In the Spring of 2018, the number of restaurants in the United States exceeded 660,000. If you own a restaurant, you likely know – the competition is steep.
If you want to succeed in this industry, you have to make sure your restaurant stands out. One of the best ways to do this is by employing effective restaurant branding.
Are you ready to get started? If so, begin your branding efforts with the tips found here.
You need to have a solid foundation when building a brand for your restaurant. So, this first step is essential.
Take pen to paper and write down what your brand is about. Some of the questions you need to answer include:
The way you answer these simple questions is going to give you the cornerstones of your brand by defining the brand’s values, purpose, and beliefs.
While your unique selling point (USP) is of equal importance, it is likely going to fall under one of the questions above. When you answer these questions, you can have an outline as you try to build your brand.
An extremely important component of any successful branding efforts for your restaurant is to fully understand your audience, along with their behavior. Figure out things, such as who your regular customers are, what they value, and why they choose your restaurant over the competition.
If you want to get to know your audience even better, be sure to conduct market research on your target demographic. If you have a tight or limited budget, this can be as simple as surveying your potential customers about their needs, schedule, preferences, and tastes.
When you think about restaurant branding, it’s pretty easy to fixate on various design cues, which includes your logo, the menu and website, and the interior design of your space. However, the design needs to reflect on all the work you have done to develop a brand.
In addition to developing a strong and clear visual brand identity by using the services of a branding team or graphic designer, you also need to use this identity consistently on each platform. If you use a different logo on your menu than your website, it could cause confusion.
They may wonder if it’s the same restaurant. Consistency is essential.
If you own a restaurant, you work in the service industry. This means your brand is highly reliant on how you align your company values with your customer service.
Everything from your online ordering platform to the actual on-site dining experience needs to be consistent and reflect who you are as a brand.
If you have made it so your brand highlights your farm-to-table freshness and sustainability, you want to make sure everyone in the restaurant can answer questions about where the food is grown. You also need to ensure you are using take-out and delivery packaging that’s either compostable or recyclable.
It’s these types of details that are going to help to create the narrative about who you are as a brand. Over time, this is also going to help foster loyalty and trust in your customers.
In addition to taking the steps above to develop your brand, you also have to take steps to continue building it. Some actionable steps that can help spread knowledge about any restaurant and ensure the brand becomes a household name can be found here.
While this may sound somewhat simple, it’s a strategy that works. If you plan to put any money toward restaurant marketing, be sure you use something that’s going to provide tangible results.
You don’t even have to hire a photographer to do this for you (though, that’s always an option).
Regardless of if you opt to take the pictures on your own, or hire someone to handle the job, be sure you share them online. The ultimate goal is to take pictures that are so mouthwatering that customers are going to be lining up for one of your dishes.
It doesn’t matter if the review you receive is good or bad you need to respond. If you fail to respond, someone who leaves a positive review may not bother to do this again in the future.
If you don’t respond to a negative review, then other customers may see it and decide not to visit your establishment.
User-generated content is absolutely invaluable when it comes to building your brand. Not only does it help to show someone else’s perspective about what you offer, but it also shows that your brand values your customers and what they have to say.
When it comes to restaurant branding, there are more than a few tips you can use to ensure you develop a quality brand that people can identify quickly. The tips and information here are designed to help you get started with this process.
If you need help building your brand, then feel free to reach out to us. Our team knows the restaurant industry and how to build a brand. We can help you create a brand that people not only know and recognize, but that is also successful.
You don’t have to do all this work alone. We can help!
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