chef preparing utensils

Standing out from the crowd as a restaurant owner can be hard. The restaurant industry is known for its competitiveness. Food and marketing trends change swiftly, and businesses must adapt or board up. This is where marketing companies come in but first, you must know how to market to restaurant owners.

A good marketing company can help restaurant owners reach their target audience, generate leads, and increase sales. However, if they don’t know how to speak a restaurant owner’s language, they may not succeed in getting them as a client.

In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about how you can market your services to a restaurant owner. From understanding who your market is to the marketing channels you can use for your client, you’ll find everything here.

Who’s your market?

A critical part of marketing to restaurants is knowing who you’re talking to. Restaurants come in different cuisines, price points, and designs, but they will always have one thing in common. They want to profit.

Of course, it only makes sense that they want their business to make money because, if the business is making money, they’re allowed to pursue their passion of doling out delicious food to their patrons. It also enables them to have enough resources to research and develop new items for their menu.

Although, you need to know more than the bottom line. When you’re trying to market to restaurant owners, you’ll want to know the following:

  • What are their pain points?
  • What are their goals?
  • What is their vision and mission?
  • What are their budget constraints?

Once you understand their vision and their needs, you can market to these entrepreneurs more effectively.

What type of restaurant are they?

As a marketer, you must know how important it is to have all impertinent details on hand to make a custom-fit solution for your client. So, one thing you need to learn is what kind of restaurant is your desired client. This will help you create a pitch that fits their needs, vision, and target market successfully.

Here are some types of restaurants that you may encounter:

  • Fine Dining
  • Hotel Restaurant
  • Casual Dining
  • Fast Food
  • Food Truck/Food Cart/Food Stand
  • Cafeteria
  • Café
  • Buffet
  • Pop-up
people dining in a restaurant

How do you personalize your offers?

As we’ve mentioned above, when you’re advertising to restaurant owners, you need to know who you’re talking to and what they do before you make an offer. Aside from this, we recommend that you immerse yourself in the restaurant industry and learn all you can about their issues, desires, and way of life.

That way, when you make a marketing proposal, it hits all the pain points that restaurants go through while keeping their limitations in mind.

How do you find out who to talk to?

Restaurants will usually have a point person present at all times. This could be a dining manager, head chef, or owner. You can simply talk to them when you decide to visit the establishment.

Otherwise, you can look through the internet and create a database of restaurant owners and decision makers for your benefit.

How do you know what type of marketing will work best?

Each restaurant has its target market and branding. When figuring out the type of marketing strategy that’ll work best, you should consider both. Ideally, you want these factors to align.

You can also take note of any trends in the restaurant industry to steer the company to more updated approaches. It’s also good to remember that when you’re creating a marketing strategy, you can use a combination of channels.

Here are some marketing types to help you get started:

Building a Website

Building a website may warrant additional time and resources but, it’s a worthy investment. Think of the website as the restaurant’s digital home so, make sure to use great photos and excellent copywriting.

When you create a website, you can add a code called “schema.” Adding a schema will enable the restaurant to show up on localized search engine results. The code will also help search engines understand the context of the information on your website.

Social Media Outreach

It’s a normal practice to reach out to bloggers and influencers to showcase a restaurant on their social media feed.

You can use social media outreaches to reach the personality’s followers to entice them to visit the restaurant.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is an excellent way to maintain relationships with customers. Adding this channel to your list of marketing tools can yield great results for your email list of restaurant owners.

Use this channel to provide helpful information to the restaurant’s patrons and maybe sprinkle in a couple of special deals now and then.

Traditional Marketing

Distributing flyers outside of an establishment and using traditional marketing techniques is a tried and tested way to attract people who are passing by. If used correctly, traditional marketing tools can expand the restaurant’s reach.

restaurant owner putting up a sign

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When you’re presenting to a client make sure to pitch your product while also taking note of the risks. Be transparent and make sure to let them know that you care about their success. You’ll also want to maintain a relationship with your prospect that way, even if they can’t afford your services now, they can refer you to other businesses that can.

By following the tips we’ve laid out for you, you can market your services to restaurant owners effectively and helpfully. You can also help them grow their business to newer heights.

Do you want to know more about how you can uplevel your marketing practice? Then make sure to visit our blog for more value-laden articles that’ll take your marketing services to the top.