Marketing Eastern Flame Ann Arbor
Today at LA2M - Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing - we discussed how we could help our lunch host Furrokh, owner of the wonderful restaurant Eastern Flame on Ashley in Ann Arbor. Here are the thoughts and ideas of the smart crowd of 11 marketers:
1. Charlie Kondek - Invite all the local bloggers out to eat the food, review it and write a blog post about their experience. We all like this idea and plan to do it. If you’re a blogger who would like to participate, please comment. Bloggers may want to come out for the new lunch buffet starting May 20.
2. Dee Davey - Network with other like groups to get them to host their lunches or dinner events at Eastern Flame. LA2M has had such good service and food from this restaurant, it’s perfect for other small networking groups.
3. Steve - Eastern Flame needs a new web site, with an interactive menu. Steve and Andy Ross may connect to build this site. Stay tuned…
4. Andy Ross - Volunteered to design the site. Plus suggested we need Belly Dancers at Eastern Flame to liven up the atmosphere. Not a bad idea?!?
5. Jason - Furrokh needs a cart on the street so people can smell all the great smells of bbq chicken, kebabs, and fresh falafel when they are walking through A2. We talked about Cart Mafia and how it’s hard to get a cart in A2.
6. Jamie - Since Jamie is a 3D modeling guy, he thought it would be great to have an Interactive experience showing what it’s like to walk into Eastern Flame. Love the idea. Especially think we should film w/ belly dancers and live music to increase the excitement.
7. Derek Mehraban - I had two ideas. First, invite a friend to LA2M so they can experience the great food and camaraderie we experience at Eastern Flame first hand. And two, Build out a social media presence using Facebook and Twitter. This effort has already begun.
8. Ross Johnson - Email list to send people updates on the lunch specials of the day similar to how Cafe du Jour does it. Also suggested getting out to Taste of Ann Arbor. Furrokh was all over that one already.
9. Nicole Burguess - Suggests we need to Audio Podcast from LA2M lunches. Live from Eastern Flame. I personally dig this idea. Have thought we need to capture the witty banter of our marketing lunches for some time. Must bring mic and laptop to next meeting.
10. Daniel DeMoss: Fan Page on Facebook. Done. Also, we need T-shirts w/ Furrokh photo to do some viral marketing. Who wouldn’t want an Eastern Flame t-shirt?!? I want one right now.
11. Peter Sabbagh - Use a digital campaign to connect w/ teen crowd. Neutral Zone partnership. Heck, Tabbouli and Hummus is healthy for kids. Eastern Flame can provide healthy after school snacks to the teens. We will not allow ordering of Fries of Lebanese coffee to keep the health factor up.
12. Do you have some more ideas…Comment here.
Another idea that came to mind is live music. Ann Arbor has a lot of would-be musicians/bands that will play at little or no cost. The right music choice can add an attractive atmosphere and have the added benefit of bringing the musician/band’s friends and other followers in to eat. These bands usually do some advertising for their gigs which could be a benefit as well.
@May 7th, 2008 at 7:01 pmFirst, I would check to see that I showed up in both Google and Yahoo Local. If my listing is missing, I’d submit corrections so that I show up in Local Search.
Then I’d see what my Yelp listing says:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/eastern-flame-ann-arbor
There are only 2 mediocre reviews there so I’d get on there as an owner to address the changes I’ve made since then. I’d then get repeat customers to go on there and say good things about me.
Google also has a Local Business listing program which is free. I’d upload photos of my biz there and make sure the info on there is correct.
Since A2 is dominated by college kids, I’d make sure I have a mobile strategy in place. I’d put in place timed offers and/or mobile couponing. For example, a timed offer could be anyone who shows up between 2-3PM on a Thursday gets a free appetizer. Experiment with the offers to see what attracts people. I’d use services like Twitter and Brightkite to geolocate myself and make my business findable on those sites. Flickr too.
Viral strategies do not always need to be an online play only. I’d hand out cards to customers that they can give to a friend that says “join me for lunch at Eastern Flame and lunch is on us” or something along those lines.
@May 7th, 2008 at 8:28 pm