Inside the process of successful marketing campaigns

Sharp, smart marketing materials can make all the difference when it comes to drawing a big crowd for a menu launch or upcoming event. With more avenues to cover than ever and fewer resources to go around, operators offer their tips on making marketing work from start to finish.

Start with communication

Whether it’s an in-house marketing department, an outside agency or someone on staff wearing the marketing hat part-time, the right people need to be involved early and often. “Marketing doesn’t always have a seat at the table [like] it should in order to be truly effective,” says Jennifer Gilmore, director of marketing and communications for campus enterprises at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. Together with Michael Wuest of University of Missouri and Cyndie Buckle of Texas Tech University, Gilmore presented a survey called the State of College Food Service Marketing at the 2016 National Association of College and University Food Service conference. The time to start thinking about marketing a new menu, Gilmore says, is during the first brainstorming meeting, not the week before the new dishes roll out.

It’s all in the template

Gilmore suggests creating a template to corral all the possible kinds of materials you could use for any given project. That might include emails, social media posts, digital signage, rack cards, table tents, flyers, banners or posters. Note what size graphic is needed for each—a 22-by-28-inch poster, a 5-foot vinyl banner, a 1,200-by-630-pixel image for a Facebook post—as well as the cost. For print pieces, the marketing team should include prices for rush jobs.  

Time to get graphic

When facing limited resources, someone needs to tackle graphic design before copy. “The more people you have generating good ideas and you don’t have graphic design to back it up, the more frustrated you get,” Gilmore says. At Boston College, Director of Dining Services Beth Emery employs five students as marketing interns who help with day-to-day marketing and communication. “[They] help us send the message out to the community about our special events, promote our healthy and sustainable initiatives and more,” Emery says. Interns also do the majority of social media posting, and a number of BC’s dining locations have started social media sites unique to their venue.

The advantage of alignment

When it comes to branding, there are two choices: align with the rest of the business, or make a move to stand out separately. Gilmore has found that coordinating NC Dining’s brand with that of the campus is most effective. “If you were Apple, would the iPhone go out and create its own marketing independent from the iPad?” she says. “It gives you major credibility when a parent gets materials in the mail for meal plans and it’s clear that it’s coming from the university.” When dining follows guidelines for fonts, colors and brand established by the rest of the business, the design process is simplified, too.

Keep expectations realistic

It’s fine to look at big-name restaurants for inspiration, but don’t spread yourself too thin trying to compete. “We hold ourselves to really high standards, and sometimes they’re unattainable standards unless you’re willing to add more people,” Gilmore says. “If all you can manage is one social media outlet, then just do that and own it.”