Timing Is Everything

Email marketing can be a powerful tool. Like all tools, you need to use it carefully.

This example wasn't a disaster, but it did make me laugh...

I was sitting on the Eurostar train in Paris, waiting for it to leave and my Blackberry buzzed to let me know I had new emails. So, without much else to do at the time, I checked the email.

It said "Just got back from Paris? Tell Ted all about it."

Great timing eh? I know the new train link is fast, but it's not that fast!

The email continued....

"You've walked down sun-filled
boulevards. Dined in some of Europe's
finest restaurants. Watched the sun set
over a city, spread before you like a
bejewelled cape.

Now you're back in the real world
and bursting to tell everyone about
your experiences. Even Ted from the
accounts department.

Try telling Ted and you could win a
weekend break to the Eurostar
destination of your choice"

It should have read....

"You've walked down crowded metro
platforms. Dined in one of Paris'
cheap creperies. Dodged the rain
through narrow pavements to get back
to a cheap hotel room.

Now you're heading back home to your
real world and dying to see your family
again. Work is over for another week
and Ted from the accounts department can wait.

Tell Ted how little you spent on your trip
and you could go back again soon to the
same fleapit for another meeting, (but
you'd rather not if you had the choice)"

Two lessons learned:

Email marketing should always
- have content relevant to the audience
- be sent at an appropriate time

I don't mind though, it made me laugh.

Restaurant Online Marketing Workshops

According to the American Express Hospitality Monitor, 62% of customers search the Internet to decide which restaurant to visit.

If you are in the restaurant business, there's a great new free workshop that you can go to start learning about how to get your business online. Not only is online marketing now an essential part of the marketing mix, but it is the most cost effective and successful form of marketing that a restaurant can engage in.

Livebookings Network are running a series of workshops around the UK, focusing on providing practical advice to restaurateurs on the topic of online marketing.


London, Thursday 24 April

Topics being covered...

Email Marketing - Creating and measuring email campaigns to your existing restaurant customers, capturing valuable data and delivering promotions.
Expert speaker: Matthew Kirby, UK Managing Director, Fishbowl Marketing, www.fishbowluk.com

Search Engine Marketing - Basics and benefits of search engine optimisation for restaurants looking to attract traffic to their websites and capture more customers as a result of improved search engine rankings.
Expert speaker: Warren Cowen, Chief Executive Officer, greenlight search engine marketing, www.greenlightsearch.com

Effective Web Design - Implementing effective web design, the importance of maintenance and maximising opportunities available through your website.
Expert speaker: Keith Davie, Creative Director, Salad Creative, www.saladcreative.com

Time: 9.30am coffee, croissants and networking
10am start – 11.30am
Venue: Slug and Lettuce, 80-82 Wardour St, London, W1F 0TF
Cost: FREE to Livebookings Network members. Membership is free.
£25+VAT for non-members (includes breakfast)

If you sign up to the Livebookings Network on the day, you are refunded the cost of your Workshop place.

Booking: Book Online: www.livebookings.co.uk/workshops

I Must Be Getting Old

According to recent research by Jakob Neilsen, older web users take longer to complete web tasks. In fact, he's actually calculated a decline of 0.8% per year for every year you get older after the age of 25.

He says "The human aging process starts around age 25 and causes erosion of cognitive resources, loss of visual acuity, degraded reaction times, and reduced dexterity. People need more time for the same mental operations; they have less memory capacity and take longer to process the same perceptual input."

That makes me feel really great as I approach my 39th birthday. Ouch.

So, am I 8% slower than I was 10 years ago? Wow, I wonder if that's true?

Well, I just know I'm faster overall. Maybe my brain is slower, but I am sure that 10 years of internet usage have brought massive gains from experience. Slow brain maybe, but a very efficient one!

See Middle-Aged Users' Declining Web Performance for the full article.

The Ego Has Landed

Another day, another new social networking site invite in my inbox.

Naymz.com... is this Linkedin Version 2? What a crappy name. It's sounds like "waynz wurld". Anyway, I'm test driving it at the moment, simply because it gives me yet another link to my blog therefore might just help with the SEO. You never know.

Enough cyncicism. It could just take off because it hooks into that perfect incentive mechanism: the ego.

Here's how it works: I link to loads of people. They link to me. The more people that link to me and endorse me, the bigger my reputation (and ego I guess). As you grow in stature, you gain points. Top tier users (rating 9 and 10) get a free Google promotion.

Let's see if it booms or dies. One to watch.

News: Livebookings Network wins £6.5 million of investment led by Balderton Capital

Online restaurant marketing and reservations will be boosted by new investment.

Today, Livebookings Network welcomed a £6.5 million financial injection led by leading global VC firm Balderton Capital.

This investment will add fuel to Livebookings’ drive for international growth and will strengthen plans to recruit talent from countries all over the world. The funds will also be used to build the success founded in existing markets (UK and Nordics), in addition to the development of Livebookings’ tech infrastructure.

Niklas Ekland, CEO says “With this investment, we can further expand our partner network and extend our reach as hungry guests go online to make their next reservation.”

London-based Balderton Capital is one of Europe’s largest venture capital organisations, with an investment strategy focussed on finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies.

Notable investments include

• Bebo (the leading social networking site)
  
• Betfair (online betting exchange)
  
• Codemasters (video games developer and publisher)
  
• Habbo Hotel (teen social networking site)
  
• MySQL (open-source database business)
  
• Setanta Sports (the European sports broadcaster)
  

Tim Bunting (partner at Balderton Capital) said, "Livebookings is a fantastic, easy-to-use service for the restaurant sector. By bringing together
booking agents, restaurants and diners, it fulfils a vital reservations and marketing role. We’re really looking forward to working with the Livebookings team as it builds the business across Europe.”

The Livebookings Network is a global marketing and real-time restaurant booking service. With millions of reservations made since its conception in 2001, Livebookings has successfully welcomed almost 17,000 restaurants into the network.

There will be more than a few million reservations made in the next few years. Watch this space...