Great Restaurant Marketing Expectations

You should avoid promising in your marketing materials what your operation can’t deliver consistently. It’s impossible to build repeat business if you’re in the habit of building up customers’ expectations only to pull the rug out from under those expectations once you get the customers in the door.

It’s critical to understand the difference between external and internal marketing. What you do externally to attract customers — from newspaper ads to  radio spots to email campaigns— isn’t nearly as important as what you do internally to get them to come back. Before you waste money on external marketing schemes, you should invest an equal, if not greater, amount on solidifying your internal marketing, whose principal components are the quality customer service your staff provides and the marketing message you communicate to customers while they’re right there with you.

Your success rides on your staff’s ability to exceed the “Great Expectations” of guests entering your operation. You can start by delivering — over-delivering, in fact — on the promises made in your marketing materials.

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