Day 73 – The Puzzle – My Shoes & This Car, 2 Things Your Restaurant Needs

Every day shoes like the ones above stop people in their tracks and FORCE them to create a conversation with me.

And every day I’m stopped in my tracks by a wrapped vehicle, like the one below.  

As a restaurant owner you must live by the mantra, LMS.

Lead

Market

Sell

The shoes and wrapped car are how you market every day on auto pilot.  I’m blown away by what I see restaurant owners outside of their restaurant.  You are rocking other peoples brands like Nike and Polo, vs your own.  Back in 2017 when I decided to OWN the color orange for good I made a decision, orange shoes and shirts every day.  The first few years only a few people took notice, now, EVERY ONE DOES.  I don’t care if you’re at the gym, a football game, the grocery store or the airport, you should be repping your restaurant and be wearing SOMETHING that makes people around you ask a question.  I’m at a disadvantage, 99 out of 100 people I meet are not my target audience, but everyone you meet EATS DAILY :). And odds are the majority of your time is spent in the same region as your restaurant, so there you go!

With wrapped vehicle, it’s a no brainer.  I shouldn’t even have to be typing this.  You drive to the restaurant EVERY DAY.  You pass your ideal customers EVERY DAY.  You could use another amazing sign at your restaurant EVERY DAY!

And you want to know something else, you could opt to buy a much COOLER car to wrap that will stop people in their tracks.  What if your pizza joint had a wrapped Porsche?  You would be the talk of the town.  And guess what, you could do that for under $700 per month, and it would cause a lot of buzz and sell a lot of food!

Photo Credit – LINK NKY 

Day 70 – The Puzzle – You Have A New Competitor, How Can You Market Your Restaurant Differently

So, a new restaurant just opened up across the street, what should you do?

This just happened a few minutes from my house and I can already hear the frantic conversations happening inside during staff meetings.  

First, accept that the new spot will kick your butt the next 90 days and they are going to steal some of your customers short term, or maybe long term if you let them.  But there are a lot of proactive things you can do to make sure the impact is much less than it will be, in no particular order.

First – If this new spot has long lines, and you don’t, have a sign you can place out front during these times that says “Current Wait Time = Zero Minutes 🙂 “

Second – Use social media ads to target people currently within 1 mile of your restaurant and put some DELISH looking video ads in front of the people during their long wait at the new spot.

Third – Finally get off you butt and create a customer VIP program that forces everyone in your region to give you their contact information.

Forth – Get way more active in your community.  DO NOT let this new kid on the block jack the high school crowd you’ve nurtured for the past 10 years.

Fifth – Read blog post “Day 69” and do everything I told the new restaurant to do 🙂. Just click the text before this sentence and read away.

Sixth – Last but not least, don’t sweat it.  You can only control YOU and them brining more traffic to your area can’t hurt.

Seventh – I lied, the prior tip wasn’t the last one.  As I was typing that I thought “what if their restaurant looks like shit?”  So the real last tip is to have 3 friends look at your spot from the street and give you tips on what you’re not seeing. Spruce up the front of your restaurant, fix your mulch beds (maybe actually mulch), pull some weeds, refresh your sign and get rid of the banner that’s been up for 5 years!  There’s a very good chance you have changes to make and with this increased traffic you don’t want people saying “look at that dump” because you’re next to a brand new spot. 

Day 69 – The Puzzle – This Restaurant Is Brand New, What Should They Do?

This topic drives me crazy!  Why, because I am the one that hears it ONLY on the frontend and the backend.

First, I’ve been talking to restaurant owners for 16 years who say “we are slammed now that we opened, and we will be for 90 days or so, let’s talk after that.  I don’t need to spend any money on marketing right now.”

Second, “crap, sales have dropped 30% from our first few months, we better start marketing.”

Restaurant owners, get this through your head, YOU ALWAYS MARKET AND ADVERTISE…even when you are in your honeymoon phase after you open. Heck, I’d say that’s the most important time actually.

Here’s what you should do and why

1st – Gather every persons name in your restaurant, visit your website and engage with your social media, next is the why

2nd – The #1 reason you need this info is to use to reach back out to the customers who STOP coming in 90 days due to the bad experience they are going to have with you having a new product, team, long lines, etc.  It 100% happens to every new restaurant and if you don’t have a list of people you can reach out to, to say “I’m sorry, give us another try, then you have to spend money to re-acquire them.”

