pages! More followers = More customers!

4. E is for Effective. And upselling IS effective. For this idea, offer a coupon for BOGO desserts. Typically if your customers are going to come in for dessert they’re going to be purchasing some entrees too, so this offer is a win-win. 

Well there you have it. Utilize these graphics and marketing concepts however you like. Emails. Social Media Posts. Table Tents. Your Valentine’s marketing doesn’t have to be extravagant or perfectly romantic, but we do recommend utilizing this fun, yet adorably corny holiday to your advantage. 

xoxox, Restaurant Logic

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Beyond New Years Resolutions: The Ultimate Guide to Setting Your Marketing Goals for 2017

It’s incredibly easy to make New Year’s resolutions – January 1 hits and it seems our motivation is limitless. If you’ve been to the gym since the new year, you can relate. Every elliptical is occupied, every treadmill is taken, and even the less than popular free-weight section is busy.

 But of course, wait a few weeks and your favorite machine will be readily available again. Usually by mid-January everyone’s momentum begins to fade, and the buzz of motivation has worn down. Typically failed resolutions break down to lack of goals, and eventually – we lose the hustle. (Super positive way to start off the blog, I know!)

 But there is good news! We think that setting goals for your restaurant marketing is extremely important, and this blog was developed to help you create some resolutions you can actually keep. We’ve put together some simple and concrete ways to help you bring some new opportunities to grow sales in your restaurant. If you’re reading this, you understand the importance of setting goals – so kudos to you!

Many restaurants don’t set marketing goals and therefore let the market/weather/trends determine their success or failure. However, thanks to the internet, there is a lot more in your control than you may think.

 As an independent restaurant, it is seemingly becoming more difficult to compete against the chain restaurants. When we think of chain restaurants, we often think of their ability to compete in their buying power and systems, however, my belief is that chain restaurants are less of a food service establishment and more of a marketing company. Fortunately for independents, the internet has made the marketing divide between independents and chains smaller than ever.

 The internet, through social media, email marketing, and online reputation has leveled the playing field, and in some ways, has tipped it toward independents as consumers increasingly want genuine connection with the establishments they spend money at. It is immensely easier for independents to have direct, meaningful interactions with their guests than corporate marketing teams. I encourage you to use this advantage in 2017.

 Before we get into the goal setting process, it’s important to know what metrics you should be tracking (and no, it’s not just your gross sales). Here are the 3 metrics to understand as you set this year’s goals: 

1. Guest Counts — how many more people did you drive in the front door?

2. Per Cover Sales Average — how much revenue did each cover represent?

3. Advertising Efficiency — how efficient were my advertising dollars?

 Start by understanding your current numbers. Look at your last 3 years guest count & per cover sales averages, determine what your standard growth rate is. 

I see a lot of restaurants just focusing their goals on guest counts. Don’t forget that increasing per-cover sales averages just a little bit can have a huge effect on your bottom line. Your goals should include driving a higher guest count total (supported with a marketing budget) AND increasing cover averages. 

 To make calculating things simpler, we’ve created a Restaurant Sales Goals worksheet available for you to download free. Simply visit this link and download the file. 

 Once you have your historical data entered into the worksheet above, envision 12/31/2017 and picture what a successful year looked like. Determine a percentage growth you’d like to achieve in both guest counts & ticket averages. Adding guest counts may not be realistic in your market, however, you can always look to increase sales with the guest counts you have. 

Start by writing down your annual goal. Follow the SMART goals methodology: 

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-Bound

 Now that you have your year-end goal, back that into quarterly goals. Using the above worksheet. 

 For example, let’s say your annual gross sales as of 12/31/2016 were 1,500,000 and your guest count total was 100,000 ($15/cover). Over the past 3 years, your current average growth rate in per-cover sales is 3% and your guest count average growth rate is 2%. If you keep doing what you’ve done in the past, your sales would be $1,545,000 and guest count would be 102,000. Now that you have your baseline established, you can create a SMART goal for what you’d like to achieve. Yes, I know you’re thinking about the marketing budget — we’ll get to that in a moment. For now, let’s think about the growth you’d like to achieve regardless of your budget.

 For 2017, let’s say your goal is to increase per-guest sales by 6% and guest counts by 4%. You now have two marketing strategies to think about: 

Internal     Marketing: what strategies can we execute to upsell guests while they’re in the restaurant? 

 Here are a few ideas to get you started: 

Create/review cocktail, shareables, and dessert menu. Include seasonal options. Put it on a separate, smaller menu to accompany main menu. 

Make sure all front of house staff samples and is trained on each item on above menu 

Make sure staff is trained to upsell cocktails, shareables, and desserts

Utilize table tents to highlight high-profit seasonal items

Create a staff contest with weekly/monthly rewards to FOH staff

Run a promotion with discounted apps/desserts with entree purchases

Collect customer emails, send offers for apps & desserts 

External Marketing: What strategies can we execute to bring in more     guests? 

Here are a few ideas to get you started: 

Engage on social media — make sure you’re posting regularly on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Talk to your guests & have fun with it! 

Make sure website is mobile friendly, up-to-date with the latest menus &     specials 

Ensure your google business profile is accurate and up-to-date. 

