Prepared by: Grow Memphis Agency grow@memphismarketing.agency

Presented to: Blues City General Store

Blues City General Store BEALE STREET MERCHANTS MARKETING EVALUATION

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Blues City General Store ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☒ 770

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Digital Marketing Recommendations

- Blues City General Store

o On Facebook, create a page @Username. Update your Facebook banner and consider using a video. Add your business details and confirm your email

with Facebook (luby@bluescitycafe.com?). Update your domain from Beale Street Merchants URL to your own website or landing page with simplified

information about the business. Add more general information in the ‘About’ section of your profile. Respond to your 33 reviews! This business has no

website. There are no active ads from Blues City General Store. We recommend building a simple website for the brand

- Additional Recommendations (things you could do to improve your marketing immediately whether in-house or by hiring an agency)

o Update the branding assets in your profiles to display a high-quality version of your logo or photo of your signage. Make sure your branding is consistent

across all platforms and listings and the information about your business is updated on all channels (including your menu)

o Consider adding a Facebook Likes and Instagram Followers Counter behind your counter with a call-to-action encouraging your users to engage with

your profile to grow your social following in exchange for a discount or small gift. Your customers will love it and you’ll love the growth it creates for you

online. Approx. $400 for each device. See: SMIIRL

o Connect your WordPress, Instagram and Facebook to the following social profiles via IFTTT: Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Google My Business,

Pinterest, and Snapchat. Make sure your branding and creative assets are legible and up-to-date, but consistent across all platforms for brand

consistency.

o Remove unused tabs from your profile and organize the ones you do want by priority.

o Add a menu to your website, google my business and to the additional tabs built into Facebook to encourage people to buy more food. When adding a

menu to Facebook, create a section for each column separately to give mobile users a more optimized viewing experience.

o Add additional accounts to your profile to complete the About page setup (Out-bound links to other social media pages)

o Consider producing 5 videos

▪ Facebook Banner Video

▪ Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn for Mobile - Square)

▪ Story / Social Fullscreen Newsfeed (Instagram, Facebook LinkedIn for Mobile - Vertical)

▪ Website background B-roll

▪ Brand Awareness (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, for Desktop - Horizontal)

o Use a software like Buffer to help distribute posts during a recommended scheduled time. This helps take the weight of responsibility off the person or

people managing your business’ social profiles and helps you grow online by scheduling posts during hours where you’re projected to get the most

engagement – potentially at a time when your social media manager is unavailable or occupied.

o Consider running two $5/day Ads (one on Facebook and one on Instagram) for Brand Awareness. Consider running catering ads to LinkedIn to target

professionals and corporate decision makers and event organizers.

o Create Snapchat and Facebook filters/frames that are localized and geofenced to your business for your customers.

o Consider adding “Team Members” to your profile wherever applicable.

o Use jobs.facebook.com to share employment opportunities and add the JOBS tab to your profile.

o Create a page @Username for your business if you haven’t already to help customers and fans find and interact with you socially.

o Outdated websites or sites using FLASH technology might be blocked by corporate firewalls and modern computer and tablet devices. Consider updating

your websites to a modern CMS to make them easier to update or manage and to enable search-engine rank-able blog posting.

o Add a story and milestones to the About section of your profile.

o Wherever possible, use the https version of your domain (if you have an SSL Certificate installed on your website) and an official email address. It’s okay

to forward the official address to an existing account for backup (aol, gmail, yahoo, etc)

o Add your business type and start date to your profile with a brief summary of your business history.

o Add special events to the Events tab in your profile to encourage customers to plan and commit to events in advance.

o Respond to user posts, comments, reviews and interactions to encourage ongoing dialogue and to build relationships. This will also increase brand

awareness and customer retention. CLICK HERE to see a real-time example from our BSMA-NYE Campaign (Em Sesson’s comment thread)

o Create a Facebook group for your regulars, influencers, advocates, employees and any street team members who are willing to promote your business

on social media in exchange for rewards and gifts.

o Build a modern website to help customers, locals and tourists find more information about your business and its history. This will also build more SEO

authority on Google and Bing (for voice activated searches)

o Ask authors or admins of other sites who have published content about your business to update their publications by including an outbound link to your

secure website.

o For SEO

▪ Add “alt text” to every image uploaded to your website so they can be recognized by google and other search engines.

▪ Mobile-Optimize your website by creating either a mobile-responsive design or a mobile version of your desktop site.

▪ Compress and resize any images uploaded to the website so pages load faster. Wherever applicable, include a link from thumbnails to larger

images when displaying images in a gallery or slideshow.

▪ Text embedded on images can be recognized by Google but won’t help your website rank for keywords that may exist in the embedded

content of the images. Avoid uploading images this way.

