By Ben Hartwig, Contributor
The key difference between a successful restaurant and an unsuccessful restaurant is how well the business is marketed and promoted. That comes down to developing a comprehensive restaurant marketing strategy.
By using these 5 creative marketing strategies, you will be able to cement your brand and see your restaurant grow.
Create an Effective Social Media Strategy
When it comes to increasing restaurant sales and increasing your table turnover, creating a focused social media marketing strategy is a great way to market a restaurant, especially if you’re on a tight budget. A little creativity can go a long way. Here’s how you can do this effectively:
Turn existing customers into promoters. Encourage your customers to take their favorite foodie photos to post on their social media platforms. Visual storytelling is the preferred method of communication on most platforms.
Promote user-generated content (UGC). When someone posts about your restaurant, comment on their post to show your appreciation. You can even message them and encourage their photo to be used on a Yelp review.
Share Your Customers Foodie Posts. When you share what guests have posted about your restaurants on platforms like Facebook, you can spread the word about your restaurant. It may even encourage even more customers to take great photos.
Optimize Your Restaurant’s Menu With Marketing Strategies
Having the perfect menu is one step closer to having the busiest restaurant. The food is a primary motivation for coming to your restaurant in the first place, right? The menu should be relevant to your target demographic. Here are a few examples of this:
Menu pricing. Menu item prices should not be too high, nor too low. If the price is too low, people may assume that the quality is poor. Your restaurant should also not be seen as a place that over-charges. Consider your main competition and what their prices are.
Happy Hours and other offers. Events like Happy Hour are a great way to get people in and create a jovial atmosphere. Your customers are bound to come in, stay for the atmosphere, and then pay for full-priced items.
Menu engineering and optimization. Staying on top of your menu will give you an opportunity to consider what items are making you the most money, in addition to providing room for improvement. It’s important that you understand how each menu item contributes to your bottom line so that you can make the necessary adjustments.
Create an Integrated Restaurant Marketing Strategy
An integrated marketing approach is preferred by many brands these days. The combination of various platforms often aggregates to a stronger message than the sum of their parts. This is because your guests will see your brand everywhere. Consider the following:
Go broad by distributing pamphlets and putting posters up, as well as cross-promoting with other businesses. You could even host events so that you create a fun opportunity to hand out marketing material.
Contact customers directly by using SMS and email. Encourage customers to provide their SMS and email address for your newsletter or promotions. An email lookup service can easily help you find email addresses.
When it comes to your web content, prioritize local SEO & Geo-targeted Ads so your target market is seeing them. Your Google My Business profile is an important tool when it comes to this strategy.
When it comes to promoting your restaurant, always remember to check and operate within the bounds of your local customer protection law.
Leverage a Local Marketing Approach
When it comes to any marketing campaign, the phrase “think globally, act locally” should come to mind for your restaurant. The most successful local businesses are often pillars of the community. Here are just a few ways to achieve this:
Host events at your restaurant. Events are a great opportunity to get a one-off revenue boost, but it also means attracting people who may have never been before.
Get involved in your local community. You can do so by supporting a local sporting team or making a charitable donation. The public relations benefits to this are great!
Provide mobile ordering and delivery. This will make your product and service more accessible for people who just want a night in. Your restaurant then becomes the first thought when they want a night out.
Develop Your Employees’ Marketing Skills
The most effective front-line marketing tool is the employee. Not only are your employees the main interaction with your market and guests, but they will also serve as your eyes and ears to consider what your customers need.
Here are a few ideas on this:
Communicate with your employees. Be present with your employees and make sure that their needs are addressed. Encourage them to come to you with suggestions or concerns about the restaurant operation.
Train your employees in upselling and cross-promotion. Ensure that they are updated daily on the specials and that they use these as part of their communication with the customers.
Make sure your employees are monitoring portions. If your customers are only eating a small portion of their food, it may be worth offering smaller portion sizes. Smaller plates can also make portions look larger.
Final Thoughts
Developing a comprehensive marketing strategy for your restaurant isn’t easy. You need to really tap into the desires of your potential customers. Dining out is a holistic culinary experience involving food, drinks, a pleasant atmosphere, and great customer service. Doing all these elements well is great for word-of-mouth marketing. In addition, laser targeting your market, and being active in the community will soon turn your restaurant into a profit-generating machine.
About the Author
Ben Hartwig is a web operations director at InfoTracer. He authors guides on marketing and entire cybersecurity posture and enjoys sharing the best practices. You can contact the author via LinkedIn.
