Wikipedia’s definition of promotions is:  In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue. The aim of promotion is to increase awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty.

So, by definition, our birthday mailers are a form of promotional marketing as well, but I’m going to refer to promotional marketing now as the best ways and ideas to get your existing customers at a restaurant to come back more often.  We call it Promos 4 Business.  I refer to our birthdays 4 business birthday mailers as CORE business marketing more than promotional marketing because it reaches all the best prospects that aren’t existing customers as well as existing customers

PROMOS 4 BUSINESS RESTAURANT MARKETING

Ok, as a continuation from previous blog: How To Evaluate the Best Digital Marketing for Restaurant Promotional Marketing, now let me explains how to best utilize the data bases or customer guest lists or marketing lists you’ve created to get your customers continually spending more with you.

Here are the best reasons to send restaurant offers and messages. You can of course do all or part, but remember the more names you have and the more strategic ways you communicate and follow-up with your customers the more you’ll make.

Reminders:  Sending out We Miss You reminders or Holiday reminders once a month can make your customers feel special and displays again what I call: “Marketing with a Heart”. Once a week send out a reminder for happy hours, new menu items or special events / promos

Discounted offers:   I recommend sending out a nice Birthday gift offer once a year that is not items specific. I recommend sending an Anniversary Offer once a year that gives something for the lady, or as a couple, or like a special Anniversary Package with wine etc. I also recommend sending out a Thank You for your patronage message once a month so it keeps your restaurant at the top of their minds for promotional marketing with a heart. I think is just about right. Thank you’s could have a discount or not, but good to offer an appetizer or dessert or new menu item with the discount for this. I highly recommend sending out a Thank You “mailer” from the data base created form the birthday mailers once or twice a year so you reach everyone and not just those that signed up for the digital marketing.  Put 2 offers on their to make huge extra sales and long lasting good feeling about your business which maintains and increases loyalty.

Loyalty Rewards offers:  If you do the reminders and discounted offers, I mentioned above, you are staying in touch with your customers whether they remember your rewards program or not. Sometimes get out of the habit and forget, then consequently stop coming and no rewards. Therefore if you do a Loyalty Rewards program also, I recommend using our automated intelligence software to send out a reward based on # of visits vs $ amount spent, that enables you to send out something different once the software recognizes you haven’t been there in a month, 2 months, 3 months etc that’s all customizable.  These rewards can be a simple $5. You don’t have to offers as much for exiting customers as you do new ones to get them to your place.

A.R.M.S. AUTOMATED RESTAURANT MARKETING SOLUTION

At LePera Marketing, we have developed a Promos 4 Business restaurant marketing program that is fully automated to achieve all this with the click of a button called A.R.M.S.  (automated restaurant marketing solution) which we are really excited about. We’ll ask you a series of questions to determine your primary objectives to set up the BEST automated marketing solution for your particular business, then all you have to do is take care of the business and enjoy all the customer complements and looks at a 24/7 dashboard for tracking of the results when you desire. That’s it. Then whenever you come up with special ideas or modifications you’d like made to what is already set up for, just make one phone call to our affiliated company called FanCONNECT who handles the software and they’ll implement that for you right away.

Feel free to call with any questions for ideas whether LePera Marketing or Birthdays 4 Business or Promos 4 Business works with you or not. We care and like to help!  In my next blog I will discuss how you should evaluate all electronic media, billboards, saturation mail and social media marketing