3rd – You need their data to keep the honeymoon going MUCH LONGER!  The long lines and buzz are going away, and people will forget about you.  

4th – A HUGE free appetizer or dessert promo right out of the gate for “their next visit.”  WHY?  Because these new people need a reason to not only come back but, try something they did not try the first visit.

5th – Facebook and Instagram ads running to target everyone within a mile of your restaurant so that when they are eating at your restaurant they will see your content, possibly engage and then you have then in an audience through Facebook to target at a later date.

6th – A REALLY great reason for them to visit your website while they are inside the restaurant.  You MUST have a QR code that is 100% dedicated for in-house traffic.  This way you create another custom audience you can target through digital ads in the future of people who’d been INSIDE your restaurant.

7th – Buy a beacon that allows you to target customers in your restaurant in the future through Facebook ads.  These devices are great to put at your front door, so when people walk through the device pings their phone and you can target them after they are gone with Facebook and Instagram ads.

That’s it for now, I may add more later, but those are a few things I’d do if I was opening a new restaurant. And honestly, all of those apply for really EVERY restaurant 🙂

Day 65 – The Puzzle – Just Putting This Somewhere

ONE OF A KIND RESTAURANT CUSTOMER JOURNEY PLATFORM

What started 15 years ago as a strategy to replace direct mail and create a loyalty program has become so much more.  As I learned about why Kamron started Repeat Returns in 2008 I chuckled at how similar our paths were.  Here he was on one side of the game a restaurant owner creating a product to get him to the next level and there I was working with restaurants on the same concepts.  

In 2023 we acquired Repeat Returns with the goals of it becoming our “go to” software for our clients.  Up to that point my marketing firm, Restaurant Marketing That Works, replied on third party software to connect a complex restaurant VIP program we’d built.  I saw buying Repeat Returns as our chance to own the software we used and make it exactly what we wanted for our clients.

Then I did something I don’t do that often, I waited!  I sat back and watched.  I learned what Repeat Returns was and how restaurants used it.  I saw what they loved and hated.  I saw what I loved and hated. And then after 4 months I devised a plan.

These two companies would not run side by side, they would become one.  We would create the ultimate restaurant marketing platform.  By taking both companies and putting them together we could create a solution to every restaurants marketing needs.

So off I ran with an idea to create an “all-in-one” industry first platform. The graphic below was my first shot at what I saw.

It all starts with a customer management software and goes from there.  A VIP program driven by RR’s smart systems, customer acquisition, loyalty, review management, web development, social media marketing and finally high level coaching.  

THIS WAS IT!

I’d cracked the code!

And then reality set in.  Was I really createing the ultimate restaurant marketing platform, or trying to be everything to everyone while giving no one exactly what they needed. Then I looked at my desk, at the piece of paper that I’d taped to my desk that read “become obsessed…DRIVE-SALES.”

(BELOW)

The most powerful products and services created are built from necessity. They are built by owners looking to solve a problem THEY HAVE!

Recently I was in Las Vegas for David Scott Peters 2 Day Restaurant Transformation seminar and heard Bruce Earle tell the story of how Margin Edge was created.  It was created by a restaurant owner looking to fix a problem he had daily that he did not see available on the market.

It got me thinking back to why Kamron created Repeat Returns, the exact same reason.

It got me thinking about my own journey and why I created Driven Media Solutions all the way back in 2008.

Then it got me thinking (I know a lot of thinking) about why Driven Media Solutions evolved into Restaurant Marketing That Works.

And finally I asked myself why I created that flier “become obsessed, DRIVE – SALES”.

I did it for two reasons, I knew that my company would only go as far as it could if I became obsessed with the sales of products, but more importantly the SALES of our restaurant clients.  Since 2015 we’ve been focused on helping restaurants prove their marketing is working by showing them trackable evidence, AKA sales that happen when we send an email, make a Facebook post, etc.  

And that brought everything full circle.  What do I hear customers say every single day.

I need sales.  Lunch, dinner, catering, upsells from appetizers, desserts, etc. 

Matt WE NEED SALES

So I looked at that big fancy cool looking chart of the services I wanted to offer and said “YOU NEED TO DRIVE SALES TO THESE RESTAURANTS.” And I thought long and hard, what really does that.  Meaning, what have I learned the past 16 years in running the marketing for hundreds of small businesses and what have I seen from the Repeat Returns side of things?

