Updated: Jun 19, 2020
It's the first day of March, which means that we are fast approaching the end of the first quarter of 2020!
If you think that you can grow your sales month after month, without a concrete plan, that's going to be a pipe dream!
So let's talk about March marketing and your game plan!
We got to be maximizing every opportunity to dominate our communities and grow our sales in different ways.
To do this, we are going over our Monthly Planner, particularly for March. Ultimately, if you take the time and fill out this planner, and put it into practice, you can map out your whole month with your various marketing strategies.
Before we start I want you to please download the planner for you to keep up, as you read through this article, here's the link:
https://www.makingdoughshow.com/resources
Now that you have the actual planner with you, let me dissect each page for you to understand better:
1. Set your sales goal
Begin filling out the planner by writing down the following:
Q1 2020 Sales Goal: _________
March 2019 Sales: ___________
March 2020 Sales: ___________
The first page of your planner must contain your sales goal. You've already gone through January and February, so you must know where your sales are at this time.
Based on your goal, what should our March 2020 goal be for us to hit our Q1 sales target?
Another thing you must write is sales for March 2019. As you know, we are always comparing month to month, especially if you want to grow, for instance, 10% every month. For example, last year, you made $100,000, so for March this year, you are making $110,000.
2. Conduct a Marketing Machine Assessment
You need to rate different aspects of marketing in your restaurant. Ultimately, you want to build a machine for your restaurant to operate without you working in it.
Somebody must be able to drive this machine, and ideally, it should not be you. What you must only do is to give the direction where the machine needs to go -the vision for different promotions, the sales goal, and how you are going to get there.
So you need to create systems aggressively when it comes to marketing of your business if you want your restaurant to continue to grow, especially without your physical involvement.
Assess your marketing machine using these ten questions below. Rate each based on a scale of 1-10, with ten being excellent and one being poor:
I am very happy with our restaurant's consistent sales growth (How satisfied are you with your steady sales progress?)
We have a strategic system in place to respond to our online reviews (Do you have a strategic system to respond to your online reviews?)
We have a pricing strategy that is profitable (Did you increase your prices? What is your system for that? )
We systematically and consistently capture phone numbers and emails of our customers (You must have a system in place to keep your customer's contact information so we'll have a way of direct communication with them no matter what happens to social media)
We are consistently marketing to our database via text and email marketing - weekly (Where are you at when it comes to sending direct messages with your current customers?)
We have a strategic content market strategy on social media (This needs to shift quite often, so where are you at?)
We track our marketing efforts and measure the return on investment ROI (Are you tracking and revisiting your results weekly?)
We have a written and posted marketing promotional calendar (Do have a calendar where you mapped out all your promotions for the whole year?)
Our websites clearly communicate what we do (Your website is your hub. Do people understand who and what you are by visiting your website?)
Our management team meets weekly to review our marketing efforts and plan the week ahead (How consistent are you meeting with your managers weekly? Do you review your marketing efforts?)
After rating each question, add them up, and divide it by 10 to get your Marketing March Assessment score.
Based on this assessment, what’s one aspect of your marketing machine you can work on?
Can you systematize, automate using software or outsource to a team member, or an agency if you see it profitable?
You need to pick a project that you can create for this month. Maybe it's your content strategy for your social media or whatever you see feasible, and build that machine of yours.
3. Outline the March 2020 Marketing Budget
Keep in mind that marketing is an investment, so you need to have a budget for that investment.
First, take note of your March 2020 marketing budget, and then allocate them to specific marketing strategy such as:
Text Message Marketing cost: $____
FB Ads budget: $____
Email Marketing Cost: $____
Mailer AVG Cost: $____
Outsourcing/ Marketing agency cost: $____
Sponsorships ($ donations): $____
Food donations: $____
In-store events cost: $____
Content creation cost: $____
Depending on your budget, you can add or reduce those items above. It is crucial to have a breakdown of those things for you to do the Math and help you accomplish your sales goal.