 Holistic marketing refers to a marketing strategy that considers the whole of a business. And all the different marketing channels as a system. Under a this approach, a business with different departments comes together. As a result, departments collaborate in interconnected marketing activities.
Holistic marketing creates a united and positive business image. So it encourages customers to purchase a business’s products or services rather than going to a competitor. Do you own a small business or are you thinking about starting one. Then this strategy can increase efficiency and provide opportunities for growth. Take a look what holistic marketing is. And decide whether your small business should use it. What is Holistic Marketing? Holistic marketing considers a business and all its parts. It sees a business as one entirety. As a result, it gives a shared aim and purpose for each activity within a business. And to everyone related to it. It thinks about a business’s place in the wider society. For example where does a business fit into the broader economy. And how does it impact the lives of its customers. Think of the human body that can only function when all parts are working together. In the same way, holistic marketing understands all the different parts of a business need to work together to operate at its optimum. Consequently, this approach drives towards the alignment of your business’s processes, services, systems and customer touch points. This creates a consistent and seamless customer experience on multiple channels. Principle Components of Holistic Marketing There are four main components within a holistic marketing model, each of which plays an important role in bringing everything together for a business. Internal Marketing Internal marketing refers to the internal management of system, the marketing department and the collaboration between the marketing department and other departments.What is Holistic Marketing? Holistic marketing considers a business and all its parts. It sees a business as one entirety. As a result, it gives a shared aim and purpose for each activity within a business. And to everyone related to it. It thinks about a business’s place in the wider society. For example where does a business fit into the broader economy. And how does it impact the lives of its customers. Think of the human body that can only function when all parts are working together. In the same way, holistic marketing understands all the different parts of a business need to work together to operate at its optimum. Consequently, this approach drives towards the alignment of your business’s processes, services, systems and customer touch points. This creates a consistent and seamless customer experience on multiple channels. Principle Components of Holistic Marketing There are four main components within a holistic marketing model, each of which plays an important role in bringing everything together for a business. Internal Marketing Internal marketing refers to the internal management of system, the marketing department and the collaboration between the marketing department and other departments. Integrated Marketing Integrated marketing involves the pricing strategy, product strategy, placing strategy, promotion strategy and communication strategy. Performance Marketing Performance marketing is focused on different business activities, such as how to sell a product, brand and customer equity, and the ethical and legal responsibilities a business and product upholds. Relationship Marketing Relationship marketing is centered on the relationship you have with your customers, employees, partners and competitors. By considering these four different principle components, holistic marketing allows you to create a comprehensive business plan that covers the whole business system. Examples of Holistic Marketing Apple is one example of a company that successfully uses holistic marketing. Everything from how the products are developed with the customer in mind, to the stores being branded in a recognizable fashion, to the customer service being extremely quick, efficient and polite, Apple could be considered a master in using this strategy. Heineken is another example of a brand that used this approach to successfully reinvent its image. Rather than focusing on the beer, Heineken centered its marketing efforts around four themes – engagement, exposure, interaction and relationships, including promoting its eco-friendly approach to brewing beer. Small Businesses and Holistic Marketing Taking a comprehensive, holistic approach to marketing that incorporates every aspect of a business and everyone in it, is all very well if you’re a globally-recognized brand with an endless marketing budget, but will this type of marketing work for your small business? The good news is that this strategy needn’t be as expensive as you think and can offer great returns on investment. Rather than solely focusing on one aspect of marketing for your business, such as giving a social media campaign a boost, holistic marketing considers everything, from improving customer service to rethinking your pricing strategy. Re-evaluating the whole of your business doesn’t need to cost the earth and can bring back good returns on investment quickly. Benefits of Holistic Marketing Creates cohesiveness Rather than presenting diverging and conflicting information in different areas of your brand, holistic marketing brings your brand effectively ‘under one roof,’ presenting greater consistency and cohesiveness for your customers, even if you’re a small business. Garners Good Results Holistic marketing makes a brand more consistent and cohesive across all aspects, marketing channels and messages. As a result, holistic marketing can help your small business get more out of its marketing efforts. All businesses possess different features which must be assessed and evaluated. It doesn’t matter how big or small they are. So, businesses need a holistic marketing approach. Include the different systems, services, processes and customer touch points. The process can prove advantageous to small businesses as well as larger companies.
