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There are over 15 million restaurants, pubs, and cafes across the globe combined with various unorganized small-scale hotels. So, how will you differentiate another restaurant in this huge hospitality galaxy? That’s where restaurant branding and marketing come in. It is not limited to just deciding on a fancy name and a logo but also creating a brand that resonates with customers and persuades them to keep coming back to the experience your restaurants offer. Hence, restaurant branding involves detailed thought processes and designing strategies. Before we go into the specifics of how to brand a restaurant, we need to understand what it entails and why is a strategy important?
Restaurant branding involves creating a unique brand name and image to differentiate your restaurant from your competition. It will establish you as a different entity that will result in the form of customers’ trust in your brand and brand image thus creating a loyal customer base. Brand awareness is an important aspect of the strategy. It involves the logo, name, menu design, restaurant design, food, colors used in a restaurant, restaurant specialty, advertisements, and a social media presence.
There is no doubt that every restaurant needs a personality and branding is the way to achieve it. Following are a few reasons to brand your restaurant:
Recall Value: When customers recall you as a brand rather than just another food chain, they know they’ve come to the right place to make memorable experiences. For instance, McDonald’s has an estimated brand value of about 88.65 billion US dollars.
Brand Identity: It ensures consistency with messages to customers via your brand’s marketing campaigns. For instance, Starbucks (wherever in the world) greets people with the same logo and storefront design.
Enhanced Credibility: If you have plans to expand your business then branding in place really helps with growth. Customers value goodwill and do not think twice to step into tried and tested waters.
Define Your Brand: Defining a brand is like laying the foundation for your restaurant. If you follow the above-mentioned steps, you have successfully started on the path of defining your brand. Your positioning in the customer’s mind should reflect your purpose, beliefs, and values.
Be consistent: Branding strategy must be visible in all aspects of your restaurant. The absence of consistency can prove to be harmful to your brand and hence, prevent customers from coming back.
Tell a Story: Storytelling has become a significant part of marketing campaigns these days. It breathes life into your brand and connects it to your customers emotionally. Have a story? Why hide it? Use it to brand your restaurant.
Go the Extra Mile: After doing everything that you can do to attract customers, go beyond the obvious and take initiatives to build your image and hence, give a personality to your brand.
Branding evolves as restaurants grow. With changing times, it is high time for key stakeholders to market their brand in a way that makes them stand out from the crowd. Explore more on the subject at the Food 2.0 Conference.
Tarun Wadhera loves to read food reviews and explore hidden, off-beat restaurants all around the city. After work, you can find Tarun trying out craft beers and understanding how to distinguish pure, authentic caviar from all the scams and fakes out there.
