I. Initial Considerations

Before beginning any marketing campaign, you should first consider the following questions:

• Who are my intended customers? You should first look into specifying your actual customer base. Will it be rich or poor? Young or old? Immigrants or old-timers? Maybe a combination of a few? And most important what are the things this target group values in a food establishment? If you haven’t obtained a property yet you want to consider your target groups when you  decide where to move. If you already have a place, decide your target groups based on around those living in the area. Though it may sound nice to say you want your restaurant to appeal to everyone, it is far easier and effective to create a marketing strategy based on a few target groups rather than the whole population.
• Who is my competition for those customers? Are there other restaurants with a similar cuisine? Are there other dining experiences or interiors that look similar to yours? What other restaurants are in your price range in the area? Once you compile a list of competition, make sure to study them and what attracts them to customers. You’ll want specific items so you can analyze them later and make your restaurant perform better.
• How do I win? What specifically does your customer base want, and how will you give it to them better than others? Or is there a niche in the restaurant market that your competitors aren’t filling? Why is your restaurant going to succeed? You should be able to answer this last question in a variety of ways, as it is essentially your sales pitch to potential customers and investors. The rest of your marketing strategy will hinge on how you’re restaurant plans on beating the competition.

Marketing BudgetMarketing should constitute anywhere from 3%-6% of your total monthly revenue. Of that 3-6% digital marketing should constitute at least 40%, and probably more. This percentage includes any paid advertising you’re doing through social media sites or Google, any Pay-per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies, the hiring of social media consultants, and any discounts you give to encourage social media viewership. With such a small part of your revenue going into marketing you’ll definitely need to make some choices between different options. The next few sections go into detail on various strategies, and you’ll need to pick and choose based on your particular strategy to beat out your competition.

Initial Marketing StepsBefore you get too into detail on a complex marketing strategy you’ll want to make some key choices.What will be your name?Where will you be located?What will be your logo and color design?These are all very hard decisions and can have a huge impact on your business’s success, so think carefully before you commit. Of course you can always change them later, but it’s better to go into your opening confident with what you’ve done.In terms of logos and color schemes, there are various graphic design agencies that can help you create a visually appealing logo. [Check out our Vendors page for some of these agencies.]

Once you have your name, logo, and color scheme you may want to consider getting merchandise such as hats, shirts, keychains, and bumper stickers with your brand on it. These are traveling advertisements you can wear yourself, give to your staff, or hand out to loyal customers. Make sure to leverage our Vendors page for specific retailers of these items.

II. General Marketing

This section discusses various ways to promote your business to new customers as well as retain old ones. Each restaurant is unique and thus will have its own considerations and limitations when choosing which general strategies to employ. We would recommend going through all of our suggested strategies and choosing which ones will work best for you. But obviously the more you can successfully implement, the better chances of increasing customer volume.

For additional detail on specific marketing strategies, please refer to the Marketing / Advertising Blog which provides guides on the following topics.

• Creating Brand Identity
• Obtaining Professional Photos
• Creating Loyalty Program
• Becoming an Active Member of Community
• Creating a Website
• Using Nearby Businesses
• Hosting Events
• Offering Discounts/Coupons
• Building Customer Database
• Creating Email Newsletter
• Using Staff Effectively
• Sharing Positive Press
• Using Delivery Services
• Attending Restaurant Festivals
• Sourcing Local Ingredients
• Creating Effective Signs

III. Social Media

There are various strategies for promoting your restaurant on social media sites. In our modern age, customers obtain a lot of their information and recommendations through social media, so it is essential that you have a strong social media presence with a large following.

For additional detail on specific social media strategies, please refer to the Marketing / Advertising Blog which provides guides on the following topics.

• Using Social Media Effectively
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Yelp
• Google for Business
• Blogs
• YouTube
• Monitoring Social Media Presence

IV. Paid Advertising

If you want to get your name out in the community and attract new customers you may want to consider paid advertising. There are many different types of advertising, many of which we discussed in previous sections. This section will deal primarily with strategies for paid advertising. Given each restaurant’s unique traits, there is no single formula for successful advertising. You will have to try many different forms and see which works best for you. Our biggest suggestion is to watch your budget on advertising costs, as employing many different strategies could cost a lot of money and get you only marginally better results. Price out each option and choose the combination that works best for you and your budget.

For additional detail on specific paid advertising strategies, please refer to the Marketing / Advertising Blog which provides guides on the following topics.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vs. Pay-per-Click (PPC)
• Geo-Targeted Ads
• Mobile Ads
• Text-Messaging Marketing
• Social Media Ads
• Traditional Advertising

V. Writing a Marketing Plan

The final step in solidifying your marketing strategy is to write an actual Marketing Plan. This plan will be useful to show to potential investors or banks when attempting to get a loan, and will be helpful to you as well. There is no definitive structure for a Marketing Plan and each one will differ based on the writer and the actual strategy.

However, every plan should have the following general components:

• Your target audience
• Your competition
• How you will beat competitors in attracting your target audience
• How winning this game will give you profits

The key of the Marketing Plan is that third component, how you will beat out your competition. In this section lay out all the marketing strategies you plan to perform and specifics on how you plan to perform them. Make sure to explain why adopting these strategies will give you a leg up on your competition. Always keep your target audience in mind and make sure to explain what they want and how you will provide it.

Then make sure to specify how appeasing your target audience and beating your competition will keep you profitable despite your marketing cost. You could either include specific financial analysis, or broadly speak of a strategy to boost costs and limit spending.

And obviously make sure your Plan is edited and includes proper grammar and descriptions.