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Beansprout. There's an interesting name evoking rapid early growth and a fresh approach. Kimberly Granat, founder of Beansprout, is one of a new breed of marketers who specialize in email marketing programs. Beansprout helps restaurants run successful email marketing campaigns, by taking on the majority of the work involved, providing strategic advice and the specialized skills required to get the job done. Having this kind of resource available is very attractive to restaurateurs who have little time to spend on marketing as it is and who would rather not become proficient at using an email marketing system, learning HTML and understanding the response psychology of email readers. Perhaps the most persuasive thing about Kimberly and her programs, is that she has been successfully doing the same thing for many restaurant clients. This gives her great insight into what is currently working and what’s not. This alone is a major time and cost saver for anyone starting or kick-starting their email marketing activities. We asked Kimberly to describe what she does and explain how her service works.
Q So, what is Beansprout?
Beansprout Communications is my company, and Beansprout Bulletins is my email marketing program. Beansprout Bulletins is a strategic way for mostly independent restaurant owners to manage their email marketing programs and get the most out of whatever email marketing they’re doing.
Q If I was a restaurateur using your service, what do you do, and what do I do?
I always say you provide me with the starting point. You have to have a pretty good idea of your brand. Your website should probably be done because then we can really get that brand out there. We make the emails look a lot like your website or other marketing materials that you may have. You give me some idea of what you want to talk to your guests about.
The best thing about email marketing is that you can take someone who has been to your restaurant or has been in touch with you in some way and say, “I’m still here. I’m going to remind you that we’re having this special wine dinner next week, and we’d love for you to come because you’re important to us - you’re a VIP customer of ours.”
Email is a great way to make people feel really important if it’s done right. Now if it’s not done carefully, then it becomes just another email blast. There needs to be a strategy behind your activity. We want the ability to send a couple of emails, see the reaction, so we know what your list really wants. We can hone in on what’s going to make them open the message - I can help you determine that.
Then you give me a starting point on the content. If you’re a great writer, you can write the content yourself. I will help you write the content, I’ll take it and put it into a layout. I always tell people that I’m not a designer, but I’m a very good copycat. I’m good at layout designs and taking people’s existing brand and using that. And then we get it out there.
The other important thing is there are a lot of numbers involved. I can tell you how many people read your notes and where they clicked, and how many people just deleted it right away. So that will help us for the next one, and you can kind of continue to strategically build on this program.
Q If I am already using an email service, why would I come to you?
You would come to me because you started with an email service, and though you’re getting your message out to your list, you are tired of data-entering your cards. Maybe you never even get around to entering your comment cards. You're sending messages, and you’re getting terrible read rates, perhaps only 15%. You aren’t getting any sort of feedback you aren’t getting any calls for reservations or replies back. You’re just not able to put enough into the program on your end because you don’t have the time. Or your emails might look bad because you’re trying to use an unsuitable template. They don’t look the way you really want them to, but you can’t figure out how to get them to look the way you want because you don’t know anything about HTML coding. So, you would come to me and say you need to beef up your program, and that’s where I would come in.
I think some restaurants that are doing email marketing on their own are doing a great job. If you have a manager that has a marketing background, then it can be a successful way to go. I just think so many restaurateurs don’t have the time, and I see this a lot.
Q Are your customers upgrading from regular email marketing providers, or are they ambitious users looking for help?
I find my clients come straight to me. They realize from the beginning they just don’t have the time or knowledge to do email programs themselves.
Q You view email as a strategic tool, right?
I look at email as a great tool - it’s a hammer - a blunt instrument. I use that hammer to build something of real value for my clients.
Q What’s your view of this type of marketing in general?
I love it because it’s direct - it’s a relationship builder. You have the relationship already with your guests, and you can just build on that - the statistics about building repeat business as opposed to new business are staggering. So you definitely like getting those people to come back as opposed to finding someone entirely new. I think email is a good piece of an all-around marketing strategy. It certainly isn’t the whole thing, and you have to get out there in front of new people as well. But I think it’s a great direct one-on-one relationship builder when it’s done the right way.
Q If you take on a client, and they insist on sending an email every 24 hours, what would you say to them?
More is definitely not better. As a general rule, about once a month is what I recommend. It depends entirely on the situation. I do have a client that sends a weekly message, and they have great results with that. But once every 24 hours might be a little much unless you have a particular situation that makes your subscribers want to hear from you every 24 hours.
Q What should people be using email for strategically? A lot of people talk about email marketing without mentioning the content, so what is it for?
I think you should be using it to help fill in times that are a little bit slower. So, if Monday nights are always your worst night, then maybe we can come up with some sort of Monday night event. It just takes a little bit of strategic thinking about how to come up with something from an operation's standpoint. And then once the restaurant figures that out on their end, then I can say, “Great, we can send this out to the people that already know and love you.” And they’re going feel special because they are the first to hear about that.
Get it out as soon you can. Don’t send a message about a wine dinner that’s already sold out because people are going to call to try and make reservations, and you’re sold out. That’s not building a relationship or strengthening that bond.
Q Do you need to innovate to be successful?
I think if you want to have the best program possible, then yes, it’s nice to come up with something new. Email has become very common. I was checking my in-box before I got here, and I had three promotional emails that didn’t come from me - and I do a lot of the restaurants. It goes back to the concept that I think we really can take an existing list and hone in on a little more detail and say this group wants this, and this other group wants that, and let’s target messages to each of those groups because that’s where you’re really going to make them feel special.
Q Typically what does it cost somebody to use your service?
Generally I bill on a per-email basis. There’s a small monthly maintenance fee - I’ll clean up their database, add new names for them, do the data entry and that kind of thing. But otherwise, it’s a per-email cost, and it’s between $300.00 and $550.00 per email depending on the size of their list. I also do some custom pricing for people who are doing a lot of emails. There are some different options as well.
Q Do you help people if they’re not really very good at gathering emails? Do you give them help with the process?
Yes, absolutely. That’s one of the things I do. I’ve seen so many different approaches. And I won’t give away my favorite little tip for getting names. But I think that once you start collecting names, growing your list is so important. You can’t get much out a program if you only have 100 names. But as you start to grow your list, you really start to gain value from my program.
Q What’s the bottom line then, why Beansprout?
Because I work with so many restaurants, I see so many different ways of doing it. I’ve been doing this for a while in the email world, so I can really help direct a restaurant in the most effective way for their specific situation.
The programs Beansprout offers should be very appealing to the small to medium restaurant who aspire to a professional looking and effective email marketing campaign at a reasonable cost. Given the time pressure most of us are under, it makes real sense to go to an expert for this type of marketing.
More About Beansprout: Beansprout Communications is a boutique marketing company that designs and executes successful marketing initiatives for independent restaurants. Kimberly can be reached at: 617.482.2312 or on the Web at: www.beansproutcommunications.com
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