Marketing is an essential part of running a restaurant. You can have wonderfully delicious food, great service, a lovely atmosphere and a wonderful location – but if no one knows about your restaurant then your tables will be empty. Restaurant Marketing will help you to get the word out about what you have to offer, so that your guests will come and enjoy the experience at dining at your establishment.
There are many aspects to restaurant marketing and it can be a challenging task. If you are like most restaurant owners you are already incredibly busy and have too many things to worry about already. This is why most restaurant owners hire a restaurant marketing company to help them manage the promotional side of the business. The company can put together a plan for marketing and carry it out, so that your can focus your attention on other areas of the business. Investing in the skills of a talented marketing company will help to improve the number of customers and generate more revenue for your business.
If you have never worked with a restaurant marketing company before you might be wondering how they work and what they do. Let’s take a look into the role of the restaurant marketing company.
Creating a Marketing Plan
Before a restaurant marketing company does anything, the first thing they do is to create a plan. Marketing isn’t something that you can jump into and just make up as you go along, you will get much more effective results if you make a plan and do things strategically.
A restaurant marketing company will work with you to learn about your company and the unique aspects of your brand. They will then develop a marketing plan that is specifically designed around you.
Figuring Out Your Positioning
Positioning refers to the position that you hold in the mind of your customers. For example, are you the cheapest choice? The highest quality choice? The most convenient choice? The best choice for a romantic date night? Your marketing will be more effective when you focus on what you do best.
When a restaurant marketing company determines your positioning, it involves looking at the unique aspects that your restaurant does better than the others – then basing your marketing campaign around these aspects.
Online Marketing
In the past, the majority of restaurant marketing used to be conducted via print advertising, radio ads and flyers. However, the internet has drastically changed the world of marketing. These days, social media, websites and Email Marketing are the most cost effective and powerful ways of marketing your dining establishment. A modern restaurant marketing company will have extensive knowledge of how to use these tools in order to spread the word about a great restaurant.
The best thing about these marketing tools is that they are measurable. You will be able to see how many people opened your promotional emails, how many visited your website and how many clicked on a particular ad.
Creative Event Marketing
A restaurant marketing company can also help to promote your business via special events. For example, why not host a wine tasting at your chic Italian bistro and feature appetiser-sized versions of your most popular dishes to pair with the wines? Or maybe you can have a themed night or a dinner for a special event such as Easter or Christmas. These events are not only a lot of fun, but they can build the profile of your company.
Analysing the Competition
Part of a successful marketing campaign involves taking a look at the competition and looking at what they have to offer. A restaurant marketing company will take a close look at your competition so that they can identify how you can stand out from the others and gain an edge on them. They will continue to analyse this throughout the campaign so that they can be sure that your restaurant is competing with the others in your area.
These are just a few of the things that a restaurant marketing company can do for your business. Of course, when you meet with the company they will put together a custom marketing plan for the business that is unique to you – so they might offer other services different than those listed above. The general goal of a restaurant marketing company is to highlight the unique attributes of your restaurant in the most effective and appealing way – so that you can bring in more customers and grow your business.