Category Archives: Social Media Marketing

Marketing implemented with the use social media primarily internet and mobile phones.

Social Media and Mobile Marketing-How to Integrate both for Maximum Result

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Nash Sherchan| Leave a comment

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and others continue to be a growing trend among both teenagers and adults.  There is no better place to advertise your restaurant business than on a social media site especially if you are  looking for low cost marketing channel for better return.

A large percentage of consumers access these sites via their mobile phones and have multiple social media applications downloaded on their mobile devices.  Develop a presence on these social media sites so that potential and existing customers can follow you and receive your latest restaurant updates.

Best Times to update for better response

Since mobile phones are accessible at any time, day or night, your message, when communicated via a social media site, will reach the fans or followers in a timely manner.  Keeping your social media site updated also enables you to grab the attention of prospective customers and create brand awareness in their mind.The best time for updates seems to be 11AM, 3PM, & 8PM ET.However you can test by updating on different times to find out the best times for better response from your fans.

Word of Mouth Advertising -How Social Media creates a Viral Effect

Social media campaigns can have a viral effect.  Your message can be circulated to more prospective customers than you initially targeted.  For example, when you send an offer on Facebook or Twitter, if your followers like the offer, they will share it with their friends. The message and your offer are then displayed to their friends on those respective social media sites.  Thus, your marketing campaign has a viral effect.  Make sure that you maximize your use of social media integration on mobile phones as most of people, about 50% of your total customers  may be accessing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter via mobile. Expect the percentage to go even higher as smart phones become a main stream.

Think integrating Mobile Marketing into your Facebook Fan Page

Consider developing a fan page on Facebook where customers can leave feedback or comments. Though this might scare some of the restaurant owners about the negative review, I think it is better to know your weakness and correct it soon and win back that customer than remain in the darkness of unknown. It might not seem obvious but in a long run you’ll win when you adopt this mentality. Why don’t take that same negative experience and turn it into an asset that you can use to gain confidence and trust from your customers.This shows the human side of your restaurant business. We all make mistakes. Let’s face it. But the key is whether we correct it in a timely manner. Actively updating your Fan page enables you to simultaneously acknowledge positive feedback, thank them where ever necessary  and learn about potential areas for improvement.

Always think how you can integrate mobile into any thing you do. You can also add a mobile coupon widget to your Facebook page to encourage customers to sign up for coupons.   It’s a great opportunity to implement customer satisfaction surveys and confirm to your customers that you listen to their views and act on them.  When you are using different social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and text messages to market your restaurant you have to ask this question to your self-  “how do I make sure that all of them work side by side and one is helping the other  for maximum result.” There is a power in a sum than just one marketing channel. When you integrate all our marketing effort stacking on top of every marketing channel you have previously used, you’ll see an exponential growth and return on your investment of time, effort and money.

Are you integrating social media and mobile marketing to get maximum results.I’d love to hear your experiences or any feedback.

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Posted in Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing

Social Networks Will Transform The World Of Restaurant Business.

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Nash Sherchan| 16 Comments

One of the most common question that comes out when we talk about social media with the restaurant owners is that “Why do I have to be on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media platforms?

Let me tell you one thing for sure that Social Media will change the way the restaurants do business now and in the future.No more can a restaurant afford to do business without leveraging social media if they want to survive and thrive in this new digital age.

I still remember when I wrote the first blog post about Facebook last year, there were only about 37 million people on Facebook in US and now after a year there is over 100 million people. More and more people are joining on Facebook, Twitter and many other social media network. As a business owner I’m sure you agree that you should go where your customers are. Right? Right now they are on Facebook and Twitter.

In the video the author Penny Power talks about New Entrepreneurs that are emerging now. She is absolutely right that there is this new breed of entrepreneurs who understand that business can be created inside the virtual world based on the value they create for their community.

If you look at the world of restaurant business then there are these new social media restaurant entrepreneurs that are emerging like @AJBombers , @KogiBBQ @CoffeeGroundz @NakedPizza You can follow them on Twitter to find more about them. They understand the power of social networks. They have created a community inside the virtual world of Facebook and Twitter to name just a few. They engage with them on a regular basis to make sure that their customers are taken care of and that they are happy. If any thing goes wrong with the service, product or anything they are right beside to help them out. They don’t wait 3-4 days for the complain letter to arrive via snail mail. Those days are gone. Now the same letter will be broad casted publicly in 140 characters or less on Twitter if they don’t act immediately. I hope you follow them on Twitter and Facebook to learn more about how they do business on Social Medial.

