By
Sarah Harris
Opening a restaurant can be simultaneously a life goal and a stressful and difficult endeavor. If you dream of creating your own eating establishment, you’ll have to:
- Pick the right location
- Create a winning menu
- Hire capable and enthusiastic staff
- Craft a business plan
- Study your competition
- Market, market, market
It’s this last one, marketing, that is the most tireless. Many of the points on this list have clear and defined ends, though you will probably have to hire new staff from time to time, and you’ll also need to keep an eye on the tactics of rival restaurants.
On the other hand, marketing requires constant vigilance to ensure your establishment stays in the public consciousness.
One of the most effective ways to spread awareness and direct hungry patrons through your front door is with restaurant postcards. Using a restaurant direct mail strategy is a tried and true method with proven results.
3 Advantages of Using Restaurant Postcards
If this is your first time hearing about direct mail for restaurants, let’s explain why it’s a great marketing method.
1. It’s Inexpensive
Compared to other advertising methods, such as TV, radio, billboards and print, your advertising dollar will go much further with restaurant postcards. The postcards themselves are cheap, and since they’re physical objects, they will stick around long after a potential customer has forgotten about a radio or TV ad.
2. It’s Targeted
Unlike most advertising methods, you can select the people you want to receive your restaurant postcards. Do you want to choose recipients based on location? Income? Age? Not a problem!
3. It’s Trackable
Once you finish a mailed postcard restaurant ad blitz, you can track the response. How many of the recipients came and ordered a meal? Add a special discount to your postcard, so you can see how effective it is.
Tips for Creating Effective Restaurant Postcards
Restaurant direct mail campaigns aren’t magic. You’ll still need to do some work on the front end to give your postcards the best chance for success.
Choose a Restaurant Postcard Printing and Direct Mail Partner
To get professional results, choose an experienced printing partner. Print Bind Ship has a proud history of crafting quality postcards that get results. Additionally, with our Mail Genius service, we can super-serve potential clientele with custom offers, notecards that look genuinely handwritten and cool swag.
Define Your Objective
The objective needs to be specific, not just, “get more customers.” Your postcards can provide a special offer for free food or deep discounts, and you can have a goal of X number of new patrons.
You can mail postcards that mimic your restaurant menu style, making them look like miniature versions of your menu with exciting new items. Perhaps you want to increase your brand awareness. Whatever your motives, they need to have definite goals attached.
Grab Attention with Eye-Catching Design
Your restaurant postcards will be sent alongside recipients’ normal mail. Make the postcards stand out with bright colors, appetizing pictures of your food and a layout that guides the reader’s eye toward the most important information.
Keep It Simple and Focused
The postcard should have one directive. Is it to try a new dish? Use a coupon? Come to an event? Whatever it is, use straightforward, direct and appealing language to make your restaurant sound like it’s a must-visit.
Include Mouth-Watering Images
It can’t be said enough. If you’re using direct mail for restaurants, include spectacular pictures of your food. The images should show your dishes in their best light.
Communicate Unique Selling Points
Why would someone come to your restaurant? What does it do that’s different or better than competing restaurants? No one will come just because you’re the “postcard restaurant.” Do you have live entertainment? Incredible views of the water or mountains? Fresh, local ingredients?
Include Clear Call-to-Action
Don’t clutter your postcards with unnecessary information or too many calls to action. Pick one goal and stick to it. Additionally, make sure people can find you! The restaurant’s location, phone number, website and social media handles need to be there.
Offer Incentives or Special Promotions
People love free food, or at least discounted food. The postcard itself can be a coupon for a free item or perhaps enter customers into a loyalty program.
Ensure Readability and Clarity
Pick a font and stick to it. Readers want to see clear messaging in an easy-to-read font. Too much and readers will get overwhelmed and toss your postcard in the bin.
Personalize When Possible
If you are using Print Bind Ship’s Mail Genius, you can personalize the postcards. Personalization grabs recipients’ attention and makes them more likely to connect with your restaurant.
Test and Measure
Being able to collect data is one of the most beneficial aspects of restaurant postcards. You can test whether one postcard offer or design is more effective by measuring the response. This process allows you to make positive changes for the next campaign.
Powerful Restaurant Marketing with Print Bind Ship
Opening and running a restaurant is already tough enough, but you can take some of that weight off your shoulders with Print Bind Ship.
Postcards are an effective, inexpensive method to drive more business, but you need quality printing. That’s why restaurants worldwide partner with Print Bind Ship to create winning postcard campaigns. Contact Print Bind Ship and find more patrons.
FAQ
Include the restaurant’s name, location and contact information, as well as the coupon, free menu item or other offer.
Research examples that have been successful for other restaurants. Contact a designer from Print Bind Ship to assist or provide a design if needed.
Use a direct mail campaign through a print partner such as Print Bind Ship. The print partner will handle distributing the postcards through the mail using targeted data.