Restaurant Marketing | Making a Connection with Customers
Our restaurant marketing firm loves to help new restaurants start up with solid branding and marketing to help them succeed. We know that, typically, the first impression customers make with a new restaurant is made outside of the restaurant. Usually, a first impression happens through social media or advertisements.
If you can nail these first customer connections, your restaurant marketing can attract a lot of business for your brand.
Restaurant Marketing: First Things First
To define your customer connections, the easiest place to start is by working out your customer journey. Figure out your customer's path through experiencing your restaurant, from the moment they park in your parking lot to when they leave.
Once you think about each moment throughout that journey, you can pick out each opportunity you have to showcase your brand along the way.
Fast-casual restaurants need to quickly indicate to new visitors how to get to your menu and place an order. To do this, you need environmental branding and signage to guide them. You can do this in a million different ways, but this is an opportunity to showcase your brand.
Usually, at the POS (point of sale), you will have some extra counter space to put promotions and messaging that will interest your customers. Many restaurants use this opportunity to encourage customers to join their rewards program, follow you on social or see new special offers or new menu items.
Restaurant Marketing: The Little Things
Your employees are interacting with your customers all the time. Use these interactions for your marketing! Something as simple as tee shirt designs can predefine a message for these customer interactions. Your employees and their clothing can model your brand voice and create another customer touchpoint that represents your brand.
Customer touchpoints can even be as small as your receipts. Every little thing you do is an opportunity to impact your customer for the benefit of your brand.
Restaurant Marketing: Perfecting Your Menu
Probably the biggest customer touchpoints are your food and your menu. You can make a deeper connection with a little creativity and branding. Well-written copy in your menu descriptions and menu item names in your brand voice can make a great impression for your brand. Brands with a more fun vibe can add cheeky sayings throughout the menu to bring out their brand direction in the empty space.
Serviceware like plates, trays, cutlery, napkins, and cups can all also align with your brand. Especially because they are literally in the hands of each of your customers!
Restaurant Marketing: Using Your Interior
The next step in your customer journey is your dining space. The dining area is where your customers will spend most of their time while they are in your restaurant, so there are lots of opportunities to make an impression.
Your furniture, wall color, decor, lighting and seating arrangements should all align with your brand. How your food is presented also impacts this part of the customer experience.
A portion of the customer touchpoints we also consider are table tents, order numbers, wall and window graphics, and more. These likewise ought to be considered as they will assume a major job in the effect of the brand on visitors.
As one of the top agencies in the country, the Nice Branding Agency girls are experienced restaurant marketing experts. We know how to take care of business and are accessible to enable you to take care of business in your new restaurant.
