Marketing should be part of your everyday business during good times or challenging times. Because you will always:

1. Lose customers you want to get back (statistically 20% every year during good times – up to 80% now)
2. Have competition that you can pull visits from
3. Be able to increase existing customer visits and increase their loyalty

The question shouldn’t be IF you should market, but rather HOW you should market which is very Important.

Marketing during good times protects your investment and allows you to make more.  Marketing during challenging times like these allows you to get your business back, protect future losses, and grow to your potential.

Marketing Cost Vs Marketing Investment

There’s a HUGE difference between marketing cost and marketing investment.  You shouldn’t do ANY advertising or marketing that COST you any money. Only focus on advertising and marketing that can verify you have a good Return on Investment then accelerate it to the max if you want to make the most.

What You Should Be Tracking / Evaluating with Advertising

• # of increased visit sales
• New Faces generated that you can turn into New Regulars.  
• # Of Lost Customers returning
• Initial visit sales minus food costs and discounts for gross profits vs investment
• Repeat visit value of New or Renewed satisfied Regulars if those type of New Faces were generated

In order to know this, the advertising or marketing must provide a tracking system to analyze all these bullet points. Otherwise, you are just “shooting in the dark” without really knowing what’s working or what isn’t.  Stay away from the mentality:  “I’m doing this type of advertising to get my name out there”  I also like to recommend advertising or marketing that not only builds branding of your name, but gets them to respond as well.

What Is Not Accurate Tracking

Simply comparing one year to the next is an accurate assessment of how your business is doing overall, but is never an accurate measure of return on investment for any advertising itself. Because there are too many variables that can skew the numbers one way or the other.  During this pandemic was an extreme example.  However, until now, that’s usually been the only way to measure advertising costs.

What Budgets Really Mean

That’s why businesses use “budgets”.  Budget is a number that you’re willing to lose in order to try and grow your business without really knowing what you’re making from it alone.  Yikes.  I started LePera Marketing over 20 years ago to find alternative solutions because I was tired of wasting this money myself.  If you advertise now, using the right ways, you can still have losses compared to last year, but start recovering and rebuilding which is very important for your future solvency.  

The BEST advertising or marketing for a restaurant are broken down into these 3 (A.B.C) categories:

A. Marketing where the consumer needs to find or follow you:

1. ON-LINE - Have great product or service presence / photos on-line for those checking you out and monitor reviews customers are giving you to respond to them all
2. FACEBOOK - Use Facebook to engage with customers that will follow you. Other Social Media is fine as well

B. Marketing where the consumer needs to enroll or sign-up for something

1. CUSTOMER LIST - Build a Direct Mail, Email & Texting Customer list to communicate with your customers for New Business Products or Services you want to promote, Updates, Anniversaries, Promos, Thank You’s, Rewards, Events etc. Signing up for FREE Birthday offer is the BEST incentive to get customers to enroll

C. Marketing where the consumer doesn’t need to sign-up for anything, or even know who you are

1. PERSONALIZED, TARGETED DIRECT MAIL - Personalized, Targeted Direct Mail is the BEST way to reach everyone and avoid all the On-line chaos out there.  Much more effective to target vs saturation marketing approach
2. BIRTHDAYS IS THE BEST TIME & REASON to utilize this type of Direct Mail.  Everyone has a birthday and most want to celebrate at home, or office, or dining out. Making it perfect to promote Take-out, Dine-in, Catering, or Delivery. Birthdays are proven to be recession proof as show during the 2008 recession.
3. BIRTHDAYS ARE BEST BRANDING METHOD …because people “remember” someone sending them a personalized birthday card in the mail for a long time. Typically, up to at least a full year that’s verified.

To make the most, market all these A, B, C areas because they can work hand-in hand and have different objectives

During these challenging times, I strongly advise not to “wait” till you think you can afford to do any.  IF it’s the “right” advertising or marketing it can be verified that it pays for itself, so it doesn’t “cost” you anything.  If you’re already doing A and/or B to it’s potential, but still not seeing all the sales you can handle, then you’ll want to do “C” also to bounce back or get there.  Your fixed operational costs are the same whether you have more people buying from you or not, whether it be take-out, delivery, or dine-in. So, maximize every inch of space and every type of service you can for consumers to buy from you.  

Fear Of Covid-19 Keeping Consumers Away From Dine-In

With the fear of Covid-19 making some fearful to go out…send them a personalized birthday card and tell them you’d like to cook for them to enjoy their meal at your place or we’ll bring it to you.  You’ll be amazed at how many decide to “risk” trying your atmosphere out again, and then realize it wasn’t so fearful or bad, and if they don’t, you can still enjoy the sale for take-out or delivery, but still keeping your customer. Otherwise, most will be buying somewhere else for their birthday to celebrate.

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