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Method
Marketing Newsletter: Volume 2 Issue 22
March 8th, 2002
Create
An Effective Neighborhood Marketing Plan
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Synopsis:
Use
a business-like process of neighborhood marketing to maximize
limited funds. Use your store and your staff as your prime
advertising vehicles.
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"There's
no place like home"
Dorothy,
Wizard of Oz
"Neighborhood marketing
is local, personal, distinctive and targeted"
Rick
Hendrie
Your
guests define 'value' by the totality of the experience:
the service, the décor, the food and its flavors
and aromas and the cost: all details that create a memory.
The most memorable experiences come from an organized,
well-rehearsed and communicated performance. Great 'word
of mouth' is built note by note, scene by scene, act by
act, so that by the end of the visit your guest walks
away 'wowed'. Or bored. Or, worse of all, disgusted. It's
your choice. |
1.
Some consider the phrase 'effective neighborhood marketing'
an oxymoron. From the perspective of Method Marketing, it is
a natural extension of The Fifth Golden
Rule: Market From Inside the Restaurant, Out. Further,
the functional 'marketing' part of Method Marketing is based
on several principles:
- Your
staff and store are the primary advertising vehicles.
- Your
guest relates to your concept in an emotional way.
- Every
restaurant provides a unique twist on your branded persona.
The
most successful restaurant marketers share one focus, the guest.
They endeavor to ensure the guest is satisfied, to win the guest's
loyalty and to own the relationship with the guest. Many talk
the talk, but, as Shakespeare said, " It is observed more
in the breach than in the observance."
What are the mechanics of a successful plan?
1) Do your guest research to determine demographic profile;
use behavior and guest attitudes toward your concept. Know your
guest.
- Set
up maps at each meal period in your host area or entrance
to permit guests to tell you from where they come.
- Use
red dots for 'work' and green dots for 'home'.
- Use
3' x3' reproductions of the area within 3 miles of each
store. Make sure you give guests a means to indicate the
zip code of the location from where they originated, as
there will be some that travel from beyond the 3-mile
radius.
- Note
the zip codes that generate the highest concentration of guests.
2)
Track and analyze your business to establish numeric benchmarks.
3)
Define your trading area. Note: the only entities that see a
trading area in terms of concentric circles are real estate
brokers and birds. Human beings see interstates, forests, rivers,
railroad tracks and other barriers, as well.
- Identify
traffic generators.
- Locate
competitors.
4)
Ask your credit card companies to give you a list of guests
who have used their card when patronizing your establishment.
Have them sort the list by zip code, most to least.
5)
Make a plan and use the 80/20 rule.
- Concentrate
on your strengths first, be they operational, location-driven
or conceptual. Focus on what you do well. Promote what you
are known for. Then concentrate on the strengths of the trading
area, be they malls, schools, business parks, residential,
all the above or something else.
- Include
your staff in the planning and execution. Offer extra incentives
for the help.
- Do
not discount. Give your guest a 'full-value' reason for coming.
- Be
methodical. Move from section to section of the trading area.
- Go
for the 'biggest bang for your buck'. Target those consumers
who most resemble your primary guest demographic profile.
6)
Measure your results
- Specific
Measurable
Aggressive/Achievable
Realistic
Timebound.
The
planning process, from inception to execution, will stretch
over 8-12 weeks. A great neighborhood-marketing plan is founded
on the premise that relationships you nurture within the four-walls
of your restaurant are extended outward to the immediate trading
area.
Method Marketing News continues our series of profiles with
a conversation with Arlene Spiegel, restaurateur extra-ordinaire
and one of the leading lights in our business. -->GO
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