14 RESTAURANT MARKETING HACKS
14 RESTAURANT MARKETING HACKS Competing for diners as a restaurant is harder than ever these days. Huge chains can rely on massive advertising and marketing budgets to drive sales. The average small business owner has to make do with their own wit and hard work — and maybe some help from employees. Thankfully, there are some shortcuts to success. You don’t have to borrow huge sums in order to leverage key marketing and operational opportunities. Whether you own a small independent restaurant or a few outlets, some of the best marketing hacks are very cheap — and many are completely free. Don’t let a lack of cash hold your business back. Implement a few tried-and-tested tricks of the trade to boost covers and drive profits.
1. Embrace street marketing It goes without saying that your food and service have to be distinctive and appealing. The same goes for your restaurant's street presence. After all, it’s probably sandwiched between several other restaurants, retailers, bars or cafes — in many cases competing for the same consumers. So draw attention to your venue as much as possible. This might involve placing a few balloons outside the exterior. Use an A-board to communicate the day’s specials, or any offers you are running. Or simply have a member of staff handing out incentive flyers at the door. Make your restaurant hard to miss, and the customers will come.
2. Turn your staff into marketers You don’t need to hire an expensive marketing firm in order to spread the reach of your business. Make your existing staff part of your own, in-house marketing team. Get your employees to include details of your restaurant on their social media profiles. Ask them to share special offers and promotions with their friends and followers. And tell your team to speak about the restaurant at every opportunity.
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To amplify the reach of your marketing efforts, incentivise your staff with discounts and free meals or drinks. Or you can save some money with free incentives such as “create your own rota” or “employee of the week”.
3. Make your own viral videos Video marketing is bigger than ever. And there’s nothing stopping you from getting in on the act. Ask confident members of your team to talk about new dishes or themed menus. Get everything on video, and upload it to all your social media and online video accounts. Of course, a waitress talking about lunchtime specials isn’t usually all that interesting. This is why you need to find an interesting angle. Bring humour into the video wherever possible. Or include a very special offer. Ask yourself what kind of video would be most amusing or interesting - and you'll have a steer for content your customers are more likely to share.
4. Partner with local social media stars Ordinary, everyday people can now amass huge social media followings. An engaging personality with lots to say can attract followers from all around your local area. This is your opportunity to get a highly-captive audience for your restaurant's online marketing Approach people with large online followings, and invite them to try your new menu. Hopefully you can wine and dine them, impressing them enough to promote you to their loyal followers.
5. Make your special offers time sensitive There’s nothing wrong with putting your customers under a little pressure from time to time. Diners who are concerned that a special offer may not be available for long are likely to book a table there and then. “For a limited time only” or “offer ends soon” messages focus the minds of customers. After all, no one wants to miss out on a great deal.
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6. Up social engagement with hashtags Hashtags are a great way of getting your social posts in front of a wider audience than just your usual followers. Want to target more of your local community? Use geographical hashtags - your local town or city. To get your food photography seen more widely, you can use popular terms such as #foodie, #nomnom, or even #foodporn. If you're promoting specialist food, use relevant hastags such as #sushi or #vegetarian. Finally, don't be afraid to link your offers with popular hashtags #winewednesday might be an option.
7. Reach out to your community As the owner of a small, local business, you have a distinctive edge over your larger, corporate competitors. You’re an intrinsic part of the community - and you can cultivate community spirit to your advantage. For example, you could donate to the local food bank or homeless initiative. You could adopt a local charity and hold regular events to raise cash for it. Or you could put on coffee mornings for parents while a member of staff reads to the children. Try to make your restaurant a part of the community. You’ll earn an enormous amount of trust and loyalty for doing so.
8. Join local business organisations You never know when opportunities to grow your customer base are going to present themselves. A chance meeting with a fellow business owner might, one day, result in a new opportunity. Join up to all your local business and enterprise organisations. Not only will you give your business much-needed exposure, you’ll also meet highly influential people. And of course - as a restaurant you may well be able to host new events yourself.
9. Harvest email addresses! Don't be afraid to ask for customers' email addresses - or mobile numbers if you market by SMS. With either option, it's vital to use digital marketing to promote your restaurant,
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and your chances of success are massively-boosted if you're reaching out to an engaged audience who have proactively signed up to receive your communications. Leave an email sign-up form with the bill and offer discounts to those on your email newsletter database.
10. Be brand aware Your restaurant has a brand of its own — whether you know it or not. And it’s always best to control that brand, rather than having it control you. Create a logo that defines your business and your approach to customers. This, along with the fonts in your marketing materials, your style of service and your colour schemes will create an organic marketing machine through recognition and word of mouth.
11. Give something of value Customers are much more likely to be won over by marketing content that is useful or interesting - and it doesn't have to cost money to be valuable. As a restaurant, you are in a great position to give away recipes, or share cooking tips on YouTube - things that customers will value. Interesting, entertaining or informative content will stand a great chance of being shared around your customer base. To maximise results from such campaigns, ensure your message is authentic and in-line with your brand.
12. Keep an eye on your competition In order to compete with your nearest competitors, you need to know what they’re doing. Perhaps they have some great ideas you can copy. Or maybe they’re running new offers you’ve missed. Keeping a close eye on your competitors is essential if you’re going to persuade the customers you share that your proposition is superior.
13. Hold regular events Many restaurants will provide the same experience for their customers on every visit good or bad. To keep things fresh and entice new diners through your door, hold events that stand out as different from your usual offering. Give regular customers another reason to visit, or entice prospective new diners in with a special event. Seasonal
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holidays are obvious opportunities to put on an event, but other themed nights can work well too. Themed events, charity fundraisers or music nights may work for some restaurants, while guest chefs, cooking classes or wine tasting evenings might be better for others - but trying something different is a great way to drum up new business.
14. Local SEO: Google My Business My Business is Google's free tool that allows you to manage how your restaurant appears in Search and on Maps. You can add and edit your company name, location and hours, monitor customer reviews, add photos, and more. Given that My Business is free, and that approximately 90% of online search enginge traffic comes through Google, this is a tool that is well worth investing some time in to getting right.
Thanks for reading! We hope they spark some inspiration for your restaurant's marketing efforts. For plenty more tips on how to grow your restaurant, please be sure to visit https://modernhospitality.co.uk/sector/restaurants
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