March update!

I have had a busy month and have been enjoying my life with the children and the Members of the Supper Club, and making the best of the time that I have had meeting new folks and getting out and about in Ayrshire with them!

The Supper Club has been meeting twice a week since inception, and this is working really well for us as not only does this keep the momentum going, but it gives people more opportunities to come along and meet us, and to find a date that fits into their schedules. I am always happy to try to work around people when this does not suit them, however, can also meet anyone on a one-to-one basis if it at least gives them the chance to meet myself or someone else from the group.

Rowallan Castle Estate

We have visited some smashing venues this month - which of course always includes our regular meetup every Saturday afternoon at the Black Cat Cafe at St Marnock Place in Kilmarnock.






We managed to visit one of the local craft fayres held by the BB in Galston, and I celebrated my 47th birthday at Wetherspoon's with a few of my new friends.

Some of the restaurants visited this month included the Dragon Royale in the High Street, The Salt & Barrell at the new Ayrshire College who held a Bond-Themed Dinner which was really well done, and the well-known Jefferson's Restaurant - all of which are in Kilmarnock itself. 

Bond Night at the Salt & Barrell

Glasshouse Restaurant at Rowallan Castle

Last week we had lunch at The Glasshouse Restaurant at Rowallan Castle Estate, and tomorrow night we are visiting the Cochrane Inn at Gateshead, just on the outskirts of town which belongs to the Costley and Costley Group. 

The prices of meals have been very reasonable, and in most cases we take advantage of 'Early Bird Specials' or 'Express Menus' advertised to members of the general public. 

Some restaurants offer a Loyalty Card where you can accrue points, and sign up for regular updates either by text or by email and this includes subscriptions to newsletters where you can be one of the first to hear about special offers, and forthcoming events.  I have joined a couple of these schemes where Loyalty Card points can be used to redeem discounts off future bills, or money-off vouchers and can highly recommend that you take advantage of these where available and membership is free.

On the marketing side things have slowed down a bit now that the initial set-up has been completed, so it is just a matter of focussing on the day to day running of the business and enjoying it. I must admit that most of my attention goes to managing the group on a daily basis on Facebook, as I find the daily banter and messages back and forth really interesting and create new events and administer stuff as much as I can. I always try to find engaging information and offers to share with our Members, and am always on the lookout for a good deal with either Groupon, or Itison that will allow us to sample local restaurants at a discounted rate.

I am not one of the most disciplined people in the world, so do not tend to follow a regular social media marketing plan, and update my media outlets including Twitter and writing posts to the Blog when I can. It is not an approach that would work for everyone, but it is one of the benefits of being your own boss I suppose :) and it works well for me as I only tend to do these things now when I am feeling inspired.

My meal at the Glasshouse Restaurant

The whole approach to events is a lot more relaxed now - particularly now that The Club has developed a regular following, and I have a lot more confidence knowing that people will be coming when they say they will. I am now making a conscious effort to 'check in' at venues on Facebook when I arrive so that the guests who are already on their way to the venue know that I am waiting for them. I think that this provides peace of mind for Members to know that they will be met by someone reliable, and that they will not have to face the anxiety of being the first one to arrive. I am also encouraging others to 'check in' too as it lets all their friends know where they have been and what they have been up to, and it gives the restaurant and the Supper Club a little bit of promotion at the same time which is always good :)

Bond Night Table Setting

Up until now, I haven't made a big point of providing testimonials for the venues that we have visited, but this week I updated my reviews on Trip Advisor and Facebook where I thought that feedback was warranted, or where the venue had earned an excellent review. I am also making a point of tagging the people who visit every venue with me, as we are still getting new members every week and I want them to remember the names of the people they dine with. 

I always encourage members at every event to befriend each other straight away, as this increases their social circle and provides them with the ideal opportunity to forge new friendships in the group - which is what this concept is all about.

From now on, I will be taking extensive photos of the venues and the food we are served, and am in the process of designing a feedback card for the Members to fill in that I can hand into the restaurant when we pay our bill, and so that I can also find out for myself whether they were pleased with the venue we visited on that occasion.

The Salt & Barrell held a fantastic Bond Night

During our meals, phones are always present as many of us have children or partners to keep in touch with. However, quite often I will miss calls or notifications sent to me on Facebook during this time as the phone is usually left in my handbag. 

I have to admit that I made the mistake a few weeks back of going through my phone while some of the others were having a conversation in front of me, and have made a conscious decision not to do that ever again as it is an anti-social habit. 

Accessing a mobile phone at any time of the day or night is completely addictive, and it is scary how quickly it can distract your attention away from everything else, and has become a terrible force of habit for so many of us these days.

Whenever we eat in the house, my children are not allowed to have their phones at the table, and I usually enforce the same rule when we eat out at restaurants as well. It is not that I am trying to focus their attention on me, it is just that we have so little family time these days, and want to make sure that we have the chance to talk to each other properly. They probably think that I am bit old-fashioned but I have to admit that I like it that way. We are surrounded by so many distractions these days, and I think that as a society we have forgotten the art of communicating with each other. 

Cheap and cheerful for my birthday celebrations!

On a personal note, I have noticed a growing trend where people are coming away from social media as the number one preferred form of communication, and there is a renewed focus on providing face-to-face customer service to clients once again. I always thought that there is lot to be said for providing the personal touch when you are dealing with people... and a quick conversation can often save so much time and is a lot more rewarding. It is an interesting time in marketing just now.

This week I found another person wanting to start a friendship group in Irvine and I contacted her right away as want to see the group do well - regardless of whether they are associated with our Club or not. The Kilmarnock Supper Club has been a massive learning curve for me in so many ways, and I must admit that I would love to see this develop into a national franchise some day, but it has shown me how such a simple thing can make such a massive difference to other people's lives, and only wish that I had done this ten years ago!

Now that the nice weather has finally arrived, and the nights are stretching, our choices for venues will continue to grow further afield in April with a potential visit to The Gailes at Irvine, and McChristie's at Crosshouse on the horizon. In May we are going to eat at the Fairburn Hotel on the day of the Mauchline Holy Fair, and the Ayr Country Show is back again which is always fun!

On a final note, I hope that you continue to follow our news updates, and interact with members of the Club. If you have not joined us already on Facebook, please feel free to do so at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheKilmarnockSupperClub/

Tamara :) 

Our blog stats have gone over the 1300 mark!

I have been blogging for probably ten years now and started with the original AOL journals in 2006 which had fantastic features for uploading photos and creating photo albums. I have always been an avid blogger and facebook fan, as since moving over to Scotland I have literally taken thousands of photos which is also one of my passions.

Having come from a Sales & Marketing background - both of which are extremely interesting fields to work in - I have always been fascinated by where my clients or readers originate from as this will tell you which of your ads are working and which ones are not.

I personally must admit that I prefer the blogger format, but these days wordpress seems to be the most popular programme for getting views online, and am teaching myself how this works so that I can build my brand new website. I have tried this before and it isn't easy I can tell you and I am sure that there are teenagers out there who can code much better than I will ever be able to. But I am determined to do it and it will allow me to launch my website as soon as possible, instead of trying to save up the money to pay someone else to do it.

You know how people show counters on their blogs and pages, and if you have ever employed anyone to do your marketing for you in the past - they will always be quoting the number of 'hits' that you have had - or 'impressions' from people who have seen your Google, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram advertisements online. 

Well this is a perfect example to show you - these are my stats for the blog page. At first I was excited at the number of 'hits' that I have had, but upon closer inspection - a very high proportion of my views are from overseas - approximately half in fact.

Thank you very much for following our blog!