People love to eat, which is why so many people turn to the restaurant business. In days gone by, people relied on a stack of menus in a random drawer in the kitchen. Today, however, we have the luxury of multiple apps and delivery services. For customers, this means a great deal of choice any day of the week. For restaurants and takeaways, it means it’s easier to reach more customers in the local area than ever before!
The thing is, you’re also competing with all of these restaurants for business. Simply being on the apps and having your doors open isn’t enough to maintain the success of your business. This is why a strong marketing strategy is so important. It can help you to attract new customers and keep the orders for your food coming in on a regular basis.
A key part of any strategy is content and you need to more than simply take great photos of your food. If you’re short on creative ideas, however, we’re to help! As affordable content writers, we’ve helped plenty of businesses just like yours! Here are our favourite content marketing ideas for your restaurant or takeaway.
Be in the Right Place
When it comes to marketing, you need to be in the right place. By the right place, we mean where your audience is – social media. The channels that you choose to be present on are up to you, but don’t fall into the trap of creating accounts for the sake of it.
Instead, focus on one or two channels and really nail your activity there. This way, you can take the learnings and success from these channels on to others as you expand. Think of it as your business. Would you start off by opening several locations at once or would you start with one, make it as successful as possible, and build from there?
This is the approach you should take to your social channels.
The power of Influencers
Celebrity endorsements have long been a popular and effective form of marketing. The biggest barrier to getting one of these endorsements however is access and funds; not every coffee brand can afford to pay George Clooney to promote their products.
Thanks to social media you know access to influencers – the modern version of celebrities. These are people with a large social media following that you can use to promote your products. The good news for restaurants and takeaways is that there are countless food influencers waiting to share your food with their followers!
You can approach them yourself through your official account, or you can enlist the help of an influencer agency. The benefit of using influencers is that people follow them for content on a certain topic – such as takeaway and restaurant suggestions. If the influencer you work with has 10,000 followers, you’ll be promoting your food to this invested audience.
User-Generated Content
Word of mouth has long been one of the most efficient forms of advertising. It is also one of the hardest methods to control because you’re counting on strangers to talk to their friends and loved ones about your restaurant.
Thanks to social media, you no longer need to do that. People love taking photos of their delicious food and sharing it online – which means they can do it for yours too!
Create a branded hashtag and encourage your customers to use it when they share your food on social media. Alternatively, you can ask them to tag your account. This will allow you to find the content that your customers are posting and share it on your own channels.
How it’s Made
If cooking shows have taught us anything, it’s that people love to know how their favourite food is made. So, with this in mind, why not peel back the curtain on some of your dishes?
You don’t need to reveal all of your secret herbs and spices, but you can show how you prepare some of the dishes or little tricks that you use to enhance or create the flavours that you offer your customers.
If you can show people the time, effort, and care that goes into the food that you make, people will be more excited to try it and come back for more.
Collaborations
The option to collaborate with others isn’t limited to the music industry. Depending on your takeaway or restaurant, you can work with other restaurants for mutual benefit. This could be limited additions to the menu that you both can share or other fun ways that you can work together.
This collaboration means that you can offer something new to your current customers, and promote your food to new potential customers too!
New Menu Items
New additions to your menu are always a great source for content generation. New menu items are particularly effective for bringing back your existing customers who may be looking elsewhere after eating with you a few times already.
Drum up as much excitement as possible and bring in the help of an influencer to promote your new dishes if you can!
Final Thoughts
When it comes to promoting your restaurant or takeaway, creativity is key! Use these ideas as a starting point and place your own spin on them to create content that matches your brand and brings new customers through your doors.
Need a hand? We offer affordable content marketing services for small businesses. Get in touch today for a quote.