As a marketer I am probably a difficult critic of other company’s marketing. This is especially true when it comes to a new businesses whose survival is partially dependent on marketing.  In my opinion a new business owner should focus their efforts on marketing their business. Well it seems that is not always the case…A new restaurant named MocaBlue opened in my area. So being a good resident, I checked it out.  I won’t bore anyone with a critique or review (food was good, but pricey) but here are some quick marketing fixes they could implement to help them drive sales, repeat business, overall customer satisfaction and word of mouth marketing.

If you run a service or retail business feel free to take these and my other marketing tips and modify them for your situation.

• No email sign up – a new business should want to build a customer database (yes, even retail businesses)

• Grand Opening – it turned out the store was going to have a grand opening at some point in the future but there were  no signs or indications about this event.  Put a small card on the table with the dates and some reason to come back to the store.

• I’ll give them a pass on not being active on the social media front but most retailers can only benefit from having a presence in social media.

• No greeting by the owner.  The owner was walking around the store (working I am sure) but he should have stopped by every table to welcome and thank his customers for visiting his new business.  This is a great opportunity to make sure they are happy and if not, to get feedback.

• Give your customers something to remember  – it would be so easy to give every customer just  a little something unexpected for being one of the first to the store (this doesn’t have to last forever).  People love samples and remember when they get something extra and unexpected.  The marketing point here is that your customer will tell their friends.  Hey you won’t believe what XYZ store did.

• No suggestion box or request for recommendations – how many times do you get a small card with your check to rate the service or give feedback.  New establishments could use this more than most.  In my case there was nothing but a bill.

• No request or promotion to tell a friend etc – I took a risk and popped into a new restaurant wouldn’t you want me to help spread the word?  If it was my store I would give every person who stopped in for a meal a coupon to save 10% or a free appetizer that they could give to their friends.

The hardest thing for a business to do is get a customer in the door.  Once you have that customer do everything you can to add value to the relationship.  You have to start a relationship at some point why not do it on that first meeting.

MocaBlue, thanks for the case study I hope you succeed and improve your marketing.

Bon Apetite.