ouR top 5 marketing tips

Having a strong brand that people identify with goes far beyond just having a recognisable logo, an idea, and an Instagram account. I am always thinking about how best to market the venues I work with and my own business for that matter.
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​What I've found is that one of the best ways to market your brand is to know who you are, find your point of difference and to find your own style. Don't be like everyone else, try and be different, do what feels natural and best for your business and speaks to who you are and make sure you put your own personality in to your brand. Here are my Top 5 marketing tips.

1. WHAT ARE YOU DOING OFFLINE TO MARKET YOUR BRAND?
Hospitality and tourism venues are more often than not spending a lot of time marketing their venues online, but remember that this can’t be your only focus. Have a think about these offline marketing avenues:

• Is your business adequately branded? is your logo visible around your venue? Outside your venue?
• Do you have a sandwich board out the front to entice in foot traffic?
• Have you considered doing a flyer drop in your neighbourhood?
• Have you considered handing out flyers outside major events?

 
2. WEBSITE, WEBSITE, WEBSITE
Do you have an interactive website? In the busy world of social media, we have seen many venues who no longer have websites and just opt to have Facebook pages instead. This can be a risky move as many people still head to a website to view your latest menu, check out your opening hours, etc. If you don’t have a website, Get One!  And here are some tips.

• Is your website up to date and easy to navigate?
• Do you have your most recent menu on your website?
• People saying nice things about you online? Why not share these great reviews on your website?
• Ensure people can find your opening hours easily and you have a call now button on your webpage. 
• Ensure your website is mobile friendly. 
• Blog spot? Do you have a unique product and a passion for writing? Having a blog on your website can help people engage with your venue and connect with you. Writing can be a powerful tool to engage your customers. It will also help your SEO by pushing traffic to your website regularly. 

 
3. GET SOCIAL
Being on Social Media is such an important tool to engage with your target market especially if you are running a Restaurant or Cafe, but often venues do it poorly – not because they don’t care, just lack of know-how and resources. You should pick your Social Media platforms wisely and ensure that your brand messaging is consistent on each platform.

• Do you have the time and resources to engage with your audience on all your social platforms? Sometimes less is more, so you may want to only choose one platform and do it well rather than doing many poorly. You may also want to consider outsourcing your social platforms.
• Ensure you have great content on your social platforms – Photos and Videos.
• Use your own content, don't steal from others! Make sure it's fresh, photos are good quality and let your personality and that of your brand shine through in your content and comments. Don't make it too sales orientated and have fun with it. 
• Engage with your audience, yes this takes time but will ensure you build a steady following over time. Don't buy followers!  
• Posting to Social Media should be consistent and have strategy behind it. The content should be relevant to your brand and industry.
• Do you have a strategy for dealing with complaints? Complaints can blow up online very quickly, so be sure to mitigate this risk before you get your venue involved in a PR nightmare.
• Make sure you use relevant hashtags #
• Ensure you are monitoring your social reach with reporting and analytics. Don’t pay for Ads and spend your time of your social platforms without monitoring your reach.

 
4. LOYALTY PROGRAMS
Loyalty programs and referrals can be a great tool to get more people in to your venue. Do you have local businesses around you that you can partner with to send traffic your way and vice versa?  Think local and Act local. Reward your customers for coming back time and time again.  

• Using loyalty cards, where the purchase receives a free coffee or meal after a certain number of visits.
• Reward customers who refer other customers to your venue.
• Have a newsletter for frequent diners and reward loyalty.
• Partner up with a local business who can send people your way. This can be online and in person, and can be any type of business willing to partner with you.

 
5. CREATE EVENTS TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
​And lastly, are you actively creating events that your customers will love? How can you get people to come to your venue? Be sure to keep it fresh, and keep trying new things to engage with your customers, and to entice new customers to your venue.   

• Create a mailing list. Send out newsletters to your subscribers, do mail drops with discounts and specials for people living in your local area.
• Trying to attract the lunchtime crowd? Get out in to the office buildings surrounding your venue to get them engaged and provide them with a discount to get them in the doors.  
• Get a local winemaker, or artisan cheese maker in and have them talk about their produce. These events can get people along who may not have been in your venue before.
• Hold degustation or special menu nights. Or Friday long lunches.

 
There are many ways to engage with current and prospective customers. Make sure your marketing has a strategy, and put in place checks and balances to ensure you can monitor what is working and what is not.  

We love the reach you can achieve with social media marketing, but don’t forget to look at all aspects of marketing your venue. If you are engaging with people online, take the time to work out your strategy and how you want your brand to appear. Don’t be afraid to try different approaches and if something doesn’t work, adjust your sails. 

KB