2. How has restaurant What do I need to know?
marketing
Reputation Marketing
changed?
Direct Mail
Restaurant Marketing has moved on in a very short
space of time leaving many behind.
In the past, restaurants relied on word of mouth, advertising and their Email Marketing
location to attract customers.
Once customers visited and had a great time, they would tell their friends. Telemarketing
Word would spread and more customers would come and visit.
This has changed. There are now fewer customers, more places to eat
and more ways to find the best places at the right price. Social Media
How does this affect my business? B2B Marketing
We need to be more aware than ever of our customers and what they are
looking for.
Loyalty
As well as traditional marketing like advertising and signage, we need to
use direct, digital and social media channels.
Event Marketing
Mobile Marketing
Now we know that it‟s a big list, so let‟s get started!
Local Reputation Loyalty There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
3. Why does our reputation affect Reputation Marketing
us so much?
Word of mouth is the strongest form of marketing All businesses will be affected by reputation but
Since people began to speak, word of mouth (WOM) has always been restaurants already are.
the strongest form of marketing. For people, eating food came before the
ability to speak!
The restaurant sector is probably the
As the restaurant sector was one of the most affected by WOM, it makes
sense that it will also be most affected by electronic word of mouth most advanced in terms of reputation.
(EWOM). Our reputation is now electronic too!
We need to be aware of what people
How can we adjust our marketing? think about us and how it affects their
Engaging with our customers is critical, as in turn, they are engaging
with our future prospects.
booking decisions.
They are engaging through the internet, social networks and face to face.
Why will that happen?
We also need to realise that these channels now overlap. Here‟s an explanation.
• Reputation sites –
The New Marketing Mix Customers can find out
how good we are quickly
Tripadvisor, Yelp, Qype, Google, are
enabling customers to evaluate your
service.
Smartphones and tablets
• Under 30% of people access the internet
have GPS and
on a desktop PC compared to more than
Direct Digital customers can search
nearby
95% just 4 years ago!
Socially connected
• Restaurants are one of the most shared
people can ask for
items on Facebook.
Social recommendations
There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
4. Direct Marketing Customer Database
This is going to be important. If you have
If you know what your customer wants, let them know you a booking system, this may take care of
the data for you.
offer it, then let them know again.
People are getting bombarded, with lots of marketing all of the time. Sometimes the You need to make sure you are capturing
only way to cut through the noise is by going direct. the correct information.
How often do you send a card to your customers to remind them to book a birthday
meal or their anniversary? Do you expect them to remember you instead of simply
booking with a group discount website? Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
Do we need to use direct mail – stamps cost a lot these Having data you can use for
days? marketing is one thing.
No, we can send them nice targeted emails too, if customers have agreed to receive Being able to manage it is another.
emails from us, they will probably be happy to receive communication from us. SMS is
also a great way to keep in touch. You may have a booking
system, but does it enable you to
Hey, Facebook seems to have a lot of birthdays on there too, maybe we could use communicate with your customers
them to send some targeted messages at the right time... easily and at the right time.
Ways to communicate
Customer Satisfaction
• This is a good way to engage directly with
Direct Mail people at the right time. But we need their Do you know what your customers are
contact info first! looking for in the current economic
climate?
Why not ask them?
• Everyone loves an email from their Direct marketing through email can be a
Email Marketing favourite restaurant. Special offers, new
menus, latest news. quick and easy way to find out what
they want.
And you can act on it!
• Not for every restaurant, but if you had
Telemarketing and SMS something special to share, could you tell
people directly?
There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
5. Relationship Marketing Loyalty Marketing
We need to keep our existing customers If we have great customers, how can we keep them
coming back?
while adding new ones Customers like change, We know this because we are customers too!
If there is an incentive to keep coming back, we might just change that last minute
decision. A loyalty card, VIP club, vouchers or invitation only events, make us feel
special.
Using daily deal sites can be
a fantastic way to generate Are you using them?
new customers, but what
happens next? What about vouchers?
Last minute, no present for your wife? What do we do?
For many of your customers, they head online and buy a voucher.
Are you enabling your customers to do this?
Ask yourself the following questions:
Think about how you can implement a voucher system that can be used online or in
your restaurant. Remember, up to 30% of vouchers remain in circulation at any
time, meaning an ongoing source of new customers
1. Are we generating the right kinds of customer?
2. Will these customers ever come back again? Vouchers create cashflow as you have the cash in advance of the customer. You can
use this to invest in the business.
3. Do I know who they are?
4. How can I send them more information?
If the answer to any of these questions is “No,” or “I don‟t know”
you need to make changes to your marketing.
When you can answer “Yes” to all of them, you can are building a
relationship.
There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
6. Event Marketing Business Marketing
Everyone loves a party More restaurants and hotels are looking to host business people.
