May 16th, 2013 • Posted by Stephany Toman • Permalink
April, per the National Restaurant Association's Chief Economist, Bruce Grindy, was the best month in awhile for restaurants, which is good news.
Even better news? Consumers are ready to eat out even more with an improving economy.
Restaurant sales bounced back from a dampened first quarter to hit a
new record high in April. Meanwhile, consumers’ pent-up demand for
restaurants remains historically high, which suggests they will be ready
to ramp up spending even more when their financial situation improves.
What are you doing to stay present with your diners?
At a minimum, creating marketing that reaches out in various ways, to meet the behavior of your audience, is key.
What does that look like?
Email campaigns that share your expertise, and, occasionally offer up promotions.
An updated website that catches the eye of your return visitors and encourages first timers to browse a bit to learn more about you.
Blog articles. Pick topics that you care about, and write a few paragraphs about them. Pretty soon your audience will be looking for more. Articles on foods, cooking methods, wine, your newest brainstorm, your newest menu, your inclusion of only locally grown veggies and grass fed beef, you name it - as the expert, you're interesting by default. Which is pretty cool.
Facebook and Twitter interaction. Social media is a fabulous way to nurture relationships with your audience and carry on an endless dialogue. The key idea with social media? Building relationships. It's not just one-way communication at an audience anymore.
Mobile presence. An increasing number of your consumers are relying heavily on mobile devices to make dining decisions. Be sure your website it optimized for mobile so you reach them.
Can you do more? Sure. But if you do these things on a consistent basis, and use a little creativity along the way you'll be in a ideal position to benefit when pent up desire turns to dining out.
[Click HERE for the full article that inspired this post.]
