Internet Marketing:
Bogota Latin Bistro Launches Successful E-Newsletter

In February of 2005, six months before Bogota Latin Bistro opened in Brooklyn, New York, owners Farid Ali Lancheros and George Constantinou Fernandez started keeping business associates, friends and prospective customers up-to-date with an electronic newsletter.

"Our newsletter was started as a way of keeping all the people we were meeting along the way towards our opening briefed on the restaurant-in-the-making's progress, Lancheros explains. "It also allowed me to fill them in the details, the highs and lows we were experiencing and share with people just what was involved in in finding a location and raising capital. It was also a tool to solicit advice and resources from the numerous people we were meeting along the way who might be able to assist us with our challenges."

Three years later, the bistro's e-mail list -- which started out with some 900 names -- is almost 5,000 strong. Lancheros e-mails the newsletter monthly, "although on occasion I may send one out every two weeks if there is something newsworthy that I wish to communicate," he says. The e-newsletter informs customers of current and upcoming events, news and specials and draws them to Bogota's website (www.BogotaBistro.com) for more information and even creates a sense of community among the bistro's patrons.  "The results of sending out the newsletter are immediate," Lancheros reports. "I will see people come to the restaurant who haven't been by in a while and they'll tell me, "Oh I got your newsletter."  "Many have told me that they love getting it. I do my best to not use solely as a sales pitch but to market our drive, our determination and our spirit as well. I'd like to think that someone out there is being inspired and motivated enough by our story to want to go out and make life happen for themselves as well."