As the Restaurant Industry tries to adapt to the new normal, Digital Marketing Concepts are now gaining the interests of many. Restaurants may have survived the effects of the lockdown, but now they have to pivot their operations with all the new restrictions being implemented.
Resuming operations during this time takes a huge adjustment for restaurants, bars, pubs, and cafes. There’ll be a tighter competition and budget available, and this situation looks like it’s nearly impossible to get back on the game especially to those small business owners.
But fear not, as there are solutions available that will help every restaurateur to regain their glory days – or even make it better. Now that there’s an increase in transactions being done online, it is time to know the different Digital Marketing Concepts that would put your restaurant out in the market.
Here are some of the ideas that can guide every restaurateur to their journey as they try to resume their operations.
Digital Marketing Concepts
Email Marketing
Prior to the chaos brought by the pandemic outbreak, Email Marketing is already doing wonders within the industry. This Digital Marketing Concept enables restaurateurs to reach out and relay relevant information to their customers through their emails.
Imagine having access to something that your customers check every 3 hours or more? If you adopt a good Email Marketing strategy, you can send them monthly, weekly, and daily newsletters about what’s new with your restaurant, what are your upcoming events, and if you’re running promotions and specials. You can use this digital marketing concept to promote the following :
- Promotions and Discounts
- Specials for the Day, Week, and Month
- Upcoming Live and Online Events
- Loyalty and Reward Programs
- Significant Updates
And you can maximize the potential of this concept by using Birthday Offers as well. Being able to reach out to your customers on their special day is one way to gain their loyalty to your restaurant business.
Make sure you’ve built a strong email database from your customers, and let your email campaign do the work for you.
Website Marketing
An updated and informative website is a must if you want to step up your game with your Digital Marketing. And your website is not just a tool for you, you should treat it as the tool for your success.
With this type of Digital Marketing Concept, you’re building a platform where your customers and potential customers can find everything they need to know about your restaurant. It should contain the basic information of your restaurant like address, contact information, menu, and operating hours. Don’t forget to include your Online Ordering service if you’re offering one.
Your customers should be able to navigate your website and locate items easily. It is important that your website is user-friendly. Take note that everyone is trying to use the internet now, and if you’re just taking the younger generation into consideration, you’ll be missing a quite large market.
For this digital marketing concept, it is important to take note of the following :
- SEO – Search Engine Optimization
- GMB – Google My Business
- Relevant content
Now, if you decide to focus on this concept, you have to make sure that you’re able to produce quality content for your subscribers or website visitors. Try to integrate Blogging on your website. This way, you’re able to set the tone and personality of your brand and customers would have a better engagement with you.
Social Media Marketing
The potential in this digital marketing concept is endless. As developers continue to find ways on how social media can be a benefit with businesses, they have already provided different ways on how to make marketing easier for everyone.
Modern diners are now very particular with Social Media presence. If your restaurant doesn’t have a good social media profile or if you’re not active with social media, there’s a great chance of them not choosing your restaurant.
And now that there’s an observed change in the behavior of the market, it is important to utilize the features of Social Media in order to stay ahead of the competition. Learn more about the targeted ads and campaigns you can do inside a particular social media platform.
Just make sure you’ve done a good research about the market and your customer base in order to use this platform in its highest potential. This digital marketing concept may come up with a fee, that’s why you have to make sure every penny spent is worth it.
Customer Engagement Marketing
As a restaurateur, it is important to make sure that your customers will stay loyal and engaged with your restaurant business. In order to attain this goal, you have to come up with strategies that would maintain and increase the customer engagement, such as through your UK food delivery app.
All the other three digital marketing concepts mentioned won’t matter if there’s no response coming from your customers. Below are some tips you can use in order to increase the engagement of your customers with your brand :
- Monitor and respond to online reviews
- Conduct online workshops
- Display testimonials on your website
- UGC – User Generated Content
- Share a weekly recipe
Building an organic relationship with your customers will surely boost the growth of your restaurant even during this time.
These digital marketing concepts are just guides for restaurateurs in order to help them to get back on their game. It may appear simple to integrate with your current marketing plan, it is crucial to know what tools you can use in order to make the transition as smooth as possible.
There are different tools available for every need, you can use Canva for design, Google Analytics for SEO, tools for user behavior tracking, tools for customer segmentation and other tools that can help you that are readily available online. You can also reach out to other local businesses and find ways on how you can help each other to grow each business.
Though this pandemic outbreak has caused major setbacks, as leaders of the Restaurant and Hospitality Industry, it is important to show resilience and find ways on how to minimize the impact of this outbreak to the whole industry.