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For many restaurant owners, marketing can be a scary element of restaurant operations marked by subjectivity and a lot of grey area, but aren’t all new things scary at first? By the end of this restaurant marketing guide, you’ll be equipped with the tools and tactics needed to create a following of loyal and loving guests.   CHAPTER 1 What Is Restaurant Marketing? Alright, let’s get into it. First thing’s first – what even is restaurant marketing? What is restaurant marketing? Restaurant marketing is the act of showcasing your restaurant or food service concept and offering your services to the general public with the aim to win their business. Why should I market my restaurant? There’s not a lot of elbow room in the restaurant industry in the U.S. Currently, the market is growing at 2x the rate of the population, and with more than 660,000 restaurants already dotting the map, restaurant marketing has gone from nice-to-have to necessary as business owners from coast to coast try to stand out from the field. Though best thought of as a tool to drive your business forward, restaurant marketing is all about connecting with your customers wherever they are and fostering strong relationships. As a restaurant owner, you know full well of the transformative power of hospitality; restaurant marketing gives you the opportunity to show genuine hospitality to your guests when they’re not within the four walls of your concept. The most obvious benefit of restaurant marketing is that it grows revenue by increasing both foot and online traffic to your business. Other benefits of restaurant marketing include: It gets the word out about your restaurant’s mission, vision, and purpose. It increases brand awareness. It introduces you to new audiences and markets. It attracts new staff members. It supports your customer retention and customer acquisition strategies. It helps you build connections within your local restaurant community. It opens you to new business partnerships and collaborations. It creates new opportunities with distributors and vendors. How much should I spend on restaurant marketing? As with many of the facets involved in restaurant operations, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to restaurant marketing, nor is there a magic number when it comes to how much you should spend on restaurant marketing. The range for spend on restaurant marketing typically spans anywhere from 3–10% of sales. On the subject of establishing a marketing budget for your business, here’s what The U.S Small Business Administration recommends: Many businesses allocate a percentage of actual or projected gross revenues – usually between 2-3% for run-rate marketing and up to 3-5% for start-up marketing. But the allocation actually depends on several factors: the industry you’re in, the size of your business, and its growth stage. For example, during the early brand-building years, retail businesses spend much more than other businesses on marketing — up to 20% of sales. As a general rule, small businesses with revenues less than $5 million should allocate 7-8% of their revenues to marketing. This budget should be split between 1) brand development costs (which includes all the channels you use to promote your brand, such as your website, sales collateral, etc.), and 2) the costs of promoting your business (campaigns, advertising, events, etc.). This percentage also assumes you have margins in the range of 10-12% (after you’ve covered your other expenses, including marketing). Let’s apply these insights to calculate restaurant marketing spend on a macro and micro level. Macro: How much did the restaurant industry spend on marketing last year? As an industry, The U.S restaurant space is recognized as an $8 billion market. By allocating 7.5% of gross revenue toward marketing, we approximate the U.S restaurant industry spent around $600 million on restaurant marketing in 2018. Micro: How do I calculate the right restaurant marketing budget for my concept? Before we get started calculating the proper restaurant marketing budget for your concept, you’ll need to pull the following metrics: Annual revenue Revenue by month Your restaurant’s profit margin. To calculate your restaurant’s profit margin, simply subtract your annual operating costs from gross revenue. Per the above advice, if your restaurant is not operating with a 10–12% profit margin, consider spending time evaluating your menu, inventory purchasing decisions, and how you’re maximizing product usage to decrease sitting inventory. Related Resource More: How to Calculate Inventory Turnover Ratio in Your Restaurant And compile the following stats about your business: Your restaurant’s age Your restaurant’s market share. To calculate your restaurant’s market share, divide your restaurant’s sales by your local restaurant market’s sales within a given fiscal period. Reach out to your state’s restaurant association for granular market insights about sales, demographics represented, churn, and more. Related Resource: How to Write Your Restaurant Marketing Budget Now that you’ve settled on how much budget you can allocate to cover your restaurant marketing initiatives, it’s time to develop a well-rounded restaurant marketing strategy to help you accomplish your restaurant marketing goals. CHAPTER 2 What Is a Restaurant Marketing Strategy? A restaurant marketing strategy refers to the collective marketing efforts or activities — also known as marketing campaigns — made by a restaurant over the course of a year, typically organized and tracked in a restaurant marketing plan. The first step in creating a restaurant marketing strategy is identifying your restaurant’s target customer or target market, a subset or cohort of the general population whose business you hope to earn because their behaviors, preferences, and values align with your business’ brand, mission, vision, and purpose. Next, you'll want to develop buyer personas: A buyer persona is a model of who you think your most common customer is. Businesses often have more than one buyer persona. How to create a buyer persona. To create buyer personas of your customer base, you’ll first need to identify and outline your most frequent clusters of guests. Here are a few different strategies you can use: Have the manager-on-duty record a daily summary of the types of guests they saw come in during their shift; do this each day for a month in your manager logbook. If you host a restaurant loyalty/rewards program for guests, try sending out a survey to participants via your restaurant's CRM solution. Offer a promotional discount to everyone who participates as well as the chance to win a gift card to your restaurant. Pull rich sales reporting from your restaurant point-of-sale system. One of the benefits of Toast’s point-of-sale technology is the robust customer report feature: Restaurant owners and operators can isolate customers who visited during a given time period then drill-down and learn more about each customer’s unique behavior while in your restaurant. Here is an example of a customer profile from Toast’s point-of-sale reporting and analytics:  When it comes to developing buyer personas around common customer types, the frequent visitors report from Toast will undoubtedly be your strongest source of data. This report isolates (as the name suggests) your most frequent visitors and compiles valuable data about their preferences and behavior all in one place. Analyzing and finding commonalities amongst this set — from popular menu items, time of visit, total spend, and valuable demographic data like age, gender, and address — will set your buyer persona development off on the right foot.  