2018’s Top Restaurant Marketing Tools to Bring Consumers to Your Door
Reputation is everything More than in almost any other industry, reputation can make or break a restaurant’s success. Before online platforms such as Yelp, Facebook, and Google+ were common, written reviews from trusted sources, such as the Wall Street Journal’s Food & Wine section or Zagat, were the most accessible way for consumers to glean information about a restaurant. Due to the niche distribution and content constraints of printed reviews, restaurants could be overlooked entirely or not given the credit they deserve. Today, foodies have an abundance of digital tools to connect directly with each other and share their experiences. This is a wonderful opportunity for restaurants to engage their consumer base and get the word out about their venue. Ask your customers where they look at reviews and incentivize them to share their opinions by offering a free drink or appetizer in exchange. More reviews will help normalize your rating and provide insight into where you can improve. And if you think reviews don’t matter: think again. In a recent study, the Huffington Post found that a half star difference on Yelp can influence a restaurant’s revenue by 27%. Make it easy for customers to find you Don’t rely on foot traffic to bring guests to your door. More than 97% of diners look online to find local businesses. Of which, 60% cross-reference their restaurant selections with review sites, according to BrightLocal. This means, your restaurant needs to carefully orchestrate geo-targeted ads, as well as listings across major local map and review platforms so your customers can easily find you. Consistency across channels helps your customers make the jump from searching for a place to eat on their tablet, to entering your location into their GPS, and leaving a positive review on their laptop after the meal. Additionally, a seamless multi-channel presence signals to consumers that you are a reputable business that understands their needs and is able to provide the information they want, when and where they want it. Learn more about the importance of utilizing multi-channel marketing within your restaurant marketing from our team. Pictures really are worth 1,000 clicks When promoting the quality of your restaurant and food, pictures are the easiest way to engage consumers. While an online reviewer may share different tastes or expectations than the reader, a picture provides clear insight into what someone can expect at your venue. We recommend investing in professional photography to showcase your menu and establishment, combined with a curated social media presence. As an example, Instagram – the quintessential photo sharing platform – is slated to hit over one billion active users in 2018. If you can only pick one platform to invest in, this is your best bet. Over 80% of their users happily engage with brands already according to SproutSocial, and the photo-centric nature of this platform makes it an ideal place to showcase creative restaurant promotions alongside mouth-watering visual appetizers. Whether you need assistance finding a food photographer, setting up your local listings, or boosting your reputation, our top Florida digital marketing agency can help. Reach out today for a free consultation with the BIGEYE team.
Four Tips for Restaurant Marketing and Social Media
The marketers at the fast food chain restaurant Checkers had it right back in 2000, when they introduced the slogan “You gotta eat.” It’s true… Americans eat an average of three meals of day, spending an average of $2,700 per household eating out annually (and often times, even more in young, urban areas like Orlando, home to our Florida advertising agency). If you’re a restaurant marketer, it may seem daunting to try to reach these people. But if your restaurant hasn’t invested in a social media strategy, you may be hurting you chances of success. It’s well known to marketers that people are more likely to try out new places based on recommendations from friends, and in this social age, it’s one of the best ways to get the word out. Our Orlando advertising agency has come up with four tasty tips to help use social media to drive people into your restaurant. Remember, It’s Not All About the Food Okay, so to some degree, it IS all about the food. The goal is to drive people into your restaurant, and to increase the bottom line. But instead of thinking about social media in terms of return on investment, it’s more important to think about it in terms of return on relationship. Restaurant marketers can do this by offering curated content that aligns with their customers’ lifestyles. Followers of an organic restaurant might be interested to see photos of the farms where the chefs get their produce, while fans of a quirky hot dog stand might be more interested in reading about who won the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest in Coney Island. The key is to know your audience, and to know their interests to better cater to them. [quote] Ready to get started? Give us a call. [/quote] People are visual creatures, so show them what you’re up to A picture’s worth a thousand words, right? Well, if not a thousand words, then at least a bunch of comments on Instagram. After all, why do so many people use their expensive, high-resolution smartphone cameras to take photos of the pancakes they had for brunch? It’s because images are better for capturing and parlaying an emotion, an impulse or a feeling. While photos of food are great, it doesn’t have to stop there. Just offering daily inspiration through a photo of a local mural, the kitchen team high-fiving or a couple of regulars sharing cocktails is enough to keep your followers and fans interested and engaged. Listen to your followers Social media offers great perspective to allow restaurant owners to hear what people are saying about their brands. With Twitter Advanced Search, Monitter and Social Mention, there’s no reason not to listen in on the conversation. (These are great resources to help keep an eye on your competitors as well.) While a single customer service complaint may not be anything to be up in arms about, a string of similar responses may suggest you need to tweak something. Show your followers you care by listening to them and answering their complaints. Get creative Your restaurant’s social media page is your page. Try posting your favorite recipes, things you think your customers might enjoy, or even running a contest to encourage new subscribers and Twitter followers. With technological advances expanding by leaps and bounds, there are thousands of ways that brands use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Foursquare and a variety of other platforms to help connect with larger audiences. Just as chefs get creative with the meals they serve, a restaurant social media team can get creative with the content it serves up to its followers. For more novel ideas on how to best expand your restaurant’s social media outreach, contact us today!