{"id":65442,"date":"2015-02-11T18:02:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T16:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=65442"},"modified":"2015-02-11T18:02:25","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T16:02:25","slug":"restaurant-marketing-how-to-improve-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/restaurant-marketing-how-to-improve-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Marketing: how to improve business!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"restaraunt-marketing-ideas\"<\/a>An American article guides restaurants with ‘<\/strong><\/span><\/a>25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas, Tips and Strategy to win in the food business’<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, <\/em>most of which are applicable to South Africa too. \u00a0Local restaurants are not known to be good at marketing their food and service! \u00a0The list of ideas suggested is as follows:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Photographs are THE way to market restaurants, via Instagram in particular, ‘high-quality, drool-inducing photos’<\/em> being the best way to promote a restaurant. \u00a0It is worth investing in an excellent food photographer.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 Loyalty Programs on online food apps attract attention and reward loyal custom.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0In the USA Yelp<\/strong> is vital, positive reviews being a massive marketing plus. \u00a0It has not been heard of in our country. \u00a0Locally Zomato, Eat Out<\/strong>, and Food24<\/strong> are some of the equivalent websites, allowing reviews.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0 A Google+ account should be set up, so that information on one’s restaurant reflects on the right-hand side-bar, obtained from the restaurant’s Google+ account.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0 With increasing focus on eating close to home, Geo-targeted ads offered by Facebook, Google, and Twitter alert locals to restaurants close by.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0An Instagram account is vital for a restaurant.<\/p>\n

7 \u00a0 A regular newsletter, to share successes, new menu items, or discounts and specials offered.<\/p>\n

8. \u00a0Attract and incentivise patrons to share their photographs on a dedicated page, rewarded by prizes.<\/p>\n

9. \u00a0Feature happy smiling staff, who patrons will look forward to being served by.<\/p>\n

10. \u00a0 Social Media is vital, and has replaced printed promotional media. \u00a0Facebook and Twitter are media which should be used to offer discounts, photographs of new dishes, and offer news. \u00a0Social Media management tools such as Hootsuite.com should be used to pre-schedule Tweets and Facebook posts.<\/p>\n

11. \u00a0 Media coverage should be shared on the restaurant website and via Social Media.<\/p>\n

12. \u00a0 Subscribe to Google Alerts, with keywords relating to the restaurant, so that media coverage can be found.<\/p>\n

13. \u00a0 Blogging about the restaurant defines its personality and character, in sharing its recipes, menus, challenges, and successes.<\/p>\n

14. Invite food bloggers to try the restaurant, in the hope that they will write about their experience. \u00a0This is used successfully locally too. \u00a0 Bloggers with a large following can be influential in creating attention to restaurants, especially new ones.<\/p>\n

15. \u00a0 Check that the online details of the restaurant are correct, given that 89% \u00a0of (American) patrons check out restaurants online.<\/p>\n

16. \u00a0Define who the target market is for the restaurant, and focus the Social Media activities to reflect and talk to the target market.<\/p>\n

17. \u00a0Tweets and Facebook posts can be pre-scheduled, linked to the time of day the restaurant is offering specific menus, and patron are looking to eat specific types of dishes or drink beverages.<\/p>\n

18. \u00a0 The website must contain an easy-to-find and read menu, and it is stressed how vital this is.<\/p>\n

19. \u00a0Link to a delivery service, such as Mr D (formerly called Mr Delivery) in South Africa.<\/p>\n

20. \u00a0Coupons and discounts offer an incentive to try a restaurant, especially new ones. \u00a0 Groupon is recommended, but in our country it has a poor image, reflecting desperation.<\/p>\n

21. \u00a0Link to online restaurant reservation tools.<\/p>\n

22. \u00a0 Consider using Mobile Ads, being cheaper than desktop ads, and giving better conversion rates.<\/p>\n

23. \u00a0Business card lucky draws gives restaurants access to new readers of the restaurant newsletters.<\/p>\n

24. \u00a0A Food Truck may attract a new set of potential customers to the restaurant. Locally El Burro operates a food truck on Sundays.<\/p>\n

25. \u00a0Source local seasonal ingredients, to boost the restaurant image.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage \u00a0Facebook: \u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An American article guides restaurants with ‘25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas, Tips and Strategy to win in the food business’, most of which are applicable to South Africa too. \u00a0Local restaurants are not known to be good at marketing their food and service! \u00a0The list of ideas suggested is as follows: 1. \u00a0Photographs are THE way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[4795,3,124,266,20,21],"tags":[2285,32378,29887,3089,138,2381,29890,6403,20729,4328,29882,287,12716,13181,7165,19921,15605,10663,5761,29889,29886,8389,10935,29885,29888,1861,29884,29881,13279,32395,29883,1587,32373,15656,19767],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t