Dear Restaurateur,
You have terrific well-prepared meals and a wonderful service staff; the house is packed more often than you can keep up. Patrons are talking about you, word spreads that an amazing restaurant has opened in town! That's exactly what you wished for and it shows, customers are clamoring to get a seat in your eatery. If you're one of the clever, smart and fortunate restaurateurs in the city: great job; continue to build & manage your business for as long as possible. Successfully duplicate your efforts and you'll soon be on a beach somewhere sucking back margaritas. You've arrived!
Sadly, that's not always the case. The restaurant business is cut-throat; long hours, staff & management challenges, supplier issues, government regulatory concerns and inspections, customer complaints, property concerns, business partner difficulties, etc. For many, if the stars aren't aligned just right; it's a real struggle to maintain a high standard in the dining experience.
Many times, word of mouth (advertising) starts to wane. Why? To start, any of the issues in the previous paragraph, but let's face it, the reasons are plentiful. It's possible too that your location is kind of remote or off the beaten path, making it hard to attract new faces. What happens then: you are committed and in for the long haul? You have financial responsibilities and you can't simply walk away.
You've got to advertise and convince prospects (yes, they are prospects until they spend money) that you're pulling up your socks and getting your act together. You believe in your restaurant AND need to get that message out! You have to make a decision; “what is our budget?” This is where it gets tricky; you can spend thousands on radio, television, bill boards, sponsorship and the internet. However, if you don't have vast financial backing, you can easily lose your shirt. The other option is to spend little, but you need results.
Enter: the promotion (or promo)! Offer your menu at a special discount to a select group of people. A promotion is something you may only want to occasionally provide, after all, the idea is to sell your food creations at their regular price.
Most restaurateurs will ultimately have few choices but to spend little when it comes to advertising and keep in mind; there's no quick fix. Always do your very best: your aim should be to get back to those former glory days. The best is yet to come!
After 17 years in business, Funclips has the marketing know-how and experience to find you and your restaurant new customers. We'll bring them there...after that it's up to you to keep them coming back!
Assuming you believe in the philosophy that says, you've got to spend money to make money, then together, let's start now:
