I personally believe that digital marketing is extremely lucrative for boosting restaurant biz or any business related to food and drinks. As a matter of fact, before heading out to dine or eat a quick lunch, my friends and I always look up online to get as much information as possible about the place. Sometimes we simply search with our choice of cuisine and try to find the best joint around. I am confident that this is exactly what half the Gen-X, Gen-Y and millennial indulge in. And everyone who has access to a smartphone!
If you ask why, I would say because it is much more convenient and quick. I am able to find all the information that I need at my fingertips, such as address, menu, facilities offered and things like that.
So, now my question is – can I find your restaurant, café or coffee shop online?
If you still haven’t introduced your business to the web world and the netizens, it is about time that you do. Because Durga Puja – the most waited festival – is almost here! If not now, you will be losing out on a lot of business – a LOT!!
With that said, let me tell you how you can get started with the whole online thing. Now, I am not saying that you have to do it all, but implement some of them to enhance footfall to your venue.
# Give your eating joint an online address with a Website
A website is something that gives credibility to a business in the online space. By creating a website, you will help foodies like me to get all the information that we need. We will not have to look anywhere else anymore or depend on Apps, such as Zomato. After all, hearing from the horse’s mouth is always better than hearing from someone else.
Cue: Choose an expert website designer and developer in Kolkata for your website. Since a lot depends on the visual appeal, the design should be spot-on, the colors combination should be bright and well-balanced and the site navigation should not be slow!
# Tap on the massive influencing power of Social Media
I don’t know if you noticed or not, but social media sites, especially Facebook is flooded with business pages relating to restaurants or anything food and drink. So, if you do not have the budget for creating a full-fledged, functioning website at the moment, you can simply create an account with a business page on social media sites. Without a doubt, you will be able to reach out to thousands if not millions of loyal FB users. FB boasts of 241 million active Indian users – so, you can do the math! Another wonderful social media platform that you can use is Instagram. Images are worth a thousand words and you can use that to your advantage. And once you manage to be even slightly popular on social media platforms, you are guaranteed to go viral!
Cue: Make sure that FB page is filled with tempting and mouth-watering images of the food and drinks served. It’s all about enticing potential customers to come to you! For high-quality pictures, you can hire a photographer and a very talented designer. Apart from this, you should seek the help of social media experts in Kolkata to optimize your business page and promote your business to targeted audience. Just get them to work and keep posting drool-worthy images.
# Blog your way to your customers’ heart
A recent trend that has simply taken over the digital marketing world is food blogging. Blogs are written the same way as is written for any other industry, but this form of blogging is only food-oriented. It also includes drinks like, cold and hot beverages, mocktails and cocktails. These blogs are specifically written for a restaurant or café and posted across various platforms, including social media. It is a wonderful promotional tool that helps food-lovers to know everything about a eating or drinking joint.
There are also various forms of food blogging. The one mentioned-above is written for individual restaurants. However, you will also find blogs with title “Top 5 places to eat in Kolkata”, “Best Chinese restaurants in town”, “Lesser known bars in the city where you can grab a drink for less” and so on. These blogs do not target any one particular venue, but give an overall information.
Cue: Let a passionate writer specializing in food content writing handle your blogs. You can also blog about you restaurant and special dishes on a guest posting site. Just follow the guidelines before submitting your blog and they will take the entire responsibility to market your story to the foodies in Kolkata. Oh, don’t forget to support your blogs with equally tempting images.
# Create vlogs – a trend you cannot ignore!
Vlogs = video + blogs. So, this is not blogs in the conventional sense. Here, the post is typically in a video format. And there are endless opportunities with this. You can post a vlog on your social media pages once every week and make your followers crave for more. Vlogs will help your customers truly immerse in the full food and dining experience.
Cue: Hire a videographer! Budget is not too high? Well, simply get a good phone with a great camera. You will be all set.
So, what are you still waiting for? I already provided you with the recipe for success and PUJA is not even a month away anymore! Just keep in mind the two factors; visual appeal and targeted audience. And the rest will fall in place. Get ready to hustle! If you need any help, professionals are always on standby.
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