There has been little cause for optimism over the past year, with a pandemic raging on around the world. And yet finally we are getting to a point where there is a light at the end of the tunnel. People are getting vaccinated and the number of cases and deaths are dropping. Industries are getting set for recovery in a new world.
Restaurants are set for a particularly strong comeback. People have missed going out over the past year. Even though many have less money to spend, restaurants are going to be getting a lot of that money, as well as repeated patronage from those who do have cash on hand.
If you run a restaurant, this is great news. However, there are tons of other restaurants competing for that post-pandemic surge in numbers. How do you renew interest in your own establishment?
Refurnish
While nostalgia is potent, most people don’t want to return to the exact same world that went into lockdown. Rather, they want an updated version, which reflects a new hope for the future, not a reminder of a world headed towards catastrophe.
Refurnishing and redecorating your restaurant is a great way of giving it a whole new feel for patrons to enjoy. You can bring life to your establishment with Restaurant Furniture’s tables, like in the photo above from Big 10 Sports Bar and Grill.
A fresh look also feels cleaner, which is going to still be on people’s minds for a while after COVID-19 is gone.
Social media advertising
Before the pandemic, you probably had a good customer base that regularly came back to your restaurant. Word of mouth brought new patrons, as well as your excellent website and social media pages. Maybe paying for social media advertising was unnecessary.
However, now it is important to remind people about your establishment. Good marketing needs to do little more than make your restaurant top of mind. By seeing it in their Facebook and Instagram feeds, people will not only remember that it exists, but think of it before other restaurants come to mind.
You don’t even have to spend that much on social media marketing. Because restaurants are necessarily very local, your audience is very defined, and even low budget marketing will reach a large proportion of them.
Run promotions
Promotions and rewards programs remain an incredibly effective strategy for marketing restaurants. Everyone loves to get something for free or at a reduced price, and the promise of rewards will bring people who might otherwise not be persuaded by your marketing campaigns.
A good promotion substitutes long term success for short term profit. Building a revitalized customer base that is enamored by your restaurant is more important than getting as much money of theirs as you can in the moment. Over time, this will start to really pay off, and can become a crucial part of your social media strategy as well.
With the end of the pandemic in sight, it is time to start thinking about where next to take your restaurant. Use the above strategies to renew interest.
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