The 4 Biggest Restaurant Marketing Mistakes You Can Make

Restaurant owners tend to think that once they open a restaurant, all they have to do is provide good food and service and customers will come flocking through their doors.  This might work for some restaurants, but for the vast majority, you need something more than this: effective restaurant marketing.  

Effective restaurant marketing is more than just spreading the word about your business.  Effective restaurant marketing includes creating a marketing strategy that works for you and avoids some of these top mistakes that restaurant owners make when marketing their restaurant:  

Mistake 1:  Not focusing on your restaurant’s brand

There’s more to your restaurant than just a name and logo, and you need to make this clear to your potential customers.  Your restaurant needs a story, a philosophy, and a brand image that helps it to stand apart from the rest.  Is your bread made from scratch?  Do you use locally grown organic produce?  Are you a family-owned business?  Whatever your story is, and whatever your philosophy of food is—make this known through your branding and marketing.  

Mistake 2:  Being a copy-cat

Copying the look and feel of the brand of the restaurant across town isn’t good for your image.  When you do what everyone else is doing, you automatically fail to set yourself apart.  Focus on something unique, catchy, and interesting about what your restaurant provides, and then market that quality to make you stand out from the rest.  

Mistake 3:  Having a poorly-designed website

Your website is the window that potential customers look into to determine if they want to visit your restaurant.  It should be user-friendly and easy to navigate, and should contain your restaurant menu and prices.  Without these basic elements, no amount of fancy flash animation or otherwise distracting elements will make people want to visit. 

Mistake 4:  Failing to build a customer database

Maintaining customer loyalty is crucial in today’s restaurant market and there is no better way to do this than with a restaurant customer database that helps you keep in contact with both old and new customers.  This database can help you acknowledge birthdays, inform your customers about special offers and menu items, and make customers feel like their experience with your restaurant is a personalized one.