Word of Mouse Advertising

Word of Mouth Advertising comes only when you wow your customers. These new entrepreneurs understand the importance of exceptional service that goes beyond just serving food to the customers. They also understand the power of social media and would not hesitate to leverage it to create a viral effect of the ravings they get from their customers. I like to call it “Word of Mouse Advertising” powered by the clicks on the mouse. Restaurants are well know as a business where word of mouth advertising has been used for a long time. But now with the power of social media the advertising of your restaurant can go viral in less time if executed well.

New Business Model

“We will all win and not just I win.”

This is the new set of thought process of new restaurant entrepreneurs who are redefining the new business model. They believe that their customers deserve the quality service, respect and dignity. In order to achieve this they go an extra mile to WOW their customers. The customers pay them back with loyalty to their business and in return the entrepreneurs reach out to help their own community. In this case every one wins and not just one party.

Those who are ready to grasp this new set of rules in new era of Facebook and Twitter will rise up to dominate the restaurant market. Those who are not they are eventually going to be wiped out by their competitors who embrace the social media.

It is just a matter of time that “The new world will emerge from the ashes of the old world.”

Do you believe that Social Media will change the way restaurant does business now and in the future? I would appreciate your thoughts on Why Social Media is essential part of the success for restaurant business?

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Posted in Social Media Marketing

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Starbucks VIA instant taste Challenge Day- Brilliant Marketing Strategy on Social Media by Starbucks.

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| 2 Comments

How Starbucks attracted me into the Sales funnel and finally into their Store persuading me to buy their VIA instant coffee.

Starbucks VIA Instant coffee was the buzz last week every where from radio to Facebook, Twitter and every possible medias. I have to admit that I am impressed by their social media marketing strategy funneling a potential customer into buying the VIA instant coffee. Despite being a marketing guy and knowing how they were attracting me to their fish net, I was persuaded to finally buy their VIA instant coffee. Now allow me to share the process how they did it to me so it gives you an idea how a brilliant marketing can work. Please feel free to use some of their ideas for a similar product launch of your restaurant.

On Thursday October 1st I heard the buzz about Starbucks VIA instant coffee on the radio. They were talking so highly about it in a local radio that I even made a Facebook update wondering if it was really that good. What I essentially did was viral marketing for them at a push of an update on my Facebook informing all my friends about their new product VIA instant coffee. That is what I call a word of mouse advertising. It was purely on a voluntary basis. No one forced me to do that. I just did it because I like the coffee and I wanted to share with my friends. As this buzz was lingering in my mind, the next day when I opened Facebook, I saw the ads from Starbucks on my right hand side of the screen enticing me to RSVP. Sure enough I did it.

Now it was Saturday morning yesterday. I woke up and the first thing I wanted was a coffee. I would have gone to Dunkin Donuts or other Coffee place that morning. Since Starbucks was successful in engaging my mind with their new coffee product VIA instant coffee right from the middle of the week, I could not forget it and it just automatically prompted my mind to go to Starbucks yesterday morning.

I went to the Starbucks. Saw their promotional displays and also the sample of VIA instant coffee with two flavors- Columbia and Italian. I tried Columbia right away. Later I went to the cashier to buy a regular coffee but never had a desire to really buy the VIA instant coffee. She explained me in more details about the promotion and that I could buy the VIA instant coffee for $1.50 with $1 OFF on the 3 packets Italian flavor instant coffee.On top of that I would get my grande regular freshly brewed coffee for FREE. Now who would not want to take that offer. That is brilliant to me. Here is why? If that offer was not there then I would not have bought the VIA instant coffee. Their main strategy was to hand over the VIA instant coffee to every customers that walked into the store with the same FREE cup of coffee offer. Though they lost their money on that FREE cup of coffee I think they won in a long run. Now just take an example of me. Just because of that offer I got those VIA instant coffee. Now I will be trying that coffee. I might like it. The chances of me telling to my other friends is more as I enjoy the coffee. The chance of me buying more also increased dramatically. See how with one simple strategy Starbucks got me hooked into their sales funnel.

Starbucks Twitter Marketing Strategy

StarbucksVIA taste Challenge tweet

StarbucksVIA taste Challenge tweet

On Friday at 12:59 pm Starbucks tweeted about their Starbucks taste challenge day promotion with a link to their event link on Facebook. With one tweet Starbucks were able to broadcast their event to over 300 thousands followers. It was FREE. Imagine if they had to broadcast the same message on TV, it would cost them couple of thousands if not millions of dollars. Using twitter platform, it enabled Starbucks to inform about it’s VIA instant coffee product launch to potentially to everyone who ever were interested in Starbucks coffee. Once people got that tweet they were further drawn into Facebook to RSVP the  StarbucksVIA taste challenge day event.This is brilliant because when they RSVP the event then it is directing their mind subconsciously to attend that event. I am the perfect example. Saturday morning as I woke up, my subconscious mind told me to go to Starbucks.

