The restaurant industry is reeling right now with the mandated shutdowns of dining rooms all across Fairfield County. But here are some tips and a marketing toolkit to help amplify your local reach.
1. Social Media Likes Won’t Pay the Bills. The algorithms are designed for the user, not for the businesses that try to reach their followers. You need to use social media to get people to sign up for your email list. Your email list will always reach more of your customers.
2. Nothing Else Matters But Today. If your website’s front page talks about dining reservations, happy hours, booking events, and everything else, you are missing the opportunity to capture the attention of people searching for you. Mothball the regular stuff, and make the first thing to see is your offer during the shutdown.
3. Keep It Simple. You have 3 seconds to convey what you want your customers to do. Link to how to order online the biggest link, and then add other ways to order to below that, the hours and days you are operating below that and a link to the Google Maps for how to get to you.
4. Communicate Daily. Remember the time when restaurants sent out the daily fax? New routines for people working from home are opportunities to send out reminders that you are open and are taking orders, whether it is for pickup or delivery. People are getting inundated with information, so that daily reminder is crucial.
5. Segment Your List. Tag people within your delivery range, and the new people who sign up to your list. They are the closest to your place of business so you should strengthen those ties.
Norwalk 2.0 has put together a local marketing toolkit that can help you reach more local customers and stay on message. Check out https://www.norwalk2.org/toolkit/