Here is what no one tells you about marketing: it’s easy, when you have the right plan.
But most bar and restaurant operators don’t do it because they don’t know how. Why would they? They don’t call them restaurant marketers, do they? You are a restaurant operator. Your job is to operate!
You could cook the food if your chef didn’t show up. You could wash the dishes if your dishwasher called out. You could mop the floors, create the menu or deliver the food … you learned all of these skills. Well I’m here to tell you that you can learn marketing, too and if you don’t want to actually do it, you can learn just enough to instruct the people you’ll hire to do it for you.
Here are a couple of key principles you need to know about marketing.
Marketing Drives Sales
Good food doesn’t drive sales. Unique cocktails don't put people in seats. The smile on your server’s face doesn’t make people come back. Those are important to the process, but consumers can get those anywhere! Every operator would tell you they have the best food, drinks and service.
Likewise, “word of mouth” alone doesn’t drive sales. It's 2021 - word of mouth lives online and it comes in the form of reviews on Google, Yelp and social media. If you aren’t actively encouraging these activities and interacting with guests when they do, know that your competitor is and likely getting more return trips than you.
You want to drive revenue, right? So, meet the customer where they are. The mechanism to do that is marketing.
Nobody Rides for Free
Are you posting to Instagram and Facebook hoping it's going to get you new customers and yet still scratching your head why it isn’t? There are two reasons:
Most people don’t follow a bar or restaurant on social media until they’ve had an experience or plan to very soon. That means the people who follow you are your current guests. You have to post content that gets them to think they want more.
Social media algorithms show your content to less than 10% of your followers, if you’re lucky! Yet there are hundreds, if not thousands of people on those networks who live or work within a couple miles of your business. You can buy really (really) cheap ads to reach them. If they like what they see, they’ll follow you!
So spend the money and make your social media work for you, instead of wasting time on content no one sees. Every day you aren’t spending money is a day you are losing money you could be making. Don’t work harder on social media, work smarter.
It’s All About Impressions
The key to success is return guests. You want someone to come back and dine with you again and again. Hoping and praying they come back is not a plan. Getting their email address and or phone number and sending them messages that appeal to them, is a plan. Sending them relevant ads, being in their face, not letting them forget how much they loved their last experience with you- this is what you should be doing.
Why does Taco Bell take out an ad on the Super Bowl, post to social media, send postcards to your house and buy billboards? Because they know they have to get their message in front of you at least seven times to get you to take action, and they don’t want to wait for you to randomly crave Nachos Bellgrande... they want to make you crave Nachos Bellgrande.
To increase guest frequency, you need to get your brand, your events, your content, your messages in front of your guests. You can do that on social media, in emails, through text messages and even ads. You’ve got to get in front of your guests as often as possible in as many ways as possible. Don’t rely on just one, have several paths to communicate with your guests.
When you keep these three things in mind, its easy to get started on marketing that drives revenue. Spend a little bit of money, be messaging in multiple channels and communicate directly with your guests as often as you can. That’s it, it’s easy! Want to learn more? Come to my sessions at Nightclub and Bar show to discover how you can get started immediately on increasing sales and traffic without wasting countless hours and dollars on marketing that sucks!
David “Rev” Ciancio is the Head of Revenue Marketing and Hospitality Marketing Consultant at Branded Strategic Hospitality. As a former New York City bar owner, he knows exactly how hard it is to operate in this industry. As a consultant, he brings over 20 years of digital marketing and development experience to his clients, to help them make, and keep, customers. Follow him in Instagram for hospitality and marketing tips. Rev believes pizza is a religion.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest industry news and trends.