After you’ve zeroed in on your customer clusters, it’s time to turn them into buyer personas. For each cluster of customers you’ve identified who share 5+ commonalities, you’ll want to create a persona. As previously stated, it’s common for businesses to have multiple buyer personas. When building out a profile for a buyer persona, you’ll want to: Give each buyer persona a name and a photo — For the visual learners on your team, this will help them memorize each persona’s qualities and how to spot them. Use a site like UnSplash to find great free images. Outline high level identifiers — Examples include: age, gender identity, generation, etc. Highlight average spend Number of visits per [insert time period here] Include a buying behavior summary — This section should outline the analysis you did into what this type of buyer likes to order, how much, favorite wine/beer brands, etc. Outline their likes — This doesn’t just apply to preferences within your restaurant. A customer is first and foremost a person and they have a life outside the hour or two they’re visiting your restaurant. By understanding their whole personality, not just as it pertains to your restaurant, you’ll find it easier to entice and engage them to enter your restaurant. Outline their dislikes — Same approach as likes section, but, like, negative. What marketing channels to use to reach this persona — If you’re targeting Gen Z, snapchat or Instagram will be your go-to, whereas a Boomer is more likely to read a magazine or engage with your brand on Facebook. Here's an example of buyer persona Penny Professional: Restaurant Concept: Southern-inspired tapas and cocktail bar downtown Persona A: Penny Professional Gender Identity: Woman, She/Her pronouns Age: 25-35 Generation: Millennial Profession: Manager-level professional, industry non-specific. Average Spend: $35 or less Number of Visits: 1 per week, 4-5 per month Buying Behavior: Typically comes in with her co-workers or meets up with friends after work for a round of drinks. Visits for large group birthdays, engagements, going-away parties, and other special occasions. Tends to stick to happy hour menu, house wine selection, or a craft beer. Best Channels to Use to Reach Them: Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, VSCO, Facebook just for school friends and family. Once you’ve created your restaurant buyer personas, print them out and hang them in your server break area, on a wall in your kitchen, or anywhere that your staff frequents away from the watchful gaze of customers. This will help with memorization, identification, and bettering your staff’s chances of delivering an exceptional dining experience tailored to this guest’s preferences.  Buyer personas aren't just helpful for marketing your business, they're also an incredibly useful sales tool for your restaurant staff. Train your front-of-house staff how to recognize and sell to each individual buyer persona you identify. For example, Penny Professional would likely not be too interested in your top-shelf bourbon, but she'd definitely be interested in a sweet, very Instagrammable cocktail. The buyer persona exercise can also be used to improve your staff recruiting strategy. Using the above steps, develop an employee persona for front-of-house and back-of-house positions; this will help you easily identify the candidates you want as you sift through resumes and applications. Once you have identified who you're marketing to, the next step is to decide how you're going to entice them to visit your business and what promotion, discount, or incentive you are going to use. Together, the how and the what combine to make a restaurant marketing plan. CHAPTER 3 What Are the Characteristics of an Effective Restaurant Marketing Plan? A restaurant marketing plan is a chronological timeline of a restaurant’s intended marketing activities, across all marketing channels, for the upcoming calendar year. An effective restaurant marketing plan will provide an at-a-glance view of past, present, and upcoming marketing campaigns with important marketing campaign data included, like: Campaign goals: What you are trying to accomplish by conducting this campaign? Are you trying to increase your social follower count? Sell more of a certain menu item? Drive sign ups to your loyalty program? It’s vital to the success of your campaign to have a goal outlined from its inception. Campaign duration: How long will this campaign be live for? E.g. a discount that is redeemable for the next two weeks or a radio ad that will air once a day for the next 10 days. Intended marketing channel: Where will you be conducting this campaign? E.g. on social media, via your loyalty/rewards program, on a discount/promotion site like Groupon, etc. Budget and spend: How much money will you devote to this campaign? For example, if you’re planning to sponsor a local little league team (and get your name on their jerseys) it may cost you a few hundred dollars, whereas an ad on YouTube will cost you per click. Key performance indicators (KPIs): KPIs are metrics used to gauge the success of a marketing campaign. Examples of marketing performance metrics include sales/revenue increase/decrease, total tickets, loyalty/rewards sign ups, or social follower increase. CHAPTER 4 What Are the Best Marketing Channels for Restaurants? The most common restaurant marketing channels are: Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) Search Engine Ads Review Sites (Yelp, TripAdvisor) Sponsorship and Events Discount and Promotion Sites (Groupon, RetailMeNot) Direct Mail Video (Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook Live, Instagram Live) Radio and TV Ads Food Festivals, Farmers Markets, and Food Halls with rotating vendors Influencer Marketing Here are some lesser-known restaurant marketing channels and restaurant promotion ideas worth exploring: Third-party delivery sites with a discovery tool (UberEats, Doordash, Grubhub, ToastTakeout) A loyalty/rewards program One-time-use ride share codes (Uber, Lyft, Bird, Lime) Cars, buses, trains, pedi-cabs, etc. Over-head ad space on public transit Mall and shopping center directories ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood!’ coupon books for new residents Light-Up/neon host stands Podcast sponsorship Low-cost wearables, like sunglasses, hats, coozies, croakies, etc. Branded coasters Entering a cooking competition Transforming your staff into brand advocates Phew, that was a long list. So, how do you decide which of these restaurant marketing channels are right to reach your target customers? Lean on the research and analysis you and your team put toward developing your restaurant’s buyer personas. As we said at the beginning of this guide, restaurant marketing is all about meeting your customers where they are. For example, if you own or operate a sports bar and want to attract the younger game-day crowd, your target demographic is likely men between the ages of 25 and 45 who follow blogs (and social media accounts) like Barstool Sports or Bleacher Report, participate in fantasy leagues, send their friends funny memes on Instagram, and love beer — both craft and domestic. Connect with your distributor and run a Sunday game-day promotion with a well-known beer brand — like Bud Light or Coors Light — where guests are given freebies and swag. Advertise this promotion on your Instagram account, as well as via Instagram ads using the logo and beer's branding. After tracking your collective restaurant marketing initiatives in your restaurant marketing plan, you need to analyze the success of your campaigns CHAPTER 5 Calculating the ROI of Your Restaurant Marketing Efforts Driving attention and foot traffic to your business through restaurant marketing is essential to the survival of your concept, but you want to be sure that your restaurant marketing campaigns and activities are earning you money, not costing you money. At the completion of one of your restaurant’s marketing campaigns, it’s important that you calculate the ROI (return on investment) of said campaign using this formula:  The insights you gain from understanding what worked about your restaurant marketing campaign from a revenue perspective will influence how you approach restaurant marketing in the future.
