5 ways to attract more guests to your restaurant or bar
In a hugely competitive sector, how do you attract new customers to your venue and keep them coming back? In this article, we look at how you can maximise your online presence and easily run and promote events to help your restaurant or bar become the talk of your town.
With plenty of competition around it can be hard to make sure your venue gets noticed and ahead of an unpredictable summer of British weather it pays to ensure you maximise your venue’s visibility to get customers through your doors and returning time and again.
In this article, we look at the ways you can maximise your online presence and some marketing strategies to help you promote your venue and ensure a successful summer.
1. Maximise your online presence
The way customers find new venues has changed dramatically over the last few years and the customer now start their digital journey long before they set foot in your venue. Ensuring you have a strong online presence helps your venue rank highly on google rankings – one of the best ways for potential customers to find you and also that when they do find you they find all the information they’re looking for.
First thing’s first, ensure you publish your menus online. 3 in 5 customers look online for menus, photos or reviews before visiting venues1 so, having up to date menus available is absolutely essential.
Increasingly customers also prefer handling bookings online, 71% of consumers who visit hospitality at least once a week would be deterred if they couldn’t find a menu online2. Implementing reliable hospitality booking and reservation software that allows you to manage bookings and enquiries from various channels will help you provide a seamless guest experience that will help you convert organic enquiries to your venue.
There’s nothing more enticing than heading to your chosen venue’s insta and finding an array of photos showcasing all the delicious food and drink available. Make sure you’re putting time and effort into showing off your venue’s offerings on social media channels to help convert enquiries into bookings.
2. List your venue on a discovery platform
Speaking of maximising your online presence, a listing on an online discovery platform like DesignMyNight is a great way to make sure your venue or event is seen far and wide. A listing page showcases your venue along with all the essential info your guests need, and you can keep your listing information up to date. With 13 million monthly page views and over 450,000 newsletter subscribers, marketing your venue and events to new audiences has never been easier.
We can offer premium event features, ranking highly in our key editorial pieces (which also rank across Google) These channels are not only featured prominently across DesignMyNight's website, Social Media and Newsletter spots, but also rank highly within Google keyword searches for unprecedented and ongoing visibility. The site also has a strong online presence, ranking in the top three positions on Google search results for over 30,000 keywords that will help to get your listed event at the top of search results based on your city3.
3. Targeted marketing
Events are a great way to attract new customers to your restaurant or bar venue but how do you ensure your event is being seen by the right people? Targeted marketing can help get your event in front of the right audience so, when you’re planning your event, think about who would be interested in attending.
For a retro 90s themed event you might think about targeting over 30s, a football food and drink promo on matchday might see you targeting men – think about who you want to target when you create your event. Similarly, the channels you advertise on might differ depending on the audience – using Instagram to target younger audiences and Facebook for the over 30s.
4. Host different events
Building a calendar of varied and interesting events tied into offers or holidays is a great way to generate income from quieter days and pre-booked business for smoother planning.
Some great examples are recurring events such as ‘Taco Tuesdays’ or a curry night to encourage mid-week visitors.
Hosting bigger ticketed events is an excellent way to get ahead of planning for organising staff, making the most of your venue size and finding new customers. Retro theme nights, karaoke nights and live music events are all great options. A reliable online ticketing solution can help you manage your event easily, sell tickets across different platforms, promote your event to a wider audience and facilitate a quick and easy check-in on the day.
5. Promote your venue for key dates
Over Valentine’s weekend operators saw a 332% increase in average bookings compared to the three precious Mondays4 - when it comes to attracting visitors to your food and beverage business a calendar tracking all the key events you can run events and promotions is essential. What about a speed dating Valentine’s event with a themed cocktail menu? Halloween party with costume competition? Key calendar dates allow you to get an overview of how many events you’re planning and when so you can dedicate your time and resources accordingly.
Thanks to the innovative hospitality technology available, marketing events for your venue has never been easier! From selling tickets to finding new customers and tracking your bookings, we have technology solutions to help you find new revenue opportunities and find new customers.
Talk to our team to find out more about marketing support to help your business, or take a look at our hospitality software suite.
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