MARKETING: How to Use Local SEO to Grow Your Business
We all hear about the wonders of the Internet and what it has done for businesses around the world, but if you still own a brick & mortar business, like a restaurant, it can sometimes be harder to see those benefits. So, why do you need to think about search engine optimization (SEO)? The truth is if you don’t think about, you’re going to be overtaken and left behind by your competitors.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Facebook, MLB Cutting Back
MLB’s deal with Facebook is coming back this season, but they’re making some significant changes. The biggest being that they’re cutting back from 25 games to 6 and are removing the exclusivity of the streams. The monthly games will still air free, however.
What is Game Console’s Future?
Unit sales for the gaming console has decreased over the past decade. Back in 2008, the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii came into vogue and dominated the market. Since 2013, the Sony PSP has had a steady run. Overall the number of video game consoles sold worldwide has shrunk by half, from around 90 million devices sold in 2008 to only about 45 million in 2018.
Stealing Home
Stealing might be legit in baseball, but stealing signed baseballs is not. A thief stole $600,000 worth of signed baseballs from an Arizona restaurant. A total of 34 balls were swiped, including some signed by the likes of Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. The restaurant, Don & Charlies, is completely covered in sports souvenirs, making it a mini museum as well as a restaurant. On top of this, the restaurant is closing in a few weeks for a boutique hotel. Bleh.
TELL ME YOU LOVE ME [Song]
Why it matters to you: Survey your guests, but don’t be surprised if you learn a lot!
Among the most powerful marketing pursuits a restaurant operator can make is surveying their guests for real feedback. Guests won’t pull punches and if you have the courage to ask, you can really learn about your business. That’s why this list of 30 questions to ask on you restaurant survey are such a good place to start. Simple questions like “What was the best/worst part of your experience?’ or “How would you rate our food?” can give you invaluable insight into the only opinions that matter -- the guests. The list is broken into categories including Food & Drink, Facilities, Service Execution, and Administrative questions.
Delivering a survey is a tricky process. You can do it manually through printed cards and deliver them to guest as they complete their experience in your restaurant or via an online/email delivered survey. We would encourage you to do both. In fact, most of the major email marketing platforms have some type of survey system embedded in their functionality. The more data you can glean, the more powerful the results.
The only thing you can’t do is ignore your own results. Guests will surprise you of their perceptions of your restaurant and it’s up to you to turn your shock into action. The feedback is of no value if nothing changes in your business. So, take the plunge and survey your guests. We’d love to hear about your results and the answers that most surprised you.
[Source: Toast POS]
A MORE PERFECT UNION
Why it matters to you: Is the momentum for restaurant unions picking up steam?
If the thought of a labor union functioning in your restaurant(s) sends a chill down your spine, then this news out of the Pacific Northwest will chill you to the bone. Two quick service burger chains are in the process of union certification. To briefly explain the process, a union can only exist under certain circumstances. The first happens when both sides (labor and management) agree that the union is valid. Of course, few employers would agree to the restrictions imposed by the presence of a union. The other is National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified vote among the employees that proclaims a union active.
The latter is what’s at play for both the Little Big Burgers and Burgerville chains. You may be thinking that those are small regional chains and that won’t impact us. To be direct, that’s pulling the wool over your own eyes. With the rising populism on the left and the power of social media, it’s never been easier for labor organizers to…well, organize.
If you want to avoid the threat of unionization, you may want to look harder at the compensation and benefits you provide your line employees. If you don’t, staff and labor organizers may examine those items themselves and determine you aren’t aligning with their interests. Think this won’t happen for other reasons? That’s the same thinking that early 20th Century business owners embraced, and it facilitated the greatest rise in unionization in human history. All that being said, it’s unlikely that your chain group will be unionized directly. The smart organizer will target franchisees of a big chain, not the chain itself. Sure, your franchisor will join your resistance, but they also might not have much impact. As the sayings go, all issues are local. We strongly encourage our chain operators to start thinking about the threat of unionization and how it will impact them, franchisee and franchisor alike.
[Source: Restaurant Business Online]
