Thank you for the positive response to my first blog post.

I’m back with Part 2 of the Great Restaurant Marketing Change Up. If you missed Part 1, you can visit it here.

Things are changing daily. A few counties are in process to lift some restaurant restrictions and open up in store dining, while other areas continue to only allow take-out and delivery. Keeping that in mind, I give to you Part 2 on how to Change Up Your Restaurant Marketing.

Full Transparency

Whether your business is in an area that has restrictions loosening up or not, keeping your customers informed should be a huge priority. If you are in a county that will soon allow on premise dining, and you will be able to meet the outlined social distancing and safety protocols, make sure to communicate this via e-mail campaigns, social media channels, update your web-site and post outside your restaurant.

Tell your customers how your restaurant or business will be implementing the guidelines and what to expect when they arrive for dining in. This will allow for hopefully, a little less confusion when guests show up.

Post the procedures outside your restaurant and any other high traffic areas around your business. This will show how serious you are taking the precautions but also helps reduce questions.

Take In Your Surroundings

If your location is around a unique area that your guests might be visiting after your restaurant, take that into consideration when crafting menu offerings.

Are you located next to a park (that is open, of course)? Put together a picnic basket package that allows your customers to easily take their order with them to enjoy elsewhere. Offer a few set items for the package to keep it simple and make sure you add in plenty of napkins and utensils so they can eat on the go.

People are looking for experiences and creative ways to get outside their homes and enjoy different food and scenery.

A wonderful example is Jordan Winery. Now, yes they are located on an amazing property and make fabulous wines, but instead of waiting out the quarantine, they put together a great opportunity for their guests to enjoy the views, take in a hike on premise and then grab some wines and a bite via a boxed lunch on their property, all while social distancing.

Look for Cross Promotion Opportunities

Offering a boxed lunch or any kind of packaged offering is also a great way to partner with other local producers such as breweries, wineries, bakeries, dairies, etc. You can add an item from one or more other suppliers and then you’ll be able to leverage that brand’s following and cross promote each-other.

The Kids Table

Parents have been home with their kids since mid-March. If they are like me, they have exhausted their chalk supply, the appeal of making another loaf of banana bread has long worn off and a fort is now a permanent feature to the living room.

This means that parents are looking for ways to entertain their kids. Incorporate this into your business by adding something fun to the menu that kids can enjoy at home or on location.

Summer is upon us, so maybe create a fun sundae kit to add to the kids menu to make at home. Or tuck coloring sheets into take-out orders to keep kids occupied at home.

A classic example of a business bringing their legendary fun to homes is Mary’s Pizza Shack. Weeks ago, they started offering their famous Kids Make Your Own pizza but in a kit form. Customers can order the dough/topping kits for take-out and delivery fun. This is a win-win for parents and kids.

Whatever it is you add to engage kids, make sure you promote this! Share with your mailing list, post on your website and social media channels. That’s exactly how I found out about the Mary’s Pizza Shack kit.

Get Camera Ready

You don’t need to be a professional YouTube star to create a shareable video. Videos are hot and especially right now, video content is king. In fact, “How To” tutorials are the most popular kind of video on Instagram.

So whether its a cocktail you want to share how to make at home, or how to toss your pizza dough or what to serve with your customer’s homemade sourdough bread, create a video and share!

If you post to Instagram, anything longer than a minute will convert to IGTV, which opens up a world of other opportunities that I’m happy to walk you through.

Prior to reopening, take a video of how things will look inside and outside your restaurant. Walk guests through the order process, if things have changed operationally (seating arrangements, different menus, sanitizing stations, etc). Guests will be able to visualize themselves returning and feel comfort in the steps you are taking to ensure their safety.

We are all in this together, if you are doing something at your business or know of others who are doing some cool things right now, drop us a note, we will be happy to share.