Promoting a food and beverage business, that is traditionally location dependent in the current age requires an online presence, to help people find out about you, and to help you engage with your customers, so they start to form a connection with your business.
Sure, it’s possible to gain word of mouth via solely foot traffic and amazing customer service, but imagine what you could potentially gain.
My recommendation for this business model is to implement the following on your website:
You should also make sure you take photos and video of the following:
Try to make your food, drink and venue as “Instagrammable” as possible, whether thats a mega milkshake, extravagant cocktail garnishes or a backdrop perfect for a snap. Lighting will also be key in this, no one wants to post a poorly lit photo of their dinner, so if it suits your business style, make sure there’s decent lighting til dark.
Run giveaways for those who post online, so you can encourage people to do this on a regular basis.
For best search engine optimisation:
The platforms you use will depend on who your target market is, for example some places dependant on price point or style will be after a different person, plus you might be a place people frequent weekly, or maybe its only a special occasion type place, but its likely you will share on Facebook and Instagram. If you are in a bigger city, or a traveller’s paradise, or have multiple locations, Pinterest is also fantastic, as people build their aspirational list, and visit whenever they can.
This will be a place to run awareness ads, traffic ads, and conversion ads if you take bookings online. You can show up in front of people in your area, who are the right age for your style, then retarget those who liked or engaged with traffic ads.
If there’s enough people searching for your type for food in your area, you can run search ads. If you’re in a big city, maybe YouTube ads or display ads across certain topics are worth a try. This is something that won’t be for you if your budget per month is modest, but could be a seasonal thing when search is big. Testing of this is recommended, don’t set it and forget it, ever.
This is also an option for you, if you have food bloggers or people with a following, you can either give them a free meal or drink, or offer them a paid campaign.
While you don’t have to pay these people necessarily, I class this as paid because there is a cost at the end of the day, even for a “free” meal.
If you will be in a position to share upcoming events and exciting news with your followers, you make also like to set up Email Marketing. This will allow you to have people’s emails to promote to them, but they will expect something great in return. Are they part of a VIP club where they get discounts, points, or simply get told about secret menu products? I recommend Flodesk because it is so easy to set up and manage, so doesn’t take up too much of your time. This is a paid platform, but you don’t pay more for having more subscribers, so you can fill your list with as many people who want to be on it.
Disclaimer: This blog post is a small guide to some platforms this business type could use to expand their marketing. It is not a marketing plan or marketing strategy and is not tailored completely for your business. If you are looking for a marketing strategy, let’s chat.
%20(1).gif)
