Does your restaurant need a boost in business? It’s not enough to run your restaurant business as efficiently as possible. You’ll also need to keep things fresh with innovative promotional strategies to revitalize your operations. Try out one of these effective promotion strategies to give you an edge over your competitors and keep your customers happy.
Give away freebies or sell merchandise
Freebies and customized merchandise are an effective way to get your restaurant’s name out there while also thanking your customers for their support. Make sure to give away actual useful merchandise rather than junk that will just be tossed aside. Some practical gifts and merchandise ideas include engraved knives, branded t-shirts, and customized USB sticks. These items are not very expensive to produce, yet they’re still quite handy and convenient, so they’ll guarantee positive returns and customer satisfaction.
Design a loyalty program
Make your dedicated customers feel special by designing a loyalty program that rewards them for their continued patronage with exclusive offers, redeemable reward points, and special discounts. This will not only keep these customers happy. It will also give them an incentive to continue coming back for more. Other customers who find out about this will also feel inclined to be more loyal to your restaurant just so that they can avail of these special benefits.
Offer a happy hour promotion
A happy hour promotion is designed to give your restaurant a boost in foot traffic during the slowest hours of the day, which is usually between Monday through Thursday from 4 PM to 8 PM. During this period, you can offer drinks and food at a discount for people who are just coming in from a long day at work.
Bundle your menu offerings
Almost every restaurant — from McDonald’s to Olive Garden — has tried their hand at bundling their menu offerings, and they almost always do so with successful results. This is because bundling food options together encourages people to order more and allows you to upsell your offerings. Your customers will get more of what they desire while you get to push your products and make a profit.
Update your restaurant’s promotional calendar
When it comes to creating engaging promotions, you should make the most out of special holidays so you can maximize your reach and returns. Below is a sample calendar with some noteworthy occasions you can theme your promotions around:
- January: New Year’s Day, Chinese New Years
- February: Groundhog’s Day, Superbowl Sunday, Oscar Night, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras
- March: International Women’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day
- April: April Fool’s Day, Patriot’s Day, Earth Day
- May: Star Wars Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day
- June: Father’s Day, Juneteenth Day
- July: Independence Day
- August: Senior Citizens Day, National Dog Day
- September: Labor Day
- October: Halloween
- November: All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Dia de los Muertos, General Elections, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving
- December: Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve
Set up a photo wall in your restaurant
Stimulate foot traffic and leverage your social media presence by setting up a photo wall in your restaurant. Customers will take photos in front of the wall and post them on their social media accounts for others to see. This is an inexpensive and straightforward marketing tool that also serves as a form of social proof.
Boost your business and spread the word about your restaurant by taking advantage of these practical and innovative promotional strategies.
