What's Cookin'? Marketing during the Covid-19 Crisis for a Successful Restaurant Relaunch
David Woodman, senior marketer and founder of Magic Blue Box partnered with PosterMyWall to provide valuable insight to restaurants opening up and continuing operations in this post-COVID-19 world.
We hosted a webinar on May 28th, 2020 where David talks about the situation of the restaurant industry, and with the changing economic landscape, the need for new strategies to keep your restaurant running.
If you’ve missed the webinar, don’t worry, we’ve summarized some of the key points discussed in the webinar. To truly benefit from the webinar, we recommend watching the full webinar via the video below:
The situation is different for every restaurant, and locale. There’s no one size fits all solution and every restaurant business needs to see what strategy is relevant to their requirement.
Online marketing is now extremely important because it’s the only way left for new customers to find your restaurant. Having an updated website is part and parcel to this.
Register your restaurant to Google My Business and Bing Places after updating your website. This will show your restaurant menu and contact details in a mini landing page, found directly on the search engine results page.
Sign up all kinds of directories online, and make sure your restaurant is not registered to a directory without your knowledge. Valuable traffic may turn away from your restaurant if the page is incomplete, outdated or misleading.
Having a presence on multiple directories often means free marketing as delivery services like UberEats and Doordash will often advertise the service by promoting their restaurant lineup.
It’s a good time to invest in your restaurant business. Here are some reasons why that’s the case:
Online ads are generally cheaper because many businesses are pulling their ad campaigns.
Many are longing for the good old days. You can build on that feeling of nostalgia by creating ads that bring back the feeling of community and festivity.
Recycle evergreen content. People who are new to your page may have missed out your previous important announcements. Keep everyone on the same page.
Provide limited but regular offerings. Like a $5 cheeseburger carry out basket on every Tuesday.
Many are aware of the plight businesses are facing amidst the COVID-19 crisis and subsequently open to supporting businesses in their locale. Ask a question. Have an open conversation with your audience regarding what they’re interested in and how you can serve them better.
Content with images provides greater engagement and videos offer even more engagement. PosterMyWall’s design templates provide the means to create eye-catching content easily, without the need to spend a fortune.
Instagram stories are extremely popular. A third of viewed Instagram stories are by brands. With millions swiping through stories, your brand has a place in this vast ecosystem.
Your promotions need to create value in your customers’ lives. Anything of value makes it immediately share-worthy. Opt for creative ways to share new offers, like a thank you email on your restaurant anniversary to your best customers with a promo code.
SMS marketing is big, and it’s easy to get started now. SMS messages are less likely to get ignored because unlike email, your mobile text inbox is not inundated with marketing messages.
Use retargeting ads for users who’ve been to your site. You can create audience groups and advertise directly to people the content that they are interested in. For example, people that searched for spicy food on Google then clicked on your website may find ads to your restaurant’s spicy food offering on Facebook after they’ve left your website.
Additional steps you can take as the relaunch draws closer:
Update everyone online regarding the relaunch.
Discuss precautions that are being taken prior to and after the relaunch.
Make the relaunch a lively, even memorable event.
