Marketing Strategies Of Sam And Spike's Diner

Introduction

Sam & Spike’s Diner is a soon to open restaurant that imitates a 50’s style diner. The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner along with different drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. In order for the business to be successful, a promotional plan must be organized to ensure the longevity of the company. The document below describes such plan in the form of multiple different campaigns. Advertising, sales promotions, events, PR, direct marketing plan, interactive marketing plan, word-of-mouth campaign, and personal selling initiatives are all covered in the plan. It is necessary for Sam & Spike’s Diner to capture a large customer base before the grand opening and then continue to retain those customers over the long

run.
Advertising Campaign
Sam & Spike’s Diner will benefit from the use of both traditional marketing methods and social media marketing. Traditional advertising techniques will allow the diner to bring the business to the attention of the consumers instead of waiting for customers to find them. This will be done through the use of television, newspaper and radio advertisements. Once customers connect with Sam & Spike’s Diner on social media sites, relaying information and creating connections with customers will become easier for the restaurant. Having a more personal connection with customers will better establish the brand within the community (Higuera, n.d.).
The advertising campaign will start off with a television advertisement that introduces the restaurant.

The goal of this advertisement is to attract attention before the official launch of the diner. During this 30 second commercial, the idea of the business being locally owned needs to be a main idea. We want to use our community relationships and status to get consumers to shop locally. Pushing the foundation that when you spend locally, the local income, wealth, jobs and economy will rise (Balle, n.d.). The other main point that will be address in the advertisement will be the grand opening event that will take place. These same points will be addressed in advertisements on local news stations and newspaper articles. Using three traditional methods of marketing will give the restaurant the best chance at reaching as many potential customers as possible before the

opening.
Sales Promotions
For the grand opening, multiple sales promotions will be set in place in order to attract more customers. The first deal will be on the meals themselves. For the entire day, two people can eat a meal for $9.99. This gives customers a way to sample the menu at a low cost. We want as many people to try and review our products and providing customers a cheap way to sample the menu will help achieve this goal. In order to capture more of the community and to give back, a portion of the proceeds from the purchase of any milkshake will be donated to a local charity. This promotion will provide an opportunity to boost the image of the brand and establish good will with the community. The last promotion to be set in place is a happy hour special where customers can purchase alcoholic drinks at a discount along with their meals.
“Children have come to constitute a very important consumer group that influences family purchases of various products in many ways” (Arul, 2016). Capturing the youth in the region will sway parents’ decisions to bring the family to eat at the diner. A contest should be organized with local school that asks students to create the design of to-go packaging. Each school will vote on their top 10 favorite designs to submit for judging by the staff of Sam & Spike’s Diner. The artist of the chosen design will receive a free meal a week for one year and the school will receive a donation of $5,000 to be used for improving the school. Contests are a proven method for attracting new customers and by involving the youth of the community, parents will be more likely to spend money with the restaurant.
The last sales promotion that should be added will be a loyalty rewards program for customers. Although loyalty programs are somewhat limited, they still incentivize repeat purchases that can ultimately lead to brand loyalty. Loyalty programs are effective in local markets and since Sam & Spike’s Diner is pushing a locally owned advertising campaign, customer loyalty should be obtainable within the local market (Uncles, 2013). Instead of offering a free product after a certain number of meals purchased, the program will be build on creating points for dollar amount spent at the restaurant. After a customer reaches a certain number of points, they can redeem them for free meals and drinks. Repeat purchases create loyalty and the use of loyalty programs will influence customers to purchase more often.
Events and Experiences
Events are great ways to interact with customers and boost the image of the restaurant. Making the grand opening interactive will leave a lasting impression for the customers. The grand opening will include different activities and rides for the youth. Engaging with younger customers is an effective way of influencing parents to purchase products at the company. For attractions, a mechanical bull, basketball hoop, dunk tank, and a few carnival games will be added to the parking lot of the property. Keeping the customers on the property is known to increase the amount of sales that occur during that time. The main goal of the grand opening event is to create an experience that creates a want to come back. Giving the customers an enjoyable experience they would want to repeat will increase the amount of word-of-mouth marketing occurs.
Besides the grand opening, Sam & Spike’s Diner should create charitable events for throughout the year. The goal is to complete at least 5 charitable events during each year of operation. Each event will donate all proceeds from the event to multiple charities that conduct business in the community and entire Florida area. Charitable donations are one of the most effective ways of creating a strong brand image and boost your public relations efforts (TSDF, 2017).
Public Relations
Running an effective business involves effective communications between a well trained staff.

Managers need to inform employees about important dates, new products, and new opportunities to build a positive work environment that involves every member of the staff. Employee satisfaction is a critical segment of a strong work environment. Developing well-trained employees increases morale, job satisfaction, effectiveness, and innovation. When interacting with customers, a well-train employee will act under company policy and enhance the company’s image. Spending the time and money to ensure the staff is trained properly will give us a competitive advantage over our rivals.

The diner needs a direct and personal form of communication between customers and the company. Using social media and online review sites creates the personal connections that is needed to build brand loyalty and retain customers. Social media sites provide a low cot way of informing customers and directly addressing the comments and concerns of the customer. The main sites that the diner should use are: Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (Department of Industry,

2017).
Giving back to the community that the business is run in will prove we are socially responsible. The use of charitable events is one way to capitalize on improving the brands image. The proceeds from the events created by the diner will provide the community an opportunity to improve itself. Charitable giving generates brand trust among the community which will eventually lead to brand loyalty.