Starbucks Facebook Ad

Starbucks Facebook Ad

Starbucks VIA Taste Challenge

I have seen Starbucks as the leader in leveraging the social media to engage it’s customers making a great brand awareness. For this particular VIA instant taste challenge event they used the Facebook to promote and in my opinion they were successful. As of writing this article there were 211, 1184 confirmed guests already and we still have time till tomorrow-Monday 5th October up to 5pm. Starbucks might have bought Facebook ad for couple of spare change out of their coffee sales. That marketing expense would be like a drop out of the ocean. However the impact it had to attract targeted potential customers was huge. That is the power of Facebook targeted ad. Any restaurants can attract their customers based on their geographic location. Your restaurant pay only when the ad gets clicked. I feel it is better than any other ad as it is targeted specific to your own local area within your own city.

I hope you got an idea how Starbucks has leveraged social media like Facebook and Twitter to attract the potential customers and more importantly how to use some of those ideas into your restaurant business. If you also want to add some ideas that I might have left please feel free to add on the comment section. I would appreciate it and also other restaurants who are trying to figure this new social media thing would also be very thankful to you.

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Posted in Blog Marketing, Face Book Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter Marketing, Viral Video Marketing, Youtube Marketing

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Where Are Social Networking Sites Heading? How Can Your Restaurants Take Advantage Of Business Branding Opportunities Facebook Offers.

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| Leave a comment

When you look at the history of social networking sites, since 2004 there has been a tremendous growth in social networking sites. It boggles my mind to see how many new sites pop up every day revolving around the idea of social media. To name few dominant ones are Myspace, Facebook and Linked in. The interesting thing to note during this same time is that how some of them have declined while the others are rapidly growing to be an integral part of our modern social medium of communication. What I am talking about here is Myspace vs Facebook. Though Myspace was born before Facebook, it has declined it’s popularity and in a way become old school. While Facebook which came later in the scene of social media adopted a twist on Myspace social networking site model by also implementing the business aspect.I believe that has given a huge boost to Facebook popularity.

Linkedin is also another social networking site focused on business professionals.But it only attracts the business people here. Facebook where as takes personal only approach of Myspace and professional only approach of Linkedin and combines the both and make it one in Facebook. That is what it makes Facebook more dynamic than Myspace or Linkedin. Though they have their own strengths in their own right, what I find it problem to us as a restaurant business owners is that it doesn’t serve a purpose of participating and engaging with the customers. It is like having only young customers in Myspace and restaurant business in Linkedin. So when customers and business are in separate social networking site how on earth are we going to communicate with our customers and engage with them, most probably inform and entertain them to win their loyalty and encourage them to visit our restaurants. Facebook takes this opportunity of filling the vacum that was created by this two social networking sites. Now since Facebook allows a business like your restaurant to create Fan page or Groups in Facebook, you can virtually communicate two ways with your customers, also who have become fans of your restaurant. Business and customers have come to a single social networking platform Facebook. Now only then it makes your restaurant and customer relationship a business sense.

Facebook has definitely been a blessing for small businesses like small independent restaurants. It offers an opportunity to small restaurants to even compete with big chain restaurants. No more can a chain restaurants sit on a heap of extra cash they have and laugh at small restaurants which they have been doing in the pretelevision age. The days of fighting the battle of marketing on the televisions are over. In fact if you are smart enough to execute the Facebook marketing with  targeted advertising, despite being a small independent restaurant and with a less marketing budget,Facebook now levels the battle field plain for you to even win the Goliath.

Facebook by any means is not a magic.It is not something you turn it on and it works wonders automatically. Obviously work and patience is required. You have to have a strong presence. Engage with the fans. Entertain them. This is how you build a relationship and create your loyal fans.

