The idea is simple. PromoHelp wants to help restaurants to succeed. Even when you get everything right, it’s no good unless people know about it.
Few establishments these days have the resources to hire expensive marketing consultants. And that’s where PromoHelp comes in. The goal is to help restaurants help themselves by making available a range self-help marketing resources at minimal cost.
Promohelp will be constantly adding to the content of the site, updating it to bring you fresh ideas.
Whilst they put the finishing touches to the site, www.promohelp.co.uk. , the team are offering all visitors free trial membership until 31st August - no commitment and no strings attached.
By taking advantage of this free trial, PromoHelp hope you’ll make the most of all the marketing resources you can access. Over the next few weeks they will be enhancing the site and expanding the content and would like you to bear with them during this formative period. They’ve got plenty of exciting new material to add and even more under development. The team are bursting with ideas!
If you’re looking for inspiration and ways to generate more business just read some of the informative articles on the site, all within the theme of growing your restaurant business.
There is a range of promotions, produced in an easy-to-follow format that takes you through from start to finish - the planning, preparing and promoting followed by the doing and reviewing.
You’ll find quick and easy ways to promote your business - from filling seats on the quieter nights of the week to smart advice on organising and running a promotion. Updated regularly so you’ll never be short of inspiration.
You can save time on putting together a menu for your promotion by using and adapting one of their templates - some with recipes included. Over the next few weeks they will be building the collection.
You also have a chance to share your views on promotional topics with other industry professionals and customers from all over the world.
"We believe that just opening the door isn’t enough...." says founder Andrew Howarth.
"In a recession, fewer customers and falling revenues drive many restaurants into defensive management - cutting prices, economising on quality, reducing staff. But taken to extremes, these tactics can actually make things worse, sending the business into a downward spiral. The result? Uninspiring food, unhappy customers and disgruntled staff.
When business is slack, it’s tempting to jump on the bandwagon and offer big discounts to generate more trade. The downside of this strategy is that it squeezes already-tight margins and can cheapen the offer in the eye of the consumer. In a buyer’s market, customers expect more than a price reduction. They want a premium product and an enjoyable experience.
So how does a restaurant stay profitable in a recession? The answer is the same as it does when there’s no recession: by focusing less on drastic cut-backs and more on efficiency and effective marketing.
By changing the emphasis from negative to positive, restaurants can find ways not only to survive this temporary crisis, but to actually increase their turnover.
Marketing starts in your dining room
Start your marketing strategy in your restaurant. Take a fresh look at it, inside and out. Get the opinion of friends, regular customers, staff, even strangers off the street. Ask them what you could do to improve on what you’re offering. Try and pin people down to specific points such as menus, food quality, pricing, service or surroundings. Ask them to be honest and frank rather than kind. Above all, listen to what they have to say with an open mind, without taking offence.
Afterwards, discuss the results with your staff and decide together on how you are going to respond. You’re a team and it’s time to pull together.
Keep it simple
Your offer should be clear and simple. Check that your A-boards and signs are well-written and easy to read and not crowded with too much information. Are all your current promotions well-displayed and properly explained? Have staff been suitably briefed on how to sell them to customers? How long is it since you last reviewed your menu? Surprisingly, many restaurants still believe that customers want an extensive choice. Comment cards tell a different story.
Diners say time and time again that they’re confused by too many options and find it hard to make their choice. They want a smaller, more precise menu and won’t think any the worse of you because of it.
And think about the benefits – a smaller menu means fewer ingredients, less waste and shorter preparation time in the kitchen, not to mention less storage space and reduced packaging.
Customer profiles
If you haven’t already done so, start a customer database. Collect names and contact details by starting a birthday club. Having a list of everyone’s ‘big day’ provides a good excuse to get in touch with them a few weeks beforehand with a tempting offer – a birthday cake or a free bottle of wine for a party of four, for example. Over time, you can expand the information to include personal likes and dislikes, family profiles, leisure interests, work connections etc. with a view to designing promotions around your customers.
Make friends with local businesses
Go out and introduce yourself to local businesses, tell them where you are and what you offer. Swap business cards so that you can add them to your database. Persuade your chef to stand in the local shopping mall in his whites, doing a survey on what people eat. Get him to ask for contact details in exchange for the chance to win a slap-up meal for two. Go to your nearest department store or the foyer of any large business premises and swap staff names and email addresses for an entry in a prize-draw for a three-course dinner. It may cost you a few free meals but you’ll be gaining hundreds of valuable prospects. Consider teaming up with another business outside hospitality in a joint marketing venture. For example you could persuade the local car showroom to give away £50 vouchers towards a meal in your restaurant as a special thank you to everyone buying a new car. You don’t have to bear all the cost yourself. You could ask the car dealer to fund it or at least split it between you. Joint promotions like this can produce startling long-term benefits and help you establish your venue amongst a whole new group of people.
It’s teamwork
Successful marketing isn’t just the work of the owners or managers. It takes the combined effort of everybody involved in the business to be effective. Staff who haven’t got the ‘get up and go’ or simply can’t be bothered to participate should re-think their career in hospitality. The employment market is currently saturated with good, keen workers who would love a chance to get back into a positively-run business. This period is a wake-up call for owners and managers everywhere.
The good times are still possible, we just have to work that bit harder to make them happen."
Go to http://www.promohelp.co.uk and get started.
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PromoHelp is a site dedicated to helping you promote your restaurant more effectively. They are not here to sell you consultancy or design services. The aim is to help you do your own marketing with a range of self-help resources. Free until September
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