If You Don’t Market Your Restaurant To Appeal To Food Bloggers Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later

Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Take away the customers, and you’ve got basically nothing going for your restaurant business. So how do you attract more customers? Referrals. It’s the name of the game, which is something that came to mind while I was watching TV the other day.

A few days ago I was watching National Geographic in my living room. I couldn’t sleep. So I turned on the TV and found this Nat Geo program where they featured food bloggers from different parts of the world. The Food Lover’s Guide to the Planet – I think that was the name of the show. In the program there was this food blogger from Vietnam who stalked the night streets of Hanoi in search of authentic Vietnamese-style noodles called Pho, this Hong Kong blogger who led a double life—an office worker during weekdays and sick female steamed crab lover and blogger on weekends. Then there was also this blogger who moved all the way to France to rediscover the country’s distinctive taste for desserts. Then they would come home and write about their food experience on their blogs over a good ol’ cup of coffee.

An idea suddenly hit me. These good folks are out looking for food to write on their blogs. As a restaurant owner, why can’t you be the one who gives them something to write about?

In fact it sounds like a pretty good idea.

Make time to sit down at your computer and search for popular food bloggers in your area. Blogging is mainstream these days. Especially if you live in a big city, there should be at least one or two food bloggers residing in your area. Then send them a personal message inviting them to stop by your restaurant for a free lunch or dinner. Being food enthusiasts, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind entertaining your invitation.

When they arrive, come out and offer them a personal greeting. If it isn’t a busy night, have your head chef chat with them while your waiters serve the appetizers. It’s always a nice touch to have them offer food advice to your head chef, and vice versa. Afterwards serve the main course and make sure everything is done right. Designate a dedicated server to your guest if possible.

As I said earlier, one way to attract more business is through referrals. What better way to do just that than to get in the good graces of a food blogger? One of the bloggers I mentioned earlier, the one who lives in France, his website gets around five to seven thousand hits a day. If you could get a similar blogger like him to write positively about your restaurant, isn’t that worth the price of a free meal?

Get the Internet talking about your restaurant by appealing to food bloggers in your area.

Share your tips on how to attract more business online by leaving a comment after this post.

Are You At Risk Of Pushing Customers Away Before They Even Dine In Your Restaurant?

I am a big fan of Mo Twister, a radio show host back in my home country. I don’t get to listen to him too often now, but I check his blog every now and then. Last Saturday, I found something quite interesting.

In the blog post, DJ Mo was bashing this restaurant near the apartment where he lived. He hasn’t eaten in the restaurant yet. But he’d been browsing the Internet and found this neat if not condescending article tucked away in the restaurant’s website.

The article:

A word to the wise: UPPER EAST is not for those sans chutzpah and those unwilling to pay for the price for a taste of New York style.

Run by the chefs and students of AHA Philippines, UPPER EAST’s interiors are done in modern chic, urban classic, design reminiscent of New York’s Upper East Side apartments. Wooden chandeliers complete the picture of a restaurant that may just be too chic for its clients.

Just don’t expect to dine whenever you want to.

After all, UPPER EAST is not always open for business. We close our doors when we want to, and we certainly won’t wait around for guests who, frankly, need to get a move on. No lunch is served after 1 p.m. and no dinner after 9 p.m.

UPPER EAST is not for scrooges and stiffs. We tolerate sharing, although it’s not exactly de rigeur, is it? As for splitting? The fine is set at P250, not including our wait staff looking down their noses at you.

This is the UPPER EAST experience. And this is the price you pay… if you can get in.

What can you say?

Frankly I couldn’t say anything after going through the article at least a couple times. I had no idea if the owner of Upper East wanted to attract a following of elite diners by trying to sound like a New Yorker (do New Yorkers even talk this way?), or he or she is intentionally trying to push customers away, which makes more sense, if you ask me, considering the tone of the article.

This is what happens when online marketing for restaurants is taken out of context. I believe there’s nothing wrong with trying to establish a personality, a corporate attitude. But at least make sure it works to your advantage and that it doesn’t leave customers with a sour taste in their mouths.

A lot of the things you need to know before you get started on restaurant marketing on the Internet I’ve already discussed in my previous posts, which can be found in the Online Marketing section of this site. For example, instead of writing a condescending article about how “chic” your restaurant is, why not setup a weekly-updated blog where you ask clients for feedback and possible ways to improve the menu and service?

If there’s anything that can be laid in stone in this business, it’s that customers want to be heard. Period.

Small things like these – writing an introductory article for your restaurant’s website – sometimes goes a long way and could either make or break your business without your knowing it. If you’re going to do it, do it right. If you want to get your feet wet marketing your restaurant online, then be prepared. Brush up a little by reading some of my online restaurant marketing tips.

It’s always sad to see a restaurant business go down just because they couldn’t get their internet marketing campaign right.

Leave your comments after this post.

Do You Struggle With Restaurant Blogging?

The concept of running a restaurant is simple:

You serve the food, customers come to your restaurant, you get paid for the service.

It’s a very simple yet effective way of doing business, and it’s been like that for so many years. But the invention of the Internet made one thing very clear to restaurant operators everywhere: that restaurants have a hard time connecting directly with customers.

These days people are always wanting more. They want more value, they want healthier food, and they want you, the restaurant owner, to “wow” them before they even take a seat at one of your tables.

