Email Marketing – So Simple You Can Do It Yourself?
In-House Programs v. Agency Outsourcing
Should You Try to Do Your Own Email Marketing? The cut-to-the-chase answer to this question is no. You are a restaurant professional, and that is where your talents lie. If you take time away from your regular operations to sit in front of a computer trying to learn how to program emails, it will hurt your business.
If you happen to have staff with excellent writing skills and expertise in HTML or design, the answer would still be no. If this staff member’s primary talent is writing and design, they may lose their enthusiasm for their jobs on the floor or in the kitchen.You’ve seen them at many restaurants, the colorful bill stuffer asking you to join the restaurant’s VIP Club or E-Newsletter List. As a restaurant owner, you think, “Hey, we should do that too” (if you’re not already promoting by email.) Your next thought turns to your own email system. “Surely it wouldn’t be that difficult to try my hand at creating our email messages myself,” you wonder.
At this moment, restaurant marketers around the world would cry out, “Stop right there and back away from the computer before anyone gets hurt!” The equivalent of this decision would be like my teenage nephew trying to cook bouillabaisse simply because he’s used the stove before.
The main challenges of an in-house email marketing campaign are three-fold: time, skill and privacy.
A person without a background in writing or design can expect to spend at least 5 hours per email message. It would take at least another 4 hours per month for maintenance of the list and typing to input subscriber data. A typical email campaign will send messages every two weeks, so in one month, the time investment is approximately 14 hours. For the vast majority of restaurateurs, it would be impossible to allocate 14 hours per month of their own time or staff’s time to such a task.
Part of the reason that email marketing can be so time-intensive is that a novice needs more time to carry out the tasks than someone with training and skill. Polished design demands more than just inserting your logo. A design professional would bring creative talent to the design while strengthening the restaurant brand and imagery. And what of the wording? Consider these examples:
Professional copywriter: “Milk, it does a body good.”
My nephew’s attempt at ad writing: “I drink it cuz it’s in my fridge.”
Lastly and most importantly, restaurant owners have enough liability to keep them awake at night. You need not add the regulation of SPAM (unsolicited bulk mail) laws to your worries. Sending email to large groups in your “To” line is the fastest way to get labeled as a SPAM-mer (sender of unsolicited bulk messages). SPAM laws guard the public against unwelcome messages, and some customers consider SPAM a hostile act. In other words, don’t do it.
Take some time to find a reputable email services agency. Many are priced reasonably enough to ensure a return on investment. Start by going back to the bill stuffer you saw. Sign up for the list and research the agency being used by that restaurant. Compare a few agencies and make the worthwhile investment. If your budget is tight, ask for a trial period or ask your vendors to sponsor the campaign. Trust in your email campaign and you will be glad you left the bouillabaisse to the chef.
Glynn Galvante Selesnick is the Founder of Table by the Window, a restaurant marketing company that specializes in affordable, effective and easy email marketing for restaurants. An MBA and Certified eMarketing Professional with over 10 years of experience in marketing, Glynn has developed successful marketing campaigns for independent and local group restaurants throughout the West Coast. The Table by the Window team is devoted to providing a top-notch level of service and creating campaigns with high Return on Investment for all their clients.
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