Where Can a Restaurant Find Free Advertising?

By Jeffrey Hauser

I've been in advertising for over 35 years. I began with an advertising agency and then started by own. Later, I became a sales consultant for the Yellow Pages. Most of my accounts were the smaller, family run businesses. Many were restaurants. Yet they all had one thing in common. They wanted either very low-cost advertising or free advertising. So I had to explain about the, "there's no free lunch," concept. They would be in denial and explain how they were going to use the referral idea, or WOM, which I call free advertising idea number one.

That’s right; they were talking about that good old “word-of-mouth.” But that’s not exactly traditional marketing. It relies entirely on someone telling someone else. The problem is that no one has control over what is said be it good or bad. So WOM can be as much damaging as it can be helpful. Even after that is explained, they feel it’s better than no advertising at all, which is typically a high-cost item. After all, they had already bought expensive equipment, furnishings, paid a store rental, hired employees, and retained insurance. Now, nothing was left. Wouldn’t that great large sign above the door be enough? It was their version of free advertising. Of course, if someone weren’t walking or driving by, they would never see it. So much for free advertising number two.

Then they might also tell me about their ten year old that could bike around the neighborhood and place flyers on local car windshields or in house doors. They could print a homemade colored sheet right off their computer printer for virtually nothing and little Jimmy was paid a few bucks here and there. And then I would try to clarify that those same flyers might make people mad because of the intrusion or annoyance factor. I know I hate to get something on my windshield. Sometimes they didn’t get my point, but then I was trying to sell them something.

Finally, they might suggest that another friend or relative walk up and down the street with a placard, offering a free dessert or something to entice the patrons in. I rolled my eyes and they finally got the message. Nowadays, I write on-line articles and read others about where you can get the best free advertising on the Internet. It seems that no one wants to actually pay for anything of value anymore. So, for those restaurants that now turn to the web for freebies, I will write this as a public service. If they have neglected to design and post their own website, here’s a free alternative.

Menuelephant.com is a completely free site for restaurants to post a menu and all their other information. Then a Google map is attached to show their location. In effect, it creates a web page for the individual restaurant even if it has multiple locations, and all for free. It’s also entirely free to the user and makes its money from Google ads instead. It’s a good place to consider for a restaurant that desires free advertising that works. And isn’t that what every business wants?

Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master's Degree in teaching.
He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. He authored a book about his directory years, "Inside the Yellow Pages" which can be seen at his website, http://www.poweradbook.com and he is currently the Marketing Director for http://www.thenurseschoice.com a Health Information site and http://www.menuelephant.com which posts restaurant menus on the "site you'll never forget."