by digitalplus | Jan 10, 2023 | Technology
How to grow your restaurant business online
As you know, a successful restaurant’s foundation includes excellent food, ambience, and service, but growing your restaurant business online requires what is known as an effective restaurant marketing strategy. It doesn’t matter if you have an existing client base. You can grow that quickly by having a basic marketing strategy to promote your restaurant for acquiring new clients online and motivate your existing clients to keep coming back.
In simple terms, marketing your restaurant’s brand will be very effective and efficient if you do it online. And making a business plan offline and a marketing strategy online for a restaurant is almost identical, carrying simple tasks.
Here are some essential strategies to help you grow your online restaurant business.
Create a website
This would be one of the most obvious strategies, as building a website is the first step to getting digital. A solid website has to be the cornerstone of any restaurant owner’s marketing strategy. Regardless of whether you have just established your restaurant or have been running the same establishment for decades, it strengthens your restaurant business as well as your web presence.
A website increases awareness among people who otherwise would not be aware of your restaurant. An ideal website for a restaurant business online will be SEO optimized, easy to use, and filled with every detail related to your restaurant, and to make the most out of it, you can use services like Facebook and Google ads.
Promote your restaurant on social media platforms
Whether you use social media or not, it is a guarantee that most of your clients are using it regularly. It is one of the best options to promote your restaurant out there. To promote your restaurant on social media you have to post quality content on social media periodically relating to your clients or whatever is trending at the time, and all you need to do is be aware of the best way to approach your clients.
However, social media marketing for a restaurant business online requires a lot of things, such as prioritizing clients, using hashtags, monitoring your clients, and many more things. So if you have a little cash left out for the marketing, the best way will be to hire a marketing company to handle this task.
Run ad Campaigns
The best way of marketing your restaurant offline is word of mouth. It requires less effort and is based on people’s personal experiences. However, online marketing has much better options for you, requiring even less effort than word of mouth. You have two choices for promoting your restaurant business online, one is paid advertising, and the other is organic advertising. Paid advertising entails spending operating on advertisements based on location or specific topic. Organic marketing can reach potential customers using search engines, social media platforms, and other internet resources.
An ad campaign is nothing but a calculated strategy of advertising in which you acquire new clients or achieve a specific goal via advertising. Generally, marketers use paid advertising for making ad campaigns.
Have an online registration system
Once you start getting responses from the clients online, it is much better to give them an option for booking a table at your restaurant while they are excited about it. An online registration system allows your clients to confirm their visit to your restaurant as soon as they get their interest. The registration system deals with many issues at the same time.
You can take advantage of online registration system in two ways, first is having your own registration system and the second is using third party aggregators. Operating with your own internal internet registration system have so many benefits for a restaurant. Most marketing companies use third-party aggregator systems but unlike them, at digitalplus24x7 we give clients their online registration system.
Have a feedback management system
Nowadays, most restaurants business online find it challenging to control and handle all of the evaluations posted on websites or other platforms. Additionally, client reviews aren’t only about internet presence; gathering client input enables restaurants to improve their businesses and strengthen their market position.
A feedback management system for your own restaurant builds trust with your clients and gives your restaurant an honest review. The advantages of the feedback management system include knowing more about customer behavior, managing your online reputation, gaining insights and many more. You can operate your business according to the reviews provided on your feedback management system in a much better way and make adjustments and updates relating to that review.
Establishing your restaurant’s brand on social media using traditional online methods can be very challenging, especially when many users are more interested in browsing through their friends’ updates than looking for deals. That is where digitalplus24x7 comes into play; we are multiple award-winning digital marketing companies specializing in the hospitality industry. Our company uses all the strategies required for the growth of the restaurant brand, including the ones mentioned above and so far we have helped many clients to grow their restaurant business in the digital space.
We hope this article helped you in answering your how to grow restaurant business online question in detail and if you are still having a hard time finding the right marketing strategy, reach out to us here, we would be glad to solve any of your queries.
by digitalplus | Mar 18, 2020 | Technology
In conversation with Vinay Reddy founder Dhamaka
With regards to the marketing of your restaurant Dhamaka, what changes you undertook and the reason for the switch from a digital marketing agency to Digitalplus24x7?
Before digital plus, we had a Bristol-based marketing agency that
was handling our business through the launch period in terms of PR and digital
marketing. Unfortunately, we did not get the desired results and the tactics
didn’t for our launch didn’t work and received a lukewarm response which led us
to make the change.
