The most cost effective way of using your restaurant database is by sending them regular email newsletters (in most cases it’s just too expensive as well as time consuming to print and post newsletters to customers). The newsletters should always be well present and designed with a couple of good photos of the food and / or the restaurant (also don’t forget full contact details).The content can be anything relevant to the restaurant that you want to promote, from special events to menu changes. It needs to be written with the restaurant brand’s key associations in mind. For example if your restaurant prides itself on only using fresh and local produce you may want to include a what’s in season section highlighting specific ingredients that go into some of the dishes. Or every month you can highlight a particular supplier. A special offer for early in the week is always a good idea to get people in – either direct them to the website to book online or print the newsletter to get the special offer. If your restaurant database contains the birthdays of your customers it’s advisable to send them a letter a month before their birthday inviting them for dinner (a free bottle of Champagne when 10 people come to the restaurant to celebrate their birthday). Even if they don’t book the birthday celebration at your restaurant, still send then a card on their birthday as this will help to create a wealth of goodwill towards your restaurant and result in future bookings. Be careful not to overuse your restaurant database and bombard people with newsletters – they will just ask to be removed from your database, once a fortnight is about right.
For more help and advice on using your restaurant database get in contact with Captivate Restaurants today on 020 7060 3318 or email info@captivate-restaurants.co.uk
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