What items should go in a restaurant's marketing plan in 2012?

The marketing plan would depend on the type of restaurant and for this answer, I will assume that you are talking about a neighborhood casual dining place vs. fast food take out or fine dining. Casual dining market is dominated by either the big national/regional chains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_casual_dining_restaurant_chains) such as Olive Garden or by family owned single location local restaurants.  If you work for a big restaurant chain, then a significant portion of the marketing budget is going to be geared towards mass advertising such as TV other traditional brand efforts like magazine ads. Small local restaurants have no such luxury nor the means.  This means you live or die by word of mouth.  No amount of customer loyalty program will make up for getting known as the place that serves bad food or has bad service.  That means take the time to engage with Yelp reviews, and reach out to customers who are vocal.  It doesn't cost any money and it is worth more than any ad spend that you can realistically do. For promotions, it would depend on the location.  If the place is near an office park, then promote happy hour pricing with nothing more complicated than a good old fashioned sign.  The most innovative local business promos have been through American Express offers where they offer a rebate through Foursquare checkins.  I've personally taken advantage of those.  Because AMEX is funding it, that is even better. I am against Groupon style deals as at least in my opinion, they drive deal chasers vs. those who are genuinely interested in trying the local businesses.  For me, I frequent restaurants where I like the food and where I enjoy a good service.  The best thing for a restaurant to do is to invest the money in delivering the best food and service possible for its customers.  Invest in those two things and returns will be far greater than any snazzy promos that they can run for a short-term dubious gain.

There are some great Loyalty Software Programs available that can quickly get you going with a solid marketing plan and, of course, technology to execute it. I personally have used an exceptional program called Preferred Patron. It is sold and serviced by a company called Preferred Market Solutions, LLC (http://www.preferredpatron.com).They can be reached at 1-800-531-1108.   The live demo sold me instantly on this program and I have had no regrets. It is shockingly affordable for what you are getting (basically a program at the same level, maybe better, than that in use by the large brand-name retail chains.   In brief overview, they provide rewards programs (points program), a vast assortment of incentive promotions like birthday, best member, referral, miss you and community fundraisers) plus electronic coupons, email marketing and SMS marketing. It's really too much to describe here.   The support staff is top-notch too!

Your marketing plan should revolve around three components: Social, Local and Mobile. Social includes facebook and twitter. Both should be used, but in very different ways. FB is about building a connection to customers while twitter is about real time communication with them. Someone should monitor twitter pretty much all day and respond to comments. Local includes foursquare, gowalla and others. Nothing drives customers to your restaurant like a deal.  Don't forget how valuable giving back to your community can be. Maybe have a weekend where you donate $X for every sale of item Y to a local charity. Mobile: Get a mobile ready website. 95% of independent restaurants are NOT mobile ready. It gives you a really easy competitive advantage if you do.

Focusing on the web should be a top priority in any Restaurant marketing plan. Customers look to the web (and increasingly, their friends on the web) to discover new places to eat. Developing a social media presence is a good start — choose one network to focus on (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare, etc.) and build community there.  But I think social media alone is not enough.  Your restaurant website has to have a quality design and give new visitors the information they're looking for, quickly and easily.  It has to be mobile-friendly too, as a good portion of customers are searching when on the go. I just wrote and released a free guide for Restaurant Owners called the 2012 Restaurant Website Strategy Guide.  It breaks down (in simple terms) what you need to know for launching a quality web presence in 2012 and beyond.  Get it here: http://restaurantengine.com/guide Interested to other's responses here...

Coupons using the internet. Businesses often ask - how do I make money from social media, website, etc? The best answer is the offer potential customers a coupon. Give them a reason to come into the store. I agree that Groupon is not the way to go as it attracts deal chasers who are not likely to return. Our app, Coupon City, however works a bit differently. It is 100% free (no revenue share, hah!), and gives you 100% control over the value, quantity, and expiration date of the coupon. We integrate seamlessly into your Facebook Page (including the new Timeline), as well as offer custom QR codes you can put by the register and a widget you can embed into your standard website. Check it out http://www.couponcityapp.com

In our experience, it's all about tracking sales attribution. As a restaurant owner or marketer, time is money. At this point, the majority of restaurants understand they need to have a website, facebook page, twitter, email marketing and advertising. The first step is to get started on each platform, but in order to demonstrate value, restaurants need to track sales and ROI from each distribution platform. Understanding which avenues and platforms drive sales will help you better manage your time as a restaurant marketer. It will also let you shift yiour marketing budget to allocate more to avenues that work and scale back on those that don't. Disclosure: That's a core component of what we're doing at http://www.getprivy.com.

Every marketing plan should begin with free and organic activities. As many have said above, here is what i would start with as a foundation: 1) list yourself in local online directories    - be sure to list your Facebook page, website at least, and a contact email or phone number 2) online restaurant listings    - list yourself in all restaurant directories (like Yelp and Urbanspoon) especially the ones with available mobile apps    - be sure to always have your phone number, email address, website link, menu, business hours, and links to anything that makes you different 3) social media    - create at least a Facebook page to represent your company    - gain recommendations from your frequent customers and supporters, people tend to go to restaurants more when someone recommends a place, and be sure that the recommendations are not fake, because people will spot a fake recommendation 4) create content that draws attention to your website and your Facebook page As for the paid part, obviously it depends on your budget but each of these things can vary in spend levels. 1) run Facebook ads to target your target buyer personas 2) pay a "real" SEO expert to optimize your website, it's not worth hiring someone to do SEO who read a book and can do the job for $150 a month, it does't work

I'm "video biased" since that's what we do at my company, Gisteo (http://www.gisteo.com), but I strongly believe that the restaurant sector could reap huge rewards by placing a promotional video on their homepages, Facebook pages, Yelp profiles, Youtube channels etc...I think many restaurants are solely behind our clients in the tech, healthcare, financial, etc. sectors. We've recently launched a spin-off service called Delisheo (http://www.delisheo.com) creating promotional videos for restaurants. You can see some examples on our site and our little guy here will explain to you why video can make a huge difference in restaurant marketing:

There are a ton of things Restaurants can do - Here is how I like to break down.1 - Website and a Google listing that helps you get found2 - Online Ordering on Website (CRM + Loyal customers) - Don't get an app - people dont download apps3 - Emailers and SMS4 - Social - Google +, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Twitter also allows a hyperlocal strategy - Where in you can target people from per se Chicago who wants to have a beer at that time. Now don't spend a lot of money on creatives - Maximum of $50/month for 15-16 creatives. Scheduling posts is the best way. You can use http://massblurb.com or hootsuite to do that. We also help you generate facebook posts automatically and our partnership with Google helps you to set up your accounts easily. 5 - Collecting customer information is also necessary. A virtual number can directly fetch you everyone information who is calling you. Then you can go ahead and target them. 6 - Flyers - It is one strategy that has always workedI am also sharing a detailed link to a Guide that will in detail help you to build a good marketing strategy.  http://www.slideshare.net/SanketShah48/the-9-step-marketing-guide-for-restaurants-final-edit-1 - Go through this. Our product Massblurb does it all at a fraction of a cost - do write to me at sanket at http://massblurb.com if you need any details. Visit our website request a demo in case you need something else.