After that, I became skeptical of choosing any other digital agency to handle my business. As soon as I contacted Digitalplus24x7, I was put at ease within a few weeks of the switch over. Digitalplus24x7 has been handling my business for almost a year now and I have started to notice some dramatic changes in my business.
Considering the fierce competition in today’s business world, how would you highlight the competitive advantages of digital plus?
Their
services have really helped my business to reach where it is today. The
out-of-the-box strategies, creative artwork, and promotions on social media are
some things that I would like to mention. I am equally pleased with their
digital team who take the feedback on the artworks very positively and work
around the requirements.
Importantly their turn around time and responsiveness to business needs has been critical for business results.
What do you think sets Digitalplus24x7 apart from the rest of the advertising world? And how their strategies have brought positive changes to your business?
Digitalplus24x7 has played an important role in shaping what we today. Be it positive or negative, there is always feedback, discussions and talks about even the minute detail that could affect the profitability of the business.
Sachin, from Digitalplus24x7, has acted as an extended arm of our restaurant who gives his genuine inputs even sometimes it is not something you wish to hear. Even the artwork done by their digital team has been done very professionally and with good detail thoughts put into it.
Had your company made any recent changes to improve your business practices and profitability?
As a restaurant business, we treat marketing an important aspect of business that cannot be used on an ad hoc basis but part and parcel of our business. We have been using and will continue to the services of Digitalplus24x7 as we have witnessed a positive impact on my business. Sachin, from digital plus, has a wealth of knowledge and knows the ins and outs of the marketing with his close association in the restaurant industry he can understand things in an operator’s point of view.
They’ve got
the right understanding of how the strategic elements work and what right for a
business that eventually helps in increasing the profits.
Based on your experience, do you have anything to say about digital plus?
I cannot recommend Digitalplus24x7 enough. My experience with Digitalplus24x7 overall has been a pleasant one. They would be a good support to any business in the restaurant industry and I cannot but strongly recommend the restaurant business.
by digitalplus | Aug 29, 2019 | Technology
Digital marketing has shown so many drastic changes in the last five years and that rapid change progress doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. There was a time when we get to see artificial intelligence only in science fiction films, but that time is long gone. AI is now an important aspect of Digital Marketing. Let’s get the overview of some of the main digital marketing trends to watch out in running year.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is considered to be the most cutting edge technology of today’s era. Now a day from TV to smartphones to other machines, AI has captured all the industry. If we elaborate in simple terms then AI is a computer system which can perform any task that humans are capable of doing. AI has large potential applications in marketing, but they are mostly deployed for advertising and customer service. The basic use of AI in marketing is to do competitor research and identify market trends.
In Digital marketing context AI helps in predicting the behavior of your customer whom you want to target. Especially for Google Adwords Professionals it is crucial to use AI where you define the campaign objective and target audience and with the help of AI tools automatically recommends strategies to achieve the desired goals.
Along with this predictive analysis allows digital marketers to extract information from data and uses that data to predict purchase trends and user behavior. AI helps in analyzing a large volume of data which eventually results in uncovering the most impactful insights. AI analyses millions of search queries and activities across several websites when any user is making any online purchase and shows them most relevant content or ads. AI is useful for analyzing data focused content like market research, relevant matches and reports.
Voice Search
Smart Speakers like Google Assistant and Alexa are getting fast adopted by people across the world which is causing the new search behavior which is called voice search or conversational search. These smart devices are making search a lot easier and quicker and the best thing about these searches is that they are totally hands free. As per the survey, nearly around 4% of adults had used voice search in 2018 so this adoption has predicted to increase very quickly in coming years also. It is one of the biggest development that impacting the world of digital marketing.
If we review the latest trends and stats in voice search we will find that the use of smart phones, speakers like Google Home amazon Alexa has increased tremendously. This rapid adoption of digital voice assistance across the world has made significant impact on SEO or search trends. If we go by figure today over 20 percent searches are done by voice on mobile platform which is going to increase up to 50% by 2050.
Earlier getting anywhere in page number one in Google searches was considered to be sufficient, but now after an increase of voice searches users had grown accustomed to at least scrolling and glancing beyond the top search result. So, the challenge is to optimize the website accordingly the voice searches. Now the website content should incorporate more natural language patterns if you want to grab more spoken queries.
