Recipe for Success

by | Oct 6, 2018

A recipe for success

If you own a restaurant keep your clients coming back and bring in new diners with this simple recipe. Entice. Engage. Welcome.

restaurant websites responsive design

01

Make sure your website is up to date. It doesn’t have to be fancy but at a minimum should give your customers a good idea what you are about. At a minimum their experience should match their expectations. Include updated menus, hours with any special closures noted, a way for them to contact you and clear directions including parking tips. Links to your social media are also recommended.

Responsive design is good too as many are on their phones or traveling with only a tablet.

02

You know who comes to your restaurant but you often don’t know who you are missing.

Create news in the form of specials, happy hour, events, partnerships, charity alliances and more so you have things to talk about often with both your current patrons and new ones as well.

Many special event sections in local newspapers dining and entertainment sections are free, you just have to fill them out. You will also have a great mix for your social media.

sarasota food photography

03

Invest in quality photography that is as good as your food. That way you can mix it up and your messages won’t look too repetitive. If you are orgainzed, Imagica can shoot up to 10 plates in an hour’s time making your cost per image really affordable.

04

Get social.

Shout loud and shout often. You will be noticed. Let people know about the specials you offer, your favorite charities, a great employee, a new menu or who’s dining with you. Your best patrons and prospecitve ones want to know.

Once you have a critical mass of loyal followers, you can fill seats quickly at slow times or un unexpectedly slow nights. It’s fast, doesn’t cost anything and works 10x better than any ad.

05

Be efficient.

Post your images, news, events on your social chanels as well as on your website. Your social media should lead visitors to back to your website so the traffic works for you by increasing your SEO rankings and not in competition with it.

Carefully crafted content has a call to action and can be the same content over all of your outreach tools so you are not doing extra work for only a small sample of your overall audience.

06

Engage.

Ask your audience questions, feedback, what they think. That’s the power that is lost in print and other types of broadcast media. Craft your message in a way that encourages your audience to share your story to their friends and they will.

Successful restaurants don’t shy away from what their customers think, rather use the feedback to improve their product and build loyal patrons.

sarasota food photography

07

Be consistent.

Don’t fade in and fade out of your marketing efforts. You have a lot to talk about. In addition to your great hospitality, front of mind awareness is key to keeping clients and bringing in new ones throughout the year.

Paint an accurate picture for your new guests. You help your community and your neighbors by promoting yourself.

08

No hiding anymore.

To take full advantage of the benefits of review websites, you have to be fully equipped on the back end with good marketing resources for visitors to see. Visitors are becoming increasingly skeptical with a growing number of review websites, but you still can’t deny their power.

You see very few comment cards in restaurants any more but they serve as a great buffer for adgitated diners to vent before resorting to their phones while feeling neglected. We’ll save that strategy for later.

florida restaurant marketing
hospitality marketing

09

Recipe for success.

Obviously these are only a few ingredients of what it takes to successfully market a restaurant today.

If you only did these things really well your chances for success will be very high and you would be considered a power marketer in a sustainable way.

See how Imagica can help you bring more diners into your restaurant. Lots of options at any level.

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About the author Perry Johnson
Perry is a classically trained commercial photographer and graphic designer with more than 30 years experience as a marketing strategist. He is a principle at Imagica, a boutique marketing agency based in Sarasota, Florida. Imagica is dedicated to developing fluid, distinct and highly effective branding solutions for your business. With all services in-house, Imagica delivers exceptional value and provides both realistic and sustainable solutions to thrive in today's new markets.