The hospitality business is facing a lot of challenges. The sector had a tough time during the pandemic and things have not gotten much better, since then.
Their costs are soaring, it is not easy to find staff and many of their customers are spending less as they see their bills increase. It is a recipe for disaster. Hotels, restaurants, bars catering firms, and others involved in the sector are chasing a shrinking customer base. While at the same time having to pay more for everything they use to provide their service.
As you can see from this in-depth report, the outlook is not good. But, as always in these situations, there are also opportunities. Those firms that respond in the right way can stay in business and grow their market share.
Getting smart about marketing is a big part of the puzzle. When it is done right it is surprisingly easy to build and reinforce your brand and customer base.
Tap into the power of digital
Installing digital screens in their physical premises and learning how to use them for marketing is not hard to do. It is not expensive to do yet is highly effective which provides a high rate of return for the business owner.
Digital screens are an extremely flexible marketing tool. Take for example digital signs for restaurants. Here are just a few ways restaurants, bars, cafes, and takeaways are using them to help them with their marketing:
· To attract passers-by in
· To make passers-by and diners aware of unique offers
· To give social media campaigns a boost by encouraging people waiting to eat to share
· Using digital menus – the contents of which can be edited in live time to better fit in with the tastes of the type of person who dines at specific times of the day
· Running snap offers to boost sales at quiet times, for example, running a 20% off offer to attract passers-by in to dine
· Providing customers with the opportunity to use at the table touch screens or at the door kiosk screens to place their orders and displaying tailored ads to them during that process
This innovative and flexible marketing tool is very much in its infancy. Hospitality businesses are still uncovering ways to put them to use. So, there is little doubt that digital screens will become increasingly powerful marketing tools, over time.
Learn as much as you can about your customers
The more you know about your customers the easier it is to market effectively to them. So, if you are not already making use of short questionnaires, it is time to start doing that. It is easy to set up a webpage with two or three questions on it. Directing your customers to it is not hard. You just create a QR code that directs anyone who scans it using their smartphone to the questionnaire page. The QR code can be printed out onto a small card stand and left on a restaurant table or in a hotel room. Provided you offer an incentive, for instance, a 10% off drinks voucher code, a lot of your customers will scan the code and complete the questionnaire. If you are not sure what types of questions to ask, just click here to find out.
Market to your customers online as well as in physical settings
Loyal customers will come back to you year after year. Often, several times a year. So, you do want to encourage customer loyalty. Most hospitality business owners realize this which is why they work hard to look after every client and run loyalty schemes.
But many fail to realize that brand awareness also plays a role in building customer loyalty. The connection is explained, in detail, here. But the simple explanation is that people will only revisit you (behave loyally) if they think of you first when they fancy a meal or a weekend away. If they have not heard from you since the last time they ate in your restaurant or stayed in your hotel, the chances are that won´t happen. They are highly likely to think of one of your competitors first. Especially if they have recently seen one of their ads. Particularly if they have received a voucher code via social media, SMS, or in the post.
The way to avoid this is to stay in touch with your clients via social media, email, and physical mail. For example, ask them for their email address and send them details of offers every month or so. Take advantage of the fact that almost everyone are on their phones, and use an SMS short code to run promotions exclusive to mobile users. Or, if they have told you about special anniversaries or birthdays send them greetings with an offer attached at those times.
Dedicate time to networking and event promotion
As a business, no company can expect to garner success by doing very little legwork. Even for a hospitality business, attending events for networking and business relationship-building is essential.
That’s why getting some table cloths branded with the company logo and having various stand equipment to be prepared for these scenarios is worth investing in.