By: LiquidPixels | January 11, 2022 | 6 Min Read
When the lockdowns happened in March 2020, the number of dine-in restaurant customers took a steep dive and stayed at -100 percent until May of that year.
However, now that vaccines have been released to the public, more people are coming back to a semblance of normal. Restaurants and other hospitality businesses like hotels have started recovery and are opening up to maximum capacity again. Las Vegas itself reopened at 100 percent capacity in June 2021.
After being cooped up at home for so long, people are inclined to go out and travel again, especially now that recovery efforts are underway.
Suffice it to say, hotel restaurant marketing strategies need to be more refined and optimized now, especially online, to attract more customers. To do that, they need to leverage dynamic imaging.
We recently talked to James Buell, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer at World of Beer Franchising, Inc., about the struggles encountered by their restaurant and the food industry at large, during the pandemic.
World of Beer and Kitchen (WOB) is an American craft beer tavern chain of restaurants founded in 2007 by Scott Zepp and Matt LaFon in Tampa Bay, Florida. They serve hundreds of craft beers and local foods from around the world with locations in the U.S., China, and South Korea.
Always well-known as a craft beer bar, the company often struggled to market their other offerings. The chain has since evolved to provide food, wine, and spirits as well, but people had a hard time associating them with anything other than beer.
When COVID hit, the struggle became more apparent. “We were basically trying to play in a space that wasn’t familiar with us,” James said. “Everyone knows that Buffalo Wild Wings sells wings. World of Beer is just (ostensibly) about beer.”
Because of that, competitors had dominated the marketplace. “Everyone was already doing pickup and delivery, and we weren’t—everyone knew us as ‘beer’, but not food, so no one thought about picking up food from us,” explained James.
This, along with the further limitations impressed upon the economy by the pandemic, led them to close 34 of their 52 branches and locations.
Faced with pandemic-induced restrictions, World of Beer continued to struggle, especially since their marketing budget completely evaporated. But they found a way to bounce back.
“We have a robust loyalty database, and normal email fatigue didn’t happen, because people were still interested,” said James. They decided to do a lot of personalized emails.
“We did a round of campaigns where we went, ‘Come support Beth! She’s working tonight!’ And our regulars tipped heavily to support their favorites. They were also willing to buy entire bottles of spirits and overpay,” explained James.
Their Pennsylvania branch had a big success story, as well. They can now deliver alcohol and do drop-offs, as requested by their clients. They had also adopted a pay-it-forward model (e.g. “If you buy a lunch with us, we’ll buy lunch for a health care worker [or a first responder] and offer 50% off [and follow on your meal on social media].”)
“We also did family meals—every day we did a different one. Lots of specials, too. We didn’t put up a bunch of pictures of beer, but did a lot of food pics.”
WOB’s employees also started to share pictures around social media to bring in people with captions like, “Hey! WOB has $5 burgers tonight! Check it out! It was delicious!” At the time, they realized that people were getting sick of takeout and pizza and were excited to eat something else, so switching up the menu helped a lot.
As a result, customers had also started to share pictures of them eating on their patio, outdoors, in their cars, and even in their homes while watching streaming services. “The imagery of the food and the people enjoying it in changing surroundings were really effective,” said James.
Like World of Beer, you can find restaurant marketing ideas from even the simplest of things, like a picture. With the help of dynamic imaging, however, you can expound your reach and personalize your images to every target demographic.
Here are some trends you can use with your marketing plan for restaurant recovery, assisted by dynamic imaging:
People check restaurants online, including menu options, seating, and parking arrangements before they make a reservation. This means you need to double down on your presence online with a clear, attractive website; a social media presence with exciting entries; and an informative blog to capture and retain interest in both your repeat customers and potential customers.
These will help you boost your online reputation score. The higher your reputation score is, the more highly people will think of your restaurant, which puts you in a position to attract customers.
Almost everyone has now become hyper-aware of diseases and viruses due to the crisis brought about by the pandemic. For customers, it’s important for a hotel to communicate how they have taken COVID-19 precautions and ensured their safety.
With dynamic images, restaurants can promote their attention to cleanliness and showcase functions like paperless menus and masking policies. Your restaurant marketing efforts should reflect that on your website and your social media pages.
The more people see the work you are putting into creating a safe space, the more customers will want to spend their time and money in your establishment.
For almost two years of being stuck inside, people are looking for restaurants that will bring them closer to the great outdoors. Include some outdoor activities in your marketing plan for restaurant promotion. For example: hiking trail guides, zen gardens, and facilities like open-air lounging spaces and green-themed dining areas, which are great selling points.
Inject creativity into promoting nature-related activities through restaurant-specific promotional products that clients can customize and personalize through dynamic imaging.
Dynamic imaging can do a lot to encourage prospects to check in and visit your restaurant facilities. Customers value realistic images of food, amenities, and even photos of other customers before they book a restaurant.
Leveraging the power of dynamic imaging can help you with that. And LiquiFire® OS does that and more. With LiquiFire OS, brands can deliver:
When leveraged correctly for a more efficient business process, dynamic imaging increases sales, customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty.
Dynamic imaging can bolster your restaurant marketing efforts, and if you need more proof, contact us.