Marketing Your Restaurant: 4 Strategy Driven Tips that are Guaranteed to Work

/in /by

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Marketing|Marketing Your Restaurant: 4 Strategy Driven Tips that are Guaranteed to WorkThe restaurant business fulfills a need that has to be refilled on a continuous basis, so it is no wonder that it’s a flourishing trade to get involved in. As is common to any lucrative field of business, it’s also an extremely crowded and seemingly saturated market. “Seemingly” being the key word, there is still ample room to have a successful restaurant business anywhere in the US, as long as you fulfil certain criteria.

The most important of those criteria is of course the knowledge and resources necessary to run such an establishment. As you probably have that part covered, we are going to concentrate on the second most important aspect of running a successful business in this sector, which would be marketing.

Utilizing the Power of Artificial Intelligence to Drive Traffic from Social Media

While AI is still in its initial stages, the machine learning process has progressed to a level already, where its application in marketing is beyond what anyone could have ever imagined even just three to five years ago.

So, how do you capitalize on the infinite data collection, organization and targeting abilities of artificial intelligence in marketing? Just visit the Targetable website and they will help you to build AI-driven restaurant ad campaigns in a matter of minutes, which essentially removes the digital ad agencies from the picture altogether.

Targetable offers a one-step solution for almost every aspect of a restaurant’s social media marketing needs with the help of their automated platform, that only requires access to your restaurant’s data and answers to a few relevant questions to better tune the ad campaign.

Facebook and Instagram marketing are a must for the restaurant business these days, and Targetable makes it a superfast and easy process, not to mention, not a single second is wasted as the artificial intelligence eliminates guesswork. Every step you take with them is a strategized one, designed to promote your restaurant to the target audience on social media with pinpoint accuracy.

Get Acquainted with the Popular Food Bloggers in Your Locality

People believe more in what social influencers suggest, than what a highly paid celebrity might endorse. There might still be a few people following only celebrities in everything they do, but the majority of the consumers have become aware and intelligent enough to rely on actual, real life people who have made a reputation for themselves by honestly reviewing restaurants and food in general.
Seek out those social influencers (particularly YouTubers and Instagrammers) and invite them to enjoy food at your restaurant so that they can review it for you. However, as they are not paid endorsements, be prepared for honest reviews. It helps immensely if you make sure that everything is on point before sending them an invitation of course!

Sometimes, it’s just better to ask them in for a free meal, rather than a full-on review of course; you get them to post pictures of themselves, your place and the food they ordered, without too much critical judgement!

Even mediocre ratings by a popular social influencer are part of the strategy we have here, as it will get your business in front of people and provide you with the limelight that the restaurant needs to promote itself.

SEO is Still All-Important

The number of people that search for “good restaurant near me” on Google is pretty huge, so unless your restaurant is search engine optimized properly to show up whenever geographically relevant and potential customers search for a restaurant, you are missing out big time.

Alongside the usual steps for successful SEO which are necessary for the strategy driven marketing campaign we are discussing here, be sure to sign up your business with Google as well. It’s a free process but its importance cannot be stressed enough. When someone looks up your business’s name after seeing a few targeted ads on social media, it should come up registered as a restaurant on top of their SERPs.

Stress on Customer Reception and Experience to Create a Great Reputation

There is no better or more powerful way to promote your restaurant and build a strong following of loyal customers than to treat them well. Concentrate on providing an experience to your customers that they would actually want to have again. Now, this is trickier said than done, because depending on the customer group which you are trying to attract, the approach, menu and theme of the restaurant will have to vary.

For example, family restaurants will likely have customers who will want attention from the waiters almost constantly, while a romantic place will benefit if the waiters give couples as much space as they need in order to feel comfortable. Sports bars on the other hand, are supposed to let people yell, drink, eat and have a great time in general.

The food is an important part of the restaurant business and it has to be at least average to even be considered by anyone, but most people come back to a place because of the reception and service they receive there, more than anything else. They will bring their friends the next time around and post photos on social media too. The list and the chain goes on, with everything working in your favor.
There is actually an online aspect to a restaurant’s reputation as well these days, and it mostly comes down to how you interact with your customer base on social media. The contests, ads and promotions are all fine, but did you tend to that one-star review on Facebook by asking about the issue which the customer had?

It is impossible to please everyone, and some people complain about things that are beyond anyone’s control, but if there are genuine grievances, they need to be addressed in order to save your online and offline reputation.

