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Loading ...I recently submitted a proposal to do some social media marketing to a restaurant group here in the DC area. The group has four restaurants…three are identical in name and menu and the fourth is Tex Mex. Nice places. I’ll call the place CD. Disclosure: I work part time in one of them. And more about that proposal on another day.
It shouldn’t be surprising that business is down. The economy affects discretionary income and eating out is one of the first things people cut back on. The restaurant is trying out a few marketing tactics, all of which are proving to be ineffective. They’re inherently flawed and, thus, were doomed from the start. The mindset was to do something at the lowest cost possible and hope it works out. And my training in social media gives me insight into at least one of the reasons why: the restaurant want too much control over the flow of their marketing.
There is one long term promo idea that does work. Half price bottle wine nights on Monday. Monday nights are usually dead. With half price bottle of wine, you can save $18 on a $36 bottle. That’s a strong offer. And for the customer, who usually won’t want to venture out on a Monday night, an offer like that pays off.
Here’s a breakdown of one of the tactics and why the control issue makes it assured to fail.
Free kids ice cream sundae on Tuesday night. Think about it. Bad idea. And it’s not that we already have a free ice cream scoop kids seven days of the week. All this adds is chocolate syrup and some whipped cream. But one thing should stand out when it comes to kids and Tuesday night.
Tuesday day is a school day, Tuesday night is a school night. It ain’t gonna work.
Tuesday is the second worst day of the week. Using this as a mechanism to get people to come out is useless. If mom and dad wanted to take Billy and Susie out for an ice cream, they’d head for Baskin Robbins. The offer isn’t strong enough. If they picked one night, they should have picked Sunday night. That’s the night that families go out. That’s often because they’re already out or got home too late to cook. And if we were doing it on Sunday night, the customer would have more control and we would be highlighted more. But Sunday is a school night, isn’t it?
Well, yeah. But here’s why a customer would have more control on Sunday. Mom and Dad will start out with a few places in mind to take the kids. There’s this place and that place, but there’s CD that has free ice cream sundaes for the kids. Let’s choose there. We want to go out and we’ll benefit more by going to CD. So, CD would have empowered the parents to make an easier choice. Instead, with Tuesday, we’re looking to essentially force parents to trudge out on a school night if they really want to give their child a free ice cream sundae. The payoff isn’t there. The hassle of going out - on a school night, and spending money that they wouldn’t have spent (because they would have stayed home) isn’t worth hassle. On Sunday night, when they’re already planning to head out, the payoff is staring them in the face.
This is but one example of how companies market themselves to benefit…themselves…and not the customer. The restaurant has put itself first here, with very little consideration of satisfying the customers’ needs. It’s an attempt to fill seats on an off night by an offering an that gives no real benefits. It tells me that their marketing philosophy is flawed because they’re doing what they do strictly on their terms. The odd thing is that otherwise, the establishments are very customer centric.
People are going to be looking for value in a slowing economy. If you don’t provide that, they’ll go to someone else that will. They’re not going to care if what they do benefits you. They will be focused on their needs. They can afford to be self-centered. You cannot.
Soon, we’re going to see the real negative effects of this slowing economy. The holiday season my be rough, but people will still be spending money, albeit cautiously. Better to put customers first in your marketing NOW to get and stay in their mindset when you will need them more than ever.
That’s why social media, while not being the be all and end all, is so key to a new way of thinking. It changes the culture of marketing and makes it inherently mutually beneficial.
Filed under: Marketing
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[…] an unnamed D.C. restaurant group, explains on the Marketing Conversation blog why the group’s previous tactics have failed to increase diners at its four restaurants. “They’re inherently flawed and, thus, were […]