Kulture Konnect Blog

When was the last time you took a look at your restaurant branding and marketing?

Normally, branding & marketing are topics that take priority before and during the launch of a restaurant. During this initial stage of our restaurant launch, a lot of issues come up and are addressed. Things like the restaurant environment, the personality of the brand, the tone of voice for the restaurant, the restaurant logo and all that comes with it (color palette, philosophy, mission, vision, etc.), typography selection and treatment, restaurant collateral (menus, t-stands, table tents, etc.), photography and more put under the microscope. Unfortunately, branding and marketing tends to lose importance as the day-to-day operations take place.

As a restaurant owner or manager, you know how business can fluctuate from day to day or even during specific hours of the day. So, how can you maintain or increase your sales during that down time? One of the best ways to do this is through your website.

Many restaurateurs or restaurant marketing managers neglect their website, not only in terms of visual look and navigability, but also when it comes down to its potential to generate some extra cash through simple user experience tactics.

Keep reading and discover 5 simple tips to take advantage of your restaurant website and increase your bottom line:

When designing a new website, the first thing a business owner or marketing director needs to understand is what the user experience will be. That user experience (UX) is just as critical as your logo, business card or any other branding and visual identity that you establish offline and online.

Your website should be not only functional, easy to navigate, adaptable to different devices and pleasing to the eye. If users find it hard to interact with your website, it won’t matter if it is shiny and uses the latest technology… it will be deemed useless.

A big component of making it easy for users to interact with your website is with by integrating responsive design.

This is an age where people are on-the-go and an online presence isn’t just a recommendation, but a requirement. According to a new study by Pew Research, eight in 10 Americans are now shopping online. That’s 79 percent of U.S. consumers who shop on the web or their phones, up from just 22 percent back in 2000. This means only one thing: you NEED to get your business “listed” on the web, and the first step to do this comes in the form of a website.

Now, websites are not created equal, and you can go the easy and quick way with a template, or really find your online tone of voice through a customized website. Here are four reasons why you should choose a custom made website over a template:

It is very common for companies to outsource their marketing tasks and activities to an outside service provider. In most cases, companies do not possess the staff or the expertise, instead relying on an outside agency, especially in the case of any graphic design companies, giving them an edge.

However, there are certain principles and methods of best practice that must be adhered to for companies to extract the most benefit. Many a times, clients will approach agencies with various assumptions that only reveal its bad side once the work starts. This affects projects and also results in the client-agency relationship deteriorating.

There’s always a lot of competition in the restaurant industry. To succeed, restaurateurs have to make sure to stay up-to-date with food trends and how they impact their menu, day-to-day operations, marketing and more. If you have to juggle so many things in the air, how do you ensure your restaurant’s success?

We work with some small and medium size restaurants nationwide and we asked them what, in their experience, the biggest challenges are in the restaurant industry. We were able to identify these four marketing and three operational challenges:

Is your restaurant marketing team struggling with Instagram?

Nowadays, with social media, restaurants have access to an array of resources to reach their patrons and prospects in real time. But some times social media can be a little overwhelming.

With social media, restaurants can not only share their restaurant information, but also create a community for the restaurant and its patrons to communicate and interact. However, as any other marketing effort, your chance of success without a strategy for its execution will be slim. There is no point in just creating a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account and expect to increase your restaurant foot traffic. You'll need to spend time creating content and monitoring your social media strategy as well as your competitors'.

If you can‘t figure out why your marketing efforts are falling flat then it's time to either take a good look in the mirror or make a new hire. You have to be brutally honest if you want to grow your business and that honesty must begin with your people. Who you surround yourself with from here on out will determine your success. Make sure your marketing manager possess these 4 qualities to catapult your business to take it to the next level.

Have you checked your restaurant Yelp reviews lately? If so, have you received any bad reviews from any of your patrons or an unhappy ex-employee?

Current technology allows everyone to share their thoughts and experiences in real time, this means that we can all express openly our opinions about your restaurant for everybody to see... And it doesn't matter if such opinions are true/fair or not. 

More and more, consumers tend to check reviews before they make the final decision of buying from any business, and that is not different for restaurants. According to research done by Pew Research Internet Project in 2010, 58% of Americans have researched a product or service online and 24% of American adults say they have posted comments or reviews online. Have in mind that this was done 2 years ago, numbers are certainly higher today. 

Outsourcing to a graphic design studio can reap huge rewards for your company. This is especially true if you are careful to choose the right firm. But first you have to decide! If you’re struggling with the decision, we’ve outlined ten advantages that contracting to a design firm will bring you.

 1.  You will save money. We all know how expensive employees are, especially in California. You can eliminate the burden of employment costs by hiring a graphic design studio that won’t require benefits like healthcare, unemployment insurance and retirement.

 2.  You will save time. Good design firms work fast. They are highly efficient businesses that leverage experiences on past projects to quickly arrive at solutions.