Ready to add some restaurant marketing campaigns to the calendar? Keep reading for some restaurant marketing ideas that will boost brand recognition and drive foot traffic to your concept. CHAPTER 6 Restaurant Marketing Ideas Worth Trying Below are a 11 creative restaurant marketing ideas from real restaurants, restaurant consultants, and restaurant industry experts: 1.Make the most of your grand opening Restaurant Marketing Resource: 7 Restaurant Grand Opening Ideas that Actually Work 2.Provide a discount or promotional code Restaurant Marketing Resource: 10 Restaurant Promotions You Wish You Had Thought of Earlier 3.Run an LTO (limited-time offer) Restaurant Marketing Resource: Restaurant Specials Ideas: Discounts and Promotions You Can Offer 4.Host events and create an ongoing events calendar Restaurant Marketing Resource: And We’re Live: How to Host Events in a Restaurant or Bar 5.Run ads on your target customers’ preferred social media platform Restaurant Marketing Resource: 10 Examples of Awesome Restaurant Social Media Marketing 6.Host a loyalty/rewards program for your guests Restaurant Marketing Resource: The Magic of Credit Card Linked Restaurant Loyalty Programs 7.Do contests and giveaways Restaurant Marketing Resource: 7 Effective Restaurant Contest Ideas Your Guests Will Love 8.Make gift cards available for purchase (or give a pre-loaded gift cards to a loyal customer!) Restaurant Marketing Resource: Restaurant Gift Cards: Statistics, Charts, and Tips [Infographic] 9.Give a customer a shoutout on your social media page Restaurant Marketing Resource: 20 Customer Appreciation Ideas For Your Restaurant 10.Celebrate national food and drink holidays Restaurant Marketing Resource: National Food Holidays For Restaurants Advertise your restaurant in local magazines, weeklies, circulars, or on local TV/Radio stations Restaurant Marketing Resource: Restaurant Advertising: 10 Creative Ideas for Your Restaurant Ads The phone numbers add tracking before connecting to a restaurant so that Grubhub can bill for a marketing fee. By Adrianne Jeffries  This article is part of an investigation with Underunderstood, a podcast that explores stories the internet missed. You can subscribe to Underunderstood on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. A few months ago, I opened the Yelp app, typed in the name of my favorite sushi restaurant, and clicked on the phone number. Two options popped up: “Delivery or Takeout” and “General Questions." That’s new, I thought. I dialed the number for “Delivery or Takeout,” which played a perky greeting—“This call may be recorded to ensure awesomeness”—before a woman at the restaurant picked up. I asked why they were recording the call for awesomeness; she had no idea what I was referring to. I asked about the number I had just dialed; she didn’t recognize it. “What number did I just call?” I asked. She told me the number that was listed for “General Questions.” Then she asked what I wanted to order. As it turns out, the number listed for “General Questions” in the Yelp app is the restaurant’s real number. The number listed for “Delivery or Takeout” is owned by Yelp partner Grubhub.  The Yelp app lists a restaurant’s direct phone number on the actual listing. That’s (212) 262-8300 in the case of Judge Roy Bean Public House. But when you click on the phone number, this dialogue shows up: Delivery or Takeout and General Questions.  When a user clicks on the “Call” button labeled “Delivery or Takeout,” they are taken to a different number, (646) 394-9837, which is owned by Grubhub.  The “Call” button next to “General Questions” leads to the restaurant’s real number.
Even though restaurants are capable of taking orders directly—after all, both numbers are routed to the same place—Yelp is pushing customers to Grubhub-owned phone numbers in order to facilitate what Grubhub calls a “referral fee” of between 15 percent and 20 percent of the order total, I learned while researching an episode for the podcast Underunderstood. Yelp has historically functioned like an enhanced Yellow Pages, listing direct phone numbers for restaurants along with photos, information about the space, menus, and user reviews. But Yelp began prompting customers to call Grubhub phone numbers in October 2018 after the two companies announced a “long-term partnership.” “It’s not fair because this is our customer who called directly into our restaurant. It’s a trick.” Restaurant owners may not be aware of the change. Mohammad Zaman, an owner of Afghan Kabab and Grill House in Brooklyn, insisted the phone number that showed up in Yelp was a mistake until a call placed to the number rang at his desk. “It’s not fair because this is our customer who called directly into our restaurant,” he said. “It’s a trick.” Robert Guarino, CEO of the Manhattan restaurant group 5 Napkin Burger and a board member at the New York City Hospitality Alliance, was also not aware that Grubhub numbers were showing up in Yelp for two of his four restaurants. “We're working with these companies to help generate orders, but so many times, we're put in a position where we need to compete against them to get access to our customers,” he said. “So many of these practices make it hard to trust the companies. To not have all the practices clearly spoken about and understood by the businesses is really scary in my eyes.” Grubhub offers a “marketing” service to restaurants, which includes being listed on the Grubhub platform, for between 15 percent and 20 percent of each order total. It also offers a physical delivery service, which costs restaurants another 10 percent. Grubhub says it provides phone numbers for restaurants that sign up for marketing but not delivery in order to capture all orders that could be eligible for its fees. “It is our understanding that Grubhub has marketing agreements with some restaurants that allow Grubhub to utilize referral numbers on third party partner sites like Yelp,” a spokesperson for Yelp said in an email. She deferred further questions to Grubhub. "It is important to keep in mind that we are a marketing platform and, in almost all of these cases, the diner would not have discovered or placed an order with this restaurant without our platform,” Brendan Lewis, a spokesperson for Grubhub, told me in an email. “The order is the result of our marketing efforts.” In other words, Grubhub is claiming that every phone call to a restaurant originating specifically from the Yelp app is attributable to Grubhub’s marketing efforts. The Yelp website does not list referral numbers. Both companies said they do not measure call volume. However, people have been using Yelp as a directory since long before it partnered with Grubhub. This suggests that Yelp may be driving callers to Grubhub rather than Grubhub’s marketing efforts driving callers to Yelp and then to restaurants. Grubhub’s CEO seemed to say as much in March 2018 when the two companies announced that customers could now order through