The Chinah Dine-ah has an email list of hundreds of people and a Facebook page with thousands of fans, which is not obvious when you look at their site. The reason? They’ve come up with a systematic way of asking people to keep in touch and consistently produce a little piece of Maine people can follow online.
Diners, upon receiving their check, also get a little card to fill out if they want to keep in touch via email. Because it’s easy, many people do.
The owners of the restaurant send out weekly updates not only about their specials but about staff, area events, and other news. They also have a weekly drawing for a gift certificate to the restaurant. And every week, owner Norm includes his ‘column’ called From The Corner Booth.
People who receive the newsletter love it because they feel as if they are getting inside information. In turn, the Chinah Dine-ah gets to keep up with their customers and remind them to stop in ‘a stone’s throw off 202’.
See their website: http://www.chinadine-ah.com/
See an archive of newsletters (linked off their website): http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs057/1102339671940/archive/1102706442142.html
See their Facebook page (listen to their new radio ad- ridiculously addictive):http://www.facebook.com/pages/South-China-ME/China-Dine-ah/125333497443