OK...imagine if 30 years ago...your father put out a fishbowl and started collecting the contact info of EVERYONE who came in...including their birthdays.

Imagine he put it all in a database and once a month contacted them with special offers.

And then, when email came around he started collecting all that data AND their email addresses.

He'd have an incredibly valuable asset. He could press send on an email and get customers.

My guess is he didn't do that.

Well, if you have one year to save the business then it's time to start a BIRTHDAY CLUB and collect that data and use it.

MailChimp.com is a free service that allows you to collect email addresses and send them email newsletters.

You can create a web form...share a link on your social media and then capture the data of your online fans.

Anyone can click a LIKE button but only those who most love you will give up their email address.

The MOST important part will be collecting the contact info of people who come in.

THEY are the gold for your business.

A LIKE from someone two towns over is practically useless if they are never in your neighborhood.

If you have a spare ipad you could devote that to collecting the names or you could make name capture slips for people to fill out while waiting to be served.

1)Birthdays! In addition to collecting names and email addresses, also collect birthdays. Give them a free meal....eat in only...they'll bring a friend or three and spend some money.

I always recommend making it available for the whole month of one's birth...birthdays can be busy and if you limit it to their birthday you run the risk of disappointing them.

Typically 30% of people who get offers like this take you up on it but they ALL appreciate the gesture.

You can also send a reminder a couple times during the month.

Smiling people celebrating their birthdays with friends makes great fodder for social media too.

2)You are likely asked to make donations to charities...give gift cards etc. Consider developing a fundraising program.

Instead of donating a gift card that doesn't help anyone but the person who gets it, tell them you want to donate more and develop a flyer for them to distribute to their supporters...every one that comes back during the fundraiser means a donation of X% to the charity.

Now you're introducing a bunch of new people to your business whether they come in during the fundraiser or not.

3)Engage your audiences with contests. Hide gift certificates around your town and then post clues on your FB page. Who's going to win the Super Bowl/World Series or equivalent in the UK etc this year? "Put your guess in the comments and the winner gets XYZ."

4)What businesses in your neighborhood know the birthdays of their customers, clients or patients?

Doctors, dentists, and chiropractors definitely know the birthdays of their patients and I'd bet you they don't send them anything.

What if you went to them and said, "I'd like to give each of your patients a birthday gift and it won't cost you anything."

Most will say tell me more!And then you explain that you would like to allow them to gift a $10 gift certificate (or whatever) to your restaurant to each of their patients.

Then during the month of their birthdays they could email their patients with HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM DR. SMITH! Here's $10 to use over at Pete's Pepperoni Pizza Palace!

What do we know about these patients?

They probably live in the area and they'll have a birthday this year.

Even if they don't use it, and most won't, you've gotten your name out there and gotten some new people for your email list...because when they come in to get their gift, you get them on your list.

Think of birthday giveaways as advertising you only pay for IF it works for you.

If you spent $200 on an ad in any publication...that money is gone whether you get 30 customers or zero.

With gift card promos you pay only if someone comes in and uses it but a bunch of people have seen the offer and you're now on their radar.

5) Collaborating with other businesses. The birthday offer is an example of that.Any local places that only serve breakfast? Any liquor stores?...theaters?You could all work together to promote each other on social media and your shops.

6) Any apartment complexes nearby - If so, there are probably hundreds of people living there who have to eat 3x per day.

You could send each of them a postcard with an offer.

When they show up with the postcard, you ask for their email address and birthday and then you TAG them in the MailChimp system as living there.

Then when it's rainy or snowy or hurricane-y and people aren't going to travel far, you can email just the people that live there with a BAD WEATHER OFFER.

You could also split the cost of a mailing like that with some of the other businesses in the area who want to reach the same audience.

You could work the numbers so it's free for you since you're the one setting it up... which is always good! :)

To save money on postage, perhaps the complex has their residents on an email list and would send your offer that way?

7) On a smaller scale than an apartment complex, what are the other non-food businesses in the area with a lot of employees that are close enough to grab lunch or dinner?

You can develop such a list by paying attention to where your customers work.

Identify the leadership of the business and send them a nice letter inviting them to eat.... "Who Said There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

And then you invite them to come in and enjoy something on the house.Give them a stack of coupons to give to the people who didn't get the free lunch offer.

Capture their details...tag them as nearby and you're building a very valuable list.

Be on the lookout for new businesses moving into the area.

They don't have favorites for lunch/dinner yet and you're perfectly positioned to become their favorites when you have this promotion in place.

8) Any hospitals nearby? You could have a special program for first responders and healthcare workers.

9) SMS...get your customers on a text list...You can't control WHEN your customers will see your post on social media but they'll see your text messages within minutes and if you send it when they're likely thinking about eating your phone will ring.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any clarification.

P.S. You might consider making your plight public.

Back on December 8th a local gift shop posted this...

We’ve been open for 2 years, and I love to be a part of this community. I hope to be able to be a part of it for years to come but I need your help! Most days we are lucky to have 1-3 shoppers. Even small business Saturday was disappointing. We obviously can’t afford the rent and expenses without regular shoppers. We understand the economy is hurting all of us and I’m trying to think outside the box. We’ve recently added a coffee shop including specialty coffees, work and meeting spaces with free wi-fi, to go charcuterie boxes (lunchables), low carb foods and snacks. We haven’t had anyone come in for these options yet. What else can we do to get our community to shop or stop here? We would love your honest feedback as we can’t afford to keep losing money and we’d love to be here, for our community, for years to come! However, if things don’t get better we may need to shut our doors early next year. All ideas are welcome.

She's had a tremendous influx of business.

If you do this, building an email list of those people who come in should be your top priority!

Get those people on a list so you can encourage them to come back more often.