Branding your restaurant is significantly important because it gives value and sets the communication for your customers. According to Entrepreneur. com, “branding your restaurant gives your audience clear direction and purpose.”[1]
In fact, branding will identify and define the ” you” in your restaurant. Learn how to brainstorm a great restaurant name in this article.
Take a look at the top 10 branding tips for you restaurant below.
10 Branding Tips For Your Restaurant
1. Choose A Name That Stands Out
Choosing a restaurant name that stands out plays a major role in the branding process. It’s an important branding tip that also lends your restaurant brand awareness. To successfully use this branding tip, choose a catchy restaurant name that engages your customers and peaks their interests.
2. What Is Your Mission Statement?
Create a brief mission statement that details the value of your restaurant. Your mission statement should tell your customers how you got started and the value of choosing your eatery. You can also include your mission statement on your menu to keep it on the top of the mind of your customers. It’s also the tone of voice you want to convey to your customers about your restaurant menu and features.
3. Develop A Consistent Design
For any restaurant branding, choosing a consistent design that your customers can identify with is key. Your branding design should engage your customers and business clients, but also lend a competitive edge.
4. Understand Your Audience
For your branding efforts to be successful, you have to know your audience. What current style is trending and will be relevant to your restaurant in the future? More importantly, what type of language will reach potential customers and increase your restaurant following? Use your restaurant data to find out more about your audience or enlist the help of a professional brand agency to understand the characteristics and preferences of your audience.
5. Create A Social Media Presence
Social media has become an important part of branding for many businesses. If you’re looking for a successful way to brand your restaurant, create an online presence on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Social media also allows your restaurant to interact with your customers which is also an important element of branding.
6. Invest In Customer Service/Training
The customer experience (CX) is a major part of the branding process. It’s important for your restaurant to train your employees in a high level of customer service. Forbes reported, “96% of all customers use customer service to determine their loyalty to a brand.”[2]
7. Employ A Brand Management Team
A brand management team has the experience to help your restaurant meet their branding goals. By hiring a professional, restaurant owners can expect guaranteed results.
Brand management professionals are also familiar with current restaurant trends to attract new customers. They also understand the fundamentals of keeping your eatery competitive with other local area restaurants.
8. Make A Mark
Create a mark as part of your restaurant branding strategy that engages and intrigues your audience. For example, offer unique food items on your menu or a symbol with your brand name. Leaving a mark is more likely to build a loyal following that will encourage your customers to refer others.
A significant part of branding is creating a mark associated with your restaurant that will help you become easily identifiable from your competitors. Other ways to create a brand mark includes:
- be versatile
- create a timeless brand mark
- create unique logo imagery
- be memorable
- be truly authentic
Remember, your brand mark will always be how your customers identify your restaurant from others.
9. Is Your Food Truly Delicious?
Is the food at your restaurant really that good? A great branding strategy is taking detailed photos of the food items on your menu and make them available to your customers. Hire a photographer to capture mouth watering photos of your food and highlight the freshness of your food through photography. For photo branding to truly work, your photographs should match the food at your restaurant when customers come to visit.
10. Check Out The Competition
Find out what branding ideas are working for your competitors. You don’t have to copy their branding ideas, but use them to go above and beyond their branding strategy.
Branding your restaurant is not as hard as you think. Use the above mentioned tips and ideas to successfully brand your eatery.
