About Check It Out DC

Hi and welcome to the temporary home of CheckItOutDC.

If you’re a blogger you probably came here via a link I sent to you in an email. My name is Jonathan Trenn and I’m an online marketing strategist with the firm Abraham & Harrison. It’s a virtual company and I’m the Director of the Washington Office. That’s sounds more prestigious than it really is…I’m the only one in the “office” here. We primarily specialize in social media marketing. I do some freelance work as well, which plays a direct role in why I contacted you. I also work part time as a waiter in a restaurant here in Northern Virginia called Café Deluxe. Nice place. And I’ve come up with a business idea that touches on all I do.

If you’re not sure what social media is, it’s the use of what’s called user-generated content (blogs, podcasts, videos on YouTube) to connect and communicate with others. That’s a quick explanation.

What I’m Looking to Do

I’m looking to develop a business service that uses online strategies – again, particularly in social media – for local businesses here in the DC area. And I’d like to involve you. By local businesses, I primarily mean restaurants, theaters, nightclubs, and retail stores. Basically, anything that can be visited, tried out, etc. by people like you who could then write online reviews about your impressions.

Here’s the logic behind all this. Word of mouth is often considered to be the best form of marketing. Problem is, word of mouth is painfully slow. It’s usually one-to-one communication. Businesses that often rely on word of mouth (often a bit too much) are also often the types of business that can get hit hardest during a recession.

Bloggers (like many of you) aren’t just writers; you’re publishers of your own publication. You’ve likely developed a loyal readership, people who come to your blog because they value what you have to say. They may relate to you because they’re similar to you. Or, if you blog mostly on a particular topic, they may rely on your expertise. You’ve become a voice of authority. And voice can be word of mouth.

You see, I plan on developing a business in which I’ll have a client base of the types of businesses I mentioned above – the types that rely on word of mouth. They’re trying to figure out how they can increase business. Or with a struggling economy, maintain the level of business they have.  They need to reach out, but often can afford traditional advertising.

And then I’m looking to develop a stable of local bloggers who have an interest in the doing the things that I mentioned above. Mainly, try out new restaurants, see a play, check out a nightclub. Working with an establishment, I’d like to create some sort of offer or incentive for you to try a place out.  The offer would mostly come in the form of a gift card.  With a restaurant, you’d come in and have dinner.  And then it would be my hope that you would write an objective review on your blog.

Note: I wrote objective. I’m not looking for shills. Not at all. I value your editorial integrity. I’m a blogger myself. My professional blog is at Digital Street Journal. My personal one is at Thoughts from Vinton Ave. I also blog at the Abraham & Harrison blog, Marketing Conversation.

Now I bet you like to eat food. From time to time you may want to check out a restaurant. If you’re single, you may want to check out a nightclub. If you’re a parent, you may be looking for a good place to take the kids for a bite. If you’re into the arts, you make like theater. If any of these are true, I may be able to help you with that.

Here’s how it would work. I’ll use a restaurant as an example as that’s the industry I’ll be primarily targeting. I’d go into a restaurant and show them that I have a certain amount of bloggers that live or work near their place and/or have told me that they like the specific type of cuisine that the restaurant serves. I’d then contact you to see if you were interested in trying out that particular restaurant.  If yes, then great.  If no, then no worries.  We would then send the bloggers a gift card with, say $20 or $25 on it (enough for an entree and a drink/appetizer/dessert), so they can come in and try out the place. I’d probably pick 15-30 of you. And then you would (hopefully) write a review about their experiences to their readers.

Now about you. I’m looking to establish a “virtual” relationship with you. From your standpoint, I’d be sending you gift cards (or some other type of discount) perhaps a half a dozen times a year. Before I send it, Id contact you to see if you have an interest in trying out a particular place. It will be for a restaurant that’s near where you live or work. If it’s a bit farther away, it’s because you’ve told me that you especially like that type of cuisine. You’d also receive a backgrounder on the place and a sample menu. You won’t be obligated to try out the restaurant, use the card, or even write a review. (Although I’ll have some points on that later.) You’re not an employee and we will have no official business relationship. The risk is mine. But, again, I’m hoping to have a virtual relationship with you where you know when I contact you, I’ll be doing so because I have an offer for something that you’’re likely to have an interest in. I want to earn your trust and I hope that you’ll give me that chance.  That way you may almost feel as if you’re part of the business. And I’ll be on the look out for clients that have offerings that “my bloggers” desires and tastes.

Again, I’m not looking for shills. You value your readers and I respect that. In fact, when you write a review, you’re really doing it on behalf of your readers. Not me, not yourself, not the restaurant. They likely value your opinion and may appreciate reading reviews for restaurants they may have wanted to check out.

