Make sure your restaurant and catering company is utilizing web and social media optimization

Boost Your Catering Business with Marketing Optimization Techniques

The food business is a highly competitive, ever-changing business landscape. Restaurant and catering companies constantly compete with hundreds of other food businesses to, no pun intended, get the biggest slice of the pie.

Stand Out

To stand out from your competition, restaurant and catering company owners must utilize every marketing avenue – from online and social media optimization to traditional face-to-face marketing.

Rising above the rest means improving the food and service you offer. In the food business, there are many ingredients to achieve success. We’ll talk about how you can use social media optimization and other digital marketing techniques to boost your business.

Utilize the Web

First and foremost, you need to have a website. This will serve as your digital hub. It will also house and initiate all your digital marketing strategies. However, having a website is one thing, making sure that it’s fully optimized and lead generating is another.

Your restaurant and catering website must not only showcase high-quality photographs of food items, but it must also have a reliable content source that will attract potential clients.

Utilize social media optimization. You must also take note of what potential customers are searching on the internet that pertains to your offerings.

The food industry caters to customers that are incredibly active online. From sharing food pictures to discussing their food experiences to writing restaurant reviews. Customers love doing this. Take advantage of this with social media optimization.

Be your own social media influencer. Use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Build your own social media optimization audience.

Build your own social media optimization audience

Another useful way to utilize the web is by starting your own blog within your existing website.  You don’t have to have a Journalism or Creative Writing degree to pull this off. Being a restaurant and catering business owner already gives you merit.

You can write about the local food scene, your recipes, food holidays, any promos you have going on; you can provide current and potential customers with useful food information. You can even share advice about event planning or any general food advice.

Write about what you know. A blog is a great way to position yourself as a local authority; someone your customers can trust.

Share these blog posts to your social profiles to help with your social media optimization. This way, your followers can know when you publish a blog post.  

Up Close and Personal

Aside from starting a website and improving your social media optimization, a tried-and-tested way to connect with the public is to get personal.

Networking and connecting with key people, and impressing them with your services is vital. Reach out to wedding planners, conference planners, bridal shops owners, sports clubs administrators, school administrators, exhibition centers managers, and other groups and individuals that may need food and catering services.

Some may seem obvious, but most of the time, you have to think outside the box and carefully evaluate who you can reach out to offer your services.

Start local. See what other businesses are in your area. Ask if you can leave your card, brochure, or menu. Another fantastic suggestion is to give out food samples and give potential clients a taste of your offerings.

Customers love food samples

This will surely leave a lasting impression. People love freebies, and if your food is remarkably delicious, people will surely remember you.

Here are some other potential local leads you can connect with.

  • Law and Financial Institutions – this includes banks, credit unions, and accounting agencies. These offices often work long hours and may need catering. They also usually hold corporate meetings and events that will surely require catering.
  • Ad Agencies – similar to law and financial institutions, advertising companies tend to work long hours – especially when they are working on marketing and media optimization campaigns. They usually employ outside catering for their corporate events.
  • Regular Consumers – reach out to the consumer market by leaving your brochure at the local parks, community centers, or other recreation sites that the public goes to. There’s such a massive need for caterers for medium to large family gatherings, birthdays, graduation parties, etc. You can also send out mailers to neighborhoods.

More Than Just Food

From social media optimization to getting personal with potential clients, the key to the success of your restaurant and catering business lies in your resourcefulness. Keep these recommendations in mind and you’re on your way to a successful food business.