Does Your Restaurant Need Help With Marketing?
If you are looking for some help with marketing, whatever kind of marketing it may be, then you are best talking to a marketing agency that has experience in the restaurant sector. Just complete the form opposite to get free advice and quotes from marketing agencies that have restaurant marketing experience.
Do Restaurants Need To Market
The food industry is a booming sector and one that is highly competitive both on the high street and at the high end 'fine dining' level. As such, marketing is very important for restaurants in order to project the right image and to grow during a very slow economic period.
The difficulty that eating establishments face these day's is that the economic downturn has squeezed their regular customers, and many are finding that the regulars are not coming in as much and people are becoming more price conscious. Fine dining restaurants are faced with the gamble of producing a high standard of food in the hope that regular foot flow will not be put off by a higher price than an average restaurant.
The UK has tens of thousands of restaurants that target different social groups and economic markets:
- Fast Food Restaurants - This could cover the McDonald's, Burger King, fish & chip shops etc.
- High Street Restaurants - This would be your Zizi's, Nando's, Giraffe, La Tasca (or other themed restaurants).
- Foreign Restaurants - This would be your local Indian, Chinese, Thai restaurant or take away.
- Pub Restaurants - Many pubs are pushing their food and dining facilities, some to high levels.
- Fine Dining Restaurants - This covers a range of restaurants that are excelling to produce a high standard of food.
Each group of restaurant caters to a different social group, fast food is cheap, quick and fast turn around with low profit margins per customer; the fine dining is more precision and higher profit per customer (at the two ends of the spectrum).
Promotion For Restaurants
Restaurants and cuisine has been helped in recent years by TV programs such as 'Saturday Morning Kitchen', 'MasterChef' and TV chefs such as Rick Steine, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey etc. all help to boost the catering industry and sow the seed about eating well, eating healthy and eating out.
Kinds Of Marketing For Restaurants
There are a wide variety of marketing tools available to restaurants, depending on what 'social level' they are trying to reach some are more relevant than others.
Most restaurants will opt for 'local advertising' so as to reach customers in the local communities and encourage customer loyalty (or loyalty schemes by means of reward cards, discount cards etc.) which will boost 'the regulars'. This is something that all restaurants share as a similar strategy, to get a group of clients that come back on a weekly basis as a habit (whether it is students to the take away or young professionals to a fine dining establishment).
- Advertising
Although considered expensive, advertising for restaurants is very important. There are a number of forms of advertising available to restaurants depending on what kind of targeting they are looking for. TV advertising is popular with national restaurants (such as McDonalds or other franchises looking at national coverage) but is more about creating brand awareness rather than specific targeted advertising. Radio advertising is popular with restaurants, as it can be low cost and localised to promote specific event days or themed functions. Visual advertising and billboard advertising is popular (again mainly with larger chain restaurants) but can (like radio advertising) be geographically targeted for smaller independent restaurants.
- Websites
Websites play an important role for restaurants, for brand awareness and for information purposes. Websites for restaurants work in a different way to other businesses (such as engineering companies, online shops etc.) as they are not used for lead generation or sales, but used more as a virtual shop window. Smaller catering companies (such as the local fish & chip shop) will not really require a website, but a hotel that is promoting their restaurant will certainly need a website to showcase their dining facilities, food, ambiance etc.
- Public Relations
PR serves as an important marketing tool for all restaurants other than the local fish & chip shop/low end fast food companies. PR is all about creating brand awareness for the restaurant, and PR for restaurants can be considered as one of the most important areas of marketing to be adopted. Raising the profile of the restaurant in the local press, national press or promoting events are all areas that PR is helpful for and there are many PR agencies for restaurants around the UK that have experience in working in the food & dining industry. Much of a restaurants business comes from word of mouth, recommendations from friends to try a place on their recommendation (something PR is helpful to promote).
- Search Engine Optimisation
For many restaurants, being found on the internet is not a major issue, as their website is primarily used as a showcasing tool. That said however, SEO for restaurants is something that does need to be considered as more people are choosing the internet to find 'a local restaurant' or good place for a meal. Smaller restaurants would not really be concerned with SEO work, however SEO is a very helpful marketing tool to be considered.
- Paid Advertising (PPC)
Online visibility is important to all companies and restaurants are no different, you just have to do a search for restaurants on a search engine and you will see that many do make use of paid advertising. PPC for restaurants is very helpful as it can be very targeted and only bring up adverts for very spefic searches.
Choosing A Marketing Company For Restaurants
Selecting the right marketing company is important, there are tens of thousands of marketing companies around the UK all offering 'award winning services' or 'the UK's number 1 marketing company'. Not all marketing companies are the same, some are better than others, and for restaurants, choosing the right one is essential (otherwise it will mean wasted money, wasted time and possibly an impact on the restaurant).
For restaurants, choosing a marketing company (whatever kind of marketing is needed) that has experience in working with restaurants is important. If the restaurant has a track record in the food industry, in promoting restaurants, this will be a major advantage over 'any old marketing company'.
If possible, choosing a marketing agency that is local is going to be very helpful; if you can visit them and check them out (ensure that their claims can be justified), meet the team and even have them come to the restaurant (and eat) will be helpful. This will build the relationship with should ensure that they will work harder for you. There is a loyalty that comes with working with a 'local supplier' rather than one at the other side of the UK or overseas and they are more likely to go the extra mile (during times of recession, this is important).
Compare Marketing Prices For Restaurants
One thing to bear in mind when considering using a marketing company, is that they are all profit making machines. All marketing companies are privately owned and need to generate good profits to pay for houses, holidays, cars, staff, offices, advertising etc.
In today's world, shopping around and comparing quotes is important in order to avoid overpaying. Paying a lot for your marketing (SEO, PR etc.) will not guarantee results, just that you are paying towards someone's holiday. Getting the cheapest price for marketing also will not ensure a good deal, just that you are not paying as much. The results are all that matter, so asking about any guarantees, or KPI's (key performance indicators) is wise, so you can track how successful the marketing campaign is.
Marketing is not about jumping into the unknown; marketing can be tracked and modified so as to measure how successful it is and how profitable it is for the restaurant.
Get A Quote
If you would like some free advice or quotes from marketing agencies that have experience in doing restaurant marketing, just fill in the form and site back.