Do you want to attract new customers for your restaurant? Here, we share some good ideas for you to start your marketing and promotion plans for your business. Restaurant owners are always looking for new and original ideas to attract new customers. There is no justification for the lack of customers and the lack of initiative to create a good promotion and marketing plan for your restaurant business.
You have to make an effort to adapt to all the changes in restaurant marketing and try to take full advantage of the new tools that people who work in the sector have at our disposal. It would be crazy not to, don’t you think? Not sure where to start? Making a marketing plan for your restaurant might take some time, but, it will be worth the work. There are many methods of promoting a restaurant. Wondering how to get more customers in your restaurant and increase profits? Look to these tips and ideas.
Partner With Other Businesses In Your Community to Offer Bundles
There are many people in the restaurant business that forget the offices and companies where the restaurant is located. There are many employees who do not bring lunch to work and would love to have a nice place to eat during lunch. You can take advantage of this and drop your flyers. Hire someone specific to go around the local companies and offices to leave flyers. Some companies may not like being solicited. Therefore, you could also give the flyers to employees that eat at your restaurant and ask them to give them out to the other staff members.
Word of mouth is one of the best forms of marketing. Even though the food can do the talking for you, it is also helpful to make sure your potential customers in the local area get a copy of your brochure and a few coupons. You could also go a step further to ask the manager or owner if you can drop off a menu. Another idea is to offer your customers different incentives that allow them to become familiar with other local businesses. With that being said, you could offer country club golf memberships to customers with an interest in golf. Or, you could offer gift certificates for hair scrunchies for customers with love for beauty supplies. You could bundle these things with your own promotion to give it more appeal.
Offer Promotions and Discounts to Get Customers In the Door
Make sure your coupon promotion lasts for at least 30 days and offer it to your neighbors as well in a friendly way; treat them like colleagues, not strangers. Your restaurant promotion coupon should be professionally designed and small enough to fit in your pocket. Don’t make some big flyers and leave them all over the place. Also, don’t leave flyers under the windshield wipers. The point is to introduce yourself and your restaurant instead of being an anonymous business or person.
Offer Unique Entertainment Options
Wondering how to get more customers in your restaurant? Well, do you have a good collection of local wines? Do you have wines that have just arrived from abroad? What better than organizing a wine tasting at your place? Consider hosting a wine tasting event. Give customers the opportunity to develop a new appreciation for your wines (and, incidentally, your food), and offer them unforgettable dining in a beautiful setting.
Another idea is to organize cooking classes. Teach them some of your secrets (not all, of course), and make it informative, engaging, fun, and interesting. Give them cooking tips so they can cook your recipes at home for their family and friends. Everyone will talk about you and how wonderful your food is. And that’s what you want: to always stay fresh in the minds of your customers. Offer different activities or better said real experiences through cooking classes.
You may even consider sharing your recipes in a book. If you share some of your recipes in a cookbook, people will remember the precise moment they enjoyed that special dish in your restaurant. For that reason, they are going to buy your book, or they are going to buy it to share the experience with someone else. It is a domino effect.
People love a touch of live entertainment. Offering live music in your restaurant on a frequent basis sets you apart from your competition. This is another way as to how to get more customers in your restaurant. When the client considers going to have dinner and sees that you are the only one offering live jazz, where do you think they are going to go? You know the answer. If, because of the size of your restaurant, this is not possible to put on live music, you could hire a disc jockey for the weekends and communicate it through your social media networks.
Remember to offer gift cards as well.
Do you know how many times people choose a specific restaurant simply because it has gift cards? Your customers will get a small discount when receiving or obtaining this prepaid card, but you ensure the sale even before your customers come to your restaurant. Once you have them in your restaurant, it’s up to you to do everything possible to make them a loyal customer.
Use Social Media to Share Pictures and Update
Curious about how to get more customers in your restaurant? Well, do you have a smartphone handy? Are you surprised with that question? Well, your smartphone could work wonders for you. What better way than your own chef or manager to photograph or upload videos of the dishes he is preparing on Instagram and other social media platforms? You will see that it works well. Your customers will love to see what’s cooking in the kitchen and all the action and energy of the service. And, if it is your own staff who shows it to you, even better. It also does not have to be glued to the mobile while you are cooking! A daily message is all you need to generate interest and if it is through Instagram and Facebook stories, even better.
Be regularly active on social media networks. Currently, about 90% of the population uses social networks. Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools that you, a restaurant owner, have in your hands today. Why? Because, it is precisely in social networks, where your clients and potential clients talk, get informed and seek recommendations. Your restaurant has to be present in the minds of your customers when they are trying to decide where to eat. Social networks help you to always be on your customer’s mind, and to bring them to your store when necessary.
Never before has it been so easy and inexpensive to reach thousands of customers with just one click. Your goal when it comes to being active on social media is to tempt your customer through your dishes and that this temptation becomes a strong desire to go to your restaurant as soon as possible. If you have a partnership with a large brand, like Jarritos distributors, you should take advantage of the branding and share this on your social media pages. People will spend their money if they are familiar with a certain brand.
And as an extra tip, remember customers go crazy with desserts. Show them irresistible photos of your desserts on your social profiles, and you will see how you begin to have followers who ask for them by showing you the photo directly from your profile on Instagram, Twitter, or FaceBook.