But if you don’t have a patience to wait too long and you are willing to pay money for targeted traffic then there is a service offered by Facebook called Facebook Ad. Basically it allows you to advertise your restaurant to a targeted group of people lets say people residing only in your town or city. Facebook with it’s algorithm it will display those ads to only people that you have targetted specifically. That way you have a more chance of your marketing money worth well spent. It is not like shot gun approach on televisions, radio or newspaper. Facebook Ad  hits right on the target and produces astounding results that is unheard of. Sometimes it might lead you to scratch the head and make you think why one would spent so much on other traditional medium of marketing that doesn’t work any more. This is even better than pay per click advertising on Google because Facebook already has a data of a people living in your area that you are targeting. That means the advertising of your restaurant would not be thrown at the face of a random people like the tv does to annoy them. Rather with it’s unique algorithm it would learn about your customers social profile and only would display the ad on his face. This time you are sure that the customer is more likely to respond because it is more relevant.It is not like the ad from a tv or radio where you see or hear an ad about a restaurant that is located on the other side of the town or city and there is no way you would be driving that distance just to have your dinner.

The main advantage of Facebook Ad to your restaurant is targetted advertising.You can virtually laser target the customers with in your town or city with their targeted advertising and attract to your restaurant.This is how Facebook Ad brings a value proposition to all small businesses including your restaurants.

Hope all of the small independent restaurants see the opportunity that Facebook offers and take advantage of it.

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Posted in Face Book Marketing, Social Media Marketing

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What Would Yelp Integrated Into Facebook Do For Your Restaurant Business?

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| Leave a comment

It’s interesting to watch Robert Scoble’s argument Why Facebook should buy Yelp rather than Twitter. Robert Scoble is a prolific blogger, Geek enthusiast and an author.

It got my attention because he is talking about the future and the promise it holds to small businesses like restaurants. In fact he is already forecasting the future of social networking sites convergence and how it is going to affect the businesses like your restaurant. More important thing to note here as a restaurant owner, manager or operator is how as a restaurant business one can position your self to take advantage of the promise that social network sites like Facebook combined with Yelp provides in the future.

I do believe that Facebook buying Yelp makes more sense than buying Twitter. After the purchase deal that didn’t go with Twitter, Facebook in a way has started it’s own version of twitter though it is not as dynamic as twitter.

Now lets see closely why Yelp integrated into Facebook makes a powerful combination. Yelp is a social site for reviewing local businesses like restaurants by regular people like you and me who are also Facebook users.

Yelp has all the the datas about restaurant reviews-likes and dislikes from your friends about particular restaurants in their neighbourhood. Now the same friends are also in Facebook. The problem here is that since Yelp and Facebook doesn’t share the datas at least for now you don’t have the power to leverage your friends restaurant likes and dislikes at Facebook. However this dynamic could change if Facebook decided to buy Yelp.

Like Robert Scoble said, if Yelp were to be integrated into Facebook then it could be a very powerful virtual word of mouse recommendation tool. Lets say if you were walking down the Golden gate in San Francisco or Manhattan in New York, and wanted to try the restaurant that your friend would recommend you based on their review. All you would do is go to your Facebook app on your mobile phones like iPhone, android or others and type in restaurants with zip code. You would have an access to the restaurants that were rated by your friends based on likes and dislikes. This way you wouldn’t have to worry about those directories that are full of junk datas. Instead you would be getting an honest reviews and recommendation from your own friends. Obviously you would trust your close friends than some random group of people’s review about a restaurant. Can you see the power now of the Yelp combined with Facebook?

Successful people in sports or business are always on top of the future trends. In a way they can predict what is coming next and get ready before it is there. That is how they win. Take an example of Magic Johnson in the Sports of basketball. He talks about knowing where the ball is going to be before it is passed and run to that spot while the ball is being passed and NOT after the ball is passed. It is about timing and knowing where the things are headed next. Being in the right place and at the right time makes a person or business winner.

If you look at Steve Job of Apple, he is a winner with his revolutionary product iPhone. Well he didn’t succeed just because he came out with his great product over night yesterday. He predicted this couple of years before 2008-2009. He knew very well where the mobile market was headed. Even thought their main core business were computers he suddenly jumped into the bandwagon of mobile phones may be to the surprise of even NOKIA. Now he is enjoying his right predictions and actions taken well before.

So the point behind this story is to have that edge on the future where things are headed to and be able to position yourself so you can take advantage of, like Magic Johnson and Steve Job.

I see these convergence of Yelp and Facebook coming in the future. If not this two there will some sort of this. So I highly recommend all the restaurants to get ready for that. For now I would suggest that restaurants start building presence at Facebook and Yelp and other social networking sites and building reviews of cource good ones from your your online customers which can then be benifitted when Yelp is integrated into Facebook. You will be well positioned by then to take advatage of that integration.

