7 Free Marketing Tips For Your Restaurant

Understanding how to promote our restaurant is the most important thing in this business, this are seven free merketing tips for your restaurant

• Understand what business you're in (it's not what you think!)

If you take away only one thing from this article, let this be it- You are NOT in the restaurant business, you are in the restaurant MARKETING business. Understanding this distinction is key to being successful and it is the single biggest mistake I see most restaurant owners make. Few if any independent restaurateurs  consciously understand this critical point. Often, successful restaurants fall into their success by accident, but make no mistake, understanding that the name of the game is marketing is key to being profitable.

• Who ARE you?

Before you can create a marketing plan, you need to define who you are and who your target market is.

The first question is usually answered by the creation of a USP or Unique Selling Proposition. Many businesses create one- virtually every chain restaurant has a clearly defined USP and they spend millions of dollars and great effort to create them and instill them in the public and their employees. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word "Disneyland"? Many of you probably said "The Happiest Place On Earth". What about Domino's"? If you're old enough, you'll probably say "30 minutes or it's Free". These USPs are immensely powerful and define exactly who and what a company is.

Don not rush through this step. Spend as long as you need and think long and hard about what makes YOU and your business unique. If you can't think of anything unique about your business, then you'd better spend some time creating something that sets you apart from your competition. If you don't then you'll be an afterthought in people's minds.

Another thing- The more focused and direct your USP is, the easier it will be to create your marketing.

• Bigger isn't "Better"

Listen, your dream might be to eventually have a 1000 stores across the country and run it all from your yacht in the Mediterranean. Go for it! But, right now, you're the little guy and the worst thing you can do is allow

yourself to consider that a weakness. Sure, the big chains have advantages in budgets and economies of scale, but they can't be the one thing you are- LITTLE! So, embrace this and use it to your advantage. Little means "personal". Little means "community". Little means "speed and efficiency". Little means "unique and original". Little means you can "change on a dime".

Think of all the things you can do that the big box down the street can't and use any and everything you can think of.

• Work ON your restaurant not IN your restaurant

This is a biggie! It's a mistake I've made myself. Think about where your time is best spent. You might need to spend a lot of time initially getting your restaurant running up to your standards, but make sure throughout your planning that you set as your goal a commitment to focusing the bulk of your energy on marketing.

Consider the value of your time. Is your time worth the same as the minimum wage cook or busboy you hire? It shouldn't be. another way to look at it is this- What activities can/should you be engaged in to bring the greatest return to your business? Can your spending time working with the local Chamber or donating time and product to a charity bring a greater return than the cost of paying someone to cover a shift in the restaurant? The answer had better be yes or you shouldn't be the owner!

• You don't need a massive budget

I know there's never enough money at the end of the month to spend what you'd like on marketing. There never is! But, consider this, there are many things you can do that aren't expensive. Mostly, it's about being an ambassador for your business, which means you should almost always be in marketing mode and always looking for ways your business can bring a benefit to others (and, by extension, to you!).

This is where you need to get creative- Look up "guerilla marketing" ideas online. You'll find lots of fun and different ideas that aren't expensive, but will get people talking. Stay away from the obvious- don't waste money on yellow page ads, think hard before you plunk down your dollars for coupon ads in your local green sheet or pennypincher. These aren't bad exactly, but you only have so many dollars. Make sure you get the most out of them. Which brings us to another important point...

• If you can't measure it, don't do it!

Every, and I mean every last one, campaign you attempt must be trackable. In other words, every ad you run or promotion you offer must have a coupon or some other method of knowing if it is working. This is absolutely vital. "If you can't measure it you can't improve it." Do not ever allow yourself to be talked into any advertising that does not contain an offer and have some way of tracking the results.

And, obviously, make sure that you take the time to do the tracking carefully. Repeat what works, throw out what doesn't.

• Get Online!

I know, I know, you've heard it before. But this is the reality. If you're not online, you don't exist for a large portion of the population.

This doesn't have to cost a fortune, in fact it should give you a great return on your investment. If you can't do it yourself, then pay to have it done, but you need a strong web presence and this is only going to become more important as time goes on.

Options for keeping costs down- Check the local college for students who have computer skills. They'll work for cheap (maybe even in trade for food!). There are many inexpensive programs for creating web pages and companies like GoDaddy can provide domain name and hosting for very modest budgets.

And the future is coming more quickly than ever! Don't neglect cell phones. Connecting to your customers through their phones is going to be the next major direction and the sooner you get on board the better.

And, conversely, don't allow yourself to have a bad web page- this is worse than not having one at all. I will absolutely guarantee you that a bad web page will lose you customers and quickly.

These are some basics of the mistakes I've made and seen others make along with some ideas on how to set yourself apart from the crowd.

And that is the key- differentiation. You've got to be different than everyone else, but don't worry, you already are! Now you've just got to show it to your guests and the public!

These are just a few things to think about, but they're the most important points to consider.