Ensure  your profiles are accurate and up-to-date on Yelp & Tripadvisor

Run a Google Adwords Express ad to target anyone looking for restaurants in your area

Run targeted ads on Facebook promoting your current LTOs

Do an  every-door-direct mail campaign with trackable offers 

 Now that you have some strategies outlined, it is time to set a budget to support. A typical marketing budget for successful restaurants is 2–3% of gross sales. To help you set an overall budget, we have created a budget worksheet for you to download free. Whether you have a large or small marketing budget, I believe it is important to understand how you can apply that budget to grow sales. 

 Last year you said next year, but this year - this year will be different. Use this blog as the reset button to engage in a year of growth and opportunity.  Stay in control of your goals so you and your staff can work to grow your restaurant sales immensely in 2017.

 -Ken Seneff 

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

How to Prepare Your Restaurant for the Post-Christmas Lull

It’s pretty clear that Americans love Christmas.

A holiday where anyone is willing to wear an ugly sweater must be good.

 Not only are we enthusiastically styling tassels, sparkles, fur, sequins and LED lights all in one ubiquitous and abominable turtle neck, but there’s something about the Christmas season that makes us drop some serious spending.

 Malls are extremely crowded as people try to find the perfect gift, but by now you have probably realized that consumers can’t seem to avoid migrating to restaurants either.  

 From hiring more staff, updating your website, stocking your inventory, advertising online ordering, and promoting holiday specials –  you’ve been preparing for this holiday rush for months.

But what happens when the holiday are over? Those ugly Christmas sweaters have been hung back in the closets where they belong, the countdown to the new year has come and gone. So now what? How in the world do you prepare for the slow season? Take a deep breath, and relax. It will all be ok. 

When January 1 hits, your customers will be recovering from their overindulging and overspending, and eating out may be the last thing on their plate.

But, believe it or not, the New Year is actually a great time to ramp up some sales, and offer exclusive promotions to your customers. Here’s some ways how:

 Engage with your customers

During the holidays, you of course want your customers to have a great meal and a memorable time, but if we’re being honest, sometimes it’s so crazy you and your staff probably don’t have the time to really invest like you normally would like. But the New Year is here, and now you’ve got a lot more time to invest in your customer base. We’re not suggesting you hold hands and sing Auld Land Syne together or anything like that, but encourage your staff to be intentional with your customers. Use this time to build your loyal base for the future.  

 Offer incentives to get them back in the doors

Come January, your customers are facing a serious financial hangover. Not only are customers back in their normal routines, they are also burdened with the fact they more than likely spent more than intended during the Holidays. Eating out might very well be the last thing on their minds. Start offering coupons and promotions now that aren’t good until January and will drive return sales, as well as makes the customer feel appreciated! Maybe a bonus $5 off coupon with the purchase of a gift card, or a free appetizer, or even a BOGO coupon. Whatever it is, use this busy time as an opportunity to get coupons in the hands of your customers that will be worthy of another visit.

 Get Social

Chances are your customers are spending a lot more time on their phones during the cold months. Which logically makes winter the perfect time to engage with them. Increase your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter output by announcing specials, showing pictures of warm and enticing menu items, and even offer some giveaways to really help your presence thrive. Keep your restaurant in front of your customer’s eyes.

 Create New Healthy Menu Options

Ahh, New Year’s Resolutions. The gyms are packed and everyone begins the dreaded task of burning off the 6 million sugar cookies they devoured over the holidays. This is the perfect opportunity to start marketing your healthy options, and if you don’t have some maybe include a few on your specials list for a limited time. We are a society of convenience, and being healthy isn’t always that. So use this chance to offer quick, convenient, and delicious options for the calorie conscious.

Consider Offering Delivery

If you’re not doing it already, now may be the perfect time. This could be a major source of revenue for your restaurant! Short cold days and long working hours make people basically hibernate in the winter months. And who wants to waste what little daylight there is in the kitchen? Now is the time people want to stay in their warm homes, so it’s the perfect opportunity to begin promoting your delivery service.

 This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, but its definitely a start. Feel free to let us know of any other ideas you may have along the way! However you decide to help fill your seats this winter, be sure to plan ahead and start preparing now! 

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Your Hidden Profit Center for the Holiday Season: Gift Cards

Sure, some people might think they’re impersonal, but the fact is gift cards are the most requested gift item during the Christmas season. So as Restaurant owners, you should realize why these tiny pieces of plastic are valuable to you, and help your customers understand why gift cards are beneficial to them as well!

It’s safe to say that most restaurants experience amplified guest counts during the holiday season. In fact, you might be so busy that driving more guest counts may not be top of mind; however, gift card sales can be an extremely effective way to increase sales during your busy holiday season without having to grow your guest counts. Here are some quick stats to consider for holiday gift card sales: 

· Restaurant gift cards are the most commonly purchased gift during the holiday season — 18% of all shoppers purchase a restaurant gift card as a gift! 

· The average gift card value in 2015: $47

· 52% of ALL gift card sales for a FSR happen during the month of December

Gift cards are a quick and easy gifting solution for your patrons, but more importantly they serve as FREE marketing to help you acquire new customers. And who doesn’t love free marketing? So how does your restaurant capitalize on holiday gift card purchases? Here are some best practices: 

1. Start with your website — make sure gift cards can be purchased online

Whether its egift cards, or you      literally just mail the gift cards out – this is extremely important as      customers continue to move toward mobile payments.

2. Create a Gift Card LTO

 Holiday Gift Card LTO ideas: 

o Purchase $50 gift card, get $10 bonus card ($15 for Black Friday through cyber Monday)

o Purchase any gift card over $20, get free dessert to go (tableside offer at end of experience)

o Purchase any gift card over $20, get a free appetizer (tableside offer at beginning of experience)

3. Define process & have staff ready to fulfill the orders 

With the holidays, seems to come endless to-do lists for your staff. Make it a priority to educate them on selling gift cards, so when the time comes no one is confused and the gift card selling can be done quickly and effortlessly.

4. Promote the LTO in-house starting before Thanksgiving

It seems like every year Christmas comes up a little faster - Don’t get left behind.  Begin helping your customers think about your gift cards as a great gift option, so when thetime comes they know just where to go.

5.  Create table tents & bathroom posters

These are a simple solution for promoting gift cards to all your customers. Whether they come into your restaurant wanting to purchase gift cards or not, make sure they don’t leave without hearing…err seeing why they make the perfect gift.  

6.  Create staff training & staff contest

Rather than simply cutting your staff a bonus check during the holiday season, try offering an incentive program for the staff member who sells the most gift cards. It could go a long way! You may also want to help them along the way by giving them some quick one liners to help motivate customers to buy gift cards from them!

7.  Promote gift card promotion through email and social media 

The internet is the best and fastest way to interact with your customers. With a number of social media network available as well as email communication, invest your time in promoting your gift cards through these outlets. While people are online shopping your marketing will shine through!

8.  Sell gift cards!

Gift Cards are a low-cost marketing tool that can help large or small restaurants boost sales, and even deepen current customer relationships. However you choose to promote gift card sales this holiday season, we encourage you to not miss out on an excellent revenue opportunity! 

-KS

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

7 Ways to Spread Holiday Cheer and Drive-in More Traffic this Season

It may only be October, but the Holidays are right around the corner! Before we know it, the world will be turned inside out; we’ll be cutting down trees and bringing them inside, unpacking lights and putting them outside, and people will be painting fake snow on windows while complaining about the real snow on the ground. Before things get too festive, it might be a good time to start thinking ahead.. Prepare your staff, your crowd, and your restaurant marketing before December 25th. Get everyone in the holiday spirit early – and enjoy the season as long as you can! We’ve put together a few ideas to help you plan ahead and brainstorm a few ways your own restaurant can engage its customer base this holiday season. 

 1.] Trade Social Media Action for Free Stuff

 Incentivizing customers to share your posts means more eyeballs on your name which equals more customers in your door. Be sure to include an awesome picture of your food so people are associating that delicious eye candy with your restaurants name and initiative. 

 Here’s what I mean:

     a.) Facebook Post: “Help us help others in this season of giving! For every share this post gets, we will serve a hot meal to a member of our community who is without a home."

-Coordinate with a local Food Pantry or Shelter to provide (x) meals for one of the nights their kitchen is open

  -That event is also something that can be shared on social media

     b.) Facebook Post: “Every person that likes this post will be entered to win a 3-course dinner for 4 people. Shares count as 3 entries!” 

2.] Gift Card Bonus Programs

 As much as this is the season of giving, we all know humans enjoy treating themselves well too. There seems to always seen massive success when running the deal, “Buy one $50 gift card, and get an additional $20 gift card for free!” (or really any amount free). People know they have to buy a few gift cards as gifts every year anyways, they may as well get a $20 gift card as a bonus for themselves to use! Or, of course, they can always sweeten the gift they’re giving away.

(Gift cards also make terrific last minute gifts, so this is a program you can run until the very last minute!)

 3.] Empowering Employees 

 As part of a Christmas gift to your employees, here’s another great option: A “Friends & Family” coupon, VIP LTO, or $5 gift card to your restaurant for them to give to their, you guessed it, friends and family. This can help employees feel good about working for a place that gives them perks they can pass along. Hopefully, it also encourages their kin to come have an extra meal or two in your establishment. 

 4.] "Customers Nominating Other Customers" Contests

 People love interacting with other people on social media. (Obviously that’s why the whole Facebook idea worked in the first place. Good thinking Mark Zucherberg!) Challenge people to highlight other people doing things in the community; whether it’s a single mother working overtime for her kids, a local youth worker going the extra mile, or that guy in the neighborhood who always plows everyone’s driveway before they can get to it, let people honor other people. 

 Here’s one idea we love: 

  'Pie From the Sky' Campaign (that name is obviously designed for a pizza place)

   -Facebook Post: “We want to hear about some folks who are spreading joy this holiday season — Nominate a person who deserves a free pizza! Create a post of your own, write out why this person is awesome, and tag us along with that person. We’ll select a winner in 5 days!"

 5.] Employee Bonus Night

 We have one Restaurant Logic customer in particular that has massive success with this every year. Basically, they dedicate one night in which all of the profit from that night goes right back to the employees. The community absolutely eats it up (in more ways than one).  There is always a great turn out and it’s fantastic for employee morale. Utilize this idea for your own restaurant and show your employees the love!

 6.] Free Holiday Appetizer

 The slight tweaking or renaming of crowd favorites is always a great strategy to create more perceived value for one of your LTO’s. The holidays are a great excuse to take that concept to the next level!

 Work with your food rep and your chef to think of a low cost special appetizer (or dessert) that you can advertise and give away for free to every table. This might only be for one night of each week, or it could be every night for the whole month of December; either way, it’s a great tactic to stay top-of-mind and get people excited about coming into your restaurant. It’s like a seasonal version of what many Mexican restaurants do every day with the free chips and salsa. You can always choose to include a caveat where they're required to spend $25 or more to deter the free-loaders. 

