When Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Himmarshee Bar & Grill wanted to promote its Chef's Table event, the restaurant's management relied on word-of-mouth advertising to market the program.
The results, however, were less than spectacular.
"It was challenging," said Brian Lazar, president of Himmarshee's parent, Chao Restaurant Group.
The group's marketing success rate took a positive turn after they implemented an e-mail marketing program.
"Our open rate is good and we get a great response," said David Nicholas, Chao Restaurant Group managing partner.
Chao uses their e-mail marketing program to advertise restaurant events, implement server contests and build an e-mail list. The group uses services provided by Alexandria, Va.-based Fishbowl Marketing.
"The (restaurant) industry itself, with technology, tends to be 10 years behind the times," said Randy Lopez, Fishbowl's vice president of National Accounts. "People get so focused on operations and taking care of guests, but things have changed over the last 10 years."
Restaurants increasingly rely on e-mail, guerilla, loyalty-card and viral marketing campaigns to promote new products and services, and rely less on more expensive traditional advertising methods.
Andrea Von Utter, Fishbowl's chief operating officer, has seen a variety of methods applied to loyalty marketing in her 20 years in the business. Now, she assists restaurants with e-mail marketing that specializes in loyalty programs.
"When you think of our e-mail program, it's like three layers of a cake," Von Utter said. "The first layer consists of loyalty e-mails; the second layer is brand messaging; and the third layer is community-oriented, or local-store marketing. All the layers work together to bring customers to your store and keep them coming, which is what loyalty is all about."
Constant communication
Chao Restaurant Group uses their e-mail program to stay in constant communication with guests. Promoting events and sending photos of their guests to individualize the experience.
"It's a good tool in the arsenal," Lazar said. "It's a great way to give a warm hug to our loyal customers."
At its core, the idea is to develop local relationships with guests and give them pertinent information.
"It really is a good way for local restaurants, even local managers, to have a two-way communication tool," Lopez said. "For us, our idea is to build a guest relationship, build frequency, drive sales and tell people about your brand."
Part of selling the brand also means assisting restaurants with loyalty-card programs.
"Our main focus is listening to our guests and responding to them, and a loyalty program can help us achieve that," said Ken Keane, executive vice president of marketing for San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. "We're huge loyalty advocates."
Von Utter considers e-mail marketing a precursor to card-swipe programs, such as those popular at supermarkets that give discounts to customers who swipe their loyalty card at the checkout line. Instead of traditional marketing efforts such as newspapers and radio — efforts that likely reach many who may never become a customer due to geographical distance or demographics — opting-in at the restaurant results in direct marketing to existing customers.
"It's the difference between frequency marketing and acquisition marketing," Von Utter said. "You don't need a card, you don't need a special machine, there's no integration to your POS system. You just need to build a list and communicate with your customers on a regular basis."
