When I arrived home Labor Day after a 4-Day weekend in Buffalo for the National Buffalo Wing Festival, I was greeted with a STACK of mail, and of course, there was a new coupon magazine in with all the junk mail.
This blog post is not to hate on direct mail coupons that restaurants do. It’s to talk about how they have not EVOLVED!
Let’s discuss why you should do couponing like “CLIP MAGAZINE.” There are three reasons to coupon for your restaurant.
– 1st – Acquire new customers with a bribe to visit your restaurant.
– 2nd – Reward loyal customers with a PERK!
– 3rd – Drive incremental spending with an added or increased spend on a visit.
As I look through magazines like this, I commonly see offers that would fit into one of the three categories above. But what I don’t see is strategy. The restaurants have no way to control WHO gets what offers and no way to know WHO uses the offers.
WHO
Who, is the keyword. Marketing in 2024 is all about attention. The best way to predictably get ATTENTION is to target your customers with marketing meant for them. You know, like from the song “For Your Eyes Only, only for yours.” Seriously, CLICK HERE, and take a trip down memory lane….
Ok, enough of the 80’s, back to the blog. Your marketing plan should be built around the word WHO. You aim to create marketing programs for your customers, not blindly aim at anyone. Back in 2015, I surveyed three restaurants where I asked customers bringing in these coupons a few questions. I found that 60% of the customers who used the coupons were already coming, but they knew that every month, they could get a $5 or $10 off coupon from the direct mail magazine. So every time our client paid to distribute his coupon with Reach Magazine, he was not only spending $5,000 on the ad but giving away another $5-10,000 of profit to customers who were already coming to eat at his place 🙁
My research was clear, but it fell on deaf ears. This client, really his business partner, was ADDICTED to this coupon magazine and the perceived cash flow that it brought it. And you would believe me if I told you they STILL have a full-page ad in this magazine? You can’t make this shit up, they still do.
My issue with this strategy and how to fix it is simple. ONLY give out promos like this when you either gain customer data or you give it to a specific customer.
Coupon magazines like this should be a BRIBE to gain a customer’s name, email, phone number, and birthday in your ACQUISITION funnel. These customers would fall into the “Welcome To The Family” message above. You’d find them through your ad, offer them a fantastic offer, and then have them give you their contact info through a digital program like DRYVER’s opt-in programs.
Then, once you have their information, you’d send them marketing promotions or messages based on their relationship with your restaurant. This simple strategy would eliminate blasting everyone with every offer and giving away your profit.
