Where to eat or where not to eat, that is the question these days for many Americans being forced to eat out daily due to their busy work pace in today’s two-income-household economic environment. Which restaurants people choose to frequent is the target, however indirectly, of PostcardMania, the postcard marketing firm that has been honored by Inc Magazine as being the fastest growing postcard marketing company in the nation.
It’s not the type of food people choose to eat that is PostcardMania’s reason for exhibiting at the 2008 NRA Show May 17-20, at
Even though there has been quite a few studies completed which focus on the statistical background of restaurant failure, there is a prevailing myth that 90% of restaurant businesses fail in the first year in which they are in operation. One of the more recent studies conducted in the late 1990’s in Columbus, Ohio reported by author Patricia Farnham ("Restaurant Gravy: Independent Restaurant Success Secrets Revealed" ), produced results showing that the failure rate of new restaurants was actually between 67% and 81%.
“In large part it’s due to a lack of marketing,” Joy Gendusa says. As the CEO of PostcardMania, Joy has been saying for years that the way to good business is through correct and consistent marketing. Her own statistics are the ‘proof in the pudding’ — she built her $19 million dollar business up from nothing, without capital investments… just by using direct mail marketing in its formative years. Her firm today creates direct mail marketing campaigns for over 350 industries — the restaurant industry being one of their top 20 — and Joy has gone on to write her own book on the effective and economical nature of direct mail postcards (“The Ultimate Postcard Marketing Success Manual”).
Author Farnham, who is a restaurant industry veteran, advocates the necessity of creative advertising in one of her articles titled Tips for Restaurant Advertising and warns new restaurateurs against assuming that everyone in town knows they are new and will be ready to be shown what their restaurant can offer. She goes on to advise that advertising is an essential part of any good business and restaurant owners need to have many different methods of it in place.
Now in its 89th year, the annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (www.restaurant.org/show) is the largest single gathering of restaurant, foodservice and lodging professionals in the
About The National Restaurant Association:
The National Restaurant Association, founded in 1919, is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which is comprised of 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a work force of 13.1 million employees - making it the cornerstone of the economy, career opportunities and community involvement. Along with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the Association works to represent, educate and promote the rapidly growing industry. For more information, visit www.restaurant.org
About PostcardMania:
PostcardMania is a full service postcard direct mail marketing company which includes graphic design, printing, mailing list acquisition and mailing services with free marketing advice. PostcardMania has seen positive expansion every year since its inception and has won many awards for creativity and marketing farsightedness, best business practices and expansion. Joy Gendusa began in 1998 with zero investment capital. By 2007 revenues reached nearly $19 million and the company now employs over 160 people, prints 4 million and mails 2 million postcards representing 28,000 customers in over 350 industries each week. Visit http://www.postcardmania.com/
