If you’re just starting up your brand new restaurant or perhaps you’ve decided to open a café or coffee shop then you might be thinking about how you are going to promote it. It could be that you have a well-established restaurant or takeaway business but want to target new clientele, in which case this article courtesy of Alliance Catering might be of interest. 
Today an enormous amount of marketing takes place online but there is still plenty of room for traditional marketing such as printed material and local promotion. Having said that, today online marketing is massively important and should take up the bulk of your marketing strategy. Set up a 6 month marketing calendar and note down different marketing tactics per month, this could include daily “happy hour” and weekly discount nights for example.
- Promote Your Brand Livery
There are so many different modes of communication so getting your message across shouldn’t be too hard but think about how you market your brand and the wording you use as well. Always remember to use your livery on any marketing material, this makes you easily recognisable as your colours, logo and font will stick in the minds of people who see your literature (on and offline) and help them remember you, that’s the strength of a good brand.
- Use Online Booking Services
If you haven’t already done so, hop online and sign yourself up for online booking services such as Open Table, Bookatable or Uncover for example. These restaurant booking websites also run special offers and free online booking and are often the go-to for busy people who want to book a table from their tablet or iPhone. Many of these online booking services also have a reviewing section too, for customers to leave comments and tips for others.
- Grow Your Database
Your database is vital because having customer email addresses gives you leverage when marketing. You can use these email addresses to send out exclusive invitations, special offers and restaurant news such as new menus, different opening times etc. As well as emailing your database with restaurant news and special offers, if you capture birth dates too you can email those with birthdays coming up with a special birthday discount. Be clever with your database – it can help you enormously. Capturing emails is easy if you know how. You can do this by leaving comment cards on tables requesting email addresses, taking email addresses down when a restaurant booking is made, encouraging people to sign up to your newsletter via your website…building a database is tantamount to creating a successful business, if you haven’t already done so, make this a priority.
- Use Local Celebrities
If you know of any or have any famous people in the area why not see if they will offer their services to promote a special event? As an idea, if it’s the summertime and you want to hold a BBQ event invite a celebrity along – it could be a local MP or a radio presenter. If they are agreeable send an exclusive personal invitation to your customers to the event and start promoting it through other local sources (the newspaper/radio station etc.), local media will be very likely to cover the event which gives you more customers on the event day and plenty of promotion throughout the community.
- Create a Newsletter
Once you have your database, devise a newsletter. There are plenty of free templates online which you can brand with your own livery and colours (check Mailchimp for example) and most of them are free to use. Send out a monthly newsletter but keep it brief. Tell customers about monthly offers, what’s new on the menu, any special events and maybe include a link to a blog article. This keeps your restaurant name in mind – you’d be surprised how many people book a table after seeing a restaurant’s name in their inbox.
- Create Your Online Presence
There’s so much you can do online but firstly you should most definitely have a website if you don’t have one already. If you do, make sure you update it regularly, add your special events, include monthly offers, menu updates and refresh the content every now and then. You should try your best to blog because Google likes fresh content, it moves you up the search engines and it helps grab new customers who might be searching for something completely different but perhaps come across your blog. Additionally, you should create a Facebook page, Twitter account and Instagram account. These modes are all good for promoting your business. Get your staff on-board, perhaps delegate social media to someone else who is especially good at using it but makes sure you send uniform messages out so you are always promoting the same thing at the same time. This helps to bolster the message. Instagram and Twitter are excellent for quick notes – take pictures of your chef’s culinary creations and Tweet them/Instagram them to your followers. You can also run special online promotions such as 10% off your meal today only when you quote Twitter 10 to your waiter/waitress.
- Loyalty Card
Encourage return customers with a loyalty card. These are simple to create and remember to use s your branding. Get card printed with spaces for stamps and produce something to say enjoy five meals on us and get your sixth absolutely free. The same applies for a coffee shop; perhaps give the 10th coffee free with a muffin. Loyalty is very important in the restaurant business, you want to capture your clientele and keep them.
- Create Special events
Add some extraordinary culinary events to your restaurant calendar, for example, a wine and cheese tasting evening or perhaps a cooking demonstration by your chef. Market these through social media and local news. If you want to make it more exclusive, organise limited invitations and perhaps give a percentage of the profit to a specific local charity – make sure the local press knows about it too. Supporting other local businesses and charities always gets your name on the local map and customers who live in the area appreciate this type of effort.
We hope the above marketing ideas help you promote your restaurant or coffee shop. For everything you need to make sure your restaurant runs smoothly, visit Alliance Catering Online where you’ll find a treasure trove of catering products and equipment.