I looked at what I know to be true.  It starts with building a customer database and having a tool, a customer database software, to help you use the database.  One that tells you the whole story, not just pieces of it.  A software that is built 100% for restaurants and designed to leverage technology to take these customers on a journey so they SPEND MONEY in your restaurant.  Whether that’s through a VIP program, a catering funnel, a loyalty program, a birthday program, etc.  By any means necessary how can we help restaurants DRIVE SALES through their marketing.

Then I thought about the biggest issue I’d seen through the years with any marketing program, attention.  And attention comes from PEOPLE.  Which means that no matter how awesome this software was, it needed fuel. It needed our customer acquisition program that we’d fine tuned since 2015. 

And last, and probably least, it needed what I loved but it’s 100% needed NOW, BRANDING!  

I thought, what if we created a platform that was 90% focused on driving sales and accidentally building brand along the way.  Then we’d have the best of both worlds. We’d help these restaurant owners short term with the sales they need to thrive and survive and along the way help them build a brand that is unstoppable. 

So with that, our new initiative was launched.:

DRIVE SALES

& 
BUILD BRAND

Then I looked at that massive list of offerings above.  

8 products that we were going to offer, and I asked myself and my team “what do we all dominate now and know 100% we can do to DRIVE SALES?”

And with that, our services offering was narrowed to 3 items.

– Repeat Returns would go from a 3 level restaurant marketing software to ONE, IGNITE!

– Restaurant Marketing That Works Acquisition program would become ONE, ACCELERATE!

– And our high end 1-2-1 collaborative coaching program would now be, DOMINATE!

And with that I give you the new company name, this is what Restaurant Marketing That Works and Repeat Returns have become…

DRYVER

Y with a Y?

Because as I said above YOU need to drive sales and we are going to help you do it, we’ll be the DRYVER!

Stay tuned…

Day 64 – The Puzzle – Documenting Your Journey

Twice in the past 24 hours I’ve repeated this statement “stop using social media as todays money mailer and a place to puke your menu pics. Instead tell your story and become the reality show your community is craving.”

I want you to do me a favor so that you can understand what I’m talking about.  Look up the 3 local restaurants near you right now and go to their Facebook.  

Chart how many posts they made since May 10th and then how many were selling something, not selling something, solid community posts or telling their unique story.

DEFINITIONS

– Selling = Post about WHY to come eat and drink there.

– Not Selling = Happy Memorial Day & NOT SELLING “come celebrate with us”

– SOLID = Community oriented post (ex. one of the posts on Restaurant #1 was a little league team celebrating their big win).

– Telling Your Story = Exactly what it sounds like

The picture above is mine, on the back of a piece of mail that arrived today.

Restaurant #1

– # Of Posts = 32

– Selling = 22

– Not Selling = 6

– Strong Non Selling Post = 4

– Telling Their Story = 0

Restaurant #2

– # Of Posts = 14

– Selling = 12

– Not Selling = 1

– Strong Non Selling Post = 1

– Telling Their Story = 0

Restaurant #3

– # Of Posts = 16

– Selling = 15

– Not Selling = 1

– Strong Non Selling Post = 0

– Telling Their Story = 0

I’m not going to go any deeper than the numbers above.  If you can’t see the opportunity that exists and how BAD your competition is then that’s your fault. 

Day 63 – The Puzzle – The $15 Small Pizza And WHY I Keep Going There

Friday night was pretty normal for me this week, I left the gym and headed home.  On the way home I did what I do most Fridays, swing by Strongs Brick Oven Pizza in Union Kentucky.  On this night I was rolling solo since my wife was out of town with my daughter and my son was at kick boxing.  I think that’s why the dollar amount of this pizza stuck out, it was simply a personal size pizza just for me, my bill came out to $15.85 or aprox $14.85 before tax.

Think about, $15 for a small 10 inch pizza, seems kind of high right?  After all a small pizza is selling between $7-10 at most places. 

But this is the important part, the price was a non factor.  I asked myself, what if it was $20…I’d still buy it.

WHY?  Because the pizza I was picking up was a ONE OF A KIND creation by the pizza geniuses there.  I get the Almost Famous Hot & Spicy.  It’s got bacon, a spicy sauce, peppers and then the dump crumbled up bbq chips on top.  IT’S UNREAL!  It’s so damn good, and it’s the ONLY place I can get this pizza.

