What makes customers choose your restaurant over the one down the street? We have talked about promotional items and marketing, but how do you create a space that draws people in and makes them want to come back? Good food and great service is definitely important, but you want to draw people in before they even get a taste of your menu or interact with your staff. Here are some practical steps you can take to make your place more enticing to customers.
Be Present on Social Media
At the beginning of this year, there were 3.96 billion people using social media. Regardless of your opinion on this subject, it is not going away and your restaurant has an opportunity to capitalize on this free advertising! Social media is a great platform to showcase what your restaurant brings to the table through pictures of the food you serve, introducing your friendly staff and posting about promotions you are offering. This is a great tool to allow people the chance to get to know what your restaurant is about and what you have to offer. According to Sprout Social, reviews and online comments influence 88% of people, so you want to be sure your restaurant has a social media presence and can be part of the conversations that are happening. You have the opportunity to interact with customers or future customers in a way like never before, so use it to your advantage. Remember that people typically need to see at least 2-4 posts from you before they decide to give your restaurant a shot. Be consistent in posting and engage with your audience.
Utilize Online Ordering and Food Delivery Apps
You want to meet people where they are, and as we are learning, people are online. The pandemic may have pushed many restaurants towards online ordering and delivery before they had planned, but that’s the direction it was heading anyway. Not only is this more convenient for customers, but it is also more efficient for the restaurant and ultimately helps with growth in revenue. Online ordering gives customers the ability to order at their own speed and convenience without feeling rushed in line and gives the restaurant an opportunity to serve more people. A restaurant may only be able to seat 40 people at a time, but with online ordering and delivery, you have opened your business up to endless orders that are not bound by seating.
Email Marketing
This is a great, easy, low-cost way to reach the masses. Make sure that your website has a place for customers to enter their email address to sign up for your newsletter. You can also have a link on your social media pages that takes customers right to the email sign-up. These newsletters can be short and sweet, but they serve to remind people that you are there and showcase what your restaurant has to offer. You can offer a discount code when they sign-up to receive emails and continue to offer special deals for your loyal email subscribers. Now customers are not only seeing your content through social media, but are also receiving emails. This will increase your visibility and as a result, increase their chances of trying your restaurant.
Technology is not going away, but is progressing more and more each year and has made it easier than ever to reach new and future customers. There are so many ways to put your restaurant out there for people to see, so find which methods work best for you and watch your business grow.
