Restaurant Marketing At Its Worst!

Skillets and Media
Aug 9, 2017 · 3 min read

Oh boy! Let me tackle the biggest thing going wrong in the restaurant business and their marketing right now! While my goal is to find every nook and cranny possible for restaurant marketing and how to make it better, this thing is the Madison Square Garden of errors.

Surprisingly it isn’t keyword usage for SEO, it isn’t target and retarget marketing, it isn’t discounts off of lunch entrees, it isn’t kids eat free on Tuesdays.


So what is it you ask?

Value creation! “What is value creation when it comes to restaurants?” “Restaurant Marketing isn’t sales, it isn’t dependent on how much value you put in to it.”


Are you telling me that the enticing picture of that cheeseburger is enough to get me off of my ass, get into my car, drive to your location, sit down, and wait for the burger from the picture to meet me at my table (chances are the burger presented looks nothing like it does in the picture)!?

Some would say yes, that picture is enough. For most, they say no. There are facts out there saying that Millennials are killing the retail industry, have you seen the rates in which restaurants close? Casual dining is dead! And your lack of enticing us to not cook food at home is the knife in the back your business is taking from you!

So far I have gone into a fairly long rant on what value isn’t being created.

Back to the original topic, how do you create value for a restaurant?

You do it by brand storytelling! I can count 5 maybe 6 maybe 7, I don’t know but it’s a lot of Firewood Italian Pizza joints in my small suburb of Rochester, NY, Penfield. What’s to make me eat at yours?

Let me list off how you share your brand story: restaurant owners, chefs, FOH Managers, Maitre D’s, etc. Is your sauce your Nona’s recipe? That she taught you as a kid and now your sharing it with the community. Heck! Is your Nona in your kitchen slaving over a hot stove making the sauce for 150 covers Friday night?

Is everything from your dough to your pasta made 100% from scratch? Is there a guy in your kitchen dedicated 100% of the time to producing fresh product from your prep table?

Did you sacrifice never buying a house, car, eating out, taking a vacation in your 20s to own your own restaurant in your 30s? Tell us about it!

I mean the topics never end. But somehow I am always stuck going to Olive Garden because there are more Italian restaurants out here than I care to choose from, and none stick out. But you get me at that fresh Chicken and Gnocchi and I am hooked!

Now while I have focused on Italian restaurants (my favorite food quite frankly), the list can be created and adjusted accordingly to any restaurant or small business.

When I go out to eat and need to make a choice; that Facebook ad needs more than a hearty plate to entice me. A great story creates value, it creates connection and this is what your restaurant lacks.

If I am fortunate enough to have had you read this far, I am going to tell you how you’re going to accomplish this value building for your restaurant; and that is with a social media agency.

I am not here to sell you on what I do, but to tell you how these little changes can make your business better and if it just so happens that you give me a call, so be it, I’ll answer your call.

Give the green heart button a click!

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Skillets and Media

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Social Media Marketer|Blogger|Podcast Host

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