Takeout Printing, LLC
High Quality Printing, Low Cost Printing
YOUR GUIDE ON HOW TO START A SUCCESSFUL
DIRECT MAIL MENU PROGRAM
By Michael D’Agostino- Takeout Printing revised on 06-08
With thousands of advertisements on the radio, Television and a mound of unwanted email, how is the small restaurant owner supposed to get their menu to the customer? Direct mail is still alive and when done the right way can save you time and money. With direct mail, you can pinpoint where and when your customers receive your menu and not fight with your competition for their attention. Your customers can change a channel on the television. not have a yellow pages handy or get upset at all the door hangers your delivery guy left behind when they were on vacation, , but I can guarantee you your customers will open and read your menu when it arrives at their home or office via the united states postal service. It looks professional & customers will place orders instantly. With some preplanning and a little time and investment, you can do your direct mail program with a print house or on your own. I will show you how to set everything up with your printing house. They will do 98% of the setup for you. This article will give you the basics and tips to save you time and money.
PRINTING YOUR MENU MAILER
Your menu is the most important part of your direct mail program. Work with a company that specializes in menu marketing and mail services. Your menu does not have to be expensive to get the job done but it should be set up and designed by professionals who know menu design & restaurant marketing. Make sure the company you choose has a team of menu engineers who will design your menu mailer to get ultimate results.. Make sure you work closely with the design team and ask for eye-catching ideas that will grab your customer’s attention and make them want to open your mail piece. Full color takeout menus with appetizing photos of your food will generate more business. Studies have shown that 40% of full color menus are opened quicker then homemade menus. When customers are hungry they tend to order more food when they see an attractive, well organized menu with appealing photos of food. With full color printing so affordable these days thereis no reason not to have a nice full color menu.
Make sure you find a print company who has a one-stop shop with printing and mailing services
available. This will save you money and can get you a better price quote if the job is done in one place. Also, don't use just any print shop that prints for a variety of industries ( doctors, lawyers, chiropractors), these companies tend to have designers that do not know anything about restaurant marketing & menu design. It’s like going to your mechanic to get your tooth pulled. Instead, use a company that only specializes in restaurant marketing. When you find the right company, make sure you have them print, address, tab, bundle and provide
you with an updated mailing list.
Do you save using your own mailing Permit?
You can have the mail company do everything for you, from concept to mailing or you can attempt to do it yourself.. It will cost you the same or even more to do it yourself. If you want to obtain your own permit it will cost you $175 a year & a one time $175 setup fee. ($350) You must open an account with the post office & deposit money. You can then bring the boxes to the post office & pay for the postage as you go. You now have full control on when, where and how many pieces will go out but do you save money? You still have to factor in time waiting in line at the post office, shipping costs to your location of the printed menus, mailing lists etc… Ask the printing house to work out a mailing program that will save you time & money & use their permit. Some print houses will work out a printing & mailing package deal for 1 set price. Let them do all the work for you. Spend more time running your restaurant & not on long lines at the post office.
MAILING LISTS
There are lists for anything you can think of, but how does the restaurant owner get their hands on these lists without being overcharged? The answer is to go directly to the source. List companies specialize in certain lists. If you are located in or near a college town or want to target high schools, you can visit www.studentlist.com or if you want residential lists visit www.goleads.com. My favorite is www.salesgenie.com. You pay $150 per month & have unlimited access to new businesses, new mover lists, new home owners, doctor's offices, dry cleaners...any industry you can think of. For example, if you need a list of all the new homeowners, new movers and new businesses in your area you can download it. Don't use companies that charge $1.50 to $2.50 for fancy letters with coupons on them. You can print these letters for pennies . These companies are using the same lists that you can get from salesgenie.com. Why pay them if you can do it yourself. You can also visit www.dmnews.com, Direct Marketing News magazine’s website. It has tips on marketing ideas and you can also search for different mailing list companies. The menu print house you use could probably get these lists at much better rates or for free with a printing & mailing package. Ask Them.