▪ Add alt text and descriptions to your in and outbound links on your website. Use (but don’t overuse) keywords in your titles, headers and in

the body of your website.

o Showcase the exterior, interior, community and culture of your business with images, videos and slideshows.

o If you have products to sell online, consider adding a SHOP tab to showcase or sell your products. Also consider adding shopping features to Instagram

and your website where customers can buy merch or more online.

o Add a phone number, messenger URL and email (if applicable) to the About section of your profile and above the fold (header) of your website.

o Ensure that all images, inbound and outbound URLs are always updated to https to render a secured version of your website. Embedded images and

iframes could cause modern browsers to show warnings preventing users from accessing your website in corporate settings.

o Consider adding a newsletter integrated with MailChimp in either a Newsletter section on your profile.

o Consider adding a TripAdvisor Reviews tab to the bottom of your profile.

o Make sure you have a recognizable profile picture. It’s what shows up in search results. It’s what’s pictured at the top of your Facebook page, and it’s the

thumbnail image that gets displayed next to your posts in people’s feeds. The easier it is for someone to recognize your logo in a cropped version of your

profile photo (especially on mobile devices) the better your ability to build brand awareness and attention, ultimately lowering the necessary costs of

advertising. So, choose wisely. The same goes for your cover photo. It takes up the most real estate above the fold on your Facebook page. So, make

sure that you’re choosing one that’s high quality and engaging for your visitors.

o Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than other types of content. And while photos are a great way to capture moments

from your brand, you should probably invest a good amount of time and other resources into video. Nearly 30% of marketers are naming it as a top

priority this year. Once you have a content strategy, make sure you’re posting consistently. If you’re not posting frequently enough, or engaging with

your audience, you won’t look as reliable or authentic. And if you post too often, people might get sick of having their feeds flooded with your content.

A social media editorial calendar could help you come up with a schedule here.

o Don’t forget about the actual human beings visiting your Facebook business page. You’ll have to decide if you want visitors to be able to message you

privately. If you don’t, consider turning this option off completely. And even then, you should also closely monitor and respond to visitor comments. It

might not be necessary to respond to every single comment you receive, but it still helps to keep an eye on the conversations happening there,

especially in real time or if one of your customers needs help and is trying to get ahold of you.

o Don’t forget to measure your success. You’ve put good effort into building your page and your online presence. And if you haven’t, but plan to put good

effort into it, take advantage of the insights that let you know what is and isn’t working.

o Advertising won’t be this accessible or affordable in the future because fortunately there are very few people (including established, mature and

traditional agencies) who have figured out the core secrets of good, effective digital marketing.

SETTING A BAR AND RESTAURANT MARKETING BUDGET

1) Get SMART with Your Goals

Before creating a bar and restaurant marketing budget, take time to set clear business goals. Whether it’s attracting new customers or increasing sales during a specific

daypart, the more specific your goals…the better.

Here’s why goalsetting is so important in the budgeting process:

• Save Money: Aligning your bar and restaurant marketing budget with your goals ensures you’re not wasting a cent. Check every line item in your bar and

restaurant marketing budget. Each one should directly support your business objectives.

• Better Outcomes: Research shows that setting specific and challenging goals leads to better performance as you strive to meet them.

• Stay Focused: With a goal-focused budget, you won’t be tempted to spend money on marketing trends – just because they’re trendy. For example, Snapchat is one

of the hottest new social media platforms. Snapchat is great for restaurants who want to reach the under-35 crowd. But if your goal is to increase sales of catered

lunches to nearby businesses? You’d be better off spending your budget on printed menus to drop off. Follow this rule: “If it doesn’t meet my business objective, it

stays off my bar and restaurant marketing budget.”

Once you have your objectives figured out, it’s time to set SMART goals for your bar and restaurant marketing budget. When setting goals, following the SMART strategy helps

you plan out exactly what you need to achieve, with actionable and measurable items.

To ensure your goals are SMART, they must be:

• Specific: Be clear about what you want to achieve with your goal

• Measurable: Your goals should be quantifiable and easy to track

• Attainable: The goals must be challenging but still possible to achieve

• Relevant: Your goals must make sense for your business and marketing objectives

• Time-Based: Give yourself a deadline to measure your achievements

An example of a SMART restaurant marketing goal is:

“I want to increase my sales this quarter by 10 percent by attracting new customers and driving repeat business through email marketing campaigns and a new loyalty

program app.”

2) The Magic Number: How Much to Spend on Your Bar and Restaurant Marketing Budget

After outlining your goals, it’s time to fund them. This is a pain point for many. Thanks to fluctuating costs and never-ending expenses, it’s hard to carve out cash for your bar

and restaurant marketing budget. You’ll need to determine what you’re spending on other areas of your business.