Personalized Marketing
It is also one of the major emerging digital marketing trend of 2019. Personalized marketing is basically providing customized user experience depending on the specific user requirements. According to a big brand survey, nearly 96% of consumers agree that personalized marketing strengthens their relationship with the brand. Today, customers want personalized experience and in return they are ready to give their personal credentials also.
Web sites like Google mines your search history and identifies what you like and dislike and accordingly they provide recommendations for similar products you liked in the past.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is being one of the most used social media platforms for last several years. As per the survey video marketing will make up more than 85% of all consumer internet traffic in the U.S and the thing to notice here is most of the videos uploaded will be not by brand or business they will be by individuals. While YouTube is the number one choice for videos, but other platforms like Instagram, Facebook are also in use. If the videos you uploaded are entertaining, concise and short, they are more likely to get shared and liked on other social media platforms.
These days, every business use videos to promote their business on social media or other platforms. According to a recent stats, there are almost 97% of the marketers who believes that video marketing helps them to sell their products more because it makes customers to understand the products easily.
As per the Hubspot research, 54% of consumers would like to see videos of their favorite brands in comparison to other things like email newsletters and social images. By 2019, the internet video traffic will account for about 80% of all consumer internet traffic. Now, as the number of mobile users has grown up so rapidly, so 50% of the videos are watched on the mobile devices and videos up to 2 minutes are most engaging to the audience.
According to Cisco reports 80% of the traffic on the website is consisted only by the videos by year 2021. Videos basically helps in boosting conversions and sales and it also helps in increasing user time spent on websites.
Conclusion:
With these new trends, there are enough ways to attract more customers to your business. To stay ahead in the market once must need to incorporate all these strategies in their business plans specially voice search and video marketing. Even everything in place, it’s good to have an experienced Digital Marketing Company along with your side which can keep an eye on the big picture for your business.
by digitalplus | Oct 15, 2018 | Technology
In today’s era when instant communication has become the order of the day, the dependence of business on social media is the norm. However, in this backdrop it needs to be used thoughtfully and strategically to infuse and spread the information to the target audience in an effective way.
As per Global Survey in Jan’18 it is found that 5.6 million men and 5.6 million women between the age group of 25 to 34 years are active on Facebook in UK, as per statistical reports there were 8.6 million Twitter users in 2012 and it was predicted that there will be 17.1 million twitter users in the United Kingdom by 2018. It was also foretold that Twitter use among the age group of 65 years of age and older will increase by 13.2 percent in 2018. It is forecasted that by 2021, 13.2 million of folks in the UK will use Instagram that embodies 19.2% of the population.
So, in summary these data suggest the significance & penetration of social media in today’s fast paced world. Increasingly social media is the virtual world where we exist, no wonder there are over 3 billion Social Media users around the globe, which is almost half of the global population.
Here are some simple social media tips for small businesses including restaurants:
- Don’t delete negative feedback : On social media everything is exposed and widely available and if ever you receive negative feedback, never ever delete it because pressing the cursor on delete is not the solution instead you should provide resolution to the user, in cases where profanity is used then it is advised to politely pacify the user.
- Let your loyal followers Speak for you : Remember that most of the people who like your organization are liking and following your page and if someone deliberately put filthy remarks then your loyal fan base will surely defend you, so let your supporters pour their dearest love.
- Friendly interaction : Social Media is not all about posting and advertising yourself but it is also about building relations with the customer, forming a liaison that goes on, there should be a sort of personal and human touch whenever you revert to the customer and note that automated reverts are the BIG NO!
- Being Proactive is the Key : Being active does not work in Social Media, you are advised and assumed to be proactive because as soon as you receive message or comment from the client place a revert, reply shouldn’t exceed the time limit of 24 hours.
- Public altercation should be avoided : If an individual comes with a complaint and demonstrates an aggressive behavior try to pacify him, if he doesn’t cool down, try to get on to the private message & make him understand the issue politely, never be rude to the client, not even in the private message, client can even take screenshot of the private message and air it in public, so be careful with your reverts and play smartly with the customer.
- Engaging Posts : Your posts should be fascinating, they should catch the eye balls of every individual. Catchy and hilarious posts always lead to good level of reach and engagement.
- Take feedback seriously : If the same feedback keeps on popping up again and again. Try to look for a proper resolution and answer the complaints in a prudent manner and make it sure that the same issue never take place again.
