Learn a Lesson From Obama - Use the Internet

After two years of campaign reports, polling, debates and a continual stream of breaking news updates on AC 360 and Larry King, it's over.

The remarkable outcome of the 2008 Presidential Election should serve as a grass roots guide for all of us in business, of any type. If President-elect Barack Obama can get the populous out through phone calls, emails, and grass root word of mouth doesn't it make sense to grasp a technique for your own profitable purposes?

Of course it does. And, there is no longer an excuse that it doesn't work. Obama overcame numerous obstacles in his long, hard-fought campaign. And the lesson here is that through determination and hard work we can survive anything.

I spoke to a friend in Dallas this morning and although his dining room has been less than full most nights, he had been promoting Debate Night Parties and was attracting a very strong bar crowd. He took that promotion one step further and offered a complimentary drink to anyone ho voted. Now, the FEDS could have come in and given the promotion the boot, but that didn't happen.

As a matter of fact, he booked a holiday party because of the promotion.

That brings us to the email I received this morning from Bar Bambino. The restaurant constantly self promotes through an email blast that both entertains and informs.  Today's introduced their customer list to their holiday party specials. Beginning on November 16^th the eatery will be hosting a series of functions that anyone can attend. This is a modern day way of allowing smaller companies to have celebratory events without having to book an entire restaurant throughout the holiday season. Bambino is probably one of the best promotional examples I know. Their emails are direct, focused, and delivered regularly in a timely manner. It proves the company plans in advance and that is an extremely worthwhile perception for your customers.

Owners regularly claim they are "Just too busy" to work the Internet or their email lists. In the same breath they complain how bad business has been. The two –lack of promotion and bad business- are directly related. Seldom do you achieve the latter without the first.

I can't stress the importance of the email campaign. It is an easy way to communicate with your customers, develop a following, and let your loyal clientele know they are part of your family.

Tumultuous financial times call for a change in direction. This was apparent Tuesday evening as one of the most remarkable political campaigns – structured and built- primarily on the Internet, came to a end.

We as restaurant owners can use the technology in the same way- to get our message out, to attract a crowd, to entice customers, and to build a better business. Change affects all of us. We may need to look deep inside to analyze what we are doing, how we are doing it, decide if it works and if it doesn't, we may need to change that.

This is the perfect time to change the way you promote your holiday parties, your menu changes and your daily specials.

Develop an Internet plan, find someone on your staff to implement it and hit that "send" button. You may find great things in return.