Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How to Get More Guests to Spread the Word About Your Restaurant

Somewhere, typically way off the beaten track, there exists a restaurant that has never run an ad, never issued a news release, doesn't have a Web site, has never sent a coupon or a newsletter and cooperates with neither restaurant reviewers or local media. The self-satisfied owner of this restaurant dismisses marketing as an unnecessary expense since he claims his restaurant thrives solely on word-of-mouth marketing.

That means that customers are so happy, so satisfied, so pleased with this restaurant that they do little more than sing its praises, and new customers arrive daily. The food and service he provides, as the story goes, are so superior that the process of attracting new customers becomes an unnecessary task. The implication is that marketing is for chumps -- build a better restaurant, to paraphrase Thoreau, and the world will beat a path to your door.

That restaurant may exist somewhere, but for the bulk of restaurateurs operating in the real world, serious marketing is required. Too often, relying on word-of-mouth marketing (or what you thought is word-of-mouth marketing) is used as an excuse to do no marketing. No marketing yields empty seats and empty seats yield failed restaurants.

So if word-of-mouth marketing doesn't mean "no marketing," what is it? Simply stated, word-of-mouth marketing means that one person recommends a product or service to someone else, typically a friend or associate, but not necessarily.

...The foundation for any successful word-of-mouth marketing campaign is that you must supply your guests with a positive experience. Before positive word-of-mouth is generated, you must have a high-quality product

Studies show that people talk about products and services in 14 percent to 27 percent of their conversations. People talk about products and services so often because we like to give our friends the benefit of our experience -- good or bad.

Buzz Builder

Recommendation doesn't necessarily mean, "You must eat at this restaurant" (although it might), but it's about one customer finding something intriguing, worthwhile, valuable, noteworthy, amusing or interesting about your restaurant. Remember that Bonnie Raitt hit from 1991? Bonnie belted, "Let's give them something to talk about," and giving your customers something to talk about is the seed of word-of-mouth marketing.

The concept of word-of-mouth marketing makes common sense. I tell a friend about your restaurant who tells a friend who tells another friend. We've all seen it happen with a fad or a news story. Marketers call this "buzz" -- when everyone seems to be talking about a new movie, book or piece of celebrity gossip.