At a push of a button on mobile devices your restaurant would be found and recommended by their friends at Facebook. I am sure they would visit your restaurant instead of the advertised restaurant that they saw on the television. Well at least I would visit your restaurant recommended by my friends because I trust my friends than the television or online directories full of junk datas about restaurants from random people whom I even don’t know.

That is the difference and power Yelp Integrated into Facebook would bring to your restaurant business. So I hope you see the possibilities what Yelp and Facebook combined can do for your restaurant business. More importantly I highly urge you to position yourself well to take advantage of the new dynamics of convergence of Yelp with Facebook or any other sites that can add value to the restaurant diners.

Do you think Facebook will buy Yelp? How about Microsoft, Apple or Google? Will they compete with each other to buy Yelp? Regardless, who ever buys Yelp, how will it impact restaurant marketing in this new age of social media where convergence of social media sites will take place and LOCAL will be the focus in the future?

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Posted in Face Book Marketing, Social Media Marketing

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Ashton Kutcher’s Victory Over CNN Proves That Social Media Has Changed The Game of Marketing In Business.

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| Leave a comment

Ashton Kutcher’s victory over mightiest CNN on a race to get 1 million followers on Twitter has proved that Social Media and Internet has indeed changed the game of marketing in business. It signifies that leveraging social media and internet one can even battle big media network like CNN with battalion of armies and all the money at their disposal.

So far many small business ie. restaurants and even individuals might have some doubts about social media if this was just the hype or for real. Well that mystery or doubt is cleared for sure by Ashton’s victory.On Friday at about 1am he got the million followers well before CNN. It is amazing to see how a single individual could challenge the entire media network and still beat. This is the power that social media has offered to any one no matter how big or small their company is.

World has definitely changed  after the rise of internet and with the rapid development of social media. It has democratized the media. Aston Kutcher or your restaurant has equally the same power as big network like CNN, or big chain restaurants with big marketing budget if you can harness the power of internet and social media. You can still beat the big restaurants or big companies like Aston did to CNN. No more can a company have a definite right to win the battle of marketing just because it has more money. If that was true CNN had billions at their disposal. Today to win, one has to adopt the new way of thinking and new  marketing and that you can achieve by  online marketing using every free tool available like Blogs, Facebook, Youtube,Twitter and many more.

Hope you as an individual and your restaurant as a company will harness the power of internet and social media and use it to your marketing advantage even to win big companies with big marketing budgets.

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Ashton Kutcher Vs CNN-Why This Race Is Significant To Small Businesses Like Your Restaurant?

Posted on April 16, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| 2 Comments

Larry King From CNN Challenges Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher challenges CNN and requests your help.

Well I was surprised to see Larry King yesterday on CNN and challenging direct to Aston Kutcher. Initially I thought that there was a personal war going on like it did in real between Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell. Later I came to know that it was a friendly challenge between CNN an entire network and an individual Ashton Kucher an actor.

It intrigued me more because it was between big 800 pound Media Network and an individual. It would be like you against big company with huge marketing budgets. For restaurants it would be like your independent restaurant versus big chain restaurant with multi-billion dollar at their disposal. But the interesting thing to watch in this race is the power of internet and how social media has changed the equation of business.

I am a huge fan of empowering individual leveraging internet. I believe that just because a company has big marketing budget it should not have the definite  right to win the race in business. In fact the game should be played in a plain field using the ideas and innovations and not throwing merely those green dollars. The winner should be decided by the market based on  their ideas. So in the spirit of individual empowerment with social media I have already followed Ashton Kutcher on Twitter and also became a fan on his Facebook. We got to support him right. He represent us the regular guys like you and me, who dared to tackle the mightiest CNN.

I am encouraged to see his spirit to take on this challenge. I encourage you also to participate in this challenge contest to support Ashton Kutcher and help him win this race. If he does win then this will prove that with the help of internet and leveraging social media any one can out beat even the big companies with big budgets.We will have to wait and see the results who really is going to be the winner and most importantly see the power of internet and social media.

By-Nash Sherchan

twitter.com/iRestaurant

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Posted in Social Media Marketing

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5 Reasons Why Paper Based Loyalty Punch Card,Though A Good Concept For Restaurants Turns Out To Be Costly For Both Franchisee And Franchisor .

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| 7 Comments
Flickr-Nick J Webb

Flickr-Nick J Webb

Paper Based Loyalty Punch Card Is A Good Concept For Restaurants To Attract More Customers. But Why It Turns Out To Be Costly To Franchiser And Franchisee Though Its Main Goal Is To Benefit Both?