SATURATION MAILINGS AND CARRIER ROUTES
A saturation mailing is simply any mailing campaign that mails to at least 95 percent of the residential and business addresses within a postal carrier route. Remember this will also include. all the new homeowners, new movers and new businesses in your area. Many mailers mistakenly think that a saturation mailing must be conducted by zip codes. There are 40,000 zip codes, but 600,000 carrier routes, which gives you on average around 15 carrier routes per zip code. A carrier route is the sub division of a zip code which designates a specific area of a zip code in which a postal person delivers the mail. Next time the mail comes, look for the numbers after your zip code. This is your carrier route or carrier code. Your restaurant might lay on the edge
Think about how you would like your menu mailer addressed. I am sure you received something from your local politician like: “Current resident or current occupant”. This way of addressing is so impersonal; it makes it seem like junk mail. You would never want your customers to feel that way. Many restaurant owners don’t know this, but your printer can put any message in this spot. Some of our restaurant customers like to use ”To our friends at: To the pizza lover at: or To our valued customers at: “From your friends at Joe’s Restaurant......Then the address,
MAIL YOUR MENU REGULARLY
When your menu mailer is ready, don’t mail all of them at once. You will get so bombarded with customers your staff will not be able to handle it and you will be left with a lot of unhappy customers who may never come back. What you should do is print 25,000 to 50,000 menu mailers to start. Mail out 20,000 to 40,000 mailers over a 12 week period. Mail 5,000 to 10,000 pieces every 3 weeks.( 4 mailings total) The menus with no addresses that are left, you can use in your restaurant. (For new ideas read "Market Your Menu" page above)This will not only spread your marketing plan over a 12-week period, it will also give you control on which part of your delivery area you will target that week. This also makes it a lot easier on your delivery staff. Remember the savings you will receive on the discounted postage. You will only pay for postage on 5,000 to 10,000 mail pieces at a time, not the whole batch. This spreads out your cash flow over 12 weeks. Around halfway through your campaign, on week six you should make plans to start another printing and setup for another 12 weeks of mailing. This process should always flow. On week 13 of your campaign you should be mailing a menu mailer to the names on the list from week one. This time that list will be cleaned and updated by the print house with new businesses, new home owners and new movers in your area. You have to keep the process going before your competition reads this article and does the same type of mailing. The only difference is that you already made these people your customers.
MENU MAILING MARKETING IDEAS
· Put special offers and coupons on the mailing permit panel and front cover.
· Include everything on your mailer (lunch, dinner, catering etc.).
· Use colorful and legible text and photos. Pick pictures that highlight your food.· Use buzz words like Fresh, Free, Homemade, Guaranteed, Family Owned and Operated…
· All contact information should be large and legible (telephone, fax, website, email address etc.)
· Have “FREE OFFERS" on your mailer. Give away a low cost food item ( Free appetizer , Free glass of wine, Free dessert etc…) Give the “Free Offer” when your customer mentions receiving your menu mailer. This helps to track your response rates from your mailing.
· When people call up for orders, ask them if they received your menu as a handout or was it mailed to them. This is yet another way to track your mailing.
· Add “Clipless Coupons" to your mailer. By numbering each coupon, your customer will not rip it out and ruin the menu. It will be much easier on your staff when they spend less time on the phone taking orders. They will be able to apply the coupon to the order by number, not by description. Make sure you have copies of the“Clipless Coupons” placed by all your phones.
Warning!!! Menu mailings can become addictive. If done correctly you can reap the benefits and your competition will never know what hit them. Have passion in what you do and you will benefit.
To get started today contact Takeout Printing ~
“Don’t just use any printer. use a restaurant printer!”
Takeout Printing
Your one stop shop for Restaurant marketing, printing & mailing services
Serving the restaurant industry for over 25+ years Please Note:
Call Anytime:
1 - 877 - 25 - PRINT
(77468)
email us at:
sales@takeoutprinting.com
When contacting Takeout Printing, whether by phone or email please have
the following information ready for restaurant verification:
Company name, full restaurant name,
contact person, title, complete address ( city, state & zipcode )
restaurant phone # & best time to call, email, fax # & website
