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Marketing these days is never easy. If you open up a new eatery and sell a certain kind of food, people are guaranteed to come. Or are they? Of course, they will not, and you need to really look into any new restaurant ideas and work out for yourself what the pitfalls could be before you go ahead.

If you have a vivid imagination then you should have no problem coming up with new restaurant ideas, but don’t get too carried away before you look at the fundamentals. What is it behind your idea that you think would be a great draw? Do people have a clear incentive to visit? Don’t forget that visitors may have only a limited amount of time to devote to their social and culinary expectations. If you get confused or cannot adequately see the big picture, don’t be afraid to ask a friend or business associate for input.

Once you have your new restaurant ideas and associated marketing concepts in place, now is the time to get everyone in your organization on the same page. Don’t underestimate this phase, as without a motivated staff behind you, you have no chance. A comprehensive training and education program is essential to pass your vision on to those who will make it happen.

Just because you provide a place of employment for your staff, don’t think that they’ll automatically be inspired, loyal, and productive for you. Invariably they will, if you bring them in on your new restaurant ideas at an early stage. Take time to sit down and really spell out your vision. Engage in question and answer sessions until you are sure that they can see what you are talking about.

As a prize is a great motivator, brainstorm a little and come up with an incentive or two to really get your staff behind your new restaurant ideas. For example, you could reward them in some way for introducing a group and encourage them to go away and network within their own family and friend environments to see if they can come up with some regular business this way.

As your restaurant will likely be open seven days a week and year round, use the calendar as your friend. There are typically a number of public, social, or religious holidays during every month of the year and these are normally associated with a special menu, a special dish of some kind. You could come up with any number of new restaurant ideas if you think about creating a themed event in association.

You should always be on the lookout for new restaurant ideas that will inspire your client base and all your staff members. Do some research on the web and find out some interesting information about each individual day going back through history. By being creative you can hook a special event to a certain date.

Promote loyalty by creating a “VIP club” and enticing people to come back in the future through discounts or bonuses. Promotion of this club will give you access to contact details and e-mail addresses and this alone will help you to build up a more loyal database and boost projected sales down the road.

Jose L. Riesco is a restaurant marketing and consulting expert who has just published a book: Restaurant Marketing Strategies (available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com). His site Restaurant Marketing Strategies contains lots of free restaurant marketing information and ideas to help you improve your restaurant marketing.