It’s kind of like Doc Style wings at Barleycorns, no one else was them.

So why is this the subject of this blog?  Because all of you are trying really hard to get people to spend money with you and more importantly you’re trying to get MORE money when they do visit.  So when you offer a product like this pizza that no one else has, price is removed.  It’s my favorite pizza, so whether it cost me $10, $15, $20 or $25 I’D BUY IT!  

Now I will say, when we start talking about $25-35, it’s going to have me thinking.  But honestly, it’s so damn good 🙂

OK, but you’re thinking “Matt, what’s TJ’s LinkedIn message have to do with this?”

TJ pays attention and he’s heard me rail on this exact pizza restaurant for being bad at marketing.  As I think about it, I can’t say a whole lot that’s good about their email, text and social media.  In fact, they don’t even email or text me.  And I’d be willing to be a large sum of money that don’t have me in any type of marketing database.  They do exactly the opposite of what I believe it, which leads me back to TJ’s question.

WHY am I still eating there?

It’s 100% due to the location of the restaurant, not the pizza or anything else.  

I’d had this pizza at their Newport location a few times per year, and LOVED IT.  That’s how I knew about it when they opened up a mile from my house and that’s why I’ve eaten in hundreds of times since they opened here.  BUT I never went out of my way to visit the Newport location, even though they had my favorite pizza.  WHY?  Out of sight, out of mind.  They were an after thought and we only visited when we were in Newport for another reason.  

But now, I drive by it MANY TIMES per day.  I’m typing this on a Sunday, and I’ve drove by it twice on the way to run this morning and twice on my way to dinner tonight.  If this restaurant was located a few miles in one direction or the other my visit frequency would be 75% less.  

They are getting my business due to their restaurant being in my line of sight 40-50 times per week, and they happen to have my favorite pizza.  Stack on top of that great customer service and a clean restaurant and it’s a dangerous combination.  BUT remove from that the Union location and I’m a 2 times per year customer vs 40-50!  

TJ, your answer is PROXIMITY!  

And to hammer this point home even more, 9 out of 10 friends of mine from the region tell me when I drag them along “I love this place, but never come.”  I ask why and the answer is always the same, out of sight…out of mind!

But imagine if they were running marketing like I preach, oh SNAP, they’d be dangerous.

Imagine the possibilities….

If they were running marketing campaigns with a 3 mile radius to gather data

If they had servers asking for data.

If they had a tech stack when I called into order my pizza that got my info.

IF they had my info and used it how many more visits they could drive, the catering they could sell me, the appetizers they could sell, the desserts they could sell….

TJ, you’ve got me on my soap box and for that reason this is also topic of episode 630 of Restaurant Marketing Secrets, CLICK HERE to listen!

Day 62 – The Puzzle – Handling Customer Complaints Online For Your Restaurant…STAND YOUR GROUND!

SCREAM THIS WITH ME…

WE MUST PROTECT HIS HOUSE!

You and only you can be the gate keeper for your brand, so do exactly what Michelle did here.

Before you read any farther into this blog, CLICK HERE and read the post Michelle made to defend her restaurant, Case & Bucks, from some online shade.  It’s absolute gold and once you read it you’ll have the context you need for the rest of the blog.

Ok, now back to the action.

DAMN, didn’t she freaking DOMINATE that post!  

First, let’s get this out of the way and I’ll warn you, this will go against everything you’ve ever thought.

HOPE & PRAY for some negative posts like this monthly.  WHAT!?  Are you crazy Matt, well yes a little 🙂

Let me explain, here are my 5 reasons you want this stuff in your life:

#1 – If you don’t get hate, then you’re not taking enough action.

#2 – Hate and people throwing shade will EXCITE you and bring out that fire (like it did with Michelle).

#3 – It will force you to take action and put on paper how you REALLY feel.  Because I know none of you really “FEEL” how your social media looks.

#4 – It will prove to you how awesome you are because you’ll get 10x the love than the hate garnered.

#5 – And last but not least, it will show you the power of using social media to tell your story. Then HOPEFULLY it will get you away from posting lame ass food pictures every day and instead get you on team MP and using the written word and videos from your heart.  The power of properly crafted content NOT around your food will draw in more and more people and help you finally market your restaurant correctly. 

Great job Michelle, now that I know what you have in the tank I’m going to be on the lookout for some more heartfelt content to connect you, your brand, your team and your food with your community.