Hire Professionals to Optimize Your Restaurant’s Website
Wondering how to get more customers in your restaurant? When it comes to restaurant marketing, you have to be a little creative. You could hire a marketing consultant or mobile marketing agency to optimize your website. The idea is to keep a simple and visual website. Don’t be like so many other restaurants that don’t have online presence. Your website does not need flash banners or background music. Do not overload it with information, because the only thing you are achieving is distracting your client and with that, you will lose the sale. Do not divert your client from your goal, which is to sell more.
Instead, give your client what they need: the menu and photos of your dishes and what makes you different from the rest. Let your customers know how to get to your restaurant or how to make reservations online. Review and make this checklist of everything a website needs so that you can see if you have an effective website for your restaurant.
Pamper Regular Customers
Curious about how to get more customers in your restaurant? While it’s important, it’s not always about attracting more customers to your restaurant all the time. In fact, it’s so much easier to pamper the ones you already have and make sure they come back with their acquaintances. Keeping a loyal customer is very profitable. So, do everything possible to make them want to go back to your place.
Offer good customer service, and make them feel special and welcome. You must be aware that they do not lack anything when they come in to dine. If you know what your regular customer’s name is, don’t hesitate to call him by name. If you know their tastes, you should recommend foods and drinks that you know they would possibly like. Surprise your customers with a product off the menu. Let them know what new dishes or events you will be introducing at a given time so they have a reason to return. A warm “see you soon” is a great way to say good-bye to a loyal customer.
Like credit card companies and airline companies, you could start a rewards program. Regular customers will love it! Customers would earn points every time they visited the restaurant and had certain items from the menu. Your customers will love the idea of not just spending their money on food but also gaining something back. It is a great concept, and that is why other large companies do it too.
Consider Adding Outdoor Seating
You could even think about adding outdoor seating, especially for customers who prefer the outdoors. It is also helpful during the warm months when customers want to enjoy the natural weather. It is also a good idea to have outdoor seating when the air conditioning unit might stop working. You could have a deck built on the outside to accommodate your customers, giving them a nice seating option. You could hire a deck builder to get the job done for you.
Make Sure Your Restaurant Is Clean and Presentable
No one wants to visit a restaurant that is not clean or presentable. So, if you’re wondering how to get more customers in your restaurant, make sure your restaurant is practicing clean hygiene. This means you should keep the floors, bathrooms, tables and chairs disinfected and dirt free. If you have to redo the flooring, hire a commercial flooring company to give the floors an overall. It could make a huge difference in how people view your establishment. You could also do window treatment. It would not be ideal for a customer to sit at a window and find it to be shoddy. You don’t want to have this as a conversation piece during a meal.
Partner With Delivery Services
Another way to get more customers in your restaurant is to partner with a delivery service company. Many customers are not going to physically visit the restaurant for various reasons including heavy traffic commute. Some people prefer to have their food delivered to them. Be sure that you have a legal contract with the delivery company so that if the courier suffers an athletic injury, you are not responsible for any legal ramifications. Delivering food to your customers could increase business and profitability. Therefore, it is something serious to consider.
Advertise Your Restaurant’s Ability to Cater Anywhere
You should also think of advertising your restaurant as offering catering service. Many restaurant owners do this to get more business. Let people know that you can cater to their wedding reception, special event, party and other occasions, formal or informal. You have to hire catering staff to help you with the workload.
If your place is suitable for organizing a night of sporting events, do not hesitate. When it comes to how to get more customers in your restaurant, become a sports-friendly restaurant, and you will see the many groups of fans who choose your restaurant to eat, drink, and have a good time admiring their sports heroes. Welcome your customers during the holidays such as Christmas, New Years, and Halloween. Take advantage of the holidays by offering a cozy place to customers who prefer to leave the house instead of cooking. You just have to make sure that your potential clients know that you accept reservations during these dates, by publishing on your website, on your social networks and through your email communications.
Building Your Customer Base
You can build your customer base in more ways than one, but email is a valuable marketing tool that many people dismiss. Don’t make that mistake because you will see that it is a very important and effective method of communication with your client. If it is possible, try to obtain the email addresses of customers who might be interested in dining at your restaurant establishment. With email addresses, you will be able to send out special offers, daily specials, discounts and new items on the menu.
Be sure to send the promotions you are running in the morning. By doing so, your potential customers will be able to make arrangements with you about the items they want delivered or picked up for lunch. This is how to get more customers in your restaurant, as it gives customers time to make an informed decision. Don’t forget to include attractive pictures and descriptions of the menu items. With a loyal customer database, you will be able to use direct marketing strategies for your restaurant promotion.
Create a subscription form on your website to collect email addresses, and communicate weekly or monthly with clients who have voluntarily registered. You can use this tool to keep them informed about your offers, your new menus and your special events. In addition, take advantage of this opportunity to reach your client’s email by offering them valuable content, such as recipes, cooking tips and ideas so they can eat healthier. However, remember that spam is not allowed. That is, nothing to write to the client who has not agreed to share their data. If you do, you will lose customers instead of gaining them.
Wondering how to get more customers in your restaurant? Consider these tips. New ideas and promotions as well as new ways to market and advertise your business are at your fingertips.