The restaurant, café, and bar industries are extremely competitive.
With so many options available it is crucial to find a way to make yourself stand out from the crowd. You may be thinking that putting a new marketing strategy in place will be a costly operation, but it needn’t be. The important thing here is finding something that works for your business, this can be just a few simple changes and tactics utilised efficiently to increase your covers.
Market Trends
Paymentsense’s ‘Restaurant Insights 2020’ survey did a deep dive into what diners really want from their eating-out experiences. Their main overall finding was that consumers are wanting their dining experience to be quick and simple. 59% of consumers said that waiting for food was the biggest frustration and 1 in 5 consumers said waiting to pay the bill is the thing that irritates them most. You don’t want these things to become synonymous with your restaurant.
On the other hand, technology is key to attracting customers and improving their experience. 40% of consumers have their attention grabbed by a restaurant with an up to date website or from online reviews, 91% want multiple booking options offered when reserving a table, and 29% just want the card machine brought over with the bill to speed things up.
Improve Your Online Presence & Marketing
Word of mouth advertising is always nice but there comes a time where you need something more. It’s time to check if your website is up to date, or to reach out to a marketing agency who can help you build one. Consider creating social media profiles to have a more hands-on relationship with your customers or investing sometime in improving your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Having an active online presence can help potential customers find you easier, allow you to share upcoming promotions, and get more people to see your menus and what you offer. Additionally, you can use these online methods to gain covers through online booking systems such as OpenTable that can be linked to your website and social accounts, no longer must you sit and wait for the phone to ring.
On top of this, putting an email marketing plan in place can work well for your business. Encourage people to sign up to your mailing list to be the first to hear about new dishes, special events, and gain exclusive offers to keep those covers high.
Keep Menus Fresh & Exciting
Whilst some customers may come time and time again for the same favourite dish, others will come wanting something new and fresh to the menu. Embrace both sides of the coin by creating seasonal menus, chef specials for a limited time, popular flavours for certain months, whilst still retaining some menu staples that you’ll be known for. You can use your social media to promote these new additions, seasonal changes, or limited time chef specials to encourage customers to book whilst its available.
Brand Loyalty
You’ve grabbed their attention now how do you get them to keep coming back?
Brand loyalty should be your top priority when aiming to build a successful restaurant business, you cannot rely on constant new customers. You need to change those first-time visits, to second time, third time, fourth time and beyond.
Have incentivisation’s to keep using your service, be it a loyalty programme for a special offer after X number of visits, or even just consistent, dependable, top-quality service, customers will keep coming back if they feel they’re getting “something more” out of it.
Secondly, you want to make your restaurant memorable. Don’t be “the place we ate at on holiday” be “the amazing Italian restaurant we visited in the old part of the city with the carbonara to die for and a wine list longer than my arm”. Be a memorable part of your consumers days and keep your name and niche on their minds so they consistently return or recommend to other people. Word of mouth is still good free advertising.
On top of this, having consistent brand imagery, tone, and style will help you remain in your customers minds long after their first visit. A restaurant going through a constant identity crisis is not memorable.
Special Offers
The restaurant/café/bar industry is a great one to when it comes to special offer marketing campaigns. You might be a bar with a happy hour discount, or a two for one cocktail offer, you might be a restaurant that offers Thursday steak nights where all steaks are slightly cheaper, you might be a cafe that offers a free coffee with all meals from the breakfast menu. The possibilities are endless.
Work with your marketing agency or department to do some research on what your competitors are offering and what you can offer to get more customers using your business.
These special offers will be especially important during your restaurant’s quieter periods. Use these offers to encourage diners to eat at different periods than they usual would (lunch time instead of always dinner) and to persuade those who haven’t visited before that they’re getting a great deal for themselves.
Private Dining, Event, & Catering Packages
Having a private dining space, or an event space in your restaurant can be a great added bonus to customers. This allows you to cater for birthday parties, business events, and more. On average customers are willing to pay more for special occasions and events for food and beverages. During a recent study by Tripleseat, they found that venues offering private dining and events space get 30% of their revenue from that business.
Are you a restaurant looking for help with your marketing strategy?
Dash Agency are here to help. From working with restaurant, cafes, and immersive dining experiences such as Lunar, Alberts Café, The Murdér Express, and Umami, Dash has a range of valuable experience to cater to what your business needs. From billboards, emails, flyers, to managing socials, Dash can help your restaurant increase the number of covers booked and raise your awareness of your brand.
Whether you’re looking for marketing expertise or have a specific project in mind, we’re here to assist.