- Conduct contests : We should keep on running contests like quiz, riddle, etc. on our social media pages, the winner should be selected from the bunch of people who gave right answer and then rewarded appropriately. This will accelerate the engagement level manifolds.
- Choose your content wisely : Whatever content you post on Social media is read by masses in huge numbers and whatever you mention in the copy should make sense, it should be backed with facts and must be engaging, so that the results are fruitful for both organization and customer.
- Play with videos : Gone are the days when content was the King, new age is of Video marketing, now a days videos are taking Centre stage in Social Media, rather than plain content or imagery, one should go for small gifs or videos, that are way more attractive and go viral in no time.
- Boost your content : Promotion of organic content plays a significant role but it is required to be done in a smart way, firstly you have to identify the top performing post and the target audience, once it is done boost the post to get more traffic through target audience.
So, these are handy tips hope you find them useful. Wishing you all the luck to start your Social Media journey, trust us, it’s Cool, if you are a people’s person. If you found this interesting please share and comment this space……….
by digitalplus | Sep 10, 2018 | Technology
Rightly said, “Revenue on table lost at time is lost forever.” If a table is not sold in a restaurant for a certain length of time, the revenue can never be regenerated for that period as that particular time is already gone. It is essential that we make optimum utilization of our resources especially in the service based industry, hence the introduction of a booking system is must to rectify this concern. Now the question stands, what is a booking system?
An online booking system is software used as reservation management in a service based industry. For instance, they allow travel portals to accept bookings online and allow the management to manage their online bookings made by guests directly as well as the admission of manual bookings taken by the staff. Our purpose is to help you understand the booking system a little better by learning how they can help your business, how to choose the system that is right for you and even how to get started.
Here, we will have a candid conversation with Ms. Prasida Suman, an intellectual professional with 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, with a specialization in Front-of-the-house and reservations for luxury hotels and restaurants, both in India and the UK. Being a hospitality graduate, she has worked in global brands such as Taj Hotels, Radisson and the Ananda Spa in India. Prasida is currently associated with Leeds Red Hot – a multi-cuisine buffet restaurant in Leeds with 300 plus covers, where she has worked for 8 years. Prasida is an extensive reader and avid lover of fictional books who often travels as a means of rejuvenating herself; she also enjoys spending time with her lovely 10 year old daughter.
♦ Hi Prasida, How’s life in Leeds?
I love Leeds and it’s a buzzing and exciting city to live. I and my family enjoy exploring Yorkshire.
♦ Please briefly explain your experience within the hospitality sector to date?
Guest service is my passion and I was lucky to start my adventure with luxury hotel brands in India. I was exposed to meeting and greeting celebrities and handling difficult situations or complaints and I was blessed to learn the management skills with the best in the industry.
♦ The Booking System behaves as a vertebrae to the hospitality industry, how has this unique feature helped you?
Being from the same industry, we think that the online Booking System gives accuracy, 24/7 business, instant confirmation, 100% ownership of customer data and most importantly manages the supply and demand that leads to the optimization of services and smoothens the operations of a business.
♦ According to you, what is the strongest reason why every restaurant should have an automated booking system?
An automated booking system allows for business around the clock, and makes the organization of restaurant management far easier. The booking system’s simple layout makes it accessible for both staff and guests, meaning that bookings can be generated easily and at any time, as opposed to solely by making a phone call during business hours. The automated booking system erases the effect of human error, improves the efficiency of business, lets us understand the real time view of table availability and offers a powerful insight into how to maximize occupancy.
♦ Being a Buffet restaurant with a large volume of business, have you faced any challenges with this system?
On extreme busy days like special occasion of Valentine’s Day, school break or Christmas festive period it is challenging to keep track of the bookings/covers per time slot received and to ensure we inform the concern person from the booking system to block any time slot to avoid over booking.
♦ As we discussed earlier, the booking system helps to manage staffing, proliferate revenue and has become an essential part of the restaurant business. Can you imagine running the restaurant without the booking system?
As business has picked up and more people booking tables at restaurants online than ever before, the booking system has become an essential part of restaurant business. Whilst manual bookings can still be taken by staff in person and on the phone, the booking system provides an easy way to track both manual and online bookings for the restaurant.
♦ Table management becomes much more flexible with a booking system in place. How significant is table management in the booking system for a buffet restaurant, or would you say it is more useful in an A La Carte?
