If you closed your eyes and dreamt about the marketing of your restaurant/hotel/café (fill in the blank), what would you imagine?

Would you imagine your brand on every billboard in town? Or maybe you’d think about what jingle your TV ad would have.  Perhaps you’d dream about the type of photography, or going viral on TikTok. 

The budget might not stretch to huge billboards in tube stations or a TV ad on Channel 4 during Gogglebox, but there are ways you can act like these big brands that will increase your revenue. In fact, you SHOULD act like the McDonald’s’ and the Just Eat’s of the world, and this is why…

On average, big brands spend 10% of their total revenue on advertising and marketing. When was the last time you didn’t see a McDonald’s ad at a bus stop or a billboard? If you’re honest with yourself, how much would you say you spend on a monthly basis on your marketing? If you’re spending the industry standard of 10% of your revenue and you’re not getting the results you hoped for, it might be worth delving a little deeper into your channels and elevating your strategy to meet your goals. This could be with incredible photography to show off your dishes to their maximum potential, or tweaking your tone of voice so that it’s consistent across the whole of your brand, or even reading your TripAdvisor reviews with a more critical eye and actually implementing changes reflecting the feedback.

If you’re not spending 10% of your total revenue on your marketing, consider it. Upping your social media game or making yourself known in your local community via physical marketing activity can have a huge impact on your overall sales. This could be with a strong social media strategy, utilising an influencer campaign or including PR in your marketing plan.

Looking in-house, you could offer a rewards scheme for loyal customers, for instance offering a free main dish or a free drink when they purchase multiple times with you. Analysing your dishes with a critical eye and creating inspiring, aesthetically pleasing dishes that scream “TAKE A PHOTO OF ME”. Because hey, photos = Instagram = free advertising! Maybe this could be one signature dish, like an innovative recipe like the melting chocolate desserts or a stunning appetiser. It could even be a spectacular cocktail that you become known for that makes people want to visit your restaurant for that one offering. 

Big brands always offer seasonal specials, or specials for specific branches. Honest Burger partners with Guinness on St Patrick’s Day for a themed burger, with loyal fans looking forward to it each year. We all know McDonald’s and their themed meals and daily wrap deals. You might ask why these are effective for a small business. It’s all about creating a sense of urgency, or FOMO. If you have a brand new dish added to the menu which is a limited-time only offer, using fresh, local ingredients and plated up in such a beautiful way that people are posting all over social media – you’ll create an inevitable buzz around your restaurant. 

When people think of your restaurant, what do they think of? And most importantly, what do you want them to think of? Perhaps you want your guests to remember the service they received, or the presentation of the dishes, or the buzzy atmosphere with live music and drinks flowing, maybe it’s how you helped them celebrate a special occasion. However you want your restaurant to be remembered by each guest, make an effort to hone in on that and make sure it’s not only memorable, but something that makes them come back again and again to experience the same thing. 

Eventbrite recently conducted a survey about millennials and the experience economy and found that “more than 3 in 4 millennials (78%) would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event over buying something desirable, and 55% of millennials say they’re spending more on events and live experiences than ever before”. In other words, you’ve got to think about more than just the food, everything counts. 

So whether it’s investing in some brand new insanely good photographs of your menu, or appointing a super slick social media agency to handle the day-to-day strategy of your accounts, or focusing on an in-house approach to increase sales; or all of the above, you have the power to thrive in this uncertain market.

We started off this blog talking about what you could dream about, but hopefully we’ve given you some tips here to inspire you to make that dream a reality. 

We’d love to hear from you if you do implement any of our tips, follow us on social at @getreallysocial for everyday marketing tips for your hospitality business!