Poll: Who is making some $$$

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Glenn

I'm interested in specifics.

Maybe The food is Different Down-Under. Or the marketing is Up-side-down.

I'd Enjoy hearing about up-side-down sales ideas.

I'll swap you some of my Restaurant Promotion ideas for yours.

Thanks Glenn, those are some good ideas! I'll suggest them to my chef friend.

Here is how I helped my friend get more business for his restaurant.

When I started helping him, he didn't have a website. He was already listed on some of those restaurant review websites (such as urbanspoon, and others), but on all the websites, there was just one review (which was a positive one).

Virtually the only way he was getting customers was from local people who would walk by. What hampered him with this approach was that he is not located in the best area. He is located in a relatively low income suburb, and I think the locals don't eat out too much, and when they do, they are very price-conscious.

The first thing I did was to create a simple one page website for him.

This website has the contact details, an enticing introductory paragraph (designed to get people to want to come there), then a menu, a map (using Google maps), some quotes from my chef friend about his vision, then a brief biography about his background. Finally, there are links to articles about him and his restaurant from the media.

I next made sure he was listed on all those restaurant review websites, and that there was a link to his website from those review websites.

There were actually no articles about him in the media when I started the website, so I wrote a media release about him and sent it to the local newspapers. (On the website, I put a link to my media release, until he did start getting articles about him in the media.)

The story got picked up by one local paper, then it was further picked up by one of the two major metropolitan newspapers, which printed a full page review of his restaurant. (The top half of the page was my friend's photo, while the second half was a positive review based on an unannounced "secret visit" one of their reporters made to the restaurant one night. They sent their photographer around at a later date to get the photo.)

As you can see, this is actually basic stuff. The key is, he had something people loved, it's just that few people knew about it! I really just helped to get the word out.

There's a lot more I could do (such as develop an email list), but that's what's happened so far!

Best wishes,

Dien