The Three Best Restaurant Marketing Questions I Got Asked This Week

Before I answer a question, I want to understand what’s really behind it. The best answer usually starts with asking a better question.

“Which point of sale system should I switch to?”

My first question would be, “Why are you switching POS systems?”

I get asked a lot of restaurant marketing and tech questions every day. As a fractional CMO, public speaker, podcaster and content creator, it’s my goal to always have a helpful answer.

I’m constantly researching, testing and learning, and I have exposure to a lot of brands and vendors that are helping restaurants be more successful. So I’m fortunate to have research-based, tactical advice to pull from.

More importantly, I don’t just want to answer the question. I want to help that person think through what they’re actually trying to accomplish, and that often comes in the form of pushback and contextual questions.

Let’s challenge the question with the goal of getting to a better answer and better results. You know, the whole “teach a person to fish” thing.

As we head into September, it’s clear restaurants are thinking hard about how they want to finish the year. The questions I got this week were especially good, so I thought I’d share three of them.

For each one, I’ll give you the question I was asked, the pushback question I ask in return, and the answer I’d give.

This is typically a question asked by a CFO or maybe a CEO who hasn’t quite accepted the fact yet that a rewards program, loyalty program, CRM or CDP is now similar to a front door, prep table or plumbing. It’s just part of what you need to operate this type of business.

However, understanding the value of anything you’re spending money on is absolutely a worthy pursuit.

The question I would ask back: How are you calculating the ROI of plumbing?

The better question is not whether you need the infrastructure. It’s whether you are taking advantage of it and what value it is creating for the business.

My favorite metrics are the percentage of revenue contributed by rewards members, the percentage of first-time guests who convert into the rewards program, and the lifetime value of a rewards member compared with the lifetime value of a non-member.

I’d look at those numbers monthly or quarterly.

The question I would ask back: How many of our guests are loyal to that platform and that platform only?

Then go find out.

Start by determining how many guests only order through a third-party marketplace and never order directly. Then look at how much revenue is attached to that group.

You need to understand the actual size of the problem before you build a strategy around solving it.

At The Salad House, I’ve been able to analyze this over roughly the last two and a half years. Out of hundreds of thousands of guests, we found 185 who ordered exclusively through third party and never directly.

That does not mean your number will be small. Your number could be very different. That’s the point. Know the number.

Then set up always-on conversion tactics designed to move the percentage of third-party guests who are willing to convert. Maybe that’s 3%. Maybe it’s 5%. Maybe it’s 8%.

For everybody else, make sure every third-party sale is profitable. That’s the plan.

The question I would ask back: What have you done this week to increase the number of guests in your CRM, improve retention, increase return trips, grow average order value and increase lifetime value?

I would prioritize CRM, CDP and rewards marketing before I ever got to social media. Social media is a retention channel, but it’s hard to tie a specific post directly to a return visit. CRM, CDP and rewards give you much more measurable ways to affect guest behavior.

If I only had one hour a day to do restaurant marketing, I would start there. If I got to the bottom of that hour and still had time left, then I’d decide how much of a priority social media should be.

That doesn’t mean social media isn’t valuable. It means you should know what you’re trying to accomplish with it. If you’re just posting random content, you’re making a mistake. All content needs to align to a goal.

Are you trying to increase average order value? Did your content support that? Are you trying to increase app downloads? Did your content support that? Are you launching an LTO? Did the content create awareness and help drive visits?

Content for content’s sake is worthless. Tie content to a specific goal so you’re measuring campaigns and initiatives, not just activity.

And when people ask me how often they should post, I don’t need the bean counters. I can go look at brands that already have them.

Look at Wendy’s, Burger King, Popeyes and McDonald’s. They are not creating an Industrial Light & Magic-level Star Wars movie for every post. You’ll see a mix of videos, graphics and carousels, and a sustainable posting cadence.

Just because you saw one TikTok dance go viral for a restaurant does not mean your restaurant needs to make 600 TikTok dance videos. Plan your content according to your goal and your bandwidth.

And spend more time in your CRM.

Do you have a marketing or tech question I can help with? Send me an email.

[email protected]

I’m always curious to see where people’s heads are at, what they’re struggling with and what they’re thinking about. I’m happy to offer some help.

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- Rev Ciancio

WHAT DOES REV DO?

*I help restaurants to build guest marketing programs.

*I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.