The Puzzle – Day 61 – Opening A New Restaurant? Bring Locals On the Journey Like Bri And Jonathon Did

How should you market opening a new restaurant is a question I get all the time.  

My advise is ALWAYS bring the community along for the ride.  Show them them the construction, the craziness that is building out a new restaurant.  

You can do this pretty easily with a smart phone and Facebook live.  

OR you can go next level like Bri and Jonathon of Wooden Paddle did.  WOW is all I had to say when I watched this.  

I really don’t have much to tell you, I think you’ll get your biggest bang for your buck by simply watching their video and thinking “how can I do this.”

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

FYI there’s NOTHING holding you back from doing videos like this EVERY WEEK even if you’ve been open for 30 years.  It’s freaking free to create your own reality show online, JUST DO IT!

Day 60 – The Puzzle – Time Is On Your Side

Forget the picture above for a minute and read below before you look up.

We all have bad days.

We all have bad weeks.

We all CAN have bad months, if we allow bad weeks to add up and bring us down.

And I suppose we can have a bad year with what I mentioned above and with life events that wreak havoc. 

But right now I want you to focus on the big picture.  Whether we are talking about the sales in your business, the traction in your marketing or your weight loss journey, NOTHING worth doing happens fast and easy. 

Now LOOK UP!  Look at the picture and no it’s not an eye test but now that I look at it I’m getting dizzy 🙂

Each row is 1 year, 52 dots, 1 for each week (at least it should be, but I could have designed it wrong).

There are 15 rows, each representing a year. 

The rows are black, blue and orange to point out a 3 year increment.

FIRST = I like viewing any goal in a 3 year increment.  After reading the book Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold in 2019 I realized that was the right path for me.  WHY?  A lot can happen in 5 years, and don’t get me started on 10 or 15!  So when I look at a path to finishing a goal I know can picture what it looks like in 3 years.  Especially once you get 6 months to a year into it., you’re like “ok, 2 more of these”.  Today I’m going to run a hill twice, it’s 4.5 miles total.  When I get back up the hill after round one I’m always like “ok, 1 more time.”  I view looking at 3 year plans the same way.

SECOND = Each dot is 1 week to show you have insignificant a bad week, heck a back 5-10 weeks, REALLY IS!  Look how small of a sample size a few weeks is in 1 year, then 3 years and then 15 years!

THIRD & FINAL POINT = 15 years!  As an adult and entrepreneur I think we all have to be able to DREAM!  And I don’t know about you, but no dream I want is reachable in 3 years.  A goal, yes.  A DREAM, NO!!!!  So as I sit here at 48 years and say “I want this” I know it’s a big lift.  I know it’s a long road, but I also know I have a lot of DOTS that I can screw up on in route to this dream.  There are 52 weeks in a year, 156 weeks in 3 years and 780 weeks in 15 years.

So when I have a bad week I start to think, WHO GIVES A SHIT, it’s .0012 of the time it’s going to take me to get to my dream, it’s really really insignificant. 

FYI, go by the book Vivid Vision and READ IT ASAP!

Day 59 – The Puzzle – Rule Of 1/3’s With Restaurant Customer Acquisition & Conversion

It’s hard not to ask the question.

It’s hard not to question peoples sanity.

And it’s impossible NOT TO WONDER “where would my sales be every week IF everyone walked in?”

I get it, trust me, I REALLY REALLY get it!.  As a company we have 500 or so conversations with restaurant owners every week.  About 150 of those owners schedule a meeting.  About 100 of those owners SHOW UP (yes 50 of you skip the meeting without notice, the meeting you scheduled). And about 40% of the restaurant owners say YES.

It’s in our nature to wonder WHAT IF all 150 showed and all 150 became clients.  It’s our opportunistic side.

So when I say I can relate to you in this matter, I can.  

Restaurants that run customer acquisition marketing campaigns know my pain.  This past week I was in Virginia Beach meeting with a long time client, Dean of Firebrew Bar & Grill, and the question came up “where are the other 65% Matt ?! ”  

Dean is like you, a restaurant owner wanting to drive sales and grow his top line sales and of course net profit.  But when he looks at the prior 4 years of working with us he can’t help but think “what if the other 8,000 customers who opted into our marketing program walked into my restaurant for JUST 1 visit.  Heck, what if 4,000 of them walked in for 10 to 15 visits.  His restaurant would be double, maybe triple the size it is now and his sales problem would be GONE!

