Local Store Marketing or Neighborhood Marketing is the term used to describe store level marketing efforts in your local market or trade area. Restaurant Managers often hear about the benefits of Local Store Marketing - Increasing sales is directly linked to low cost or no cost marketing ideas, and, the level of commitment to local store marketing directly impacts efforts to increase sales.

From our surveys, most Restaurant Manager's either don't know where to start with LSM or don't have the time. Surprisingly, it does not take a lot of your time to create and implement Local Store Marketing plans once you get organized.

First, your restaurant must be running on all 8 cylinders first - customer service, quality product and facility cleanliness must be in place before you begin LSM plans. If your goal is to increase sales, you must also consider additional staffing, creative scheduling and extra product and preparation to meet higher volumes of sales.

So what's next? Understanding the LSM basics... Our program uses our 7 step Local Store Marketing philosophy to effectively create and implement LSM Plans - 1) Recognize LSM, 2) Monopolize your trade area, 3) Determine potential partners, 4) Brainstorm LSM ideas together, 5) Understanding your partner's customers, 6) Planning and 7) Tracking the results. Start by getting organized and set aside time in your work schedule and begin to take advantage of LSM to leverage your sales.

Once you understand what LSM can and cannot do for you, keep in mind that your trade area is the area in which you choose, or more often, your customers choose to conduct business. Research and compile a list, including contacts and phone numbers, of potential LSM partners in your trade area - Are they a good fit for promoting your LSM plans?

What's the next step? Prepare yourself to meet and speak with your partner in person. More often than not, your potential partner has been trying to think of ways to do LSM in their own store! Now you can brainstorm LSM ideas together. One approach is to determine how your store and reputation can benefit your partner and increase your sales mutually.

The purpose of meeting your partner is not about you or your store. The informal encounter is about your partner and about how your company can benefit your partner's business, customers or employees. The meeting is simple and informal. "Hi, I'm Tom Smith from Smith's Restaurant. We are commited to get more involved in our local community and I'd like to know if you would interested in working together to..." Depending on the nature of your potential partner's business, customers, employees or all three, you can target different aspects to grow your sales in a number of ways.

Listen to your potential partner - maybe they have LSM ideas that you never thought of before. In some circumstances, it may be profitable to you to also use cross promotions to gain access and exposure to your partner's customers at the same time. Other opportunities may be to focus on the organization's employees and how your restaurant can benefit them through "delivering/offering lunch specials" or "pick up or dine-in dinner incentives".

• 'Sales to Profit' tracking
• LSM menu item sales and analysis
• LSM Generated Sales by plan and code
• Price point analysis, by driving menu price to profit
• 'What If?' menu item pricing and volume metrics
• Sales breakdown analysis by plan and promo codes
• Interactive, robust reporting, graphs and charts
• LSM Plan organization and over 100 LSM ideas
• Objectives, targets and strategies
• Team member task assignment & accountability
• Plan maintenance and cost analysis