 Here’s some examples of “Special Appetizers” ideas:

     -5 Golden Rings… of Onion (Obviously, onion rings)

     -Christmas Dip (Spinach Artichoke Dip w/ tomato or peppers diced on the top for festive coloring)

     -Reindeer Droppings (Pretzel Bites piled on a plate) 

     -Santa's Cookies (Yes… just bake some cookies and toss them on a plate)

  This is a really underutilized resource to restaurants — You can really do this with any cause or organization. Lots of restaurants do it once or twice a year, but it can really be done much more than that and end up being truly mutually beneficial! Whether it’s your area’s United Way office, a local school program, or a national foundation, it’s a perfect way to get people eating at your restaurant all while supporting a great cause that both you and your customers care about. Select a percentage that you’re comfortable with and it might just be enough to tip the decision your way when customers are looking around for a bite to eat that night.

 One last thing. Its not necessarily a marketing tactic, but keeping your overall goal in mind, make sure you have enough staff to work through the entire busy season. It seems a little counter productive to get customers in the door, then not have enough staff to keep them all happy!

 The Christmas season is a time when even the savviest penny pinchers are willing to spend a little more to honor the spirit of giving. Hopefully this list will serve as a useful resource for you through these busy times, and allow you to find some time to enjoy the holidays with your own friends and family!

 Let us know what you think of our list, or if you have had success with our tactics you’ve incorporated in the past.

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

The Leaves are Falling – An Updated Marketing Plan is Calling

The signs of Fall are appearing all around us: Instagram feed filled with changing leaves (#nofilter of course), Infinity Scarf Selfies, and don't forget to jump on that Pumpkin Spice grind. These cooling temperatures are making us all want to stop what we're doing, grab our chunkiest knit sweater and a selfie stick for a photo shoot at the local pumpkin patch. The transition from Summer to Autumn is officially here. 

So what does this have to do with your marketing? Lots actually. 

It’s important that we make some regular changes to our marketing plan - especially this time of year. With back to school now in full play, many families are settling down for the year with new routines. And even the younger crowd of college students is establishing their new norms. 

Before we jump into this pile of leaves, take a step back to see your big picture.  What are your goals and priorities for your marketing plan? Be sure to take note of things you feel like you and your staff have done well, in addition to things you feel could use improvement. Our last few blogs from RL have focused on preparing in advance for your marketing, and making sure to have a plan for your long term marketing. All great things! But today, we're talking baby steps. Don't get overwhelmed by taking on too much too quickly. Small changes to your marketing strategies can make a huge impact on your restaurant's business. Just be sure that everything you do take on will further your goals. 

Now, let's get right to the good stuff. Here’s some quick updates you can make to your marketing, that will make a big difference. 

1. Check the Health of your Website.

  If your potential customers feel like browsing your website is like walking through a corn maze, then you’re doing it wrong. This is a great opportunity to take inventory of your site. Broken links? Outdated content?  It may even be time to update some photos or slides.  Don’t miss out on customers interested in your restaurant because your website isn't updated and doesn’t represent you well. 

2.  Get Social.

We like our social media presence how we like our bonfires – hot. Take a look at your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram right now. If you were a potential customer, what would your impression be? Is the information updated? Are the images vibrant and enticing? Does the information posted represent your brand? If these things seem overwhelming start small. Change your profile picture to a fresh and updated staff photo. Add some updated content regarding your fall menu. Share an enticing photo today of your new weekly specials. Make some refreshments to the little things, so when you get your regular marketing going, absolutely nothing will be outdated. 

3. Email Marketing

Like a flannel shirt in October, great email marketing is an absolute necessity these days. If you're seeing that your clientele isn't reading, or even opening your emails it may be time to rethink your strategy. No matter how fancy your emails look, if they're deprived of well-executed content, your subscribers will probably lose interest. Consider your subject line the gatekeeper of the email - your customers need to feel the email worthy of their time and this piece is key. Keep them concise, catchy, and clear. 

Well, I’m officially running out of Fall puns, so I’m about ready to wrap up this blog post. As you read through this, I hope you were able to find at least one key idea, small as it may be, that you will be able to utilize in your own restaurant. If you're able to dedicate even a small portion of your time or budget to one of these tactics, I guarantee you will begin to see a bountiful harvest of customers. (Ok, I lied. I guess I had one more in me.)

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

How To Create An Effective Marketing Calendar for Your Restaurant Today

I have heard many independent restaurants marvel at the limited time offers (LTOs) and marketing of chain restaurants. Doesn’t it seem like the big brands are less of a restaurant these days and more of a marketing company? You know the food you put out and the service you provide is far superior to most chain restaurants, yet their parking lots are full and yours looks a bit lacking. Why?

The answer is simple. You’ve been out-marketed. I know what you’re thinking — of course, they have a much bigger marketing budget than I could ever have. While this may be true, it is easier than it ever has been to compete and win against the big brand marketing wave. The internet and social media have equalized the playing field. The real question is, are you taking advantage of it? 

The key to winning the marketing battle is to have a balanced marketing plan & calendar. If you’re like most independent restaurants your current marketing plan looks mostly like this:

Don’t fret – we’re here to help. Today, I am going to show you how to make some simple adjustments to create a winning marketing calendar within 6 weeks. The goal – have your marketing planned out 60 days in advance.

