For one thing…those print ads, they’re pretty much beat.
Another thing, if you’re advertising on the radio, not any better.
Are you using TV commercials? Seriously, if you don’t have a HUGE budget, just STOP IT.
The web is where it’s at and word of mouth marketing is far more powerful than any and all of those other channels combined. People don’t believe what you say about yourself, people believe what others say about you…I’ll repeat that. People don’t believe what YOU say about yourself, people believe what OTHERS say about you.
So here’s some ideas, use them if you want…no charge. If you want help implementing them I also won’t stop you from calling me. 215-776-0874
1) Stop just giving people checks at the end of the meal. Give them a personalized menu that looks like your house menu and include what they had for each course including what they had to drink. People don’t just eat out because they are hungry…dining out is an experience. For the few dollars per month it would cost you in paper to provide that experience you might just impress the hell out of someone, but it’s certainly worth the time and effort.
2. Utilize the social web for chord of mouth. Think about how you can use foursquare or twitter to turn customers into your marketing department. Print up a few stickers to put on the back of your business cards without the URL to your Yelp profile page. Have your servers encourage your guests to check in on foursquare or send a tweet if they enjoyed their meal.
3) Start a Facebook fan page and post specials nightly. Post which servers are working and what bartender is on. Let the bartenders create specialty cocktails and tell people about them on the fan page. Have your fans vote on favorite specials…believe me, we want to tell you what we like and when others see that, it’s free marketing. Also put a “like” button on your website.
4). Post pictures of the chefs creations on flickr and link them to your webpage.
5) get rid of your Flash based website and I’ll tell you why. I don’t come to your restaurant website for anything other than the following information: menu, phone number, address and hopefully a few pictures of food and decor. Flash is unnecessary and I don’t want to wait for loading. I also do a lot of restaurant search on the go, which means I’m on the iPhone. Make your menu quick to access or I’ll find a restaurant that makes it easier for me. PDF is fine but plain text webpage is better and faster.
That’s a good start, I’ve got more, but why give it all away at once?