All of this may seem like a lot, but there’s no getting around it! The restaurant business is a highly profitable trade that you are delving into and as a result, the competition is immense. Nonetheless, as long as you serve good food and keep promoting your restaurant, you are almost guaranteed to break even, sooner rather than later.

How Can SEO Boost Your Site’s Online Results?

/in /by

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Search Engine Optimization|How Can SEO Boost Your Site’s Online Results?The idea with search engine optimization (SEO) is to rank better in Google to get more organic search traffic to your website. With more visitors, there’s the opportunity to sell a greater number of products or services to potential customers.
Here are some ideas on how SEO can boost your website’s results.

Better Keyword Research

With SEO, content on the website, such as articles, should focus on certain popular search terms (keywords) that are easier to rank for in Google.

Some keywords are too difficult because the largest competitors in your industry are already ranking in the top 10 spots. Being stuck on page 2 or further back in Google’s search results doesn’t lead to much new web traffic at all. Therefore, it’s important to research the keywords better and cherry-pick the ones that don’t have stiff competition even if their monthly search volume (the number of estimated searches every month) is lower.

An SEO agency is best positioned to home in on appropriate keywords to target. They have the experience in many different industries to have a better sense about what can be achieved and how long it might take.

Leading with Content

Content marketing is important for almost every website. By publishing useful articles that visitors will be interested in, it provides both a convincing way to demonstrate the knowledge staff at the company possess and have juicy keywords as subjects to write articles about.

By combining sensible keyword research with informative content that’s genuinely helpful to readers, it provides a path to create new activity on the site (so it doesn’t look abandoned). It also offers a place to use topical keywords that can rank well and drive extra inbound traffic.

Once the additional traffic is flowing onto the site, it’s up to you to use that to increase sales, sign up visitors to an email newsletter, and find other tactics that boost the business.

Building Inbound Links

If content and keywords are the fuel, inbound backlinks from other sites pointing to your own add some fuel injection. They get the most out of the site’s content. A new link is essentially a vote of confidence for the page the link is pointing to. The strength and reputation of the site that links to you also matters.

While smaller, less competitive keywords with low searches under 500 a month can often rank with few, if any, inbound links, the reality is that with increased competition, links are needed. By taking the time to have guest posts published with a link pointing to a page on your site, offering a review page as a useful resource or publishing an infographic that gets published elsewhere, links grow over time when working on them progressively.

Then, a few months or a year later, the website is in a much stronger position to rank for harder search terms and compete well against powerful opposition.

While making strides by using SEO isn’t something that moves the needle with sudden leaps in traffic overnight, it’s an excellent way for site owners to create meaningful improvements over a reasonable period. And for any business owner in it for the medium- to long-term, that’s music to their ears.

5 Signs You’re Not Being Treated Fairly at Work

/in /by

StrategyDriven Business Politics Landscape Article |Bullying in the workplace| 5 Signs You're Not Being Treated Fairly at WorkIn the past, bullying was something only heard about in school settings, or similar places where children gathered. However, today, this has changed significantly. Now, everyone, regardless of age, gender, or class, can be a victim.

Unfortunately, many people don’t even know the signs of bullying in the workplace, but this is something that happens almost every day, all across the country. Keep reading to learn about some of the tell-tale signs that a person is being bullied at work.

The Bullying Epidemic

According to information from a national survey, up to 27 percent of respondents have been a victim of workplace bullying. While this is true, at what point does bullying go from being disrespectful to lawsuit worthy? Getting to know the rights an employee has is important and an employees rights advocate can help with this.

Another important step is to know the signs of bullying. If they are seen, contacting the HR department or an attorney is a smart move.

Inconsistent Standards

Are other people in the office or workplace receiving preferential treatment? Some examples of this include travel perks, “cherry” projects, flextime, and more. In most cases, one employee is going to make similar requests that others do, but theirs are denied without any plausible explanation.

Goals Change and Progress Disregarded

Let’s say a person is given a directive with specific objectives, as well as an end goal and timeline. They work hard and remain focused only to discover there’s a change in the direction of the project. The progress that has been made is not applied to the new goals or celebrated and it isn’t even taken into account.

Verbal Abuse

When an employee is subjected to abusive, negative language, this is a clear sign of workplace bullying. Examples of this include being shouted or sworn at on a regular basis. With this in mind, verbal abuse is often subtle, as well, including reprimands and insults.

