It’s a challenging time to be in charge of your restaurant marketing. After decades of year after year sales growth for the entire restaurant industry, the current economy has changed everything. Whether you’re an owner, a manager, or a server whose income relies on restaurant sales to make a living, marketing is more important now than ever.

So how do you grow sales in a down economy?  The good news is that there are basic principles of marketing that produce results, and by returning to those basics and focusing your efforts in these areas you can achieve sales growth.

The first building block of basic restaurant marketing is to choose your target market, or in non-marketing language figure out who your perfect customer is. Look at your current customers and learn from your most profitable guests. Are they men or women? White collar or blue collar workers? Single people, married couples, with kids or without, young or older and retired? What is their income level? By identifying who your ideal customer is, you will know who you’re trying to reach with your marketing efforts.

Once you know who you’re focusing on, you have two groups to focus on to increase sales – your current customer base and those who have not yet visited your restaurant.

Some of the areas of focus for your marketing efforts include:

• MENU – Your menu is not just  piece of paper, it is your sales staff. This is the item in your customer’s hands when they’re deciding what they want to purchase from you. Guide them to the items you want them to order. Every menu has more profitable and less profitable items. The better you are at selling the higher-profit items, the larger your bank account will be.

• MESSAGING – What makes you unique from other restaurants? Once you figure out what that difference is, make that the base of all your messaging. Drill it into your customers’ head so they will think of you first in that category. Whether you’re “the best BBQ in town” or “intimate dining,” you want to own your category. That message should be everywhere, from the front door to your napkins to your nametags to your media advertising. When you get tired of it and think it’s overkill, that’s when you are finally starting to reach your customers with it.  There’s an old rule of thumb that people have to see or hear a message 3 times to notice it, and 7 times to remember it.

• CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE – Your advertising can get a customer through the door the first time, but what they experience when they’re there will determine if they’ll ever be back. These are the basics of the restaurant business – hot food hot, cold food cold, clean restrooms, friendly staff, and fast service. This is where it pays to sweat the details – from shining the silverware to picking up trash in the parking lot. Everything a customer sees, hears, tastes, and smells will determine how good their customer experience is at your restaurant.

• COMMUNITY – To build a strong business, you need to be a strong part of your community. This neighborhood bond is built when you’re a good corporate citizen. Choose a charity to support. Sponsor a program at your local school. Find ways to make your restaurant visible at local parades, events and civic activities. Community support has multiple benefits. It creates good feelings toward your business from customers and prospective customers. It builds visibility for your business throughout the community. And it often results in great public relations and positive press coverage.

• ADVERTISING – The right advertising is an essential part of marketing, but it needs to be done with a plan. So often a restaurant owner will decide to advertise, then the next ad rep who walks in the door gets a nice contract. It’s much more important to follow a process. Now that you know the profile of your ideal customer, it’s easy to purchase the right media and methods to reach the right people.

For a complete local store marketing plan, purchase a copy of Restaurant Marketing Secrets.