Subway one of the most successful restaurant chain has tried paper based loyalty card. There is no doubt that the concept is good. Because essentially the idea is to give one more reason for your customers to choose your restaurants over it’s competitor. When you are offering one free meal after the 6th or 9th visit, you are rewarding your customers for their loyalty. The theory part is perfect. But when you bring that into practical field of restaurant marketing especially with thousands of chain restaurants like Subway, there is a fundamental problem. I like to call it a disorganized tracking system.  Since this is only in paper based and not in the digital form, it can be duplicated, altered and stolen and more importantly can not be tracked. That is when this good concept in theory turns out to not so perfect in practical.

Subway has already tried paper based loyalty punch cards. They had to pull out this program because the volume of the fraud that was going on was overwhelming. It was doing more harm to the Subway Corporate and Subway franchisee than the well intended benefit they were seeking from the program. There are couple of lessons to be learnt from the mistake that Subway has done that could save a franchiser tons of money and more importantly the hassles that a company has to go through later.

5 Reasons Why paper based loyalty program turns out to be not beneficial as intended in the first place:They are as follows:

  1. Not Trackable-
  2. Frauds – Internally and Externally
  3. Creates Confusions among Customers
  4. Chances of Loosing the Cards
  5. Creates Disharmony between Franchiser and Franchisee

Not Trackable – The biggest draw back of the paper based loyalty punch card is tracking system. It virtually doesn’t have tracking mechanism that can essentially track the cards and card holders and the redemption. So when you can not track what you are doing how can one know if they are really benefiting from the loyalty program.  It is like you are selling food in your restaurant but you are not able to track how much expenses your restaurant occurred and how much profits your restaurant made. It would be like firing a missile in the air without any target.

Frauds – Internally and Externally – Subway’s paper based loyalty program faced the biggest challenge not only from externally but internally too. When those loose paper loyalty cards are lying on the tables at the restaurant any employees or managers could take the cards and give it to their buddies or worst could sell in half price for profits. Another problem was from the fraud people out side of the restaurant who just wanted to take advantage of loop holes of disorganized system. The thieves would imprint exactly the same card may be in their own garage with a new laser printer and use it in multiple Subways. God knows how many times they would have used in those stores. I am guessing they were enjoying FREE Subway sandwiches for days if not months until they took away the program.

Creates Confusion to the Customers- Since the Subway Franchisee is hit with those fraud cards multiple times, he or she is very careful with every new free sandwich cards. May be some of them would have brought their thick lens glasses to make sure they read it right. Well now this creates confusion to the customers. Now the customers who are bringing the original cards are confused with the franchisee looking at the cards as if it was a duplicate one. This creates tension between a Restaurant business owners and the genuine customers.  Customers might feel that the restaurant owners didn’t trust them. So it could be that the same customers might never come to that restaurant. After all you do business only with them who trust you right.

Chances of Loosing the Cards. This is not a major issue but still counts when you have thousands and thousands of restaurants like of Subway. When customers comes claiming that they lost their cards there is no way you can track them. If it was a digital card you could deactivate the lost card and instantly issue a new loyalty card.  As a franchisee restaurant you don’t know what to do with these customers who come to you claiming they lost their cards. If it is only one card then it might be OK. But when there are millions of customers claiming for lost cards and worst claiming that they had 9 punches already and the 10th was next when they get their free Sandwich. This puts franchisee and franchiser in really an awkward situation.

Creates Disharmony between Franchiser and Franchisee- Franchisor created the loyalty program with a good intention to benefit their franchisee. But because of the disorganised tracking mechanism, it puts pressure on the franchisee with unnecessary hassles. This might lead to even loose some of their loyal customers due to trust issue. This creates a communication gap between a franchisee and franchiser. Franchiser with a good intention implement a program. Since the program doesn’t work in the practical field, the franchisees don’t accept the concept. This then leads to create disharmony between Franchiser and Franchisee relationship.

Hope other restaurant chains big or small may take note of this and learn from the mistakes of Subway. It is said smarter restaurant are those who learn from their own mistakes but smartest restaurants are those who learn from other mistakes. So I hope you will not make the same mistake that Subway made and save tons of money and hassles. If you do decide to incorporate loyalty program in your restaurant, I would recommend you to implement digital loyalty program.

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Posted in Marketing-General, Social Media Marketing

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Restaurant Marketing-Why Restaurants Need To Initiate Conversation Online Before Converting Them To Friends And Then Customers.

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| Leave a comment

Why Restaurants must  be involved in Cyber Space and make friends before turning them into customers?