Sometimes, employees may feel as though they are being joked with, but they still feel uncomfortable. This is also considered a type of verbal bullying.

Unreasonable Obstacles

Believe it or not, bullying can also come in the form of roadblocks. These may be thrown up in front of a person, throwing them off course and preventing them from successfully completing an initiative or project.

How to Handle Workplace Bullying

Not all cases of workplace bullying are considered illegal. However, if a person feels as though their rights have been violated, then filing a lawsuit may be a viable option. The best way to know for sure is by speaking with an attorney.

Some other options a person has is to know their rights, as many states have anti-bullying laws in place. An employee can also speak with the HR department at their workplace, and as a last resort they can find a new job.

Stand Up for Workplace Rights

Each person, regardless of what industry they work in, deserve to be treated with respect. If bullying occurs, they have options. Getting to know the signs, and taking action when appropriate, is the best way to handle workplace bullying and stop it from happening in the future. Being informed is the absolute best way to handle these types of situations.

Engagement in the Implementation of Strategic Intent

/in /by

The Opportunity

Every day, I see businesses struggling to achieve high levels of long-term performance. Upon scrutiny I often find that they have – on paper – excellent and well thought out strategic plans. Their shortcomings are normally in the applications of the strategic plan and I find they usually fall into one of three areas; I call them gaps:

StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article | Engagement in the Implementation of Strategic Intent

As they seek to improve on their year to year performance, I find many firms ardently working on the focus and alignment gap. Yet the improvement in their results do not seem to mirror their efforts – not at all. First, since the advent of Hoshin Kanri (HK) planning firms have found an excellent model to achieve focus and alignment both vertically and horizontally, throughout their entire firm. HK planning can be a very effective technique, even if not practiced fully as taught by Yoji Akao. Second, by any objective measure, the greatest opportunity to improve results is achieved by closing the Engagement Gap. Typical engagement levels across the US are in the 30% range and for manufacturing they are even lower, around 25%. Since most firms are in the 25-30% range and world class is 75% engagement, the gulf between what is typical and what is attainable is huge. The engagement gap is the target rich environment for improvement that firms need to exploit if they wish to attain long-term, strong performance.

StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article | Engagement in the Implementation of Strategic Intent | Sustaining Workforce EngagementWhat Is The Engagement Profile?

Gallup has defined 3 categories of engagement: the “engaged”; the “not-engaged”; and the “actively disengaged”. The engaged are those people who are moving & shaking, making improvements, and genuinely care about what goes on at the business. This is around 30% of the entire work population. The “not-engaged” are doing what is necessary, they follow all the rules – but not much else. They are often working in a fog and seem to be sleep-walking their way through the day. They comprise around 52% of the work population. Then there are the “actively disengaged”. These are the people who might be fighting to stay on the payroll – or not. Regardless they are resistive, contrary and fighting the system at every turn in the road. They comprise 18% of the workforce.

Just What Is Engagement?

There are two commonly held management paradigms about engagement which are widely held, but unfortunately, they are both wrong:

  • Engagement is equal to hard working and
  • Engagement is a “worker thing”

Engaged workers have three very salient qualities. First, they are physically committed, so they are hard working. They have body commitment. Second, they are intellectually committed so they are actively working to make improvements to the process and the product. They have head commitment. Third, they are interested in the business and care that it succeeds. They have heart commitment. Being engaged in the workplace encompasses hard work but it goes well beyond that.

As for engagement being only a worker thing – as if the supervisors, managers and denizens of the C-suite were naturally engaged – is a myth. Although management engagement is somewhat higher, at 35% it is nowhere near world class levels. In most firms, there is ample improvement room for everyone.

What’s The Appropriate Response?

With your business in need of an infusion of “whatever it takes to succeed” you need look no further than improving your engagement. With 70% either not-engaged or actively disengaged, you clearly have a target rich environment. And just how do you capture that? The answer is technically simple but operationally has proven to be a major problem to many. To get employees engaged it is as simple as management making sure that all people:

1. Know what to do
2. Know how to do it
3. Have the resources to do it
And 4, that management focus on creating an environment where it is possible for people to perform.

Sounds Simple? Think You Are Already Doing This?

If you believe you and your firm are accomplishing this simple list of 4 items above, then why is your firm not attaining long-term, strong performance? If you take a cold, hard, dispassionate and introspective look at that deficiency, it is virtually impossible to not find needed improvement in one or more of the categories above.
Give the 4 items above your management attention and you’ll have not only a healthy, happy and productive workforce, but strong long-term performance as well.

