Kulture Konnect Blog

Being in the restaurant business, you know you have to stay ahead of the curve. And being out front is great, but it’s also important to capture the zeitgeist. The millennials are the segment of the market that is currently driving popular trends. Because we work with a lot of clients in the restaurant business, we hear daily about what is working and what’s not when it comes to marketing to the millennials.  

Here are some trends to keep an eye on to attract the millennial crowd

Bragging Rights

Social media matters when it comes to the restaurant business. When you talk to millennials about their most popular posts on Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat and Facebook they are almost always photos of food. Food is social. Food is fun. And discovering a great new restaurant will make you very popular among your foodie friends.

Offering customers an incentive to come to your restaurant is an essential aspect of any good marketing plan. Cost-effective incentives can fuel your restaurant’s growth and raise your profit margin.  Here are five low-cost restaurant marketing ideas to help you get started.

1. Create a FUN Loyalty Program

According to the 2015 Colloquy Customer Loyalty Census, American households hold memberships in an average of 29 loyalty programs, but are active (meaning earn or redeem at least one per year) in only 12 of them. Companies lose money on time and effort, and customers get no more value from the businesses to which they are "loyal."

Loyalty programs don’t have to be totally boring. Make yours a little more interesting by making it a game! Give your customers a punch card, and when they fill it up with visits or meals, allow them to enter into a raffle for a big prize. If you make it something more exciting than just a typical discount your customers will be eager to enter.

No one likes to talk about what’s wrong because then you have to admit you screwed up. It takes guts to admit a mistake, so we all avoid it. Let’s be a little courageous today and go down the path of failure and see if we can learn something. What are the top 10 mistakes restaurant marketing directors make when they set out to conquer their local market?

1. Claiming to have a strategy when it’s really a bunch of tactics.

You know how this feels if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant and it seems like everyone is reacting to the latest emergency. No one is on the same page and there’s finger-pointing everywhere. A real plan is based on sound principles that puts the brand at the center.

No one gets into the restaurant business because they love marketing. So it comes as no surprise that people who love food aren’t so good at promoting it. We’re here to help. This is a list of some of the worst mistakes you can make when it comes to communicating the vision of your restaurant.

When you look at the trend of social media use, you see an all too familiar pattern: the rising peak of excitement and the dip into actual work. Pull yourself out of that dip by committing to these five principles and watch your social media efforts boost your bottom line.

1. Have fun

If you’re not having fun then who is? Don’t commit the cardinal sin of being boring online. No one will spend a second online with content that puts them to sleep. People online are searching for something to stimulate them. So, get them excited and talking and sharing your content with their friends. This should not be news to you but it might be. Every business is in the media business today so entertain us first and then you can sell to us later. 

Offering customers an incentive to come to your restaurant is an essential aspect of any good marketing plan.  Cost-effective incentives can fuel your restaurant’s growth and raise your profit margin.  Here are five low-cost restaurant marketing ideas to help you get started.

1. Create a FUN Loyalty Program. 

According to the 2015 Colloquy Customer Loyalty Census, American households hold memberships in an average of 29 loyalty programs, but are active (meaning earn or redeem at least one per year) in only 12 of them. Companies lose money on time and effort, and customers get no more value from the businesses to which they are "loyal."

Loyalty programs don’t have to be totally boring. Make yours a little more interesting by making it a game! Give your customers a punch card, and when they fill it up with visits or meals, allow them to enter into a raffle for a big prize. If you make it something more exciting than just a typical discount your customers will be eager to enter.

The competitive climate is getting increasingly intense; that much is undeniable. And today, organizations have to make use of every edge they can to stay ahead. This is where rebranding comes in- a critical technique companies use to enhance their competitive positioning, differentiating their offerings and providing value to their market, essentially carving out a spot at the forefront in the competitive market.

After all, one only has to look at brands such as Apple and Google to truly appreciate the power of branding. However, firms often end up making poor branding decisions that can have disastrous consequences on their business integrity, and CEOs are not sure how to respond to such circumstances. 

Don't start thinking affordable means cheap. Let's help you clear your head on all the reasons why affordable web design make sense. Here are fourteen common misperceptions that we have addressed.

1.  I need to spend a lot of money for it to look good. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  There are so many tools and options out there that make design incredibly affordable.  Gone are the days when you were beholden to the closed-off capabilities of designers who made you pay a premium.  Now you can take your budget and create a website that looks just as the big guys who spend tens of thousands.

2.  It won’t be responsive. 

What does responsive mean anyway?  It means that your website will adapt its look and feel to any device.  With over 50% of people accessing the internet through a mobile device, responsive design is not a luxury, it's a must.  And it's something every design agency should provide as part of their BASIC package.  It is not something you should pay a premium for.

Located in Southern Nevada, Area 51 is a mysterious base run by the U.S. Government linked to accelerated testing and quantum leaps in aviation technology.  And, according to long-standing rumors, has been the country’s center for the discovery and study of extraterrestrial contact.

So, you are at a place where you think you might need some restaurant marketing but you are not quite sure? Check out these 10 tips to help you decide if your restaurant is ready to be launched into marketing orbit! If you answer yes to 3 or more of the below then it is a sure sign that its time to make an investment for your restaurant's future. 

1. You have no plan.  This is the single hardest thing to do because it requires management to stop and actually THINK about what they are doing.  Action without planning means running in place.  You need a plan and a sounding board for that plan.  Hire a restaurant marketing company to view your business objectively and get ready to make some changes that will bring you to the next level.