7 Complementary Audiences

Now that the lease is signed and the concept has been finalized, the big question for a restaurant is: who is my customer?

The answer doesn't involve household income, education level, or 2.4 children. It's a question of who works in the building next to you. Once the lease is signed the demographics are almost irrelevant. The trick is to get more of the 48,000 daytime population to visit, more of the 60-90,000 cars per day to stop.

Your audience, then, is whoever is there to buy your product. Niche marketing (Local Store Marketing) will help you to create a message for each group within your trade area. We'll look at each of these in detail in future posts, but the 7 Complementary Audiences for nearly any restaurant are:

• Schools
• Houses / Apartments
• Large office buildings
• Small office buildings (there are different strategies for each)
• RE Agents / Pharm Reps / Financial Planners
• Current customers
• Employees

There are more, of course, but these are the groups that make up nearly any trade area. RE agents, pharm reps, and financial planners are catering engines. Create a message for each of these 7 audiences (again, more on each in future posts) and results should come quickly.

Notice that this is backward from traditional brand marketing. In brand marketing you determine your target audience, craft a message, and then deliver the message repeatedly.

Why doesn't that hold true for restaurants? Because your lease is signed. You're paying rent. Target audiences are great for lots of reasons, but when it comes time to move the needle you need to tailor your message to the people who live and work in your community. For better or worse.