Week 1: Carve out an hour in your schedule to get your marketing calendar set three weeks out.

Week 2-5: Take ½ hour to add 2 more weeks to your marketing calendar

Week 6 (and beyond): Add 1 week to your marketing calendar

Sounds simple enough…but what exactly do you include on that marketing calendar? Here’s some tips:

·         Start with email. Best practice is 1 email per week. Best things to email? Glad you asked. Let your customers know about LTOs, coupons, menu launches, and upcoming events.

·         Next, add some Facebook and Twitter posts. Best practice for Facebook is 3-4 posts weekly. We recommend the rule of thirds: 1/3 promotions, 1/3 stories, and 1/3 creative posts; pictures of food, pictures of things happening in your restaurant, staff highlights, upcoming events, community happenings.  For Twitter? We recommend daily posting. These posts should include your daily specials, pictures of food, weather-related posts, holiday-related posts (national burger day, etc..)

If you’re looking for a template to use for your marketing, you could look into building your calendar on a google doc, an excel spreadsheet, or even by using Google Calendar. If you’re looking for an even simpler option (that doesn’t force you to waste time copying and pasting), we highly recommend the use of our marketing calendar on Restaurant Logic’s dashboard. By using our Restaurant Logic marketing calendar, you can visualize your marketing strategy in way in advance. And guess what? It even offers recommended content and ideas so all you have to do is schedule them out. If you’ve been searching for a simpler option…we found it.

By following the outline above, you can make a significant impact on your marketing success. If you feel you’re not able to make time for it quite yet, we believe adding even 10 minutes a day to work on your marketing schedule can make a huge difference to your bottom line.  Focus on some small goals to start off. Transparently speaking, we don’t believe writing a lengthy marketing strategy isn’t nearly as important as simply sitting down and planning some real content.

Here’s hoping these bite size action items will realistically help you gain a better grasp on your marketing concept.  Your marketing might not start out perfect, it will probably need some tweaking and adjusting along the way, but if you start planning now we know that it will become a valued resource that will not only make advertising your restaurant easier, but more successful too.

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Marketing Meal Prep

I’ve been married just over a year now. Sharing life with another human has changed my world in many ways, the majority of which are overwhelmingly positive.

 But I have noticed one thing… I’ve noticed a unique trend in our eating habits.

 About every three months, while my wife is innocently browsing Pinterest, she stumbles upon a juicy new article about healthy eating. Usually it has the world “cleanse" or “challenge” in the title, and before I can ask what gluten is, all our bagels are in the trash, our milk is down the drain, and I’m sitting in front of a bowl of spaghetti noodles made out of squash.

 There was a lot of resistance initially. I mean, if you remove meat-lovers pizza and baby back ribs out of any man’s life, there’s bound to be a period of withdrawal.

 But I’ve been roped into enough of these now that I actually don’t mind them as much. It’s hard to admit, but by the time it’s through, I almost always feel better and weirdly enough, all my pants miraculously get a little bigger. 

 Whether it’s abstaining from sugar, dodging carbs, or focusing on “clean-eating,” there are always a set of guidelines we have to operate against in order to stay within the boundaries of the chosen program.

 These programs, while being good for my health and whatnot, can end up being terribly inconvenient and radically interrupt my day-to-day eating habits. But I know if I want to see the health benefits of this program, I need to set myself up for daily success, knowing I’m going to get hungry at least three times a day. Also knowing that my go-to lunch buddies of old aren’t going to cut it... bye bye cheesy gordita crunch. 

 It’s wildly unrealistic for me to think, with my sporadic schedule, that before every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I’ll have the time, resources, or energy to cook up a fresh meal tailored to my dietary restrictions. 

 It’s just as wilding unrealistic for any restaurant owner to think they are going to be able to give their marketing the attention and preparation it deserves trying to figure it out day to day. 

 It all comes down to one word.

 Preparation. 

 Meal prepping, I believe is the term my wife uses. For those of you like me who didn’t know, that means planning out, shopping for, and cooking up all your meals on Sunday for the entire week ahead of time. If you look up the #mealprep on twitter, you’ll see exactly what I mean.

 We meal prep to make sure there’s enough good food to get us through and I don’t end up scarfing down a bag of cool ranch Doritos because we didn’t cook enough broccoli, or, for a restaurant, making sure there's no poorly thought through social media posts or under-utilized email marketing efforts. 

 You won’t know whether or not your efforts are successful if you don’t intentionally invest in your marketing plan. If you randomly post content or send emails to appear active, how will you ever know if your efforts are contributing to your business’s success? Some speaks to meal planning. If I eat steamed broccoli with my Big Mac at dinner, chances are any affect those vegetables have on my health will be hard to notice.

When meal prepping, there are three steps we have to think through in preparing for each week.

 1.] Outline what we want to eat this week day-by-day

-How many meals do we need to prep?

-What do we want those meals to be? (Monday: Turkey burgers and sweet potatoes, Tuesday: Lemon Pepper Chicken…) 

 What do I want my restaurants marketing to look like this week? 

-How many Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts do I want?

-What do I want the contents of these posts to be? 

