A Guide To The Best Restaurant Marketing Tactics Of Sucessful Restaurant Operators
There’s a vicious cycle going on when it comes to restaurant marketing.
Don’t get me wrong. There are several great ways to market a restaurant. But even so, many restaurant operators simply aren’t made aware of the best restaurant marketing techniques by their consultants or advertising sales people. They want you to come to them from time to time. If it means giving you mediocre advices that work, but still mediocre, then so be it.
For now I’ll be discussing the key points of some of the best restaurant marketing campaigns I’ve seen in recent years. So the next time you talk to your consultant, you’ll know when he or she is holding out on you.
Here goes.
1. Branding
There has been a lot of talk going on about branding. They say a restaurant operator needs to do more branding or else do a better job of it if he or she wants to stay on business. But no one seems to slow down and explain what branding really is and how to build it.
A brand is a promise. Period. The brand is what the media, vendors, employees (internal customers) and most importantly, the customers, come to expect when they sit down at one of your tables. Building your restaurant’s brand means you are closing the gap between what you promised and what you deliver.
As a restaurant operator, it should be your life-long commitment to establish a strong brand for your restaurant.
2. Positioning
Positioning is another word for “marketing gimmick”. It is one of the best restaurant marketing tactics around, though underdeveloped in its execution most of the time.
Positioning is the place your brand holds in the customers’ minds relative to the rest of the competition. For example, $6 quick meals, served in 55 seconds or its free, etc. Great positioning makes effective use of USP, or unique selling proposition. Your restaurant’s USP is what’s yours and yours alone.
For example, both Burger King and McDonald’s sell burgers. But Burger King’s market positioning is they go for flame-grilled burgers while McDonald’s likes them fried.
3. Due Diligence
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Sure. Your restaurant is no great city, but the principle still applies.
The best restaurant marketing tactics do not materialize in a vacuum. They are built on a solid foundation of knowledge and facts, your customers, your competition, your financial history, your market history, other financial factors and all things in between. Not even Coca-Cola could market to everyone all the time.
An exercise in consistent market research and due diligence only has room for business success in the long run.
4. Training
What’s the point of marketing a restaurant that can’t even serve itself? Simply put, even the best restaurant marketing tactics won’t be able to do much for a B-grade restaurant. The money is better off spent on improving internal operations.
Training is a vital component of an effective restaurant marketing campaign. I’m not talking about a grand orientation program. As a restaurant operator, you need to set up an ongoing training regime that improves your staff’s competencies over time. And incorporating restaurant marketing sessions in one of your training programs isn’t a bad idea either.
The most successful restaurant businesses in the country makes use of one or more of these restaurant marketing techniques. Take it from me, employ the above tactics and put them to great effect, and you’ll only see good things to come for your business – thanks to these four key aspects of the best restaurant marketing tactics around.