Personalise marketing and get creative on offers

Bird, who joined the restaurant operator recently from a background in food retail, is aiming to develop “a compelling voice” for Tragus brands Bella Italia, Strada and Café Rouge. To do that, the restaurants need to offer customers what she called “brilliant basics”, “magic moments” and “rule breakers”—and she highlighted airline Virgin Atlantic as an example of a company that had successfully delivered all three.

Bird also argued that instead of marketing to customers with “spray and pray” offers, operators needed to tailor their messages. “There’s a lot of noise out there, and consumers are bombarded with offers. We need to cut through that and understand what messages they want at what times.” Providing personalised incentives will also help the industry get beyond the blanket discounting that has dominated restaurants for the last few years. “If people are getting something that’s relevant to them, they’re more likely to bond with our brands.”

One advantage of the flurry of discount coupons lately is that they provide restaurants with customers’ email and other details. If operators can build on that by getting more personal information, they will be better placed to provide tailored offers, Bird said. Restaurants can learn from retailers like Tesco, who have a wealth of data about their customers and are consequently able to provide timely, relevant marketing communications. “We’re getting a huge amount of information about our customers, but we haven’t realised the power of that data yet. It’s about taking email data to the next level—that’s what retail has been so good at.” In time, Tragus might even be able to base marketing offers on what diners had to eat on their last visit, she suggested.

Bird joined other speakers at the conference in highlighting the importance of social networking media in marketing, pointing out that Tragus is targeting customers on mobile platforms with MePlease. “The biggest single advocate for a brand is someone who posts something positive on Facebook or Twitter.”

Tragus’ emphasis on the importance of branding was echoed by Steven Whibley, managing director of Le Pain Quotidien. “Brands should have depth—if you scratch the surface you should find something underneath.” His company, which is one of the most-watched concepts around at the moment, was offering diners the freedom they crave, he added. “People don’t want to be told what to do—they should be able to get whatever they want, whenever they want it.”

Download Jemima Bird's presentation by clicking on the file right under Related Media