5 Marketing Strategies Every DC Restaurant Should Use (And You Don’t Want to Miss #5)

1. INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS Influencers hit the mainstream in early 2018 and it has become a go-to marketing practice for brands in every industry. Any unboxing video, any travel video you’ve seen, any tech review video — that’s influencer marketing. Restaurants aren’t the exception and in fact, they’re ripe for this marketing strategy. An instagram influencer, or simply an influencer is a personal brand or account who usually has a large and highly engaged audience. For a price, that influencer can endorse a restaurant for their audience to check out. These endorsements could be posts, Instagram Stories, tagging, collaborative postings, or even a written blog post. Much like a celebrity endorsement of the 90s, it’s a “get what you pay for” business model. The more followers an influencer has, the higher their day rate will be. Some accounts are small enough, where a comped meal will do the trick- others will want possibly hundreds of dollars. So based on the marketing budget, it might be smarter to hire 20 mid-size influencers then to hire 2–3 big accounts. I CAN’T STRESS HOW EFFECTIVE INFLUENCERS ARE IN 2019. WHAT TO DO: Go on Instagram, Find food bloggers in your space (#DCFood, #FoodBlogger, #DCFoodBlogger) Direct message their account, or email them Invite them to visit your restaurant Negotiate the terms (Content Deliverables, payment, etc.) Repeat this process to your heart’s (or budget’s) desire 2. YELP/GOOGLE MAPS Yelp and Google Maps are essential apps on everyone’s phone. Some use one more than the other but both are great ways for hungry customers to find your restaurant. Obviously, the reviews are out of the restaurant’s control but there are certain key features that restaurant owners should consider. The first major step on these apps is to populate your restaurant’s profile with clear, understandable photos. Notice I didn’t say pretty or beautiful photos. (See Strategy #4). So many make-or-break moments happen when a customer can’t read the menu, clearly see the restaurant’s atmosphere, or only see a few decent photos of the food. Clearly show or list your menu items on these apps. And if you do link to the restaurant’s website, it had better be simple and mobile-friendly. In this discovery process, customers aren’t looking for the prettiest restaurant, they need the facts first. Once they know what the restaurant serves THEN they begin weighing the fluff and frills. WHAT TO DO: Create Yelp and Google Map Accounts (How To) Fully and completely fill out the details of your profiles Take some clear, legible photos your menu, restaurant, and food Get really detailed with the metadata (Food Genre, Reservation Process, Directions, Descriptions, Pricing). The more specific the better. Continue to update these profiles regularly. 3. PHOTO CONTENT Food should not only taste good but it should look good. And not only should it look good, but it should look good in a photograph. Take photos of your dishes as they’re finish plating, while they’re in the prep phase, while they’re on the grill. Shoot photos of every stage of your dishes! Hiring a professional photographer is the next logical step. Chefs may know how to plate it properly but lighting and editing the photo may not come as natural. Start a relationship with one or twenty photographers around town. Make it worth their while — pay them fairly, comp their meal. Don’t promise them “exposure”. CONTENT CREATORS CAN’T PAY THE BILLS WITH “EXPOSURE” AND “OPPORTUNITIES”. WHAT TO DO: Take a bazillion photos of every dish on the menu Understand the hashtag game on Instagram. Start relationships with local photographers Take a bazillion photos of the food. 4. FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM PAID ADS So this may not come as natural as photography or setting up a Yelp account, but this can be wildly effective. When people talk about paid-for Facebook Ads, they often think of the “Boost Post” blue button that many business accounts are used to seeing- There is