Grubhub from within Yelp. “We’re thrilled to complete our integration with Yelp, which enhances the online ordering experience for diners and will drive more orders to our restaurants from Yelp’s tens of millions of monthly users,” Matt Maloney, Grubhub’s founder and chief executive officer, said in a press release at the time. The average user may not understand how this works, either. In June, H. Claire Brown at The New Food Economy reported that the food delivery platform Grubhub has been creating thousands of websites in restaurants’ names, sometimes surpassing the restaurant’s own website in search engine visibility, in order to drive more online orders and commissions for Grubhub. The piece sparked a backlash from conscientious customers pledging to order directly in the future in order to protect their favorite restaurants’ profits. Natt Garun, a Verge writer whose parents own a restaurant, wrote a guide to finding a restaurant’s real contact information and avoid Grubhub’s fees to businesses. This involves dodging Grubhub-owned properties (Seamless, AllMenus, LevelUp, Tapingo, MenuPages, and Eat24) as well as the Grubhub-created websites and the Yelp app. The Yelp calls may also be concerning to restaurant owners because of the number of false positives generated by Grubhub’s phone tracking system. Munish Narula, who owns restaurants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, sued Grubhub in December 2018 for $5 million, claiming false charges for phone calls from customers asking questions and not actually ordering anything. The New York Post has also reported extensively on these false charges with a series of stories starting in May. One restaurant in New York negotiated a $10,000 refund for bogus charges, the Post reported, dating back to 2014. Grubhub says it analyzes the call recordings to determine if an order has actually been placed and censor personal information. The recording of a call that results in a charge is sent to the restaurant. Grubhub says it retains these recordings and uploads them to the private page that restaurants use to manage their service so that restaurants can audit them and dispute any errors. Grubhub says it does not use the recordings for any other purpose. Grubhub also says only 35 percent of calls placed through the numbers result in charges. The call was a customer who had his restaurant confused with another restaurant. It took four minutes to figure this out before the customer hung up without placing an order. “I got charged almost $8 for that phone call.” The commissions charged for phone orders are also frequently inaccurate because unlike with online orders, Grubhub does not actually know how much a phone order costs. It calculates its marketing commission based on the average of the last six non-phone orders. Andrew Martino, owner of the delivery and takeout-only restaurant Ghost Truck, only learned about the phone commissions in July when he was going over his books and realized he was off by a significant amount of money. “I couldn't figure out what I was missing,” he said. He signed into his private Grubhub page where he noticed a few transactions with just a fee and no order total. “There's a button where you could hit play and so I was like, what is this?” he said. “I hit play, and the first call was me on the phone, which freaked me out because I didn't know I was being recorded.” The call was a customer who had his restaurant confused with another restaurant. It took four minutes to figure this out before the customer hung up without placing an order. “I got charged almost $8 for that phone call.” I reviewed some of the recordings for Ghost Truck Kitchen and found multiple false positives, where Grubhub charged the restaurant between $7.80 and $7.92 per call for informational phone calls that did not result in an order. Most recordings beeped out identifying information, but one recording included an address and full name that were not censored. Restaurants are becoming increasingly vocal about the financial pressures they feel from high fees on online ordering apps. New York City council member Mark Gjonaj, head of the Committee on Small Business, held a hearing in June where restaurant owners testified beside representatives from Grubhub and UberEats. Grubhub representatives said that it is only driving incremental orders, meaning they are orders that come in on top of whatever business the restaurant was already doing. They also said that Grubhub takes professional photos, increases average order sizes, and gives businesses data-driven advice. “There is a restaurant on the Upper East Side that serves sushi. We worked with them and we said that there's a trend for poke bowls. We suggested that they start adding some of these items to their menu,” Grubhub senior vice president Kevin Kearns said at the hearing. “They did this and within one month, they doubled their orders, and within three months they 7x’ed their orders to 1,600 orders a month. This is a small business that went all the way up to 1,600 orders a month, and they actually changed the name of the restaurant to put poke in their name because it works so well.” Afterward, Gjonaj asked the state Attorney General to investigate Grubhub for antitrust violations and Senator Chuck Schumer threatened to recommend that the Federal Trade Commission investigate Grubhub if the company did not refund restaurants for erroneous fees. I asked Grubhub if there was any movement to revisit the way it handles referrals based on the backlash to the news reports and in the City Council hearing. “We have never abused the trust of our restaurant partners or built our business through trickery and fraud,” Lewis wrote in an email. “Through Seamless”—which Grubhub merged with in 2013—“we have supported restaurants in NYC for over 20 years, driven billions of dollars in food sales for them, managed millions of care issues on their behalf and institutionalized takeout as a fundamental core of eating in New York.” Grubhub did make one change in response to public pressure. It extended the window in which restaurants can dispute erroneous charges from 60 days to 120 days, the Post reported. Martino, the owner of Ghost Truck Kitchen, complained to Grubhub about his erroneous phone charges. The company agreed to stop charging him for phone commissions unless a call was over 800 seconds, “which is great,” he said, but “also makes you think they know they're doing something wrong.” Martino gets about 50 percent of his sales through Grubhub. However, he’s hoping to get that percentage down. He now takes orders online himself through his website and encourages customers to order there or through his direct phone number. “I definitely implore people to forgo the three seconds of convenience to help neighborhood businesses,” he said. Whether you’re looking for some inspiration, hiring tips, or need help with a tricky sales situation, blogs are one of the first places you can go to get answers.
