Restaurant Branding & Marketing Basics

There are enough things to worry about when running a successful restaurant. Let's face it-worrying about your marketing usually comes so far down the list that it's easy enough to ignore, and often is, until those sporadic bursts when you realize you should probably be doing something. Plus, if things are going well, why bother, right?

Not exactly. While the keys to a successful restaurant are often out on the floor and back in the kitchen, keeping a keen eye on your overall brand and some careful planning/promotion can really help boost your bottom line on the days/nights where turnover is light-i.e. where you stand the most to gain.

Here's some easy-to-implement, affordable, and smart ways to start building your overall restaurant marketing without too much time and effort. Some of them may fall in the "common sense" side of things, but they are important to mention as they seem to go unnoticed more often than not:

1. Keep an updated website, with easy-to-find basic information.  This should be a no-brainer. Nothing incredible, just a very simple site that reflects your overall image, and has basic information such as menus, special events, directions, and contact info. An easy way to do this is to have your site built on a content-management-system (CMS) such as the one we build with, TypoLight (shameless plug). The system itself is open-source (free) and basically allows you, as an administrator, to login and make simple changes to the content. Just an easy way to make it look like someone is at the helm over there and that exciting events and tastes are waiting for potential customers.
   
   Xtra-tips: Get some quality photos and/or video of your place at its best and use them on the site. Stock photos stand out like a sore thumb. Also, make sure that if you have a function space available that you dedicate at least 1/2 of your site if not an entirely different domain to it, and let customers book/inquire via an online form. Also see "Email marketing" below...
   
   
2. Get your presence out on social networks. There's no denying the impact of being able to use your customers to virally market your restaurant. The big 3 social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) are great ways to start engaging with customers, but it requires active participation or else it can backfire. "Active participation" can mean anything from a few posts a week to a few posts a day, but it really should fall within that range. Use the opportunity to elicit feedback from your customers... What do they like? What don't they like? What would really get them involved? Be prepared to do some damage control as well. Unhappy customers can post reviews on hundreds of online sites such as Yelp.com, but most of these sites offer owners the chance to respond to a bad review and often turn unhappy customers into satisfied ones. Word of bad service can spread quickly, but loyal, happy, and passionate customers can create even bigger buzz.
   
   Xtra-tips: User services like Twitter and Facebook to encourage fans to spread the word for you. Offering promotions specifically to these members and delivering them through the social network itself (twittering links to a coupon download, 10% discount of you print out your posted review from Yelp, facebook posts with secret specials only found online) makes them feel part of an exclusive "club", and more apt to spread the word to their friends, and their friends' friends. Also, don't be pure business... Have some fun. Give your posts the same personality/voice that you think your restaurant should have, and post topics that fit that personality.
   
   
3. Email marketing and promotions. One of the easiest ways to keep customers up to date is via regular email campaigns. Get a sign up form on your website and start building a list of names and emails. Enroll yourself in a email marketing service such as Constant Contact, and have a designer create a professional looking, well-branded template for you that allows you to craft the content (stay away from the stock templates... custom ones will be a lot easier to read). Promotions don't have to be complicated... But they should be delivered regularly. Drive them to days/nights/times that are particularly soft with something as simple as a special on a popular item, a free appetizer, or just a special menu. ALWAYS publish information about special events well in advance, plus a reminder a few days before. Don't overdo it, though... There's nothing worse than being relegated straight to the spam box.
   
   Xtra Tip:  Always cross promote any and all of your marketing efforts. Direct email recipients to your Facebook/Twitter accounts and the website, direct website visitors to sign up for the email list and become fans of your Facebook/Twitter accounts, etc. View it all as one big campaign with individual components.
    
4. Branding Consistency. If your restaurant has been up and running for at least a few years now, it's probably a good time to gather up every piece of marketing material, collateral, menus, table tents, website, etc and hold each piece up next to each other and see what you have. What you want is a clear, consistent message and use of graphic elements that is conveyed across all of your pieces. What you don't want is a patchwork quilt of mixed messages, or even a few pieces that are immediately out of place. It can happen easily over even a short period of time... A new menu gets hastily built in Word by an aspiring designer/staff member, and all of sudden you have 2 or three logos in use and a color palette that scorches your retinas. Make sure that you address any inconsistencies and get your materials working together toward the same goal.
   
   Xtra Tip: Some people thing branding is all about "re-branding," when more often than not it's finding and highlighting the things that are working positively for you and eliminating the one's that aren't, and making sure that you are doing it in a consistent fashion. Don't immediately think that you need a whole new look &logo when addressing your look &feel... A simple "brand-refresh" or update of your materials can work wonders. Sit down and talk with a brand consultant or a good marketer and they should be able to help you through the process.