Are you actively marketing to your customers at relevant
times, birthdays, anniversaries, graduation and so on Networking events, business meetings, conferences and others
all mean several things:-
Lots of new people visiting your restaurant
New customers experiencing your venue
Revenue from a new type of customer
Expanding the network of customers beyond local
Are you tracking local events?
The 2012 Olympics, the World Cup, local business events, the Jubilee. All of these
were marketing opportunities. When people feel good, more confident, they eat out
more.
Types of business events
With the advent of social networks hashtags, trends and social media monitoring can
help you to know what people are talking about. Hey, they may even be talking about Networking Groups Business Meetings Events
you! Good or bad, you need to know.
Could you create and run your own events?
Maybe you could have a menu taster day, a wine evening or even black pudding
throwing. There are tens of Would people Could your local
thousands of rather meet in a businesses host
Many restaurants are looking to build regular events that bring in new customers to try these meeting stuffy boardroom a board meeting
what they offer. every day across with crusty or mini-
the UK. Find your sandwiches or a conference with
local groups. great restaurant... you?
There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
7. Social Media
The Social Networks
Take control of your reputation
You may not want a Facebook page, but I am sure you would rather have one you set
up, than someone else doing it for you „unofficially‟.
You can set up the basic pages initially. Once you are more comfortable with the way
Facebook works, you can extend this.
Your customers are probably using Facebook (more than half the UK adult population
is a member!). You may find they are happy to see you.
For many businesses, this isn‟t just daunting, it‟s
terrifying! Who will run the social media presences?
You may already have someone, within your team, who can use the different social
networks. Many social networks have developed ways of managing your team‟s access
to your restaurant‟s pages.
It also isn‟t optional any more.
It always helps to have someone who can give an insight into the business. This might
be you or someone you trust to engage with your customers.
Ignoring social networks isn‟t going to make them
go away. What if people say nasty things about us?
Well, they will still say them, even if you have no pages. The only difference is that you
wont be able to hear them.
• Facebook already has 1 billion members
But remember everyone else can hear them, including your current and future
• Twitter has 500 million users customers.
• Linkedin is fast approaching 200 million
You can develop a process for dealing with negative and positive customers. If
anything it gives you a chance to build trust and let people see that you are listening
and responding.
We need to be trying new things and finding our
own way with social media. What suits our brand, What if people say lovely things about us?
may not suit another. You may have heard the term „amplify the positive‟. If you use the social networks
correctly you can share the positive messages with a much wider audience.
Starting early is always a big advantage though you REMEMBER: People connect to similar people – most probably local. This means an
aren‟t too late. Yet... unrivalled opportunity to reach your prime future customers!
There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
8. Web, tablet and Mobile Next steps
Can your customers book easily on a phone? 1. Think about your customers and how they are engaging
Believe it or not, up to 50% of your customers may already be visiting your website on
their smartphone or tablet. These include with your restaurant.
iPhones, iPads, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phones and others. 2. Find out where your audience is.
Already 50% of internet use is Facebook and 50% of Facebook use is on smartphones. 3. Work out how you can communicate directly with your
82% of new phones are smartphones and this is growing. audience.
Our stats reckon that up to 50% of our hospitality clients traffic is coming from
4. Find out what your customers want.
smartphones and tablets so its already an issue you have to deal with. 5. Build your presences for:-
1. Social
Confirming bookings?
If you gather a customer‟s mobile number with permission, then this will enable you to 2. Mobile
confirm their booking. 3. Reputation
But you can also use this to follow up with the customer to let them know about new 4. Local
offers. SMS marketing can be very effective with high open rates.
The final consideration is
Responsive or mobile specific website?
Responsive or adaptive websites change depending on the screen you are viewing on. “change is the new constant.”
An example you can view is www.omnisocial.co.uk. The content changes dynamically
depending on the screen.
Try resizing your web browser and you will see how it works.
An alternative is to build a dedicated mobile site, though some people prefer a different Next, next steps...
approach. See what you prefer. Keep an eye on new developments and incorporate them into
your marketing plan.
Groupon only launched in 2008 and now generates >$3 billion
per annum. The future of marketing your restaurant is still being
developed.
There's a lot more to learn at www.omnisocial.co.uk
9. Find out more Connect with us
You can contact us by
• Email: restaurants@knowledge-bank.co.uk
• Web: www.omnisocial.co.uk or www.knowledge- @omnisocial
bank.co.uk
Linkedin
Are you bewildered and need a chat?
• We can arrange a call to discuss ideas
• Email: bewildered@knowledge-bank.co.uk Facebook
Omnisocial Blog
Do you know what you want but need a partner to
help deliver it?
• We can give you a quote
• Email: iamready@knowledge-bank.co.uk
0845 130 3750
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