Growing a food and beverage business has become pretty challenging: research suggests that worldwide revenue is expected to increase to $856.9 billion by 2025.
As you can see, this industry has become very competitive and it takes more than good food to stand out and win over your customers.
In this article, we’ll go over the top digital trends in 2022 you can leverage in food and beverage marketing.
1. Build Your Brand
Marketing and leadership expert Seth Godin defined the word “brand” as „the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.“
So, a brand is much more than an interesting and unique logo. It is, of course, a good start but that’s not what a brand is essentially about.
We advise you to start by defining your concept and identifying your target audience. What kind of people want to visit your restaurant? Are they a businessman or family? What are their desires? Ask yourself how are you unique from your competition.
Once you got a hang of the basics, it’s time to project that onto your digital channels. Tell the customers your story:
- who are the founders
- why does your restaurant matter
- what makes your menu special
- how do you run your business
Make sure to stick to the same design concepts for all content. Every color, every scribble can make your business stand out so make sure you’re consistent on all digital channels.
2. Build An Effective Website
Some people still believe you don’t need a website to make your business work. We beg to disagree.
You don’t need to have a fancy website to keep your target audience top of mind. In fact, an overly styled website will do your company a disservice if you don’t include the core information people go to your site for – a menu and contact information.
You should also include visuals that showcase your products, such as food photography. After all, that’s exactly what people want to see – photos of delicious and tasty food.
If you’re still not sure what it takes to build a website for your food and beverage business, you can search through some templates and think about what you find appealing. Once you’ve seen enough of them, you can use all that to build your custom-made website.
3. Focus On Local SEO
Amongst many food and beverage marketing ideas, focusing on local SEO might just be the most important one. After all, someone from New York isn’t likely to travel to Miami just to try your food. Sure, there are a few exceptions but that’s all they are – exceptions.
To improve your local SEO, we advise you to optimize your content for the right keywords. Start by performing keyword research and learn what people enter in their search engines. For instance, most people will use at least one of the following queries:
- [insert your city] restaurants
- [insert your food category and your city]
- restaurants in [insert your city]
If you can afford to use paid ads – even better. They are especially good when you’re dealing with keywords that are hard to rank for organically. Sure, these ads might be a bit more expensive, but they’re worth it.
4. Optimize Your Profile On Google My Business
What’s the first thing you do when you want to get basic information about the restaurant? Most people will look at the first result on Google’s search engine results page.
When it comes to local or location-based search queries, Google pushes the Google My Business page to the top instead of using standard search engine results.
Because of that, you should pay attention to the information on your Google My Business account. Here’s what you should look into:
- contact information
- working hours
- category
- photography
Make sure all of your contact information is accurate – your address, phone number, and website URL. Adjust your working hours and select one or more categories. For instance, if you own a Mexican restaurant, select both „Mexican restaurant“ and „restaurant“ as categories.
At last, add a cover photo along with five or more other photos that will showcase your business. Since people are often hungry when they’re searching for a place to eat, include some food photography to make it more appealing.
5. Respond To Reviews And Encourage Them
The only way you’ll know if your customers are truly satisfied with your service is to ask them. Furthermore, people like to go through reviews and check what the food and service are like before they decide to eat at a new place.
Now, the tricky part is dealing with the reviews, both positive and negative ones.
Here are some tips on writing a perfect reply to a positive review:
- Thank you customers for taking the time to express their positive experience online.
- Act quickly and reply as soon as possible. If you wait for too long, they may end up feeling ignored and unappreciated.
- Invite them to come to you again and bring their friends and family – this is a great opportunity to take advantage of their satisfaction and market your business.
- Include some keywords but don’t overstuff your reply with too many of them. This will help you rank better.
As for negative reviews, try using some of these tips:
- Don’t overreact and panic – wait until you calm down before you actually reply. After all, it’s not the end of the world, you can fix whatever the problem is.
- Respond as quickly as you can. You don’t want it to look like you don’t care about their opinion.
- Take responsibility, apologize to the customer, and thank them for sharing their feedback.
- Let them know that you’re working on resolving the issue and offer contact information where they can reach you directly.
- Offer an incentive, like a meal or drink on the house, if they’d like to come back and give it another try.
6. Leverage Social Media Marketing
These days pretty much everyone is on at least some social media platform – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and many others. All these platforms represent a great opportunity to market your business and show that you’re exactly the kind of restaurant people want to visit.
Most of these platforms offer different types of content you can leverage and we’ve prepared some interesting suggestions:
Behind-the-scenes photos and videos
This kind of content shows not only the people behind the business but also the team’s dynamic and personality.
People love seeing a human face. Sharing a video of your staff preparing food or getting ready for an event is a great example of behind-the-scenes content.
Facts or tips
Posting an interesting fact on social media is great as most people love learning new things.
User-generated content
If your customers tag your restaurant in their photos, seize the opportunity to share them on your profile.
Of course, you should always ask for their permission prior to sharing and give credit, especially if the photos are artistic.
Staff profiles
You can ask your staff to share their experience or even random facts about themselves. People love to know who’s preparing their meals and serving them.
Ingredients origin
If you offer food prepared with some interesting ingredients, share that with your audience. For instance, if you have multiple types of coffee beans, tell people where they come from and what’s so unique about each of them.
To Sum Up
Gaining more customers might seem like a challenge but there are so many ways you can attract new people to come to your restaurant. Try combining these tips and track your progress – we bet you’ll beat your competitors in no time.