The online booking system makes table management far easier for any restaurant; buffet or A La Carte. Being a buffet, we often have large tables celebrating occasions, and on busy day such as the weekend, the booking system is essential. The online booking system not only means that staff can plan in advance for busy periods but also means that large tables can be managed and separated in times where there will be a high volume of guests.
♦ According to you, how should the Booking System be priced? Should it be priced as per covers sold, or would a fixed price be more convenient? What suits you best at the Buffet in Leeds?
Because of the volume of covers booked it is not feasible for us to consider share of the cover and would prefer a fixed cost. Also for the company which is managing the system is secured because there is a guarantee of a fee to maintain the system and give any technical support. Fixed cost works both ways for the restaurant and the company providing the booking system.
♦ The ability to take payments online is one of the strongest features of the booking system. What is the best way for you to take payments? Online, in person or integrated into the Booking System?
Payments made via the online booking system provide a quick and easy way for both guests and businesses to track the payment of deposits. An automated confirmation receipt is immediately sent to the guest, as well as all the relevant payment information is provided to the restaurant instantly. This system saves time for both the guest making the payment online, as they can do so from the comfort of their own home and also the business as all necessary information is sent via one email.
So, here was our brief conversation with Ms. Prasida Suman, her sui-generis approach and magnetic personality charmed us. Her insight on booking system facilitated us a lot to revive our knowledge and we are sure that for you also it was an interesting read, you can even share it with your friends who hail from hospitality sector as it will be a certain help to them, please let us know your opinion in the comments below.
by digitalplus | Jan 14, 2018 | Technology
Technology has become the buzzword of the modern world. It has become the order of the day in recent times. Technology has covered almost all spheres of our lives. Restaurant Industry is no exception and has benefited largely with the advent of technology. The entire Dining experience has undergone a paradigm shift with the influx of technology. The dynamics of both the Customer and the Restaurateur has changed drastically.
There are a number of ways in which the Technology boom has completely turnaround the Restaurant Industry. We have picked the top 5 Technological innovations for giving a fillip to any Restaurant. These are indispensable for any Restaurant who wants to dip their toes in the Ocean of Digital Marketing and Technology.
Booking System: The Online Booking and Sales has given an impetus to the Restaurant industry.it has helped both the Customers as well as the Restaurateurs by easing the process using Technology. With just a few clicks you can now book your table as per your convenience. The Online Booking system has proved quite handy for a Customer. It saves their time due to quick response time. Earlier the Customers had to visit the Restaurant physically for booking their table. It was too tedious and time consuming. The Online Booking has helped the restaurateur by making it quicker and precise. It has also helped them in better Capacity Management.Thanks to the Technology which has made it so easy and simple.
- Feedback Management System: It has provided an effective means to the Restaurateur to gauge their quality of meals and services. It is set in motion by receiving online inputs from the customers.
The Online Feedback System provides a real time feedback to the Restaurateur. It helps them to analyse and evaluate all their operations. It acts as a Management Information System. It improves their efficiency and they are able to deliver their best to their clients. The Customers are also benefitted by the Online Feedback System. The Online System speeds up the response time and all their complaints and suggestions are entertained quickly. It has led to a better Dining experience with every feedback received. In earlier times the feedback given by a Customer was through pen and paper which was cumbersome for them as well as the Restaurateur.
- Digital Loyalty Programme: It is one of the best ways to increase and retain the Customer base for the Restaurant industry. It gives immense benefits to the customers too by giving them attractive offers and various benefits. The program helps to tailor, make promotions for each customer base during their special days and occasions like birthday, anniversary, small weddings, reunions etc. It has gained currency in the recent times and has helped the Restaurant Industry to hold on their customers. It is a cost effective and technology helps to analyse, evaluate the effectiveness of each activity.
- Promotional Text Messaging: It is one of the most convenient and quick ways to connect to your Customers. Text messages can be used to send various coupons and promotions to increase your business. It is really a cost effective means for Marketing and Advertising. It also helps in enhancing revenue and accruing other benefits.
- Social Wi fi: Guest Wi-Fi has become an important and “must have” feature for every Restaurant in recent times. It helps all the restaurant goers to access “free Wi-Fi”. It also benefits the Restaurateurs by having an access to all the social activities of their Customers during their Dining experience. Technology assists in acquiring the customer records too, with simple analytics which helps in future customer communication.