Types of Establishments

Let’s stick with restaurants for now. I’ll be approaching new restaurants, neighborhood places, casual and semi-formal dining. Places considered to be “reasonably priced”. I’ll be concentrating on independent restaurants that are often disadvantaged against the national chains.  I doubt I’ll be able to reign in the very expensive and formal restaurants. So I’ll be going after ones that a dinner for two could cost between $40 and $100. That’s a big range, but there are a lot of restaurants out there. I’ll be hitting ethnic restaurants that may be somewhat unique as well. And it’s my goal to be traveling all throughout the metro area. Some of my travels will be decided by you – where most of the bloggers live is where I’ll be most likely to be on the hunt.

It might be the type of place you’ve been meaning to check out. Or a new place you haven’t heard of just yet. Perhaps you’ve been there before, but now they’ve got a new menu and/or chef. You may want to find out if it’s a good place to take a date, take the kids, or meet new people.

For the most part, with the exception of lunch spots in business districts or grand openings, I’ll be staying away from national chain sit down restaurants.

What I’d Expect from You

Remember, I’m looking to develop a relationship with you. Not just try to get you to try out this one place.  While I’ll be working on behalf of my clients, I’ll be scouring for clients that the bloggers (meaning you) would be interested in. Meaning I’ll be looking to bring in clients with you in mind.

Write a review, please. I mentioned earlier that you’re not under any obligation to write a review. That’s still the case. But I sure hope you do. Especially since I’ll be contacting you beforehand to see if you would like to receive a gift card.

I’ll be setting the program up in a way that benefits you but minimizes my risk. After receiving a gift card, I’ll give you a couple of months to use it. If after two months you haven’t written a review (that’s the only evidence I’d have to see if you’ve eaten at the restaurant), I’ll contact you to see if you still planned on doing it. If for some reason you can’t, I hope you’ll extend the courtesy of returning the card. If, after three months you haven’t used it/written a review or returned the card, I’ll consider that closed. But if it happens more than once – without notifying me that you can’t or don’t want to do it, then it will be my belief that you aren’t really interested enough in all of this to still be part of it.

Be honest, objective, and fair. You’re writing for your readers. They’ll be interested in your insight. So write in ways that appeal to their interest. You don’t have to be a full-fledged cheerleader nor do you have to be trash talker – remember, people make their livelihood by owning, running, and working in restaurants. Most restaurants try hard to please. Some don’t. But as customers, you deserve a solid overall experience.

Please don’t be overly snarky. Bloggers develop their own style. Sometimes that style has a certain bite to it. That’s fine. Sometimes it can be cruel. That’s not fine.  For instance, if your server is a 19 year old women with red hair and a slight case of acne, you don’t need to write, and she doesn’t need to read “out walks this pizza-faced carrot topped chick to take our order”.

You see what I mean.

I once saw a review in which the reviewer trashed the place and then finished off by saying that she wouldn’t like the place anyway because it is where her ex-fiancé’s parents used to like to go when they came into town. Please.

Don’t tell the establishment that you’re there to write a review. The whole point of it is to do this objectively. Anonymously.  They may freak out. They may bend over backwards to make things perfect. But when your readers go into the same place, they won’t have that same advantage.

Let me know when you write a review. I’ll be checking your blogs all the time. But in case I miss something, I’d appreciate a quick shout about the review. If you don’t or if you forget, no worries.

If you have a problem with the establishment, let me know. Maybe I can help solve the problem. If you don’t speak up at the restaurant, they’ll never know. If you choose not to say anything, but tell me, then I’ll try to help. If you speak up and they don’t solve your issue, then they’ve given you material to write in the review.

Please include… While it’s way to much to ask of you to include all the details a professional reviewer submits (hours, phone # etc., reservation policy), I would ask two things. Please, if possible, include a link to their website if they have one. That’s just a request. The second is a strong request. And I think it’s reasonable. Please include the address of the restaurant in your post. It won’t help anyone if you say that you tried out a new restaurant near you if you don’t give your readers any clue as to where it is. Sound fair?

Now if you wanted to include other important details, that would be fine by me.

Don’t be alarmed if I ask you to fill out some sort of informational form. You see, I don’t want to be sending a 48 year old married mom of three to a new nightclub for twentysomethings. I don’t want to send a guy from Reston to a restaurant in Greenbelt. I don’t want to send women to a seafood restaurant if she’s allergic to seafood. OK?

Let me use your reviews for marketing purposes. I’ll likely be talking to restaurant people who have very little idea what blogs are and have no clue about blogger relations. I’m sure I’ll be shown the door a lot more than I’d like. So I’ll need to use visuals. Nice looking visuals that show previous reviews. Your blog probably looks nice. Let me use it to show what I can deliver.

And, oh yeah, you can make some money. If you can connect me with a restaurant – either with a owner/manager or give me some good info – and I bring them in as a client, you’ll get $100.