My husband called and said he was taking me to Texas Roadhouse for my birthday… then he called back and said he had to work. It was too late… my mind was already filled with Roadhouse. You wanna know something crazy… whenever I think of Roadhouse, I think of this post. Wanna know something even crazier? I originally wrote this post in 2010. Yeppers. 4 years ago. I reread it last night and loved it just as much as I did when I wrote it so I thought I’d share it with you today… while I’m out to birthday lunch with my mom. (some updates/comments have been added ~ you’ll notice them in parenthesis)
Texas Roadhouse.
If you’ve never been there, it is a fantastic steak place. My mouth waters just thinking of it. Our Roadhouse opened about 3 years ago (7 now!), and we’ve been eating there every since. While I was waiting for our food to come I got to thinking about the changes the restaurant had undergone since the first day… which like most things in the world got me thinking about their marketing strategy… which got me thinking about what a rabid fan I was of this restaurant, and by the looks of the wall I wasn’t the only one. It turned into a big swirl of marketing stuff and here’s what I’ve learned.
1. They make the best frickin’ steak ever.
I’ve been to some world class steak houses when I lived in NYC, and I love Roadhouse steak. They just taste fantastic. I get the same thing every time because I know I won’t be disappointed. BUT… there was a time… earlier this year, where I don’t know what was going on, my steaks didn’t taste great, they weren’t tender. I tried a different steak and it wasn’t good. We kept coming back, thinking it must be a fluke ~ the steaks are so great here. It kept happening. On the “last chance” meal things went back to normal. My steak was delicious again. I talked our server about it, and she told me they had been experiencing some issues with their cooks etc. Everything’s back to normal again. This week, was probably the best I’ve had yet.
Lesson learned:
My content = Roadhouse Steak. I have to provide kick ass content that my readers LOVE. Not just once, but every single time I post. My readers will forgive me a couple times, and keep coming back because I’ve done so well in the past. However, if I keep producing bad content ~ even our amazing past history will not save us.
2. They treat you like you’re the only customer and make you feel at ease immediately.
Every time you walk in they say “Welcome to Texas Roadhouse. Is this your first visit?” I still remember the first time I went in and actually said “yes”. I don’t remember what she replied, but I remember the feeling that “wow, that was really nice of her to ask, and make me feel comfortable in this kind of crazy restaurant environment.”. Now I notice I feel great saying “oh, no, we come here as often as we can.”
Lesson learned:
People feel good when they’re given one on one attention. It’s no different here, or when I’m on another blog. I always feel good when the blog owner answers my question or responds to my comments or tweet. Actively engaging with your customers/readers/followers makes people feel special. There is a lack of feeling special in this world, and when you can help people feel special, they will come back.
3. You don’t get many vegetarians at Roadhouse.
Well, at least I imagine. While I get a house salad, the place is meant for meat eaters. It’s also very loud. In the middle of your meal they turn the music way up, and then all the service staff come out and dance in between the tables ~ dance loudly, with clapping, and plenty of YEE HAWS. I love it. My in laws HATE it.
Roadhouse is what Roadhouse is. You either love it or you hate it. But you don’t see Roadhouse creating a little section of the restaurant for those people who much prefer a quieter eating atmosphere. You also don’t see a section on the menu for those who would much prefer a vegetarian meal.
Roadhouse is unabashedly a meat loving, loud ass restaurant. If that’s what you like, you’re gonna love it. If you don’t, you’re gonna hate it. If you love it, cool, come on in and eat. If you hate it, cool, enjoy your meal at the restaurant you’ve chosen to eat at instead. 
Lesson learned:
Stop catering to the vegetarians and quiet eaters when you run a meat loving, loud establishment. This is all about knowing who your right people are. If you’re running a blog about primal recipes ~ don’t have a section for “grains”. If you’re running a blog for grandparents, don’t have a section for teenage moms. If you’re running a blog on blogging, don’t have sections on micro niche sites.
I read this phrase the other day Proudly Alienating People. It may sound completely counterintuitive, but you really don’t want everyone on your site. You want the people who are looking for exactly what you’ve got. You don’t want the veggies if you’re a meat blog. By proudly standing in exactly what you ARE you will proudly alienate the people who are not that. AND that’s GOOD. It will leave you with a tribe of people who totally get you, totally support you, and are crazy about you.
4. They get us to spread the word.
The first time we walked into our roadhouse the walls were rough cedar, totally blank ~ other than a few pictures. As I looked around this week I saw the entire restaurant, every single open piece of wall space is now covered by Polaroid pictures. Polaroid pictures of restaurant customers sitting on a saw horse with a saddle, waving a hanky in the air yelling “yee HAW” at the top of their lungs.
Every single available space.
It’s the “birthday celebration”. I personally would never go to Roadhouse for my birthday because I wouldn’t want to get caught up in that, but they get the birthday person to sit on the “horse” wave the hanky and yell while the ENTIRE restaurant sings Happy Birthday to you.
What really amazes me is, its’ only been 3 years (or so) since it opened, and Wichita has a population of only about 350K. It is quite impressive when you look around and see this huge restaurant literally covered ~ they are running out of space ~ with pictures of customers having so much fun. (I tried to take a picture to show you, but the place was so crowded …)
Lesson learned:
While I personally would find no joy in sitting on the birthday horse, it is apparent that thousands of people do. (Including my daughter!! That’s her doing the Yee Haw over there!) Do you think any, maybe ALL, of the people in those thousands of pictures posted in this restaurant told anyone else about that experience? (Or shared the pictures immediately via Facebook or Instagram!) You think they told anyone at work the next day about getting their picture taken at Roadhouse? Do you think any of the people they told might come to Roadhouse because they also mentioned they had the best steak EVER while they were there for their birthday?
I do.
Give people something to talk about. Give people a reason to tell someone else about you. Whether it’s stellar content, or a free report that rocks, or a video, or an awesome interview with someone, or a podcast. Give them something great. Word of mouth is the best advertising you will ever get. It comes from a trusted source, with no ulterior motive, just a recommendation from a friend.
This is huge online. If you provide something so good that it causes people to tell someone else, well, you’ve won half the battle of getting people to your site. If you keep doing it over and over ~ well, let’s just say I bet your blog walls will be covered with Polaroids in no time flat.
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