There is no shortage of small business blogs out there. In fact, there are so many blogs to choose from that it can be hard to know which ones to read. In this post, we’re sharing eight great blogs that all small business owners should read. Small Business Survival Becky McCray started the Small Business Survival blog to cater specifically to rural entrepreneurs and business owners. As someone who lived in a small town her whole life, she wanted to connect with other small town entrepreneurs around the world. The blog is divided into three main categories — dreaming, doing, and growing and leveling up. It tackles everything from finding the best resources, hiring, isolation from industry peers, and how to compete against competitors in bigger cities. She even cowrote the book on small town businesses. Buffer Buffer is a fully distributed remote team that builds social media marketing software. However, they also produce insightful content on their blog, ranging from marketing to remote work and company transparency. Each year, they also compile a long-form state of social report, which takes an in-depth look at the state of social media marketing. Gusto Gusto is best known for providing payroll, benefits, and HR software for small businesses and startups. However, they also have a blog full of advice and tips catering to small business owners. The main categories are starting a business, finances and taxes, team management, and hiring and growth. They also have an Ask Gusto section, where you can get answers to specific questions about payroll, benefits, and HR. These questions range from what an Employee Identification Number is and how to start an LLC to hiring interns legally, sexual harassment training, and jury duty laws. Mixergy In 2004 Andrew Warner was burnt out from running his first, successful seven-figure business with his brother, so he started Mixergy. Originally Mixergy was a way for Warner to host in-person entrepreneurial meetups and get speaking gigs. Today, he has done more than 1,700 podcast interviews with entrepreneurs who share their experiences building their companies. Some of the most popular interviews on the site include Tim Ferriss, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, Neil Patel, Jimmy Wales, and Greg Spiridellis. Duct Tape Marketing With more than 75,000 subscribers, Duct Tape Marketing shares actionable small business sales and marketing tips and advice. Topics range from content marketing and social media to SEO, PPC, and lead generation. The blog was founded by John Jantsch, who is also a keynote speaker and best-selling author of Duct Tape Marketing, Duct Tape Selling, The Commitment Engine, The Referral Engine, and SEO for Growth. Farnam Street Shane Parrish started Farnam Street. While not specifically about entrepreneurship, this blog has a large audience of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Parrish is best known for his in-depth, philosophical posts that cover topics from mental models and decision-making to first-principle thinking, leadership, reading, and learning. Marie Forleo Marie Forleo is a motivational speaker and author who runs a couple of multimillion dollar businesses, including Marie Forleo International, B-School, and MarieTV. All of the content she writes is centered on female entrepreneurship and personal development. She has been featured by Sir Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, and Oprah, among many others. Gary Vaynerchuk Gary Vaynerchuk — or “Garyvee” for short — is a serial entrepreneur, a five-time New York Times Best Selling author, speaker, and serial investor. Vaynerchuk has an entire team at VaynerMedia, his 600+ person social media agency, in charge of helping him produce content geared toward entrepreneurs. This includes DailyVee, where he films short documentary-style videos highlighting his day-to-day as a busy CEO and internet celebrity. He also blogs, runs a podcast (The GaryVee Audio Experience), and hosts a business advice Q&A show called #AskGaryVee. Vaynerchuk famously got his start working in his family’s wine business where he started one of the first YouTube shows in 2006 called WineLibraryTV. These eight blogs tackle everything from getting started and building a winning team to leadership, sales, and marketing. What are your favorite small business blogs?  Ramon Ray and Ben Brewer met up at the B2SMB Institute in Napa, California to talk people and impact. Ben runs the small and mid-sized business segment for SAP Concur, a travel and expense management company based in Bellevue, Washington. Ben’s segment includes about 1,000 employees globally who service nearly 30,000 clients worldwide. They service businesses up to 4,000 employees, but Ben says their sweet spot is really companies with 50-100 personnel. 3 Things to Get Right Ramon asked Ben what are businesses that partner with SAP Concur doing right. Ben says that things have evolved and changed over the last several years, but that there are three things he consistently sees: 1. Hiring and Retaining Good Talent– Small and mid-sized companies are trying to draw in and keep good talent, but sometimes they can’t afford to pay the best salaries or offer the best benefits. It’s competitive! 2. They Want to Stay Connected– They want to be in the know and feel like they have that edge. They need those “secrets” and to hear from their peers on what’s working. 3. Prove It– Both internally with your employees and externally, when someone is implementing a service within their company, they have to prove that it’s going to provide value quickly. Both to their bosses and to the people who are using it. Mistakes First As a company, one of the things they’ve learned very quickly at SAP Concur is that you can’t be an expert at everything. Do your mission extremely well. Once you do that, Ben says, reach out and see what else you can bring into your world. He gives the example of their app center. Ben says that it was SAP Concur’s way of acknowledging that they “can’t be experts at everything, but we can connect you to who can.” That in and of itself is just as valuable as the actual service you provide. “Not just what you’re doing with your service, but how you’re bringing others into it,” says Ben. Taking Care of People How do you lower margins and raise profits while taking care of your employees? Ben says that hiring and retaining talent is massively important. But in order to keep good people, you have to take what they are looking for into consideration. When hiring millennials especially things you have to keep in mind include: Flexibility Heavy doses of thoughtful recognition Transparency Empowering Employees to Make Decisions Ben gives the example of expense reporting and empowering your employees. If you’re sending a group of employees to a conference, they might rather stay together at an Airbnb than separate hotel rooms. He suggests empowering them to do such things that are more flexible and better meet their needs as well as reduce your expenses. Your challenge as the employer is how to capture this and bring it into your accounting systems. Part of Something Bigger A key to keeping top talent is tying what your employees do into a bigger purpose. Employees today are concerned with things like sustainability and global footprint. At SAP Concur, Ben says that by using technology, they offer employees the ability to choose different trips based on the green footprint they supply. Ramon summed it up perfectly: “we’re using technology to enable you to make choices.” Be Current on Your Vision Know what you’re trying to do. How do you measure your impact? Ben referenced Chris Tuff’s idea of measuring your impact every day. (Chris Tuff is the author of The Millennial Whisperer and you can check out Ramon’s interview with him here, Ben agrees it’s fantastic!). Ben continues that he was discussing with someone, how to measure impact and how to do that outside of growth and profitability. Ben says her response was, “If we were gone tomorrow, would our community notice.” This is a great way to measure impact outside of the numbers and you can apply the same principle to your personal life. IKEA, Taco Bell, and Oscar Mayer Have a New Marketing Tactic to Target Millennials: Sleepovers8/4/2019 Millennials say they value experiences over material things. With the help of Airbnb, these brands have found a creative way to deliver. By Lizabeth Frohwein Editorial Intern, Inc.com@LizabethFroh  This weekend, a few lucky individuals will sleep in a hotdog on wheels, thanks to Oscar Mayer. In July, the hot dog maker owned by Kraft Heinz listed its iconic Wienermobile, a 27-foot-long van shaped like a hotdog, on Airbnb for $136 a night. The Wienermobile will be available for three nights only and will be parked in close proximity to Lollapalooza, the music festival now happening in Chicago.
