Restaurant Marketing > What and how!

Hi

I own a restaurant in Belgium and would like to use some marketing techniques to get more costumers, especially on quiet periods.
Atm we have a website, tripadvisor + facebook page with around 400 'i likes', but i don't do anything with this. Only posting some updates on FB, but no specials, ...

What can you guys suggest me to do, to get some efficient marketing goin on?
I've heared about trying to get the emails of costumers, but how? It has to be practical aswell.

Thanks for your input!

McMusq said:

Hi

I own a restaurant in Belgium and would like to use some marketing techniques to get more costumers, especially on quiet periods.
Atm we have a website, tripadvisor + facebook page with around 400 'i likes', but i don't do anything with this. Only posting some updates on FB, but no specials, ...

What can you guys suggest me to do, to get some efficient marketing goin on?
I've heared about trying to get the emails of costumers, but how? It has to be practical aswell.

Thanks for your input!

Click to expand...

Begin engaging with your customers via Facebook. Post specials of your restaurant, provide discounts, ask for feedback, etc. Make people on Facebook have something special that your normal clients "can't have". Promote your Facebook page in your restaurant (if suitable), tell people about your Facebook page on their receipt (again if suitable).

You can also create an email optin via Facebook page or your website. Giveaway a free dessert if they are signed up for your newsletter. Do something different than your competitors, or simulate whats working for your competitors.

McMusq said:

Hi

I own a restaurant in Belgium and would like to use some marketing techniques to get more costumers, especially on quiet periods.
Atm we have a website, tripadvisor + facebook page with around 400 'i likes', but i don't do anything with this. Only posting some updates on FB, but no specials, ...

What can you guys suggest me to do, to get some efficient marketing goin on?
I've heared about trying to get the emails of costumers, but how? It has to be practical aswell.

Thanks for your input!

Click to expand...

Get Renaat Landuyt to come or one of other Landuyt family.

People will go by the name. Maybe some hate but name is $$

SuperLinks said:

Begin engaging with your customers via Facebook. Post specials of your restaurant, provide discounts, ask for feedback, etc. Make people on Facebook have something special that your normal clients "can't have". Promote your Facebook page in your restaurant (if suitable), tell people about your Facebook page on their receipt (again if suitable).

You can also create an email optin via Facebook page or your website. Giveaway a free dessert if they are signed up for your newsletter. Do something different than your competitors, or simulate whats working for your competitors.

Click to expand...

thanks for the tips.
Would you have any known examples of this , so i can have a look on how they manage to do this properly?
I have enough ideas, but putting my actions where my thoughts are is the key of course

im a chef if you need a new head-chef just pm me
we use facebook a LOT,multiple times a day,posting many photos and holding voting contest for them,leting them know whats new/special for the day/week,also every 100th "liker" gets a food/drink voucher.We also do radio and some tv(you have to go to them) and inviting gastro-bloggers for dinner so they can post reviews.Also going to food festivals and promot the restaurant there

If you have any impartial review sites such as an equivalent of our Qype, then make sure you get your business profile on all of those. And Google Places.

Trip advisor is just one of many.

To find ones which are relevant do a google search for "restaurant (town name anywhere in your country)" then hit places. See which sites google is pulling their reviews from.

Put coupons on the sites that accept them (qype in the uk is authorittive and appears in serps on its own with no additional work) - great if someone searches "restaurant name review" or "restaurant name discount" and even "restaurant (town name)".

Ask your customers to leave a review on one of the sites when they leave the restaurant by placing a sign with an easy to remember url or a 3d barcode for them to scan on their phone.

Offer incentives in restaurant to leave email address. Over here a lot of restaurants used to have a bowl by the door where you left your business card. They entered the business cards into a low value prize draw. Add a more modern twist, maybe something for people to leave their facebook profile url, or failing that just write their email address down for entry into draw.

Thanks for the ideas guys.
Atm we're on the 1st page of google for 'tearoom + city', aso with google places alrdy.
If and when you get all these details like email, ... how do you manage this properly?
Idealy, i'd like to center everything in facebook. I found hy.ly for sweepstakes aswell, but need to think of an action there...
It would also be handy if there was a way/app that gets birthday info from fans and personal friends, and sends a custom message 2 days before thatsays: hey, happy bday! we'd like to offer you 2 breakfast with bubbles'. Does this exist?

McMusq said:

Thanks for the ideas guys.
Atm we're on the 1st page of google for 'tearoom + city', aso with google places alrdy.
If and when you get all these details like email, ... how do you manage this properly?
Idealy, i'd like to center everything in facebook. I found hy.ly for sweepstakes aswell, but need to think of an action there...
It would also be handy if there was a way/app that gets birthday info from fans and personal friends, and sends a custom message 2 days before thatsays: hey, happy bday! we'd like to offer you 2 breakfast with bubbles'. Does this exist?