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the great entrepreneur who has embraced the technology and taken his wine business to the height that any business man would envy. His style is straight forward and his knowledge of wisdom is so true and very helpful for any entrepreneurs including restaurateurs who want to embrace the change that internet has brought.

The one thing that I like about internet technology is that it levels the plain field. It democratize the marketing. What I mean by that is ” Marketing in the TV industrial  age used to be dictated by the amount of advertising money that a company could spend and that is usually in millions. But in information age like today, the battle of marketing is not fought solely with money but with ideas. Money does play a role in marketing but it is not the sole factor that decides the winner. It is the idea and innovation that wins today. Just take an example of You Tube. It was started by just 3 guys former employees of Pay pal with very few resources and capital. But their idea was great. It was innovation in itself considering that it paved the path to democratize the video content. No more is the video content controlled by Tv stations. In fact today any individual with a Flip video camera, internet connection can create their own mini online Tv empire that can even threaten the traditional Tv stations. Infact you as a restaurant owner or chefs have a power to start your own restaurant TV network like Emeril Live Show. No more you have to spend outrageous amount of money to traditional media like Tv which doesn’t work any more these days. In fact they don’t control my attention. I have so many choices that I don’t really have to pay the attention to them. I would rather go and view online videos that specifically suits my style and my flavour. No more they can throw the commercials at my face whether I like or not. With a push of a button I will flip the channel or with a click of a mouse I will go to other sites that will attempt to create rapport and build a relationship. I  and so do you will no  more take those  forced advertising which is irrelevant to us.

So the question is how as a restaurant business should start a new way of reaching to customers that is relevent to them and are more likely to admire your restaurant and become a Loyal Fan?

As Gary Vaynerchuk explains that so many companies know how to mix and mingle in a real world. They tend to hold back when it comes to internet. Internet is indeed like a big conference where there are different kinds of people. It is like going to the chamber of Commerce. You go there so you can connect to your local business friends. Now as a restaurant entrepreneur internet is similar to business of chamber of Commerce. But it is much bigger that Chamber of Commerce and there are more people than you can imagine. Without taking a long time to drive to your chamber of commerce, you can visit so to say the cyber chamber of commerce with a click of a mouse. You can go to different forums that is related to food industry. You can go to different blogs related to food or visit groups on face book that is non vegetarian or vegetarian or may be green revolution group. Go and get involved in these blogs leave the comments when you like the discussion. Add value to their discussions and help where possible and make some friends in the process.Try to solve the common problems faced by the general people in the forum of your own home town. This is how you get involved in the internet world, start conversation, open your fist and give an open hand for virtual handshake on the internet.

This is how you build relationship and create loyal fans of your restaurant for years to come.

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Restaurant Marketing in 2009 – Do or Die Time for Many Restaurants!

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Nash Sherchan| Leave a comment

Guest Post By:

Bill Sifflard – (From http://newentrepreneuressentials.com )            With over thirty years experience as an entrepreneur, an executive and as a management consultant, Bill Sifflard understands the challenges and opportunities that small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs face. Bill brings a savvy mix of innovation, technology and experience to help small business owners thrive and grow in this changing market.

Does your restaurant have an effective marketing strategy for 2009?

Does your restaurants marketing strategy include a bWeb 2.0 marketing philosophy geared towards your business, or are you clinging to the hope that a new newspaper coupon will drive business through your door.  If you own, manage and/or handle the marketing for a restaurant, than I have one simple question.  Do you know who your customer is? I do not mean do you recognize their face, or know their first name when they come in for lunch or dinner.  I mean, do you actually know who they are, so you can communicate with them and manage an effective marketing campaign to establish them as a loyal customer who will think of you first when they are deciding where to spend their dining dollars?

Five Essentials to Restaurant Marketing in 2009

There are five essentials that any restaurant who wants to survive and thrive in 2009 needs to embrace in order to drive business to their front door.  It requires a paradigm shift for many restaurateurs, that is hard to face, but you are in a battle to win over a diner, who has many choices.

The strategy is not to spend more money on newspaper, radio or even TV ads, as for many restaurant owners I have spoken to their budgets have dried up due to higher food costs, strong competition from chains and fewer customers.

1. “Capture The Customer” Philosophy

You need to make it the #1 goal of each one of your wait staff, bartenders, host staff and bus people, to capture every customer that walks through your door.  Now I am not suggesting that you drag them into a banquet room and not let them out. What you need to do is effectively train your team to capture the name and contact information (name, email and mailing address if you can), of each guest who visits your establishment, so that you can quantify who they are, what they like, where they live and begin your work to develop them as a loyal patrons for life.There are a variety of ways to do this, but to be successful you need to give to get.

