What makes for a great LSM idea?

I've had several people ask lately: "What are some great marketing ideas for my restaurant." I have to admit, I'm generally stumped. The question is similar to "How much does it cost to buy a car?"

I don't mean to be vague here, but we really need more information. It doesn't matter so much what type of restaurant you have, but more what you want to accomplish and when. "We need more customers anytime" isn't enough to go on.

Certain tactics work well for driving trial (which leads to new customers if the experience is WOW!), but are foolish for existing customers. Likewise, doing a really creative promotion with the local high school, no matter how well received, won't improve your breakfast daypart.

First, what do you want to do (pick only one of the three choices):
1. Get more customers? (And for this you need to be sure that you really do need more customers - most restaurants are already leaving enough on the table without any new customers.)

2. Get existing customers to visit more often? This is an easier prospect and generally reveals the fastest results.

3. Get customers to spend more money? It might be that your current offers actually drive down your ticket average. It might also be that current customers don't have a full appreciation for your entire menu - internal promotion can be a powerful thing.

Note: You probably want all three of these things. Be patient - you can only choose one at a time because, as you'll see below, each of these objectives probably has a different audience.

Next, when do you want to achieve these objectives ("now" isn't the answer I'm looking for)?

- Drive trial during lunch?
- Increase frequency of current dinner guests?
- Increase ticket average during the evenings and weekends?

This is where you determine your audience. You wouldn't market to a church or school if your lunch traffic was slow. Likewise, if you want to sell carry-out and increase your evening ticket average, marketing to office buildings won't help much.

Local store marketing is a great tool and is invaluable to countless restaurant and retail merchants. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm passionate about its potential and a true evangelist of its tactics.

But tactics alone won't cut it. A long list of great ideas, without adding a framework to it, will only disappoint in the end. If you want results, you need to carefully consider your objective and audience. These will determine your media and tactics, not the other way around.