Define your Business Branding

Brand Image

As discussed in our post ‘’5 Reasons Why Brand Identity is So Important for Your Business’’, brand identity is the cornerstone of any business. The values and missions of your business must be reflected in the visual elements characterising your brand. Your logo, the shapes, colours, and imagery you use are all part of your brand identity.

Once defined, your brand identity must be powerful enough to stand out from the competition and resonate with your customers but also be consistent across all of your collaterals. Wondering how this translates to a restaurant, café or bar? Your brand identity should be conveyed through the following:

Harness the Power of Digital Marketing

Social Media Marketing

A social media report published by Sensi in 2018 shows that Australians are very sensitive to reviews when it comes to choosing cafés, restaurants and bars. 

The study also revealed that 79% of Australians are on social media, and 68% say they read online reviews before choosing a place to go to or purchasing something online. Unfortunately, only 47% of Australian small businesses have a social media presence. 

The report also highlighted the fact that consumers form their opinion of a brand on social media, with 62% admitting that they are most likely to trust a brand that interacts positively on social media. Engaging with existing and potential customers is essential for bars, cafés and restaurants, as it is the best way to build trust and loyalty over time. 

Below are some best practices when it comes to social media marketing:

• Social Media Accounts and Pages: They must be optimised and consistent (logos, fonts, colours, pictures, etc.).

• Comments: Responding to comments is an easy and powerful way to engage with your customers.

• Facebook Messenger Marketing Strategy: Messenger is underutilised by brands. 95% of your customers check their Facebook daily, and Facebook Messenger has a fantastic open rate of 70-80% on average. To make it easier to organise campaigns on Messenger, some third-party apps, such as Manychat, allow you to automate your Facebook Messenger strategy and build a solid database. 

• High-Resolution Pictures:  Taking high-resolution pictures of your best dishes is a great way to share some of the incredible things you have on offer, including mouth-watering desserts or unusual coffees, stand out from the competition, and trigger word-of-mouth. 40% of Australians even claim they post food porn pictures when they go to a café, restaurant and bar, so seeing your high-resolution jaw-dropping pictures will most likely appeal to them.

Email Marketing is another powerful tool every hospitality business should use. According to a study published in May 2020, the open rate for bars and restaurants is about 15.8%. A recent report from McKinsey & Company also revealed that Email Marketing can be up to 40 times more effective than Social Media Marketing. For this reason, combining both Social Media and Email Marketing can prove extremely profitable for bars and restaurants.

Some of the best ways to build trust, boost your visibility, increase word-of-mouth, and ultimately attract more customers to your venue using Email Marketing include:

Create a loyalty program: 

The loyalty program could see you giving away a free meal for every ten meals purchased, for instance. The idea is to email your customers on a regular basis about your new loyalty program to let them know they have access.

• Create a referral program: You can easily set up a referral program using third-party apps such as Pollen: The goal is to allow customers to earn a free coffee or a discount on meals when they refer a friend who comes to the venue. Communicating about your referral program with your existing customers via email is an easy and cost-effective way to acquire new loyal customers and grow your base. 

• Organise giveaways: Who doesn’t like free stuff? By creating online and/or offline giveaways, you’ll increase customer engagement, differentiate yourself from the competition, increase your brand recognition, encourage word-of-mouth, and improve your bottom line. 

• Offer Discounts: Maximise your revenue by offering promotions or discounts on quiet days or times of the day (Happy Hour, for instance). You can also offer discounts or free meals on birthdays to increase customer loyalty. Believe us, that’s a small price to pay for retaining a loyal customer. Indeed, acquiring new customers is five times more expensive than marketing to existing customers, so ensuring your existing customers are happy and love your venue is important to ensure long-term success. 
  

The first thing to do if you want to boost your visibility and improve your conversion rate is to optimise your website’s mobile and desktop versions. To be able to reel customers in and make them want to visit your premises, here are a few specific things to optimise:

• Website and Mobile Responsiveness: According to a study led by Unbounce, a one-second delay can lead to a 7% drop in conversion rate. As you can tell, customers’ attention span is short, and responsiveness is critical. 

• Layout and Functionality: Your website and your app should be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and have enhanced functionality. Allowing for customers to book a table or order online can be a great way to improve your customers’ experience.

• Design and Graphics: Your website’s design should be striking and the graphics should be crisp. Every image should be high resolution and optimised to avoid slowing down your website and increasing loading time.

A study led by The Influencer Marketing Hub in 2019 showed that a business can earn $5.20 for every dollar invested in influencer marketing.

Reaching out to bloggers and social media influencers can be a powerful and cost-effective way for you to attract new customers. Indeed, 40% of Twitter users report having made a purchase after an influencer posted on Twitter, and 71% of consumers revealed that they’re more likely to purchase a product or service based on social media referrals.

Hospitality owners can leverage the power of blogger and influencer marketing to appeal to new customers, increase their visibility, and improve their sales.

Paid Advertising

Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads are all paid advertising options you can use to reach your target audience and promote your venue and special offers. While you need to learn about ad optimisation and how to create an effective ad, the results can be very lucrative. A report published by Blue Corona revealed that 33% of consumers click on paid ads as it directly answers their queries. The study also revealed that display advertising can increase website traffic by up to 300%.

Looking for a more cost-effective way to increase your visibility and sales? 

Search Engine Optimisation is what you need to master! Indeed, mastering SEO strategies is a must for any budget-conscious hospitality business. SEO allows you to better rank on google, driving organic (and therefore free) traffic to your website. Some good practices include:

• Research keywords and use them on your website copy. Some of the best tools to find the best keywords to use for your business include Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest

• Describe the photos on your website (alt attribute)

• Embed your social media platforms to your website

• Regularly publish SEO-optimised blog posts

• Use a Link Building Strategy

SEO is extremely important, and you need to master it to reach your local audience. It’s such an important and vast topic that there are many courses available online to help you learn more about it. Alternatively, some marketing agencies, such as Simple Supply, can do all the heavy lifting for you, optimising your website copy and increasing your customer base while you focus on what you do best; run your venue.

Click the link below to download your FREE accompanying checklist with extra information to help set your business up for success.

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