In recent years, brands have discovered that Airbnb is more than just a home-sharing service; it can be a particularly effective marketing tool. Like Oscar Mayer's Wienermobile, which counts more than 22,000 consumer interactions on social media since the start of its campaign, IKEA has pitched its showroom to overnight guests. Even businesses not known for bedroom furniture like Taco Bell have offered to let customers sleepover. Some of these nightly stays are awarded through contests that people must enter to win, while others are available to anyone willing to pay. And while this strategy tends to be deployed by bigger companies, a brand need not be massive to benefit, says Jeffery Carr, a marketing and entrepreneurship professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "The Wienermobile is just such an iconic thing. Everyone knows about it, even if you've never seen one on the street," says Carr. But really, he adds: "It comes down to the uniqueness of the experience that the brand can offer." Take for example, the short-lived one-room hotel from the Venice, California-based bedding and towels maker, Parachute. The penthouse space, which the company pitched for $600 a night, also doubled as a testing studio to try out new lines. While this particular room wasn't on offer through Airbnb, the idea was the same. Here are some of the more unusual ways businesses have used Airbnb as a marketing tool: A Night with the Mona Lisa Airbnb and the Louvre announced a contest this past April in which one winner landed a night's stay at the Louvre Museum at the end of the month. After a personal tour, the winning couple--a man and woman from Newcastle, England--were wined and dined near famous art works including Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa and the ancient Greek statue the Venus de Milo. They slept under a replica of the Louvre's famous glass pyramid, designed to commemorate the structure's 30th anniversary. This lucky pair was chosen from a pool of 182,000 applicants. The release, billed as a partnership between Airbnb and the Louvre, was widely covered in the press and a promotional YouTube video of the event has been viewed more than 130,000 times. Tacos, Tacos, Tacos! Taco Bell recently announced the launch of its pop-up hotel in Palm Springs, which sold out in two minutes when it became available June 27. This wasn't the Mexican food chain's first foray in hospitality, however; Taco Bell teamed up with Airbnb in 2016 for a contest in which one lucky winner and three guests could sleep over in one of its stores in Ontario, Canada. The "SteakCation," as the company called it, was named for the Steak Doubledilla, a new menu item launched around the same time. The experience included a private dinner, snacks, entertainment and games, a private Taco Bell Butler, and a continental breakfast in the morning. Though the contest was only open to Canadian residents, it received international media attention from taco fans everywhere. LEGO Lodging In 2017, LEGO offered one lucky family a visit to the iconic LEGO house in Billund, Denmark. The winners received a one-night stay in the 129,000 square-foot hotel--which is made with approximately 25 million bricks--with meals and activities included. The stunt was a hit: Airbnb received more than 24,000 application submissions from hopeful LEGO fans. The Potato Pad In April, Airbnb unveiled an unusual listing available for booking in Boise, Idaho: a studio in the shape of a giant potato that goes for $200 a night. The Idaho Potato Commission originally made the potato in 2012 to commemorate its 75th anniversary. The 6-ton fake vegetable did several cross-country turns on the back of a semi-truck before settling down in its current locale, a 400-acre farm. Former tour spokesperson Kristie Wolfe designed the one-bedroom home. While the vacation home has received plenty of positive press, it's unclear how well the potato has been booking, as Wolfe could not be reached in time for publication. Joresa Blount Contributor Enterprise & Cloud  Influencers rely on Instagram hashtags and likes. Becoming an influencer today is easier than you think. PIXABAY Influencer marketing has been a big part of business throughout history. Although some believe that influencer marketing began as early as the late 1800s, it really seemed to take off and evolve as celebrity endorsements become more common and as the Internet became more widely used. Now, influencers are a vital part of any business’s marketing strategy. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey revealed that 91 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds surveyed said they trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations, proving just how valuable influencers can be to a business. Over the years, developments have changed the influencer game dramatically, with some of the biggest and most obvious being social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. As business owners find influencers on different social media platforms and see how they can positively affect their bottom lines, people have made more room in the budget for influencer marketing; in fact, 39 percent of respondents reported that they planned to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2019. Although there have been big developments that have changed the influencer marketing game (like the ability to buy Instagram followers), there have been smaller, seemingly less significant changes that have actually had just as big an impact on the influencer marketing world. One of those changes is Instagram hashtags. With the recent changes and added abilities Instagram has implemented, the influencer game has been changed yet again. It’s easier to become an influencer. Becoming an influencer takes a lot of work; to some, it may have seemed like influencers could only be people who were already popular. Thanks to hashtags, however, that’s not the case. In fact, because hashtags can be searched on Instagram and are connected to other relevant posts, it’s possible for virtually anybody to become an influencer by using the right hashtags, getting in front of their target audience and earning engaged followers. Micro-influencers have more opportunities. Before, influencers were considered users who had tens of thousands of followers or more, but as hashtags have taken a more important role in Instagram marketing and have become more searchable, it has become easier for people in different niches to take on these roles, even if they have a small following. Quality and quantity are not always equivalent, so there are now all kinds of influencers ranging from nano (as few as 1,000 followers) to celebrity (over five million followers). Targeting followers is easier than ever. Just like businesses, influencers have a niche and a target audience. Thanks to hashtags, it’s easier than ever for influencers to focus on their target audience and find potential followers who are interested in what they’re posting. Before, influencers could find general groups to reach out to, but thanks to hashtags, Instagram influencers can narrow down groups to target those individuals who will be the best fit for their brand and community. Influencers are more findable. Hashtags work as links that connect ideas or topics. When you click a hashtag, you are taken to a group of posts all relating to the same subject. Hashtags are searchable and can be followed on Instagram, making it possible for users to follow not only family and friends but also ideas and interests. Because people can follow hashtags, it’s easier than ever before for influencers to be found and grow their following. This means that influencers are able to expand their reach and even diversify their audience just by using the right hashtags. Hashtags ignite activism. Not only have hashtags made it easier for influencers to grow their following and do their jobs, but they have also made it easier to make a difference in the world through activism. For example, the #MeToo movement helped influencers to connect with their audience on a deeper level by sharing their stories or by expressing love and support to followers who shared theirs. There are hundreds of other trending activist hashtags, including #animalrights, #feminism, #humanrights, #equality, and more--all are being used by influencers to inspire change. New tools get the job done. Whether you are a business that has already partnered with an influencer looking for the best hashtags to use or are an influencer looking to up your hashtag game, the key is using the proper tools. There are a lot of different resources that will help you improve hashtags, but if you want to change your game, then #Hashtags For Likes is the tool you will want. You know how important hashtags are, but getting them right isn’t always easy. With #Hashtags For Likes, all you have to do is search a hashtag to get analytics and insights that will tell you how well that hashtag will perform. You’ll even get trending suggestions that will help you make posts more relevant. When you use #Hashtags For Likes, you can increase reach, make posts more relevant, better target your audience to plan future posts, and take away the guesswork of ensuring your hashtags are optimized. Using the #Hashtags For Likes tool is a game-changer you can’t afford to skip.
