Ink Foundry Identifies Six Restaurant Marketing Trends for 2012: A Seventh Trend Will Not Result in Positive ROI for Restaurants

SAUSALITO, CA, December 19, 2011 (Press-News.org) Ink Foundry, a word of mouth marketing agency specializing in the wine, restaurant and hospitality industries, today released its 2012 restaurant marketing trends declarations.

By far, the hottest marketing trend for 2012 will be data capture and integration from all touchpoints. Data capture is joined by five other trends that will shape the restaurant industry this next year.

The agency has also pinpointed a practice that restaurants will spend valuable marketing resources on, but will not be influential in driving consumers into restaurants.

According to a November Harris Poll, 61 percent of survey respondents are planning to reduce spending on dining out occasions over the next six months. This will place more pressure on restaurant marketing departments to identify, implement and perfect the marketing tactics that will provide the best return on investment.

The six most important restaurant marketing tactics restaurants will employ for 2012 include:

DATA
The biggest restaurant marketing trend in 2012 will be data capture and in depth analysis from social media, public relations, email marketing and advertising teams. Savvy restaurateurs will also increase the data points collected on customers to better allocate tight marketing dollars into the channels that are delivering the best return on investment.

Click on the full restaurant marketing trend report for details on data capture, marketing silo merging and integration for 2012.

The organizations that can effectively streamline internal data from multiple touch points will have a significant lead over their competitors that will extend well beyond 2012.

IDENTIFYING AND ACTIVATING INFLUENCERS
In 2012, the big play will be in digging deep beyond the top traditional media influencers and food bloggers to uncover the passionate foodie who is prime to spread the word about their great restaurant experience.

Click on influencer marketing for 2012 for the full report.

Specialized tools, techniques, and word of mouth marketing agencies will be engaged to identify those individuals who are passionate about a particular kind of restaurant, have both the digital and offline reach to be influential and are considered knowledgeable by their social sphere.

While we don't think the perfect tool that seamlessly blends on and offline dining influence will arrive in 2012 it will be the year that restaurants get serious about working with influencers.

SIGNATURE ITEMS
2012 will see more emphasis on restaurant marketers to make sure signature items are getting sampled by key influencers in order to steal share from competitors. This will also play into local search as consumers research individual items instead of types of restaurants.

GAMIFICATION OF RESTAURANT LOYALTY PROGRAMS
2012 will be a transformational year for how restaurants will attempt to differentiate their loyalty programs from their competitors with social gaming-type rewards for consumers who perform certain actions, refer friends, multiple visits and more.

Integrating gaming dynamics to impact diner action will accelerate restaurant loyalty programs.

Click on restaurant loyalty programs for the full report.

ONE TO ONE ACCESSIBILITY
Specifically in 2012, consumers want to hear from but also interact both on and offline directly with the chef, not with the intermediary in the marketing department. Expect to see personalized messages directly from the chef to best customers telling them when the menu changes, nightly specials, and suggestions on based on past orders.

Click on how to identify restaurant influencers for more information.

COUPON PERSONALIZATION
Restaurants will continue to experiment with coupons and certificates in 2012, but with more realistic expectations of results, more control, customization, and flexibility as well as insist on reporting data.

Click on coupon customization trends for 2012 for the full report.

Many restaurants will realize their own customer lists are gold mines for helping to promote them, focusing again on the top influencers and providing them with additional opportunities for value added experiences and tools and rewards to facilitate the pass along recommendation.

SEARCH IS THE NEW SOCIAL...NOT
And now for the trend we will see that will waste precious resources.

In 2012 we will most likely see restaurants allocating resources to local search. We do not believe this will provide an adequate return on investment for dining establishments. Preliminary results from our current dining survey point to search as one of the least influential channels for diners.

Click on how local search influences restaurant dining decisions for more information.