As with any small business, you will need a combination of marketing, sales promotion and public relations to achieve long-term success. In a restaurant, customers are your cornerstone. In order to fill your tables frequently you will need to attract new customers and keep current ones loyal. Quality of food, atmosphere, value for money and friendly staff are important considerations.
A restaurant newsletter is an ideal way to boost your business and develop a relationship with customers. You can decide to do a printed version that you can mail, distribute to the neighborhood businesses or just leave by the door at the restaurant, or having an electronic newsletter that you can email. I would suggest a combination of both since in this way you cover all your customer's preferences.
The look of your restaurant newsletter should reflect the image of your restaurant. If you are a formal dining establishment, you newsletter should look upscale and sophisticated and be written with flair. If you are a casual, family restaurant, then your bulletin should have a fun and friendly look and be written in an upbeat, casual tone.
In any type of printed or online materials about your restaurant, relevant information should be provided somewhere, whether in a box off to the side, as part of the title box, or as an informational line at the bottom. Pertinent information includes name of restaurant, street address, phone and fax numbers, hours of operation, website address and email address.
The content of your restaurant newsletter should be less self-promoting and more customer-focused. The restaurant newsletter should not be self-promoting, it should be customer focused. The customer wants to know about your monthly specials, your charitable commitments, any new seasonal menus, a story behind this month's recipe, your new celebrity chef, industry trends, or new features of your restaurant.
It is important that you maintain a consistent delivery date (even if it's only quarterly). If you overdo the communication, customers will view it as advertising rather than information. A monthly publication is probably best if you have a lot going on, but if you change menus seasonally and don't hold many special events or fundraisers, then consider a quarterly one.
A good restaurant newsletter is one that customers can quickly read. Write brief articles and use short sentences. Catchy headlines and dividers to separate articles also help. Be sure to break up text with white space. Include only one or two small images, whether of food, staff, or other appropriate photo, so as not to jam a persons email box.
With any restaurant newsletter, be sure to provide links. If you're doing a printed publication, include the links so customers can visit when they have available computer access. And remember to include instructions on how to subscribe to your newsletter list, as well as a forward to a friend link. You should think about offering incentives to new subscribers and setup a formalized referral system for your existing subscribers. Encouraging feedback by asking a question or taking a poll is also a great feature to include in a newsletter.
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Jose L Riesco worked in the IT industry for 18 years and owned a restaurant before working full time as a consultant and marketing expert. By creating a unique client-centric Strategy, restaurateurs will be able to dramatically increase their sales while reducing marketing expenses. To find more about his Restaurant Marketing Strategies and his new book visit his web site:
http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
