Email Marketing Ideas For Local Restaurants

There are two steps to do Email marketing for any type of local business: the first one is list building and the second is to run email campaigns.

For local restaurant businesses, there are many ways of building your email list. Here are just some examples:

1. Include an email sign up on the comment card and bring them with the check to the clients in person when they finish the meal.

2. Insert a card promoting your email campaigns with your take-out and delivery orders. Simply put your site URL in it and tell people to go there to sign up for a special deal or something.

3. Sign people up for your email newsletter when they make the reservation. If you can have a reservation form on your site, it’ll be even better because people already become your email subscribers before they become your clients.

Now comes the email campaigns. What you should include in your email newsletters. Here are some ideas:

1. Menu. It could be your seasonal menu, menu change, or ingredients in your dishes;

2. Coupons. A small discount, exclusive to your email subscribers, will keep customers coming back;

3. Directions. Provide a link to driving routes, tips on parking, and public transportation information;

4. Gift cards. If you have them, speak it out. People are always looking for great gift ideas;

5. Pictures. Colorful pictures of food are the best enticement;

6. And don’t forget to mention your reservation phone number and best of all online reservation form.

For additional information on online marketing for local restaurant, please contact your local online marketing expert.

Canada Internet Users

Canada’s Internet population continues to grow – by 2013, it will hit 25.9 million, or nearly 75% of the entire nation. That’s is really impressing. The total population as of January 2009 is around 33.5 million, while 69.2% of them (23 million) are internet users.

Many of these people are among the world’s most committed Internet users, spending 45 hours or more online each month. Since over 70% of the internet users are searching for local related content according to Google, local business marketers should be adapting to the online search surge.

While nearly 65% of consumers in the country own a mobile phone, they do not prize them as highly as Americans do. And the majority do not feel compelled to pay for a data package to surf the Web while away from home.

But traditional media isn’t dead — television still dominates, especially in the highly desirable over-35 audience.

(resource: emarketer)

Local Small Businesses Raise Search Spend

Small businesses using search advertising have sharply increased their search engine advertising in Q3 2009, according to data from WebVisible. Average spending by small-business search advertisers was up 91% year over year and 93% quarter over quarter in Q3. While Google still got most search spending, it lost 5% of the spending share over over last year. Bing gains 2.9% of the spending share.

More and more local small to medium businesses have concluded that over half of new customers are ‘referred’ by the internet. According to Google, more than 70% of the online searches are for local products or services. Remember, we are talking about billions of online searches everyday.

Stats show that 90% online commercial searches result in offline purchase; 82% of local searches follow up via online store visit, phone call or purchase. However 90% of local businesses have no clue of what to do to take advantage of those online local searches to benefit their local businesses.

Multiple Listed on Google Page One in 4 Weeks

Do you know that your business can be multiple listed on Google? That is we called multiple listings in online marketing strategy.

What if you own more than four or five listings on page one of Google for a certain keyword, that is called Google Domination! Once your business listings dominate Google page one, you or your business become the CELEBRITY in your niche.

Think about that for a moment… that means whenever someone type in that keyword and search on Google, you ensure more than 50% of the chance that he will click on any of your four or five listings and go to your site.

Chances are very few traffics (less than 10%) will go check listings on Google page two or after. Once you dominate Google page one, you get over 50% of total online traffics to your site. What amazing!

 

I am on my way dominating Vancouver Real Estate market. I get two listings on Page One of Google for the keyword “Point Grey Luxury Homes” since 3 days ago. It takes a lot of work and efforts in pushing these two listings, and I am continuing to work hard to maintain those spots and trying to get more spots on Page One. I will keep you updated.

How Local Business Can Turn an Exchange or Return Into A Big Upsell

The Adidas manager made a big mistake because although I got item exchanged, I feel very bad about their store and about “Adidas” the brand. They won’t be happy either because they took that damage item anyway. Plus I would no longer shop with them and I will tell everyone about it. Especially with the internet, things get worse more quickly.

Their poorly trained store associates and sales manager make Adidas lose way more sales which they’ll never see or realized. They fail to realize that customers who ask for exchange or return are still buying customers. They are the customers walking in, offer the store another chance to upsell. They are the buying traffics, just like free internet traffics driven by a buying keyword (it could be a negative keyword in this case, but it is still a buying keyword). While many other customers who walk by but never walk in, are like free internet traffic with no conversion which means no sale.

Actually things can be totally different. If I were the manager, I could turn such case into a big profit for the store. Instead of saying: “sorry we can’t accept that exchange or return, for (whatever reason)”, the smarter way is to explain that “we really want to help, but for case like this, we really can’t do the exchange. BUT!”

Good things always start with the magic “BUT”. “But we would like to give you a special deal today to make it up, just for you!” “How about I giving you a special $10 discount when you buy $100 today?” That way, I guarantee store not only save that customer but make way more sales. The store won’t have to take that $10 lost, and the customer will feel happy too because he gets a good deal! That’s what I called win-win solution for the business and the customer.

Or even though customers don’t want to take that special deal, just refund or exchange the item. That way you save those customers. Who says they wouldn’t buy hundreds from you in the near future!

Local retail business owners shall learn the lesson from this. It shows how you could turn an exchange or return into a big upsell to make big profit. Best of all, to get a happy customer, who will shop at your store ever and ever again.

How A $10 Exchange Ruin Customer Relationship Totally!

A true story happened to me yesterday afternoon. It was about how a little $10 exchange turns a royal customer into a raged customer.

It was on September 4, 2009. I walked into the Adidas Langley Store (20202 66 Avenue Langley, BC) with a receipt and a T-shirt. Because I found a small but an obvious hole on that T-shirt after I washed it the first time the night before. I like the color and design of that T-shirt so I decided to ask for exchange. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal but I was wrong.

 

When I talked to an associate about the problem and asked for exchange, she ran to the manager to confirm. After 5 minutes she came back and told me that they couldn’t do that. Then the manager came up and said:”we couldn’t take it back because it is not the manufacture defect. It must be something in your washing machine which made that damage. Something sharp or a zipper…” But the truth is there is no pin, no hard sharp object, no button, no nothing in the washer except several T-shirts just like that one. How could a damage happened to that T-shirt alone?

As I insisted, that manager finally agreed to exchange it if I promised not to exchange or return ever again if same thing happens. So she means I make the damage by purpose?! I was raged. I got my exchange item and rushed out of the store.

To be honest, I was planning to buy several T-shirts and shoes for my husband and my kids after that exchange on that day. Seriously, it’s just a $10 case, but because of its “nice” professional customer service, Adidas lost over $200 sales. Maybe the manager was right that it was not the manufacture defect. But nothing worse than losing a customer even though she was right.

However they don’t know things can be totally different if they handle it the other way around smartly…

Build Your Personal and Business Brand Everywhere Online

When I read the news that WhitePages.com will soon allow people to edit information in their listings in the online directory to help attract more registered users. It proves that there are more and more competitions for local businesses into the online marketing exposure.

Local businesses are looking for more online exposure as to refresh its online presence and expand its services beyond basic listings. Actually WhitePages is not the first one to take initiatives to involve local business online. Google always leads the online marketing campaign that Google local business profile is the perfect example for its intention.

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