So that you will know if the marketing programs are going to work for you. You have to know your R.O.I. You must know what it is going to cost and what you should get back from each marketing program.

All restaurant marketing promotions need to be geared toward building better relationships with your customers. Marketing can't just be discounting, but discounting does have a part in it. You need to give the guest a reason, an incentive to buy more and/or to come back more often. This is how you market to build your sales. You develop positive relationships with every guest. You must create Positive Word-of-Mouth Advertising.

You need a marketing plan so you can move from month-to-month focusing on different parts of your business and the different segments you want to build over the next year.

Restaurant Marketing is a Four Step Process:

• Where are you now? Evaluate... Employee Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction Sales Trends, Histories Operational Strengths/Weaknesses
• Where do you want to be?
• What is it going to take to get there?
• How are you going to accomplish it? On Your Own? With Which Employees/Management?

One of the keys to effective restaurant marketing is to respond quickly when you discover problem areas within your restaurant. Most of the time this involves changing the performance of the employees.

As you do Employee Performance Surveys. You need to evaluate all aspects of your business. Even on simple things like "Answering the Telephone". What should your staff know and do when they answer the phone?

• What information do the employees who answer the phone need to know?
• How to get to the restaurant from different parts of the city.
• What menu items are featured today?
• Procedural information on "To Go" orders.
• Do these employees who answer the phone follow company policies?

You need to do anonymous "phone surveys", which will measure the performance of employees who answer the telephone. You also need to evaluate all other employees on their performance. You need to do surveys of your employees and of your customers.