The hospitality industry 2.0 demands a resilient attitude from hospitality entrepreneurs and leaves no business without the importance of an online presence. This need is not surprising; completely virtual restaurants are popping up and the impact of takeout and delivery has continued its trend even after the pandemic. Enough reason to dwell on your digital visibility. How do you make sure you stand out among all the other restaurant concepts online?
In the article "The journey of the hospitality brand described how the customer journey - or the guest's journey - takes place not only offline, but also online. This online interaction between you and the guest takes place throughout the journey. In fact, often the first contact is made online. For example, this can be a result of a potential guest spotting you online on the social media of acquaintances, or through your online ads. So it's essential to invest in successful, online branding for your concept. How to.
1. Create synergy through online and offline branding
"Branding is literally who you are and what you want to portray. It is your DNA, your character and all the associations that come to mind when you hear your name."
In "an ironclad hospitality brand, why?the importance of branding is discussed in detail. The more often the guest is stimulated by your brand, the stronger the memory. Did you know that you can capitalize on this by paying attention to both your offline branding, and your online branding?
If both are applied correctly, communicating the same thing to the outside world, they will reinforce each other. Thus, your brand becomes an identity, to which all means are optimally aligned. On the one hand, when a guest orders a dish from you online, you can implement the brand experience offline through beautiful packaging in your brand identity. On the other hand, you can match the colors of your online content to the colors that guests will perceive when they enter your establishment. A golden combo!
.png)
La Catrina | Westfield Mall of the Netherlands
Let that guest get to know the coolest Mexican in the Netherlands by showing off your uniquely printed food boxes offline and online!
2. Stand out on social media
Actually taking someone out of the orientation phase and convincing them to make a reservation is often a result of having a strong presence on social media. For example, 52% of people indicate that posts on social media are decisive for making a reservation [1]. This makes social media indispensable for hospitality concepts today.
Yet there is still much success to be had here. Although 45% of hospitality entrepreneurs indicate that social media is more important to them than advertising or promotions, as many as 38% of hospitality entrepreneurs say they are not active on social media [2]. Time to recap the benefits.
What's in it for you?
-
Social media is big, which means you can reach a large group of people at once. Something that will be different with a poster on the street corner anyway.
-
Also, the clever algorithms behind social media allow you to very specifically target your audience and expose them to your ads.
-
In addition, social media is a place of interaction: due to the fact that you can really "start conversations," you build a bond with both potential guests and returning guests. So which platform to choose and what kind of content goes with it? Check it out in our article 'Socials, socials, socials!'
Invite your guests in with a video of your full, oh-so-fun business, or delight them with photos of the new dish.
3. Optimize your online findability
The use of social media can cause a potential guest to click through to your website, and then order the daily snack or place a reservation. But besides social media, there are many other ways to reach the guest online and draw them to your website, for example.
For example, you may have heard of SEO: search engine optimization, or search engine optimization. This type of marketing helps you get guests to your website. By using the right keywords in your texts, you make sure your website ranks high in search results on Google [3].
A tip for choosing the right terms?
Be specific: if you are a restaurant based in Rotterdam, you will still have to compete strongly with the term "restaurant Rotterdam. So make it specific by, for example:
-
Your cuisine type to add: 'Thai restaurant Rotterdam'
-
Highlighting the atmosphere: 'chic restaurant Rotterdam'
-
To specify the location: 'Rotterdam Blaak restaurant'
-
Or to name the concept: "takeaway restaurant Rotterdam.
Then use these search terms in all your expressions, such as website text, blogs and social media posts.
.png)
4. Data is key
The fact that many people use Google as a search engine to look up a restaurant is very useful when it comes to getting to know your target audience. Delving into restaurant visitors is essential, but delving into your online visitors may be even more important. This includes the people who are interested in your concept, but ultimately choose the restaurant around the corner. And let that be the group that can make your guest base grow.
Using Google Analytics, you can find out everything about your website visitors: how old are they? Where do they come from? What are their interests? This data is enormously powerful, because you can use the resulting data in setting up online ads and campaigns. In addition, you can use this data to monitor whether any investments in online marketing are paying off enough.
Did we mention that this data is enormously powerful?
We would love to help you with that! Our partners are specialized in creating online and offline synergy, getting you noticed on social media, optimizing your online findability and gaining insight with data.
Source reference:
[1] Restaurant trends 2021, Bookdinners. Accessed October 12, 2022 https://www.bookdinners.nl/kennisbank/restaurant-monitor-2021/
[2] Social media and the opportunities for the hospitality industry, L1NDA, Accessed Oct. 12, 2022. https://l1nda.com/nl/blog/social-media-horeca/
[3] Responding digitally to a changing hospitality industry: the importance of online visibility, Misset Horeca. Accessed October 12, 2022 https://www.missethoreca.nl/360007/digitaal-inspelen-op-een-veranderende-horeca-het-belang-van-online-zichtbaarheid
