Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Let me guess. You've tried marketing. You've boosted posts, you've hired agencies, you've run promotions, you've posted constantly, every single day for a while. And at some point you thought to yourself, well, I guess marketing just doesn't work. Or maybe it just doesn't work for restaurants. But here's the uncomfortable truth. Marketing works incredibly well, especially for restaurants. It just doesn't work for unclear businesses.
So if your marketing feels expensive, if it feels exhausting, if it feels random, it's not because the platforms are broken. Because I promise you, they're not. It's because clarity is missing from your marketing. So today I want to show you why. Clarity. And not even necessarily creativity, but clarity is the real growth lever in how you market your restaurant. All of that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy.
There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close. This is the Restaurant Strategy podcast. By now you know me. I wrote a book. It's called the Restaurant Marketing Mindset. I actually wrote another book. You're going to hear more about that in a couple of months. I host live in person events every single year. I run a membership site called Restaurant Foundations and I have my signature coaching program, it's called the P3 mastermind, where I work with independent restaurant owners who are looking to dial in profitability and scale their businesses. And if that sounds like you, if you're ready for 20 plus percent operating profit every single month, I promise you it's possible. We do it every single week. Reach out and let's start a conversation. RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com Schedule Grab some time on the calendar. You'll chat with me or someone from my team again. RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com Schedule as always, you'll find that link in the show Notes.
Avi, you love to go out to eat. So, as a guest, what's your biggest pet peeve when you're trying to choose a place to eat?
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Yeah, as the father of two children, I can't leave the house for less than $30 an hour. My wife has celiac. So when we're going to make a dining decision, I live and die by that menu. I'm in there researching what's available. What can my wife eat? What can we share? What do I get to eat off of her plate.
And so that menu is just a crucial part of all decision making for me as a consumer. It's why at Marquee, we focus so much on our menus, our menu integration, so that as operators, your menu that lives in your point of sale that you want customers to see is available and up to date everywhere.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: To learn more about Marquee, go to marque.com, m a r q I I.com to learn more about this and all of the incredible features they have.
So here's the deal. Most restaurants start marketing in the wrong place.
See, most owners, most operators out there, they think marketing starts with the tactics, right? What should I post? When should I post? What platform should we use? Do we run ads? Do ads even work? What do we do with my email? Does influencer marketing work? And all of that is fine, but it's like asking what paint color you want to put on the walls before you've even poured the foundation for the building.
See, marketing doesn't begin with content.
It starts with ideas.
And if you don't know who you are and who you're for, whatever tactic you throw out there will feel like a gamble.
When you say we're for everyone, that's actually the most expensive sentence in our industry.
And see, this is where most restaurants get stuck. They say things like, well, we're for everyone or we just need more people or we don't want to limit ourselves.
And on the surface, all of that sounds open minded, it sounds safe and in a certain way it sounds reasonable.
But it's not. In fact, it's killing your marketing. Because when you're for everyone, then no one feels like you're for them.
See, people don't respond to generic promises. They respond to specificity. They say, this place is for people like me, man, this place gets me. They know me. It fits the moment. It solves my problem.
See, if your message doesn't create recognition, I promise it won't create action.
Clarity is what makes marketing feel easy. And I want you to really sit with this. Clear restaurants don't struggle to figure out what to say.
Confused restaurants do when clarity is present. You know what stories to tell, you know what photos matter, you know what not to post, you know what not to promote.
See, clear restaurants repeat themselves confidently over and over and over. Confused restaurants are constantly reinventing themselves and reinvention is exhausting. Let me give you the simplest example that I think everyone would get. Dave Ramsey, right, the king of personal finance has gone on the radio for three hours, every single day, he takes the stage. He's written numerous books, and for what, 30, 40, 50 years, he's been saying the same thing over and over and over.
Spend less than you make. He's not reinventing himself. He's just repeating himself over and over and over in new and interesting and creative ways. No reinvention, just consistent repetition.
That's what scales see most. Marketing fails because it's trying to compensate for weak positioning. And this is a hard truth for a lot of owners, right? They. They think it's marketing's job to get, create demand or generate excitement or convince people to come.
But marketing doesn't create desire. Marketing is supposed to amplify it. So if the positioning is weak, marketing just spreads those weak signals faster. And no amount of clever copy will fix a forgettable experience, a mediocre meal, a muddy concept, or a restaurant that can't explain itself in one sentence.