About the Author

Lonnie Wilson is the author of Sustaining Workforce Engagement: How To Ensure Your Employees Are Healthy, Happy, And Productive and founder of Quality Consultants where clients include firms in manufacturing as well as the fields of education, healthcare and other service sectors. Quality Consultants serves small firms as well as Fortune 500 firms in North, South, Central America, and China.

For more information, please visit www.qc-ep.com.

Following Leadership’s Qs

/in /by

StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article | Following Leadership’s Qs | Business Leadership | Steve CoughranWhat makes a good leader? If tasked with answering this question, some might devise a 10-page list of traits. Leaders need to be visionaries. They must be genuine, hardworking, respectful, and pragmatic. They should connect with employees. They should be story-tellers.

We hold leaders to a high standard, attaching a lengthy list of prerequisites to any governing role. Before starting as CFO, I repeatedly scanned through my leadership qualities, considering how I would present myself to my new colleagues. The night before my first day, a jumble of questions raced around my sleepless mind: “How will I balance openness with authority?” “How do I provide the appropriate amount of guidance to my team?” “How will I know if I am being effective?”

After serving in a variety of leadership roles over the last two decades, I still have a lot to learn. I have, however, worked to chip away at the long list of leadership traits by understanding the key areas where leaders must succeed. In my experience, the myriad of leadership characteristics can be boiled down to the Qs.

IQ (Intellectual Quotient): The first focus area is the most straight-forward. Of course, ascending the organizational ladder requires intellectual horsepower. Most leadership positions demand foresight, complex problem solving, and creativity, that of which requires sharp mental faculty.

Most leaders fulfill this first criterion. Unsurprisingly, cognitive ability is directly linked to job performance. Those with high IQs have dazzled their superiors with high-quality work and valuable insights, using brainpower as jet fuel to soar into top leadership spots. IQ is the first Q of leadership, as it gets your foot in the door.

EQ (Emotional Quotient): While earning my Master of Accounting, one of my colleagues shined as the star of our cohort. She was incredibly gifted with numbers. Following graduation, we both eagerly accepted offers to work in public accounting for Ernst and Young. After a short six months, however, she had moved on to another opportunity. Apparently, after bouncing around due to team conflicts, she had been asked to leave. Neither expertise nor credentials could outweigh the importance of EQ in a team environment.

IQ in isolation does not indicate strong leadership potential. In recent years, the power of EQ, the ability to read others’ emotions (including your own), has been exalted as a key trait in successful leaders. A study of UC Berkeley PhDs discovered that EQ was 40 times more powerful in predicting who achieved success in their fields than IQ (Developing Management Skills). Emotional competencies combined with strong cognitive abilities lays the foundation for an effective leader.

FQ (Financial Quotient): One of the most frequently overlooked requirements of a strong leader is financial intelligence. In a national Harvard study of U.S. managers, the average score on a simple financial literacy test was 38% (Harvard Business Review).

When elevated into leadership positions, it’s often assumed that people understand finance. However, I have encountered even senior leaders who have muddled along with very little knowledge of how to enact and measure value creation activities.

A company is a financial machine created to produce profit and cash flow, therefore leaders with decision-authority (and especially those with P&L responsibility) must understand how they make an impact on the bottom line. For today’s leaders, financial literacy is not an option. Strategy without finance is dead.

SQ (Strategy Quotient): Finally, even the brightest, most emotionally and financially-gifted leaders flounder without strategic direction. SQ is the bow that ties all the other leadership skills together. It puts the other Qs to work. Strategic leaders carve out structure without being rigid. They extend the abilities of the team and lead them into new, unpredictable territories by taking calculated risks. They’re aware of internal and external happenings. Overall, they see the big picture, and guide their team by sharing an inspired vision.

Follow the Qs of leadership to unlock the potential of your talent, maximize the impact of your organization, and escalate your bottom line.

About the Author

Steve Coughran is author of Outsizing: Strategies to Grow your Business, Profits, and Potential, CFO of an international billion-dollar company, and a management consultant. Steve has over two decades of experience driving business excellence. Known for his extensive research and writing on strategic growth and corporate financial management, he challenges conventional wisdom, earning the reputation of an “energetic trailblazer.” He is an expert on strategy and an acclaimed keynote speaker with over twenty years of experience driving corporate excellence.

For more information, please visit www.SteveCoughran.com.