One way to do just that is through restaurant blogging. Here are some tips on how to effectively blog about your restaurant.

1.    A blog is a tool to update your patrons
A blog can be a very effective tool to update customers and patrons about upcoming events and other things – effective, if done right. Anything from menu changes to in-house improvements to changes in the staff should be shared on your restaurant’s blog.

2.    Pictures don’t lie
One of the best ways to make use of your restaurant blog is to make your customers salivate through pictures of your best dishes, etc.

Do you think one of your chefs just created his or her masterpiece? Take a picture and post it on your restaurant blog. Also post pictures of events and other happenings in your restaurant.

These days people want real media. Forget about crappy descriptions of food. Show them the goods!

3.    Get answers directly from your customers
Like I always say, a real entrepreneur always strives to make a connection with his or her customers.

On your blog, write brief articles about your staff, the menu, or conduct surveys from time to time. Ask customers what they think about certain dishes, or simply just receive comments from visitors. It’s a great way to connect with patrons and gather some invaluable data in the process.

4.    Restaurant blogging is online marketing
A blog also allows you – the restaurant owner – to advertise your own restaurant.

If there’s a website, then there’s definitely a sidebar or a header panel. Once again take pictures of your best dishes and slap them onto one of those sidebars. That’s one way to make the most of the space available on your blog.

Any person who has spent a considerable amount of time on the Internet knows that blogs rank well in search engines. That should put a glimmer of hope on any restaurant entrepreneur’s face. So next time you’re thinking about sending a press release to a paid commercial website, post it on your blog instead—if you have one, that is.

A well-kept and regularly-updated blog should help your restaurant’s brand name catch on to consumer consciousness like wildfire.

What Is Simon’s Secret: How A Regular Pizza Store Owner Improved Sales By Blogging On His Website

I was reading emails the other night when I came across this article. I thought it showed a good example of efficient internet marketing and decided to blog about it here.

Simon Pickles is a proud owner of a Domino’s Pizza franchise in the UK. Located at St. Helen’s, his strong pizza parlor business isn’t the only thing he should be happy about. Simon also runs a very successful restaurant blog, which he keeps to maintain a healthy talking relationship with his fans.

It seems Simon’s quite popular around town – thanks to his delicious pizza.

Simon’s blog is one of the few restaurant websites I’ve seen that actually does the job of promoting a restaurant – for free. The internet’s been out a few years. But sadly, only a couple of restaurant owners advertising online actually “gets it”. The rest is fodder.

What is Simon’s secret? He fills his website with useful information.

For example, Simon announces competition winners on his website, he keeps track of local sports teams and writes about their progress, he promotes local fund-raising programs, posts food and health-related videos from YouTube, and addresses his customer concerns and inquiries whenever he’s got the time.

The result?

Simon says around 32%, just about, of his deliveries come from the internet. This is interesting when the national average is only 17%.

Another good that comes out of it is that his staff is no longer tied up on the phone. Less people sitting idle means faster operations, which in turn leads to better profits in the long run. All this comes from blogging – for free – on the internet, and doing it right.

The old newspaper theory goes, “If you want your paper to sell, fill it with meaningful news and photos that people want to read,” or something like that. Simon understands this theory and has applied it to his online restaurant marketing strategy.

Take a long good look at your website. Is it like Simon’s, or is it like fodder?

Respond to this post by leaving a comment below.

Four Things You Ought To Consider Before You Start A Blog For Your Restaurant

Blogs are changing the way people do business. Since you’re reading this article, I’m betting my money you have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about.

But before you dip your toes into anything, there are main four things you need to consider before you start blogging your restaurant.

1. Monitor the competition
First and foremost you need to understand how blogs really work. Running a blog website isn’t something you pick up from reading a manual for dummies.

Switch on your computer and start reading from popular restaurant blogs to get a feel of how things are done. Ask friends for some good references. Personally I recommend you check out this website.

Once you find a website that’s akin to the style you want, stick to it and monitor how they do this blogging business, how they format their posts, the appropriate style of writing, etc.

2. Participate in the discussions
They say experience is the best teacher, and I advise you to apply that here.

Participate in the community by dropping helpful comments whenever you feel you could add something to the discussion. Use your knowledge to add value to the conversation. But don’t walk in as a restaurant owner. Instead be that regular guy who simply loves to talk about food and fine dining.

Once you’ve made some strong bonds and people are starting to listen to what you have to say, you’ll find it’ll help you lots when you finally get around with your own blog website.

3. Establish relationships with other bloggers
Make friends with top bloggers and restaurant owners in the industry. Why’d do you want to do this? One word: reference. These people hold great power over your future audience. If they know you and they like what you have to say in your articles, they’ll be more likely to mention you in one of their blog posts.

Now that’s free advertising. Period.

4. Start a blog
It’s time to finally get started.

Monitor the competition. Check. Participate in discussions. Check. Make friends with the right people. Check. Now you’re all set up to start your own blog website.

I hope this doesn’t sound too funny, but I personally recommend you to try and use Wordpress as your first (and hopefully the last) blogging platform. It works great and it’s easy to use, and I should know. I wrote this article on Wordpress. And because you are reading this article, you should know, too.

Thinking of starting a blog for your restaurant? If you need a friend, let me know…