My restaurant has never spent a dollar on marketing. Where do I start?

Not one dollar? OK. First thing: go to one of those online knickknack shops like CafePress, upload your logo, and spend about 200 bucks on pins, mugs, and beer koozies. Hand them out to your customers for free. Now you’ve done marketing. And that feeling that you’re not sure if what you just did will turn into cash money? That comes with the territory.

But you’re asking the SEO Wizard, so you probably want to know how to find a marketing partner that will get you results.

There are many ways to spend your marketing dollars, and it matters more that you commit to a path than which path you commit to. Choose the marketing channel you love the most, or hate the least. No agency can help you grow if you don’t care about what they’re doing and don’t try to learn along with them.

Education is the most valuable thing you will get from an agency. The second most valuable is a relationship you trust. Those two things matter most when you pick an agency.

The value doesn’t come from whether you do video, social media, SEO, or direct mail. It comes from doing it over and over, learning, and getting better at it. Never hire an agency just to do something for you so you don’t have to think about it. That will always be a waste of money.

Small agency rates for marketing support start around $1,000 a month and go up from there. SEO is often on the steeper side. If you don’t feel ready to take the plunge yet, hire a consultant first.