Restaurant Marketing Wizardry

Posted on 26. Jul, 2010 by Guest Blogger in Marketing

Post by guest blogger Michael Hartzell

Today we will combine:

Restaurant Marketing
Dorothy
The Wizard (of OZ)
The Yellow Brick Road
The Curtain
You (A Restaurateur)

First we must think about you. How will others describe you? How do your daily activities highlight your identity?

Do you:

The desire to stand behind a curtain.
Remain out of sight and out of contact behind a curtain.
Pull the levers; push the buttons while watching from a distance with technology.
Want others believe you are very powerful.
Make yourself look bigger than reality.
Secretly manipulate the actions of others with your technology.

IF you or one of your managers can be described with these characteristics, these describe a restaurant marketing wizard.

Yes, we have journeyed to the movie “The Wizard of OZ”.

There are people on a restaurant team in search of answers, fulfillment, success and celebration. They are looking for the yellow brick road (the path to success). There is risk and resistance with every step. Each person has their own baggage and skills to work on. Courage, heart and smarts to name a few.

Without the right kind of support and leadership, those on the teams may wander aimlessly with no direction and focus on their own issues vs. a common purpose. Here may be reasons why:

A restaurant marketing wizard does not talk to people or connect one on one.

A restaurant marketing wizard of oz tries to appear as more than they really are.

A restaurant marketing wizard of oz relies only on data.

A restaurant marketing wizard of oz does not listen to real people who must execute the ideas.

A restaurant marketing wizard of oz will not be transparent.

A restaurant marketing wizard of oz will act more defensively than offensively. (Protecting ideas vs. listening and adapting.)

If you know a restaurant marketing wizard of oz standing behind a curtain and not sharing the vision, the plan, the purpose and they spring “last minute sales ideas”; then I would say there will be frustration, disbelief and a lack of cooperation.

If you think about the temptation to sit in a room, look at data, watch the competition via technology, use the automated push button tools to create advertising campaigns. Someone who is in the advertising / marketing role could literally get it done behind the curtain of the Internet and have not contact with the outside world.

People contact is time consuming.

Interaction to get feedback from the team may be tough since schedules conflict.

Analyzing and comparing the feedback with hard numbers may take longer than 5 minutes.

It is tempting to take the easy route, use data vs. people and hope for the best. It is appealing to make a decision from behind the curtain and use the bells and whistles to make things happen and then pass the expectations off electronically with a click

“How odd! The plan was perfect and yet the results did not pan out. It couldn’t have been the plan that was made from behind the curtain. The managers and staff are at fault.”

Once you decide that being a restaurant marketing wizard of oz is not your style, here is the challenge;

What time is blocked each day to connect with live people? How much time? Who will the key connections be to ensure accuracy and relevance? How will the connection occur? What are the two most important questions to ask?

The Internet acts as a curtain and allows people to appear successful when not being so.

The Internet also allows live connection with people to get real feedback quickly to confirm that “numbers” are accurate.

As the world is now a database, the temptation to lump decisions increases. Fortunately, the opportunity to sort the database and connect with people also improves.

Hopefully, you will not be tempted to become a restaurant marketing wizard of oz and use the new technology to connect.

Michael Hartzell – Inbound Marketing Certified Professional, entrepreneur, writer, speaker, restaurant marketing coach. Co-Author of “The Reality of ROI & Social Media Marketing”. Member of the American Marketing Association. Read more at www.michaelhartzell.com/restaurant-marketing

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