 We recommend posting on Facebook and Twitter no less than once every three days, as a low-end rule of thumb. You really don’t want your frequency to drop any lower than that though. People dropping by your page want to see you’re alive, you’re active, and you have something to say. Allow the personality of your restaurant to shine through online, don’t be afraid to have fun with it! 

 2.] Map out what we need to get from the grocery store

-What ingredients do we need for each meal?

-Do we have the right balance of meat, vegetables, and fruit?

 What do I want the content of my restaurant’s posts to be made up of?

-How many pictures of menu items do I want to showcase? Dessert items? Alcoholic Beverages? Are there menu items we would like to sell more of?

-How many staff highlights should I do? 

-Try to keep it high level

 Sometimes when you start to prepare and outline your marketing, you realize you may actually have an opportunity to delegate some of this responsibility to other staff members. For instance, if you have a socially savvy server that you know is already active on Instagram, maybe ask her pre-shift to keep her eye out for a moment to snap a photo of that she could pair with a clever statement and post online. Maybe you want to post it right then and there, or maybe you want to save that post for a later date. Possibly even give her $10 bucks for every usable photo and phrase; some employees might even get excited enough to share that photo on their personal page to get the ball rolling. 

 3.] Go get the food and prepare those meals.

 Take the outline you created, and sit down and make your restaurant’s social media posts in advance.

-The key is to have a plan that is actionable, and do it. It won’t take forever, but make sure to set some time aside before the week begins to prepare your posts.

 For many people, myself included, preparing ahead of time for anything is extraordinarily difficult because there are probably 83 other things screaming for your attention that feel much more pressing. But without a clear strategy, your marketing plan becomes lost in your to-do list.

Creating a simple outline for yourself is always a great idea. The best part about an outline or framework for social media posts, is that once you find a few structures that work, you can reuse them month-to-month. As long as you’re not carbon copying posts and reusing the same images and catch-lines, a solid framework for posting can go a long way. 

 This is something we believe quite strongly in at Restaurant Logic; so much so that we actually created a Marketing Calendar for our customers to us when mapping out their social media content. It’s filled with dozens of different posts every month that you can use as inspiration for your posting, or even use them word for word if you’d like. Our calendar makes it very easy to plan your posts and schedule them out for automatic posting, so you can focus your attention on your business.

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

4 Steps To Combating Online Negative Reviews

Let’s face it: Customers wield a remarkable amount of power over businesses these days — anyone with taste buds and a wifi connection can be a restaurant critic.

Sites like Yelp & Tripadvisor have revolutionized the way consumers talk about and discover restaurants. Review sites can either be a great thing for your restaurant or a major deterrent of business.

If you’re like many restaurant operators, you prefer to ignore the online review sites as it feels like you have no control or maybe you share a popular belief — only certain pesky customers really pay any attention to sites like Yelp. There is no doubt that there is an increase in the amount of power a review site has to influence customer actions — A recent Harvard studyfound that an uptick of just 1 star can have up to a 9% overall increase in your sales.

Since you are reading this, you’ve probably had some sort of negative experience with an online review. You’re not alone. The good and bad news is that your competition is also on every review site and has either chosen to complain about it/ignore it or to use it as a powerful marketing tool. Get a step up on your competition by using online review sites to boost your business. It’s not as hard as you may think.

Here is your 4-step guide to combating negative reviews and wield online review sites as one of your greatest marketing tools:

Step 1: Embrace online reviews.

The first step to combating negative reviews is to know when and where people are talking about you online.

It can be daunting to think about how consumers can talk about your brand online — there are hundreds of sites people are writing reviews on, however, there are 5 sites where over 80% of online reviews get posted. Here are the top 5 sites you need to keep your eyes on — these links will take you to the page to claim your listing:

Yelp

Tripadvisor

Google

Facebook

Zomato (formerly urbanspoon)

And of course OpenTable if you accept reservations through their platform

Through each of these platforms you can claim your profile and set up notifications each time a new review is posted.

Pro tip: You can catch most of that last 20% by setting up a Google Alert

Negative reviews aren’t the end of the world, in fact, negative reviews can actually be good for your restaurant. Here’s what I mean. If you see a perfect 5-star rating for anything, you become a bit skeptical of the accuracy; however, if you see a ‘positive review sandwich’, it actually creates more credibility for your restaurant:

Good review

Great review

Bad review

Great review

Good review

Having a few bad reviews thoughtfully responded to (more info on this below) mixed with mostly positive reviews builds a lot of credibility for your brand — everyone knows that a human-based business isn’t perfect ALL of the time. Embrace that thought and use the negative reviews to your advantage.

Step 2: Respond to all negative reviews.

Now that you have your profiles claimed, it is important to respond to all negative reviews that are posted.

Have negative reviews from many months (or years) ago? Only respond to reviews from the past 90 days as it may look a bit disingenuous to respond to a review 4 months after it was posted. Make a commitment to respond to all negative reviews from this point forward.

For positive reviews — give random, unexpected thank you’s to through a different medium than the review came in on and an occasional thank you as a comment on the review. Send a personal thank you note, email, Facebook message, etc.

Pro Tip: send personalized thank you notes automatically throughThankster

Why respond to the negative reviews? Here are 2 great reasons:

Responding not only helps to pacify an angry customer, it can turn a negative into a positive. Respond, and you’ve got a 20% chance of converting mad customers not only into returning customers, but raving fans.

