Marketing your restaurant may seem really easy. Show people some great food, great menus, maybe some drinks or special offers and the customers will come flooding. If only things were that easy! With any business understanding and creating an effective marketing strategy is essential. Through times like 2020/21 it is actually even more important to stand out through your marketing if you are to survive. So how can you do this? If you have not really considered a marketing plan before, don’t worry you are not alone, but it does not need to be difficult either! Going through the below thought process will get you on your way to a great content strategy and make it a lot more pain free!
Understand who your client is.
This one seems obvious but if you don’t do anything else, please do this! So many times I hear “everyone is my client”. When in reality, although that would be amazing, it could not be further from the truth. Here is a very general profile of who a restaurant client normally is:
They live or work locally to you
They have enough disposable income to afford to eat out
They like to meet clients at a neutral location and entertain them over lunch/dinner/drinks
They want to celebrate a special occasion or event or they want to meet up with friends
Once you understand who your client is you can market to them more effectively. For example if you know you have many corporate/business clients you can create packages that would be attractive to them for example a team building event at your restaurant, free bottle with X number of plates or even offer free delivery to a conference room. You will also know that your clients read the Metro for example and spend a lot of time on LinkedIn.
Not only do you now know who your client is, you also know how to get them to see you and what will bring them through your doors! This is so important and so powerful, as working through this exercise will stop you wasting precious time and resources on advertising that does not work for you as your ideal client simply is not able to engage with it!
Be consistent with your strategy
Once you have done the ideal client exercise and know where and what to market, you need a strategy. Work out a buget for your marketing and do not reply on a sole channel of distribtion for your message. So in the example above, you will want to consider LinkedIn posts from your business profile, but also target specific groups that you know your client will be hanging out in. You can also consider the various news publications they may read both in print and online. Of course media advertising can be expensive, so it is important your marketing material is high quality, engaging and targets your ideal client. Investing in good photography and copy is almost more important than the advertorial itself.
Once you understand your strategy, BE CONSISTENT. Marketing is not a magic pill, so do not expect to do that one thing and have success. The best marketing campaigns earn merit through time and consistency. There are various studies to explain that a customer needs to know, like and trust you through at least 7 interactions before they will buy from you.
What is your story?
So how do you get your customers to know, like and trust you? Now more than ever people are looking for a human connection, but are also even more selective around where they spend their money. What is your story and what makes you different? Why should people visit your restaurant and not the hundreds of others in your area? Think about what made you open your restaurant in the first place, what is your passion? What is the one thing that drives you? If it is being able to provide for your family, make that part of your marketing narrative. If it is bringing authentic cuisine to a new market, tell your customers what authentic means! If it is to pioneer innovation, tell your customers how! Your story will help you build a community that will in turn market your business for you. This is the best kind of marketing and again, is achieved over time and being consistent with your messaging.
Be Consistent
It is important that your brand is reflected in your marketing. If for example you pride yourself in being a sustainable restaurant, make sure this is consistent through your marketing channels. Not just your logo and your colours but the copy should also reflect your values. Your website/ social media channels/ media packs should all follow the same theme. Confusing branding will mix up your marketing messages and dilute your strategy. Similarly your interior design should be reflective of all of the above. No point in spending thousands on your marketing campaigns only for customers to walk through the door and be disappointed with the ambience. Consistency is key!
Marketing is time consuming but not difficult, if you decide to outsource this to a specialist agency (which I highly recommend simply because they will be able to deliver consistently for you) it is important that you dictate what your brand values are and how they should be reflected on your marketig materials. Ensure your marketing agency has complete clarity on your ideal customer in order to not waste time and resources.
If you need help with understanding any of the above, I would love to talk you through this and am always happy to help.
Finally if you have come up with something innovative that worked for you, do let me know , I love to hear about all things creative!