See, marketing is a megaphone. But if the message is unclear, you're just yelling nonsense louder than everybody else.
Now, your team is part of your marketing, whether you like it or not.
So here's a test that most restaurants fail. And I do this sometimes when I go in and I consult with restaurants. If a guest out there asks a server, hey, look, why do people love this place?
I want to know, what do they say?
If the answers are inconsistent, if they're awkward, or if they're purely based on the menu, then clarity doesn't exist inside the building. And if clarity doesn't exist inside the building, I promise you, it will not exist outside the building. Not out in the world, not on a billboard, not online.
See, strong brands are internally aligned before they're externally promoted.
Your staff should know who this place is for. They should know what matters here, why it's special, what kind of experience guests should expect.
And if they don't, your marketing budget is simply leaking value.
See, clarity. We keep talking about this word clarity. It reduces marketing costs. And it sounds counterintuitive. And this is the part that a lot of owners missed, right? Clarity doesn't just improve marketing results.
It lowers the marketing effort. Because when you're clear, you don't have to chase trends, you don't panic post. You don't constantly pivot your messaging. You're never going to feel like you're behind because you say the same thing over and over from different angles, just like Dave Ramsey. And repetition builds trust.
Just like Dave Ramsey.
Trust is what fills restaurant, not novelty. Trust.
So if we're talking all about clarity, then let's take a minute and talk about confusion. Because confusion is what creates all that random marketing. Confused restaurants market emotionally. Sales feel soft, so we run a promo. The competitor posts, so we copy it. There's a slow week while we try to boost something. An agency suggests we do something, so we do something.
None of it compounds. None of it builds momentum. None of it feels intentional.
Clear. Restaurants market strategically. They know what problem they solve. They know for whom they solve it. They know in what moments they exist. And they just reinforce that message relentlessly over and over and over again. Dave Ramsey Saying the same thing in different ways for 30, 40, 50 years. That's what you do now. Every restaurant operator understands the chaos of a commercial kitchen during a meal rush. Restaurant technology's total oil management solution is an end to end automated oil system that delivers filters, monitors and recycles your cooking oil. Taking the dirtiest job out of the kitchen. And it lets your employees focus on more important revenue driving tasks. And guess what? No upfront cost. Control the kitchen chaos with restaurant technologies and make your kitchen safer while maximizing efficiency. Visit rti-inc.com or email customercareti-inc.com or you can even call them 888-796-4997 to get started now.
Marketing is a leadership responsibility, not a delegated task. And this is where a lot of owners just simply abdicate responsibility. So they hand marketing over to one of the managers or to, you know, the social media girl or to an agency. But clarity can't be delegated. The tasks and the tactics can be passed off, but not the overall marketing. I say this marketing, and at its core is wrapped up in three questions. What's the product? Who's that product for? And how do we reach them?
You hand the execution of certain things off, but not the overall management of it, right? Meaning leadership defines who you serve, what you stand for, what you refuse to be.
And viewed through that lens, if leadership is unclear, then marketing will always feel scattered.
So over this all, the real paradigm shift I want you to make right here, it is the replacement belief.
Marketing doesn't fail because you're not creative enough.
It simply fails because you're not clear enough. Clarity comes before content. Identity comes before tactics. Positioning comes before promotion.
Once clarity is locked in, marketing simply becomes about execution. Not guesswork, but just execute execution. So your action today, do not skip this. I want you to write this sentence slowly. We are the restaurant for people who and I want you to finish it. You're not. It's not everyone, not anyone. Not people who like good food. I want you to be specific. We are the restaurant for people who.
And if that sentence feels uncomfortable, then it's a sign you're doing it right. Clarity always feels risky until it works.
Here's the bottom line. You don't need better marketing. You need a clearer answer to why you exist. My buddy Sean Walsheff always talks about the two whys, right? Why do you do what you do? And why should anyone else care that you do it? That gets to the heart of what you're trying to sell. Again, you don't need better marketing marketing. You just need a clear answer as to why you exist. And once you have that marketing, I promise, it stops feeling hard. It starts feeling obvious and easy and fun. Fluid.
That's what I want you to understand over the course of today's episode. Again, I say this all the time. I want to reiterate it. I know there's a lot of great episodes, a lot of great podcasts for you to listen to. I appreciate you making this show part of your week again. My name is Chip Close. I'm the founder and CEO of Restaurant Strategy. I am your host. I appreciate you more than you can possibly know. I will see you next time.
Sam.
Sa.
