According to Cornell University and the National Restaurant Association 60 percent of restaurants fail within the first three years of operation.

After five years, that failure rate jumps to as high as 75 percent.

Running a restaurant is a high-risk endeavor. And, as with other high-risk investments, when it goes right, it pays handsomely. Some of the more successful chains can see average net profits approaching or even surpassing 30 percent of sales. That’s a figure any restaurant owner would love to see in his or her balance book.

So what makes some restaurants so much more successful than others?

Well, a ton of factors. But one of those is marketing. Many restaurateurs know business and they know food. But if they don’t know marketing, they’re going to be at a disadvantage. Many of them waste a ton of money on marketing, simply because they don’t know how to do it to best increase their restaurants’ chances of success.

Especially in a restaurant’s early days, when profit margins are tiny--if not nonexistent--there’s simply no money to waste. You have to market your restaurant, and you have to spend some money to do that.

Here’s how to make sure you aren’t just throwing cash away with your restaurant marketing plan.

You’ve gotta spend money to make money

Is that old adage true?

In the case of marketing your restaurant the correct way, yes.

In 2016, The National Restaurant Association reported the average restaurant marketing budget was around 3 percent of total annual revenues. But some experts recommend going up to 10 percent. Ultimately, you have to make a choice about how much you’re going to spend. But if you invest your marketing budget wisely, you should see returns from it in the form of more customers and increased revenue. Keep that in mind as you decide where in the 3-10 percent range you want to fall.

Of course, making the most out of your marketing budget will be easier if you avoid all the common ways restaurants tend to waste theirs. Read on for all the “do’s” and “do not’s” you need to know.