Quick. Try answering this restaurant marketing teaser...

Question: Which type of marketing (Institutional vs. direct) would be most suitable for a restaurant that is trying to:

· Establish its image?

· Generate bums on seats?

No marks for guessing the correct answer.

Institutional may not necessarily attract inquiries from prospective customers in the second case; while direct marketing may not work in the first. Thus the correct choice for the first is institutional marketing and that for the second is direct marketing.

The main problem with direct marketing however is that due to some unethical practices adopted by some companies in the past it has acquired a bad name for itself, although during the past two decades direct marketing advertising (DMA) has come to account for about 54 per cent of total advertising outlays (Statistical Fact Book, 1993-94). Also, more than 50 of the Fortune 500 firms are now members of The Direct Marketing Association (Akaah and Korgaonkar, 1988)

Direct response advertising forces the consumer to make a response.

It asks for an action. It tells the reader to do something, why to do it, how to do it, and when to do it.

In this particular sense, a normal direct response in your restaurant marketing campaign is led by these marketing outcomes:

--> Either to make the consumer buy something

--> Request more information

--> Perform some other specific action

But a call to action is always implied and is an integral feature of this sort of a campaign.

Direct response campaigns are restaurant marketing campaigns that are accountable.

Institutional marketing in contrast makes no call to action; it doesn't tell the consumer what to do, how or why to do it.

Better known as "image" advertising, its goal is merely to reinstate the good image of the company.

The company already has a high recall positioning in the minds of its consumers. Institutional marketing just re-establishes that positioning.

By this logic, since institutional marketing/advertising, requires less persuasion and effort (Remember, it's already a strong brand), the media vehicle for this kind of branding is often TV and outdoor promotions; whereas for direct marketing, mailers and print ads are more suitable.

The problem with institutional advertising however is that it has no accountability. This is because; its goal is usually to be catchy, or cute, for the purpose of entertaining the consumer, and not to get them to take a specific action. So its response or affectivity cannot be reliably measured in fixed terms.

Yet, big players often go for image advertising, or what is also known as 'brand advertising' while the smaller restaurants are only able to afford direct marketing not just because its more cost effective but also because it serves their purpose better. They have to first build their brand and then reinstate it in the minds of their consumers.

"There is a higher probability of profits from playing a Las Vegas slot machine than investing in the average new product, service or business," once wrote Doug Hall, a renowned product guru, and a former marketer at Procter & Gamble in his most recent book Jump Start Your Business Brain[1]

But blockbuster products and services are not the result of some kind of intuitive magic, he insists. They succeed in the marketplace because they adhere to "the three strategic laws of marketing physics," which stress the importance of the following characteristics, writes Loren Gary in Improving New Products' Success Rates[2]

The characteristics that Gary has identified are discussed below:

1. Overt Benefit - What is in it for the customer?

A product or service idea must communicate to the customer --- specifically, obviously, and directly --- what's in it for him. Why would they come and buy your food or beverages from your restaurant. Is it that you have the best special spaghetti or is it the discount prices you charge.

2. Real Reason to Believe - Can you Deliver on Your Promises?

The idea must convince the customer that it can deliver the benefit it promises. "Twenty years ago, when there were far fewer products on the market," declares Jeffrey A. Stamp, Ph.D., a management professor at Miami University[3] in the HMU article, "a product's overt benefits were four times more important than its reason to believe. Today it's a one-to-one relationship ---- and with Internet brands, the reason to believe is four times more important than the overt benefit."

3. Dramatic Difference - How are you Different from your Competition

An idea's overt benefit and reason to believe must be almost revolutionary in their distinctiveness.

Golden Marketing Lessons

In What Were They Thinking? Marketing Lessons I've Learned from Over 80,000 Market Innovations and Idiocies,[4] a book he co-authored with Thom Forbes, McMath discusses the insights his "shop-the-showcase" approach has taught him about why products fail. Among them he lists:

Avoid Copycat Thinking
"There are too many 'me-too' products on the market," says McMath. "What are the odds that your liquid soap idea will sell when there are already 70-80 similar products out there?"

Think Like Average Consumers
Many restaurants fail because "they represent MBAs and Ph.Ds making products for other MBAs and PhDs instead of for Mr. and Mrs. America."

The design of any marketing program has to communicate directly to the consumer for it to be successful in the market.

Do the Research --- And Then Listen To It
A surprising number of failures result from sending the product to market before the packaging, pricing, and potential profit margins have been sufficiently analyzed. For example, your chef may have some new fabulousness he wants to add to the menu, even though the research indicates it won't sell. The idea behind the product isn't the only aspect you need to research. McMath emphasizes. "Many good ideas flounder because of poor execution."

[1] Brain Brew Books, 2001

[2] Harvard Management Update, November 2001

[3] Oxford, Ohio

[4] Red River Press, 1998

For more information on how to increase your sales click on the following link: Restaurant Marketing Ideas