• Food Costs: How much you spend on monthly inventory for food and beverage

• Labor Costs: How much are you paying your employees and managers

• Overhead Expenses: What does it cost to keep the lights on? Do you pay for janitorial services, AC or heat, property taxes or rent?

• Entertainment: What do you currently spend to entertain guests?

• Miscellaneous Spending: This is anything extra that doesn’t fit into a category. For example, maybe you treat your staff to a holiday party or have to pay for

unexpected repairs.

Review your spending to determine exactly how much cash flow you have. If you don’t have much left over for your bar and restaurant marketing budget, think of ways you

can cut costs.

For example, if you’ve been spending your entire entertainment budget on live bands, switch to entertainment that guests can enjoy 24/7. For example, certain trivia

and digital arcade games have been shown to increase check averages by 21%.

If after crunching numbers, you discover you don’t have much of a bar and restaurant marketing budget – don’t get discouraged! There are plenty of grassroots-style

campaigns that are low on cost but require a little more time and effort to execute. For example:

• Social Media: Use new marketing tools like Facebook Live or Instagram Stories to promote your specials and events to your followers.

• Local PR: Reach out to local media outlets that could feature your bar or restaurant in a story.

• Fundraiser: Hold a fundraiser for a local charity. Other small businesses may participate, so you can cross promote to an entirely new demographic.

3) Where to Spend Your Bar and Restaurant Budget

Business objectives? Check. Funds available for marketing? Check. You’ve got the basics, now it’s time to build out your bar and restaurant marketing budget. But first, get out

a calendar…

Create a 52-Week Budget

When it comes to setting a bar and restaurant marketing budget, the best time period to set it for is a calendar year. At the very least, plan out an entire quarter. But whatever

you do, don’t “pay as you go” for marketing – you’ll use up cash, fast.

Why 52 weeks? First, looking at an entire calendar year lets you identify key holidays and important dates. Use these to build out events and promotions. For example, if

you’re an Irish bar or sports pub, you want to plan ahead for marketing your St. Patty’s Day festivities.

Plus, having a 52-week plan in place lets you “move” marketing dollars around in your bar and restaurant marketing budget. If an opportunity arises for March, you can reduce

spend in April to accommodate.

Ongoing Marketing is Optimal

As you plan your bar and restaurant marketing budget, the more consistent you can be, the better. It’s easier to track funds month by month. Plus, consistency is king in the

world of marketing: your goal is to always be top-of-mind for customers. Here are a few ongoing monthly costs you could plan for (if they meet your business objectives, of

course):

Email Campaign

Invest in ESP. Yes, an email service provider (ESP) can supercharge your bar and restaurant marketing budget.

EXAMPLE: For as little as $10 a month, you can access powerful software – like MailChimp – that includes templates and tools for sending professional emails to your

customers.

Social Media Marketing

You may want to hire a local consultant to manage your social media for you. Or, if you do it yourself, allocate a portion of your bar and restaurant marketing budget to PAID

social media ads each month.

4) Did it Work? How to Track Your Marketing Budget

The most important part of setting up a bar and restaurant marketing budget is knowing whether your strategy worked.

You can use your POS system to track sales of particular items that were featured in your marketing efforts. You can also perform calculations that will reveal the effectiveness

of your campaigns.

The most important 2 numbers to know when it comes to tracking your bar and restaurant marketing budget are CLV (or LTV lifetime value of customer) and CAC (customer

acquisition cost).

Once you’ve determined these 2 numbers, you can plug them into a simple formula that will reveal 1 of 3 scenarios:

a. You’re spending too much on marketing, and not bringing in enough customers to justify the expenses

b. Your marketing-spend and customer acquisition are matched up perfectly (good job!)

c. You’re not spending enough on marketing, and therefore are not bringing in enough customers

Need help calculating these formulas? Visit www.MemphisMarketing.Agency/Restaurants and fill out our Digital Marketing Application. Our Marketing Consultants will

create an excel CLV spreadsheet specifically for your business.

Like the old saying goes, if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Instead, plan for success by creating a bar and restaurant marketing budget that aligns with your long-term

business goals.

Recommendations are made based either on private consultation or an agency review of each business’ individual group of existing assets. For a more tailored set of

recommendations for your business based on short and long-term goals, please consider booking a consultation with our agents at www.memphismarketing.agency

For reference – Average Marketing Salaries:

- Marketing Associate: $56,730 /yr

- Entry Level Marketing: ~ $55K

- Market Research Analyst: ~ $60K

- Marketing Assistant: ~ $48K

- Marketing Coordinator: ~ $55K

- Advertising: ~ $40K

More information on glassdoor

By Grow Memphis Agency | grow@memphismarketing.agency | www.memphismarketing.agency

APPLY FOR A TAILORED MARKETING EVALUATION NOW AT

WWW.MEMPHISMARKETING.AGENCY/RESTAURANTS