9 July 2010

Marketing Strategies to Increase Sales at Your Restaurant

Posted by Crystal under: Recession Tips & Tricks; Restaurant Business .

Restaurant marketing is the area that many restaurant owners feel uncomfortable about.   Outside marketing specialists often are not completely straightforward, clouding the notion of restaurant marketing with mysterious terms and making restaurant marketing look harder than it really is.  Unfortunately, many marketing specialists also charge exuberant fees and have little to show in terms of the measurable results.   Any restaurant owner should be introduced to the key elements and important strategic objectives of restaurant marketing.  A major strategic marketing objective is to increase sales.  Here are 4 proven ways to build sales at your dining establishment:

Acquire First-Time Customers. Consistently introducing your restaurant to a wider audience is one of the key ways to increase sales and bring volume to your restaurant, even create possibility of expansion.   Acquiring new customers is also one of the most expensive marketing strategies, yet it is a critical element in growing your numbers.   Acquiring first-time customers is done through variety of methods, including planning the strategic location, brand-building, properly positioning your restaurant compared to the nearby competition and demographics, using social media and other tools.   It is also critical to make the right first impression the very first time the customer visits your establishment.

Improve Customer Retention. Once you acquired a customer, it is important to have programs in place to keep him/her coming back.   Strategies utilized by restaurants today in this area include anything from developing enduring personal relationships with clients to introducing loyalty programs similar to the ones used by airlines and hotels.  Building successful customer loyalty programs includes implementing appropriate software to help you in this process and keeping track of the trends in your customer profiles and preferences.

Increase Check Averages. Increasing the total amount of money spent by customers at your restaurant can be achieved in a number of ways, provided that you did your due diligence and know marketing basics, such as the market you’re in, your competitors, customers, and any outside influences that may impact your business.  These measures include suggestive selling practices, internal merchandizing, staff training, upgrades, price increases, direct mail programs, and so on.  It is also critical to have the right tools and systems to monitor the actual effects of the strategies to increase check averages.

Host Special Events or Larger Parties. One of the most efficient ways to grow sales is to promote the hosting of private parties and the celebration of special events at your restaurant.  Make sure your dining establishment is equipped with the right facility/rooms to handle special events on a regular basis.  This includes private rooms or other ways to ensure privacy for special events.  Implement programs that encourage customers to host big size parties.  This includes quantity discounts, upgrades, and free gifts.  Market your restaurant’s capability to hold large party events and have your operations and logistics in place to deliver the value you promise.

Implementing the above strategies through spending more time and resources on staff training, marketing basics, learning about your customer and competition and properly positioning your restaurant will definitely bring desired results.

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