No matter what industry do you business in, there are current standards and best practices that should exist within your marketing efforts. Here are a few items you should put in place immediately if you haven't already done so.
Internal Communication – What you say to your audience when they walk through your door is important and it should be consistent with what they hear about you or from you when they are not outside the walls for your establishment. Do you great your customers with sincerity, take extra time to get to know them, their likes and habits? Do you use the face time to further educate your audience about your industry and how they can benefit from using your product or service or even how they can save money or earn rewards by referring others?
External Communication – This is a broad category which in the very least should consist of a regularly scheduled e-newsletter, blog and posts on Social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. If you have a Yelp page you should claim ownership of it and should be responding to yelp reviews. Using Yelp as a place to offer incentives for people to try your business over your competitors could be beneficial as well. In addition sign up for a Google places account to help boost your SEO/ranking on Google's search engine.
Tracking – Most if not all of the aforementioned tactics can be tracked, measured and as a result consumer behavior can be analyzed. Use this to drive “smarter” campaigns, meaning more effective and efficient. If you send your e-newsletters out on a Monday and you notice a low open rate or click rate try sending them out on a day of the week since Monday's people tend to be playing “catch up” from the weekend.
Follow Through – What are you doing to follow up with first time customers to ensure repeat visits or use of your product? The more personal your methods, the more quickly and easily you can establish a rapport. A strong relationship with your customers creates a sense of loyalty on their end and it means you'll retain them for the long term.