Show the thousands of people that will see this review in the future that there is a consciences & thoughtful owner/management team at this restaurant. Not only will you diffuse the negativity of this review, you’ll get a chance to show your restaurant’s personality and culture to future viewers.

You may be asking what a good response to a negative review looks like. See our ‘Anatomy Of A Restaurant’s Response To Negative Reviews’ for response tips and template. You may also be wondering if any reviews can be removed. Generally, you can flag reviews for removal if they have vulgar/obscene language, call out a specific employee/manager/owner, or have slander. Here are Yelp’s guidelines for what types of reviews can be flagged for removal.

Step 3: Take bold steps to improve based on valid feedback.

It’s easy to write off negative reviews as they seem to come from ‘trolls’ and are hard not to take personally. I encourage you to look at the reviews objectively and find ways to improve — afterall, this is pretty inexpensive feedback you may not see yourself and would have to pay a mystery shopper to get this sort of objective look at your business.

Talk about that internally & be transparent with your team and customers — in some cases, you may choose show the feedback on social media and what you did to correct it. Celebrate the feedback and show the world how you’re improving. This will go a long way to build trust and credibility.

Pro Tip: Create your own mystery shopper program. Utilize a tool likeRestaurant Logic’s feedback feature or Google Forms to create a questionnaire. Have your friends and regulars fill this out using their smartphone.

If you listen to feedback & make meaningful changes based on what you learn, watch what happens to the customers and team members you engage in this process, I think you’ll like the results.

Step 4: Get more positive reviews.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking: Duh, that’s the whole goal here. How to do this isn’t as obvious, however. Here is a sure-fire way to get more positive online reviews: ask for it! The best ways to do this:

Add a feedback element on your website on a feedback page (www.yoursite.com/feedback)

Advertise the ability to give feedback through your website in your check presenters — Example & Free template here

Add a sign on the back of your front door w/ link to your site

Add the link to the bottom of your receipts

The point here is to not let a customer leave your restaurant without knowing they can give you direct & candid feedback through your website. Once you get that feedback, thoughtfully respond and manage the negative reviews and personally invite the customers who gave you positive feedback to write a review on a review website.

Pro Tip: Use Canva to quickly create professional-looking check presenters. A typical check presenter insert is 3.5" x 8.5"

Here is a positive feedback response template that will help you in generating more positive reviews on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc:

Make it personal — write a note in the check presenter requesting feedback(example here). Use an online feedback tool embedded in your website. AtRestaurant Logic, we have developed a full online feedback tool that you can configure to automatically respond based on sentiment of the review or you can use a free solution like Google Forms. Make it a habit to respond to every review that comes through your internal feedback system. Automation is recommended here so responses go out very shortly after someone writes a review:

When responding to negative feedback, you’ll want to get a thoughtful response out as soon as possible to dissuade someone from going to an online review site. Again, automation will help things from falling through the cracks, but it is recommended you follow up with a personal response addressing their specific concern.

Here is an example of an automated response to negative feedback:

Hi (customer name),

Thank you for your recent feedback about your experience at our restaurant. We value your opinion & are very sorry to hear that we didn’t exceed your expectations during your recent visit. Please know that our management team will be reviewing your feedback and we will be in touch very soon. In the mean time, if you would like to speak to one of our managers, please call our office at (your number) or email (your email).

Thank you again for your feedback.

-(your name)

When responding to positive feedback, you’ll want to genuinely thank the reviewer, provide a kudos/gift of some kind, and refer them to online review sites.

Here is an example of an automated response to positive feedback:

Hi (customer first name),

(your name) here from (your restaurant). I just wanted to reach out to you personally to say THANK YOU for providing the great feedback about our restaurant during your recent visit! Customers like you are what keep me smiling every day.

As a special thank you, I’d like to give you a coupon for a free appetizer of your choice just for being an awesome customer. Simply click this link for your coupon (must be used for dine-in only).

Thank you again for your business, we hope to see you again soon!

-(your name)

P.S. I’d sure be honored if you’d share your feedback about (your restaurant) on Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, and Zomato

If you are a Restaurant Logic customer, these responses are already loaded in your dashboard, however, you can edit these templates to make them your own. If you’re not, please feel free to use the suggestions above for the system you’re using.

My hope is that you’re feeling more empowered about your online reputation. Let me know if you would add anything to this in your comments below!

-KS

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

Anatomy Of A Restaurant’s Response To A Negative Online Review

So you got a negative review recently on an online review site like Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Google, now what? Do you respond? Do you ignore it? Do you hope it will go away or that nobody will read it?

We recommend that each negative review gets a thoughtful response from you. Online review sites continue to shape customer’s decisions about where they are going to dine. While you can’t directly control what is said, you can control your public response. Below you’ll find the 3 components to a great owner’s response.

Before we analyze a great response to a negative review, here are some key points to remember:

Be sure to get claim your listings & get notified when a review is posted. Here are instructions on how to claim your profile & get notified for reviews on each of the top 4 review sites.

When responding to reviews, you’re goal is not to win an argument, it is diffuse the negative review and show a thoughtful & engaged ownership/management team at the restaurant

Your response isn’t just for the individual that wrote it, it is for the thousands of people that will see the review and your response in the future.

Here is our quick guide on how to respond to a negative review:

1. Say thank you

The quickest way to diffuse negativity is with gratitude. Say thank you t0 the reviewer for taking the time to provide their feedback. No need to gush, just a quick thanks.

