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'Top-of-Mind' marketing objectives

It done right, old adages pay off.

March 11, 2007

** Mason Harris is the author of "ENTRÉE Marketing: Six Critical Principles for the Overworked Restaurateur." His email is mharris@yougotmeals.com.

Are you buying real estate? "Location, location, location," is the adage to observe.

Trying to increase revenue in your restaurant? Same adage – but here the prime real estate is the top-of-mind position among customers and prospects.

Let's get this definition out of the way. Top-of-mind: adj. First thing somebody thinks about, what is present in the uppermost level of consciousness.

Now let's move to the practical application of this critical marketing principle. After my softball team loses both games in our Thursday night doubleheader, someone always says: "Man, that team tonight was good. OK. Where do you want to go for some beers and food?"

As there are easily 20 bars or restaurants within a 10-minute drive, the first or second place mentioned usually gets our business. This occurs despite our having been to 16 out of these 20 restaurants at some time or another.

Think of this as a Google search in your brain. When pressed, we can list 20 or more locations at which to get those beers and appetizers. But why bother? We know we're going to choose, or mentally click on, the top one to three choices. They satisfy our needs.

If you're not in that top-of-mind category, you have been eliminated for the moment. It doesn't even matter if your food is better than most of your competitors'. It's about top-of-mind, and you can't generate the dining traffic you want if you're not considered at the moment the customer makes a decision.

Top-of-mind is the coveted position you want with as many people as possible. You already have it with some of your customers; these patrons are your regulars. Let's assume that Pareto's Principle of 80-20 is in play here and 20 percent of your customers think of you in the uppermost level of consciousness.

Two challenges: 1. Make sure you maintain this preferred position with your regulars, and 2. obtain this position with considerably more people, especially the 80 percent of your customers who think of you only occasionally.

How do you achieve this? Top-of-mind awareness does not typically occur as a result of a single or even a few positive experiences. It occurs through consistently good food and service, proactive and desired communication with existing customers, and a marketing mix in which those different elements support each other and reach prospective customers on a regular basis.

Your most important consideration? Stop taking your existing occasional customers for granted. You can become top-of-mind for them quickly and economically. It's preferable to spending a fortune trying to find new customers, many of whom won't think of you regardless of their success (or lack thereof) on the softball field, after work or when planning a fun night out.