One of the most challenging businesses out there is running your own restaurant. Not only do you need to keep attracting new customers and keep your old ones hanging around, but you also need to keep an eye on the trends, both in terms of design and food. On top of that, you need to keep incorporating new technologies, such as social media, in order to stay relevant.
For example, digital ordering and delivery has grown 300% faster than dining inside restaurants since 2014. Obviously, people like the convenience, and all successful restaurants need to meet such customer demands.
But, even if you are doing everything right, things can get stale after a while. That is why you way want to apply a fresh coat of paint every so often or even remodel the entire place every few years. The same goes for your restaurant marketing strategy, where things are moving a lot faster, which means you need to be aware of all the latest marketing developments and tech and to implement them in order to improve your revenue. With that in mind, let’s take a look at seven indicators which show that it’s time for you to rebuild your restaurant marketing strategy.
1. The Number of Visitors Is Declining
Even if you are killing when it comes to takeout or deliveries, you should be worried if the number of people who actually dine on the premises is declining. According to research, that is the case with most restaurants, because nearly 60% of orders are made off-premise. So why worry about that, because it seems like you are saving money that way, especially on staff? First of all, waiters and staff salaries are pretty low to start with, so you wouldn’t be saving much. Second, whatever money you save, you still need to provide additional items to go along with the delivery, such as packaging, salt, pepper, napkins, or ketchup.
Third, according to AssignmentMan stats experts, most restaurants make most of their profit on drinks such as wine, beer, or soft drinks, and those are rarely a part of off-premise orders. Finally, a huge number of online orders can sandbag your kitchen, because unlike online orders for any other kind of goods, these are handled by actual humans, not software. Getting people back into your restaurant should be your primary goal.
2. Your Website & Social Media Aren’t Pulling in Enough Traffic
According to research, 90% of guests research a restaurant online before visiting, which means that your online presence needs to be on point. If you have a working website and social media profiles, but they aren’t helping your drive traffic, then you definitely need to make that one of your marketing priorities. Perhaps your website isn’t responsive, so it looks poor on mobile devices, or you haven’t done your SEO properly so it doesn’t show up inside the search results in the first place. Either way, you need to perform a thorough audit and redesign of your website.
And as far as social media is concerned, you need to keep an eye on customer reviews, as well as to provide some quality user-generated content as social proof, especially if you are new on the market. This goes whether you’re an assignment help service or a small family restaurant.
3. Poor or Mixed Customer Response and Reactions
One of the ways in which you can gauge the effectiveness of your marketing strategy is to gather customer responses in different forms. Surveys and questionnaires, both online and in person, can help you gather valuable feedback and determine what you need to change in your campaign. For instance, you can ask customers about how they came across your restaurant, or what made them choose that particular special. That way, you can see which initiatives are working and which ones aren’t. Addressing poor reviews, especially online, is a must as well. A handful of bad reviews can seriously tarnish your restaurant’s reputation. The same goes for any kind of business, from restaurants to Edubirdie reviews online.
4. You Are Receiving Very Little Online Orders
Seeing as we’ve already established that online orders make up a large percentage of all restaurant orders, you cannot afford to be missing out on these while your competitors take their piece of the pie. Online orders are especially important for new restaurants, and they are crucial for those which solely provide takeout and deliveries. In that case, you need to prioritize your online presence. Places like Ninja Essays review your online website, social media, blog, and content in order to help your restaurant appear as attractive as possible to customers.
5. You’re Not Paying Attention to Your Competitors
While it’s true in some areas of life that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others, but to who you were yesterday, restaurant business is not one of them. If your competitors are killing it when it comes to revenue and higher footfall, or the number of glowing online reviews, then you need to start paying attention and develop a new marketing strategy. For instance, Bestdissertation.com improved their revenue by 34% simply by introducing responsive design and several new payment methods, after seeing their competitors doing the same. The same can be applied to restaurants. Keep an eye on your competition, determine what they are doing better than you, and then try and beat them at it.
6. You Don’t Have Local Support
One of the essential elements for success of every small or medium-sized business is the support of its local community. We all know that people love to research everything online, from custom essay places to restaurants. But, people aren’t just searching for any restaurants. They are looking for those in their area or local community, and they often use keywords and phrases like “restaurants near me” or “best restaurants in [insert area name]”. If the locals aren’t frequenting your restaurant, you will have a tough staying open, even if your place gets a lot of visitors from out of town. If your marketing strategy isn’t resulting in stronger local support, it’s to change it.
7. You Aren’t Attracting New Customers
Although people love to go out and get a bite to eat, there are very few restaurants which can rely solely on the profit generated by their regular customers. You should always be looking to get new people to come to your restaurant. If you are struggling to pull this off, then you might want to retool your strategy and include more incentives for potential customers, such as special deals, offers, and interesting events. For instance, you can offer a weekly “2 for 1” deal, or offers free drinks to all the new customers for a limited period of time. The only way for your restaurant to grow is to keep attracting new people and offering something that will keep them coming back for more.
In order to make your restaurant business successful, or any kind of business for that matter, you need to be present in the eyes of your target audience. For that, you will need an effective marketing strategy. If your existing one ticks many of the boxes we have listed here today, then it’s time for you to make a change. Good luck!
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Scott Mathews is a freelance writer and editor for some of the best custom coursework and essay writing services, such as Boomessays and Rushessay. Apart from writing and blogging, he enjoys spending time in nature and playing music. He prefers dogs to cats.