If you have creative ideas, money shouldn't stand in the way of your marketing efforts.
When you're beginning to build up your business, money can be tight. Entrepreneur Network partner Eric Siu has experienced this before. In this video, Siu explains how it is entirely possible to market a business affordably as long as you think strategically and creatively.
Siu recommends listening to content released by your competitors. You may be able to find helpful tidbits in podasts and blog posts from your competitors. Click the video to learn more about how to market your business for less than $1,000. Related: How to Create a Cohesive Marketing Plan Entrepreneur Network is a premium video network providing entertainment, education and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. We provide expertise and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre. EN is partnered with hundreds of top YouTube channels in the business vertical. Watch video from our network partners on demand on Amazon Fire, Roku, Apple TV and the Entrepreneur App available on iOS and Android devices.  Newer digital marketing techniques may be all the rage and have a critical place in any modern marketing campaign, but more traditional approaches still have their advantages. This includes the seemingly-humble poster. We’ve compiled five of the most convincing reasons why large posters are an effective part of most advertising campaigns.
1. They Draw Attention To Your StorefrontFor businesses that operate a storefront of any kind, large posters can be placed in the windows directly to draw attention and attract passerby. They can make a storefront look more attractive to potential customers, give a strong idea of what your business does and advertise current sales. Because the posters are placed in your place of business, you also don’t have to go through the hassle of asking permission or paying a fee to hang the poster somewhere else. Posters used in this way can be changed out frequently to highlight new sales, new products, different times of the year and more. 2. You Can Put Them Up In A Variety Of Physical LocationsLarge posters can be placed in a number of physical locations where the right people are more likely to see them. They have the potential to reach a very wide audience in particularly well-trafficked areas. It’s important to choose locations where your target demographic is going to see them, but you aren’t especially limited in where you can place them. You can even combine your traditional and digital marketing efforts together by adding features such as QR codes to your posters so interested parties can look up more information online or receive a deal. Keep in mind that you will need permission and possibly pay a fee to place advertising posters in most locations. 3. They Are Easier To SeeLarge posters are simply easier to see and read than smaller publications, such as flyers or even smaller posters. This allows you to make a bigger, faster impact on potential customers. Design is, of course, an important factor in how effective your posters will be – you want your advertising message to be clear, utilizing attractive colors and with a readable font to be most effective. The right printing service will work with you to incorporate your designs into a high-quality poster that will draw eyes. 4. They Are Cheaper Than Many AlternativesLarge poster printing is cheaper and more cost-effective than some other advertising methods such as online advertising, TV ads and renting billboard space. This makes it an attractive addition to your overall marketing plan in an environment where every penny in your advertising budget counts. Businesses should never pursue paid marketing ideas that are not likely to lead to results, but posters are cost-effective and versatile enough that they are a good advertising option for most businesses. 5. They Continuously Reinforce Your BrandLarge posters have a big advantage in marketing because people are not likely to see them only once, the way they might an online ad. People will see your poster each time they pass by it, reminding them of your business. However, you do not want to leave them up so long that people stop seeing them. Replace them occasionally with new ideas and they will prove a constant reminder to potential customers about your business. You should also use your large advertising posters to create uniformity in your brand. For example, using the same colors, logo, marketing copy and deals will help customers immediately connect your posters with your brand itself. By doing so, you more strongly cement your business in their minds. We understand how effective large posters can be for a company’s advertising campaign and are committed to providing a quality product. If you haven’t yet used large posters in your advertising efforts, they’re worth trying for all the reasons mentioned above. BUSINESS NEWS | AZ BIG MEDIA  Alejandro Ortiz Small businesses have enough on their plate – two-thirds of small businesses fail within their first ten years of existence – when starting their operations. With everything that needs to be done to ensure a solid business plan, who has time to execute a seemingly trivial social media strategy?Alejandro Ortiz However, time should be invested, and social media should be part of that business plan, according to BBVA USA Head of Digital Sales Santiago Lopez Heredia. Per a 2018 study by SBA resource partner, SCORE, 77% of U.S. small businesses use social media. Although that number is high, only 44% of businesses report that social media helps to generate brand awareness, and 41% of businesses depend on social media to drive revenue. There could be ways to bridge that gap, and Lopez Heredia had some thoughts on exactly how to maximize the value of social media marketing. For example, first off, Lopez Heredia placed an emphasis on hitting the ground running. “Starting a social media strategy from the beginning is very critical,” he said. “With the dynamics in the U.S., it is extremely important to have a digital presence in the community. The more relevant you are on social media, the more relevant you will be in your market.”  BBVA USA Head of Digital Sales Santiago Lopez Heredia Lopez Heredia knows about hitting the ground running, having been in his field for more than 12 years, which included stints as a digital sales manager in multiple countries across Europe, a director of marketing for an online entertainment entity, and driving global digital sales strategy for the BBVA Group.
He also knows that startups and small businesses can be stretched thin. “It’s a challenge, for sure,” he noted. “But social media is too valuable of a tool to ignore. There has to be effort around building a strategy. With growing digital transformation, you have to listen and get to know your customers through these channels. You need to be proactive.” Lopez Heredia gave a few tips around what kind of content and strategy businesses can employ:
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