Click to expand...

I was going to suggest mobile marketing. Is that what you were referring to ? I think it would be good to use with email marketing, but preferred more because most people open/read a text than a email sitting in a inbox.You could send a text blast out right before people are "thinking" of eating and maybe get more customers on them slow times. Give customers incentive to text their info to your number by offering some kind of discount in return.

is there a belgish groupon? you could try this. Especially in the quit time you can grew new frequent costumers.

Give a discount coupon for every friend someone already client brings to your restaurant

Try to target some extra keywords like ontbijt + city, lunch + city. You should also try to capture #1 for your keywords. You could use some seo services offered here on BHW.

Good Luck

McMusq said:

Hi

I own a restaurant in Belgium and would like to use some marketing techniques to get more costumers, especially on quiet periods.
Atm we have a website, tripadvisor + facebook page with around 400 'i likes', but i don't do anything with this. Only posting some updates on FB, but no specials, ...

What can you guys suggest me to do, to get some efficient marketing goin on?
I've heared about trying to get the emails of costumers, but how? It has to be practical aswell.

Thanks for your input!

Click to expand...

wet tee shirt night?

jk....

but seriously, w/out knowing what kind of restaurant/type of food/mood/etc..it's hard to tell you

do you have at least have a website? what's the food like?

local advertising on tv? some local tv channels here in the states do small restaurant segments for those who buy advertising....

example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm2SBsKJyAE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwNN9lBQJr4

but like i said, w/out knowing the kind of restaurant and other details, it's hard to say

pictures are worth a thousand words ... so whats a video worth ? I eat visually before physically. love when there are videos of food.

Kakashi3005 said:

is there a belgish groupon? you could try this. Especially in the quit time you can grew new frequent costumers.

Click to expand...

he should probably use that too, but i think sms would be better and more personal/targetted...cheaper ? I guess it doesnt have to always be a discount. maybe just serve only the first 20 (fill in the number) a special off the menu dish, man idk too many possibilities

Hi

I found that a member asked same question in this forum some months ago.

[FONT=&quot]Pls use search box to find this questions with comments[/FONT]

Don't email them unless they sign up for your newsletter. Hold contests for the people who sign up on your newsletter, or offer a meal of whatever value or a coupon for their birthday via a print out.

Read up on keyword research on BHW and implement seo techniques to boost your ranking in google, or hire someone to if you have the money.

I do marketing for some local restaurants in the US. Unique to restaurants, I would just serve really damn good food, that'll bring the customers back to your place. The FOOD is your product, that's all you need to do.

I would also do some local press releases in your town. Also get some food bloggers or food writers at the local newspaper to write up some articles on your place. Maybe make some Youtube videos of cooking some dishes and post them up. There's a huge foodie community out there, they will help spread the word if your place is awesome.

or maybe host a BHW meetup at your restaurant and we'll spread the word

I'm not sure if voice broadcasting is legal in your country, but here's a strategy that I implemented for some restaurants in the U.S.:

Voice broadcast (robocall) a daily lunch special to local businesses in your area. You should be able to deliver thousands of pre-recorded messages in your area. Schedule delivery so that your calls go out at about 10:30am - 11:00am, when people start thinking about possible lunch plans. Make the offer irresistable (the key here is to get customers in the door, wow them, then keep them coming back).

Why businesses? Well, why not. Everyone that picks up the phone and hears the message has to eat, and since they're at work, they'll need to go out to eat generally.

In the U.S. it is now illegal to robocall residences, but it's perfectly legal to robocall businesses.

Now, if you're not comfortable with the robocalling strategy (or if it's illegal in your country) try outsourcing a telemarketer. (Check out Fiverr, for example - 2 hours of telemarketing for $5). Generate a list of local businesses, and have your telemarketer call each business with the daily special and extend a personal invitation to visit your restaurant. Again, your special needs to be a spectacular one (something free is always good). You can even have the telemarketer ask the call recipient if they'd like to schedule a reservation, or how many free deserts can we schedule for you? Be creative.

The whole idea is to generate a new repeat customer....not just sell a dish today. You want to determine what the lifetime value of the customer could be. Someone who visits your restaurant twice per month for lunch and spends $15 is worth $360 in a year. Get 10 new customers each and every month, and it really starts to add up.

There are some tripadvisor solutions on Fiverr for reviews and they are just 5 USD per review. As far as I know, tripadvisor is the best way to get NEW customers to your hotel or restaurant. You may search on fiver for "review to a restaurant" and find the helpful gigs