Slow seasons are known for being a struggle for the restaurant industry, so it’s not uncommon to be stressing about your business when this occurs. Online Orders Now offers mobile ordering app services and software for restaurants to take their restaurant to the next level. We are passionate about ensuring that our beloved business owners are successful, even when it’s “supposed” to be slow.
In the next couple of blogs, we are going to talk about a few of the marketing tactics and approaches that you can do to keep your business at the top of the list when people are looking for a place to eat. Now, there are quite a few of them, so be patient — sit back, relax, and take some notes. Let’s get started.
Create a Loyalty Program
We’ve talked about this topic recently, and it’s because of how beneficial it is for restaurant owners. In our last blog post, we covered so many of the benefits that these types of programs can bring for a business, one of the main ones being that they give customers a reason to return. The best part is, this is a great way to maintain your regular clientele base while using other marketing approaches to extend your reach and build your overall customer base.
If you haven’t read our last blog post, find it here.
Get Active On Social Media
One of the ways that people stay caught up and involved with what’s going on in the world or what businesses are doing is by interacting with them on social media. From Facebook and Instagram to apps like GrubHub and Google Maps, there are so many ways to interact with your customers on social media.
If you don’t currently have social media profiles or you’re not very active on them at the moment, then it’s time to start! Come up with a schedule of topics that you’d like to share with your clients and take some pictures of your delicious menu items, then share them like crazy! Let the people in your area know what they’re missing out on when they’re not eating at your restaurant.
Get Involved In the Community
As a local business, you should know just how important it is that you, as a restaurant owner, get involved with the community. The community is built up of the people who are going to support you more than anyone, so find any and all ways to play a part in their successes too.
Most towns have a schedule of events that take place annually or seasonally, but there’s no reason that you can’t play a part in the success of them. From contributing food to sponsoring the organization that’s hosting the event, your restaurant being involved in the community will continue to drive you customers and get your name out. What better marketing than building a relationship with the people that become a family in the long-run?
Invest in a Quality Website
When people are learning about your business or looking for answers to questions they may have, the first thing that they’re going to do is look for your website. Gone are the days where people would make a call and take the time to talk to a person. Now, you need to have all of the information that your customers need when asking questions, on your website. That includes a phone number to call in the case that they don’t find the answers they need online.
Sure, you could make a website on your own, but why do that when a professional could take it to the next level and make sure that it has everything your restaurant needs to have present on the website is, in fact, present on the website? If you want to get involved but still make sure that it looks great, get some quality photos taken! Visuals are critical on your website, and you can definitely get involved with the process this way.
Offer Online Ordering
This could be a time for growth, and your business is in the same mix of it all. Finding ways to improve your restaurant is something that can help you improve the level of business that you’re getting. One of the best ways for you to do that is by starting to offer online ordering services for your customers to enjoy. If you’re not already doing this, then you are missing out on a huge part of the market!
Online Orders Now provides restaurants of all sizes with the software that they need to make this possible. If you’re interested in taking advantage of this mobile ordering app and the software that makes it all possible, reach out to our team and we can provide you with a free demo so that you get an idea of what the system would look like.
Stay Tuned for Part 2
At this point, we’ve only mentioned five of the things that you can start doing to keep your restaurant busy this year— the tip of the iceberg. There are a few more things that we’d like to share with you, so stay tuned for part two of this blog series so that you can discover even more ways to keep your restaurant busy this year. Make sure to contact our team with any questions that you have about the software that we offer!