So the question comes up, why are those customers engaging in a marketing ad for the restaurant, giving us their contact information and NOT doing business with us?

At a basic level, it’s the rule of 1/3’s.  

Meaning, 1/3 of these people will NEVER be your customers, 1/3 are your best opportunity and 1/3 are stuck in the middle. 

Below is a link to a podcast I did on the topic that digs deeper into WHY, but in this blog I want to focus on another side of the equation.  I want to discuss what makes that main 1/3 easier or harder to get.

It all comes down to 3 factors:

– Type Of Food

– Level Of Service

– Location

In episode 629 of my podcast, Restaurant Marketing Secrets, we dig into this topic a little more, CLICK HERE and have a listen to the other side of this conversation

 

 

We’ve run over 100,000 restaurant marketing campaigns around customer acquisition.  I’d challenge more than ANYONE ELSE and what I’m about to cover is based on those results.  

This example requires to you think a little different about the bullseye.  Normally I’d show a bullseye and talk about how we are trying to build a marketing campaign to target our exact customer.  But in this example I’m going to talk about how the closer you get to the center the MORE to exclude people and the harder or more expensive it becomes to acquire customers for your restaurant.  

First is your type of food.  If you’re a burger, chicken or pizza concept then you fit to EVERYONE!  If you’re a Thai restaurant, your fit a lot less peoples taste buds.  And on top of that, the Thai eater (me) still will eat at the widely accepted food categories on the outside of the bullseye.  Think about it in the terms of 100 people:

– 80 to 90 of those people would eat anything in the orange area (burgers, pizza and chicken)

– 60 to 70 of those people would eat anything in the white area (Mexican, hot chicken)

– 30 to 40 of those people would eat in the blue area (Thai, Asian and other ethnic foods)

So if you’re running a marketing campaign for a Thai concept, you’re only relating to a fraction of the audience which leads to less opportunity and lower conversion rates.

Next, let’s dig into the type of service.  This also ties into the price of service too.  I don’t think we have to go to far into this.  Based on the economics, types of service and price point knocks people out. If you’re a fast food joint everyone is a potential client, whereas a fine dining establishment is probably only going to appeal to 10-20% of consumers.

Now let’s look at location.  I’ll use two examples here.

First is Shaheen’s restaurants.  Shaheen works for me, but before that he was a restaurant owner for 28 years.  From 2013 to 2020 when he was a client of ours he had 2 restaurants in downtown Cincinnati.  Both restaurants catered to the office workers. In fact one restaurant, Simply Grand Cafe, was on the 1st floor of Great American Insurance’s global HQ.  So 95% of his customers were always going to come from that company.  His other restaurant was Burrito Joe’s one block away.  That business had a broader range of office workers to choose from since his location was more central to other office buildings.  

BUT with a location that appeals to only office workers, you lose a lot of people, which is why Shaheen was closed from dinner and on the weekends. 

My second example is a former client of ours that had a fast food chicken tender concept off the expressway ramp where consumers live.  This location was EASY to get to and was off the exit people take to go home, in fact it was on the right side where you turned to head home, so they had the best of both worlds.  And they are located in a place where there’s also a decent amount of commerce and business traffic.  PLUS people who didn’t work near the location were passing it twice per day.  

Shaheen only has a chance at lunch for his downtown location typically once per week.  But the chicken tender spot has a captive audience all week.  Here’s the breakdown on 100 people:

– 80 to 90 of those people are around the chicken tender brand every day because they live in the area

– 50 to 60 of those people are around the chicken tender brand 5 days per week because they work there PLUS it’s an easy “take home to the family product for dinner”

– 20 to 30 of those people are around Shaheens downtown spot when he’s open. 

SOOOOO with the breakdown out of the way here’s an easy way to wrap a bow around this.

If you are advertising for customers and you are a restaurant with an appealing food type, service/price point and location you are RELATING to 80-90% of those people seeing your ads.  Whereas, if you’re a restaurant with a more specific type of food, with a higher price point in an urban area you are only going to appeal to 30-40% of the customers seeing your marketing. 

This does two things.  First, it costs you more to get the right people since you have waste on your ads.  Second, you have lower redemption rates on your offers since people don’t make it to your location as often or don’t dine in that segment as often as others.