One if by Land, Two if by Sea has often won the title of the “Most romantic restaurant in New York”. This restaurant landmark, housed in an elegant 18th century carriage house, holds the distinction of being one of the oldest restaurants in the city as well.

However, the longevity of the restaurant is less of a testament to being and more of a lesson for doing. In other words, the owners and managers aren’t sitting around and passively waiting for “word of mouth” to work. They’re actively taking advantage of marketing opportunities available to help them build and nurture their customer base. This effort includes email marketing, a tasty and highly successful new addition served up with the same elegance as their exquisite six-course tasting menu.

In early 2009, the restaurant teamed up with the email marketing experts at Equilibrix to create a proprietary eblast campaign that would attract new customers while not alienating the old. To do this, the eblast needed to reflect the restaurant’s prestigious image while simultaneously enticing customers. Working with Equilibrix, the restaurant now encourages gourmands new and old with a $30 off dinner for two. And the eblast and other pieces of the email marketing campaign look far, far from “discounty.”

“We needed a way to reach out to new customers and old ones without tarnishing the prestige of our brand. Equilibrix helped us do just that,” said Rosanne Martino, General Manager of One if by Land, Two if by Sea.

With the help of Equilibrix, the campaign was an unprecedented success. According to Martino, this email marketing effort brought in a whole new customer base who had never been there before.

“Within four hours of the eblast being sent, we got 87 reservations,” said Martino. “And for five days, this continued. We doubled what you’d usually expect during the slowest months for restaurants, August and September.”

One if by Land, Two if by Sea sent out a second eblast three weeks later and achieved similar results. The customer database was partially compiled from addresses that were collected by the eating establishment. The rest came from the teams at Equilibrix, who effectively and efficiently targeted the email marketing effort by zip code.

“Email marketing including eblasts are an especially effective, affordable and easy marketing option that help keep businesses in the forefront of diners’ minds when they make plans for a valued night out,” said Myriam Cohen, president of Equilibrix