2. Abandon Your Old “YAMETO Marketing Strategy”

To many restaurant’s market themselves based not on a strategy to drive customers into seats, but on a strategy based on what everyone else is doing.   I call this the “YAMETO Marketing Strategy”, because everyone ends up following each other saying “Ya, me to!”.    You see a competitor with an ad in the newspaper, so you feel compelled to respond with your own. I was told by one owner that he runs ad’s each week so people know he is still open.  That seems like an awfully defensive marketing strategy to me.One restaurant runs a special that seems to work for them and soon everyone is offering a similar deal.  How many restaurant ads that offer “buy one dinner and get one free” can they actually fit on the same page in a
newspaper?You can not abandon marketing, you have to attack it differently.  If you stop to cut costs you will quickly be forgotten in this market where people are going out less and looking for deals more. What you need to do is enhance your marketing strategy, so that you can separate yourself from the crowd.  You have to do it in a cost effective yet strategic way, that will maintain your existing client base, while pulling in new diners to capture.

3. Harness the Power of bWeb 2.0 Marketing

It is not enough for your restaurant to have a Web 1.0 site that shows some nice pictures of your restaurant, map with directions, contact info and  the menu.  I am sure that many restaurant owners have spent thousands of dollars on this type of site, but it will not set you apart from the competition and is just a glorified yellow pages ad that is created to “talk at the person who visits your site”. I am not saying that having a good looking static web presence is not important.  People who are searching for you, can easily find out where you are and what you offer.  What I am saying is that this site is not going to drive people through your door unless they are already thinking about and looking for you. To effectively take advantage of bWeb 2.0 marketing you need to blend a marketing strategy that enables “you to communicate
and interact with your customer“, so you can identify who they are, target their feedback, respond to their interests and remind and motivate them to visit you often.

4. Start An Interactive Dialogue

There are a variety of bWeb 2.0 tools that are available to begin a dialogue with your customers (as you capture them) and reach out to new ones to draw them in to be captured also.  The key is to develop these new strategies and blend them with your traditional marketing efforts (that you know work), to establish an interactive dialogue with your customer that will build loyalty and keep you in the forefront when it comes time to plan a dinner out.

There are a variety of tools that you can use develop and manage this interactive dialogue with your customers.  They include

* Blog posts about the restaurant and upcoming events
* Interactive web calendar
* Email coupons and monthly specials
* Email newsletter
* Polls and feedback
* Postcards
* Frequent Dining Club Cards
* Birthday emails or cards
* Be a community conduit (get involved getting the word out)
* Online reservations

5. Consistency is Key

There is no doubt that this requires a level of commitment to market your business effectively, but much of the work can be outsourced, automated or handled by a VA “Virtual Assistant”, if you do not have a marketing person on staff.

Once you develop an effective marketing strategy and system for your restaurant, then you need to get complete acceptance and buy-in from you team, as they are the ones who are going to make it work in the long run.  If they believe in it and see the value, then they will make it a success.  Then it is developing a consistent message and philosophy to capture every person who walks through your door and make them a customer for life!

Metrics

An important element to any marketing plan is to develop metrics and track your results in order to identify your ROMI “Return on Marketing Investment”, so you can adjust your marketing efforts and develop a budget in the future that works for you, and you not working for it.

No one marketing strategy is going to work the same for all restaurants.  There are a variety of variables that need to be considered.  You are going to need to test market and evaluate what your customers respond to, and what they do not.  You should always be prepared to make adjustments to your marketing strategy and try different combination of tools, promotions and campaigns, to see which ones work the best.

Remember this is a long term campaign to create lifetime customers.

Taking Effective Action

In any small business you either change and adapt to changes in the market and maneuver yourself to stay in position to ride the crest of the wave. If you don not make those adjustments than you risk getting caught in the trough and getting swallowed and bounced off the rocky bottom as the wave of change rolls by you.

Ask yourself three simple questions tonight.

* Do I really know who my customers, are and can I market to them directly?
* Do I have a plan in place to adapt and capture new customers in 2009?
* Am I able to quantify the effectiveness of the marketing dollars I currently spend?

To learn more about bWeb 2.0 marketing or additional marketing ideas for restaurants as well as any small business go to Bssential Small Business Solutions.   Please give me your thoughts, ideas, questions, feedback or success strategies that you have implemented.

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