“Hi (person’s first name),

Thank you for taking the time to write a review here on (review site)…”

2. Acknowledge their feedback & give a sincere apology

Make sure you show that you heard their specific feedback (food, service, ambiance, etc), that the experience they had on their visit was less than what you strive for.

“…We always strive to provide excellent service & great food in a comfortable and friendly environment, we are very sorry you didn’t find that on your recent visit…”

3. Learn more offline

Transition into learning more about their experience and utilizing the feedback to help improve for the future. Ask them to provide more details to take the conversation private via email.

“…We often hear of the great things here at (your restaurant’s name) but it is helpful to hear when things aren’t so good as well. If you are willing, please email me at (your public email) with the approximate date & time of your visit and any other details you can recall. We would like an opportunity to learn more from your feedback and do everything we can to create an enjoyable dining experience for every one of our guests in the future…”

A complete response to any negative review should include these 3 components. Your goal is to take the conversation offline to your email inbox. Here is the complete response template:

Hi (person’s first name),

Thank you for taking the time to write a review here on (review site). We always strive to provide excellent service & great food in a comfortable and friendly environment, we are very sorry you didn’t find that on your recent visit. We often hear of the great things here at (your restaurant’s name) but it is helpful to hear when things aren’t so good as well. If you are willing, please email me at (your public email) with the approximate date & time of your visit and any other details you can recall. We would like an opportunity to learn more from your feedback and do everything we can to create an enjoyable dining experience for every one of our guests in the future. Thank you again!

-(Personal signature)

While there are many ways to word a response, we recommend starting with a thank you, acknowledging the feedback, sincerely apologize, and learn more offline.

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

How To Claim Your Business Profile On the Top 4 Restaurant Review Sites

As a restaurant operating in the age of the internet, it seems customer feedback and reviews can come in from a multitude of sources. For many restaurant operators, the volume of websites, apps, and internet sources to keep track of can be overwhelming — where do you start? Here are the top 4 sites that consumers use to write reviews about restaurants and instructions on how to claim your profile on each site. Each of these sites can be set up to email you a notification anytime a review comes in:

YELP

1. Start by searching your business name at biz.yelp.com (this is our Yelp for Business Owners website). You should log in to your Yelp personal account first.

2. Click the business’ name from the search page listing the business.

3. Locate and click the “Work Here? Unlock This Business Page “link from the page.

4. Create your business account on Yelp

5. Then Follow all the steps on the page in claiming your business

6. You will be receiving a phone verification to verify that you are claiming your business; all you need is to verify and approve it.

7. NOTE: If you aren’t able to claim your business on Yelp using phone verification, you’ll receive a prompt to submit a report to their Support team, which will include information about your business and the time of the attempt that they can use to assist you.

Get notifications anytime a new review is written:

1. Login to your Yelp business account

2. Click ‘Account Settings’

3. Click ‘Manage Your Email Preferences’

4. Check the box next to ‘Send me an email when someone reviews my business’

5. Click ‘Save Settings’

TRIPADVISOR

1. Enter your business name and city, and then click “Search.” A drop-down menu will appear if your business is listed in the directory. (If your business is not listed, go to the new listing page and follow the prompts.)https://www.tripadvisor.com/GetListedRestaurant

2. Register your Listing. You can choose to register your business or continue the process without registering. Click “Register for this business,” which is the only way you can manage your listing. Registration is free.

3. Sign in using Facebook or Google. Alternatively, you can complete a registration form. If you are already a TripAdvisor member, sign in using your current credentials.

4. Complete the registration form. This step connects your TripAdvisor account to the business listing.

5. Verify your business. For security, TripAdvisor requires that you verify your identity using one of three ways: Facebook profile (recommended), credit card details, or documentation sent via email or fax.

Get notifications anytime a new review is written:

1. Login to your Tripadvisor business account

2. Click on Profile > Account Preferences

3. Ensure ‘TripAdvisor Review Report’ is checked

ZOMATO

1. Visit https://www.zomato.com/business

2. Search for your business name and where it is located

3. Click on the “claim listings” link and this will send a verification email or SMS to the email address of phone number you provided.

4. Approve verification

5. Start managing your Zomato Account

GOOGLE LOCAL

1. Visit google.com/mybusiness, click ‘Start Now’ on the top right

2. Sign into google account

3. Search for your business. Click the listing if it already exists or click Add Business if not listed.

4. Verify your business. The verification process helps ensure that your business information is accurate and that only you, the business owner or manager, has access to it. You may see one or several types of verification depending on the type of business you manage:

a. Verify via postcard

b. Verify via pone

c. Verify Instantly

d. Bulk verification

5. Once you’ve verified, you may see a banner asking you to review your information and make any final changes. Click Done editing when you’re certain that everything is up to date. You won’t be able to update the business’s name until the verification process is complete.

Get notifications anytime a new review is written:

1. Login to your Google Business account

2. Click ‘Settings’ on the top right menu

3. Scroll to “Receive notifications” and check or uncheck the box next “Reviews” to turn review notifications on or off

—

If you’re looking for a great tool to help you improve your online reputation, check out Restaurant Logic: a multi-platform internet marketing engine built for independent restaurants. Visit Restaurant-Logic.com to get more info and schedule a demo.

[restaurantmarketinggurus]

This is a great resource for driving more customers into your door with a small advertising budget.  Don’t hesitate to contact our team to help set this up for your restaurant!