You know that you need to have a stable marketing plan in place when it comes to the success of your business. There are a variety of ways that restaurant owners promote themselves- from coupons, discounts, family and theme nights to other means, it is vital that marketing is seen as an important facet of your business. There are different terms in restaurant marketing, that do not appear in other businesses. The lingo is quite different and there are many differences between marketing another type of business as opposed to a restaurant.

The first term we will look at is “bounceback coupon”- you have probably already seen this and never really realized what it was. When a customer leaves the restaurant and is given a coupon, or sometimes with their check receipt- this is a bounceback coupon. This usually offers discount on a subsequent visit, or free items if the customer returns. These are usually very effective for newer restaurants looking to build a stable and reliable customer base.

Another marketing tactic that is not so much exclusive to restaurants but is really showing signs of potential is a mobile marketing strategy- the use of mobile coupons. These are sent to a mobile device or cell phone, and usually do not have to be printed out. Showing the coupon to the server when ordering, or when arriving at the restaurant, the server takes the appropriate amount off the bill. This is particularly effective as it brings convenience and a sort of instant gratification factor. Going on that trend, another thing that many restaurants now employ is the use of websites. Either offering the convenience of online ordering, or just promoting their menu and promotions, websites are a powerful marketing tool for restaurants.

One more facet of restaurant marketing that can be a little different from regular business is in consulting and analysis. Restaurant consulting when you apply it to food service marketing is allowing an outside company to work on the marketing and advertising. This is usually done very in depth, everything from customer thoughts on food and service to the sorts of foods and pricing is taken into account. Often, these consultants will make use of focus groups to gather opinions and will likely go through trends to find what has worked in the past. In analysis, they will go into not only the restaurant itself, but its competitors and more to discover the very best ways to market that particular restaurant and improvements that may be needed.

Marketing for restaurants has many areas that sort of mirror other businesses, however, there are vast differences that need to be taken into account. Once those factors are in place and a restaurant owner has a pretty good idea of the best ways to promote his or her business, marketing usually is reassessed on a quarterly or sometimes bi annual basis to make sure that it continues to work out for the restaurant itself.