A catering company might be well-known. However, in a competitive food business environment a caterer need expectionals marketing actions to stay ahead, regardless of the business size and brand awareness.
It is not an easy task to stand out from the competition despite having the regular equipment or resources for the business such as kitchen, storing equipment, website, food management software, experienced staff etc. You will also need to come up with exceptional marketing ideas to stay on top of your competition. Alternatively you may hire an experienced marketing agency so you can focus on the core business.
Even though it is heard that proper management can always bring success to a service business like catering service, good marketing initiatives can increase your revenue further. That is why I am sharing in this post some fantastic marketing ideas for your catering business. Follow the article to learn them.
- Engage With Customers
Everyone loves attention! That is why it is a good idea to stay in touch with your customers on a regular basis. It will make them remember your name. A good way to do this is by forming a sales team who will maintain and create relationships.
You can also use newsletters and other digital marketing automation tools to keep in contact with them via email. In saying that don’t blast them with too many emails too often. The regular newsletter with some fun content of interest can be great for your business branding and referral base. Alternatively you can also keep a blog with some interesting posts related to your industry, so your potential customers are always returning to your website to read the latest posts or recipes!
- Create Impression on Customers
Your customers need to feel amazing when they engage your services. Provide them with an amazing customer experience so that they leave with happy faces. Aim to build customer-ambassadors who will refer your catering business to others. It is essential to make their experience easy and simple from ordering your food to paying the bill. To make their experience great you can offer great food, amazing service or even an easy bill paying system by using a software or mobile application. Also, make sure the staff is well presented, their calls returned quickly and give them a quotation that is organised and easy to read.
- Earn Reliability
Reliable food service is always appreciated regardless of your business size. If customers can rely on you to provide the service they wanted, they will opt for you every time, whether it is a small or big occasion. The trust you are be able to build by providing predictable service works to your advantage. Your customers always expect consistent service. So be on time, bring exactly what was ordered and have a plan B for unexpected circumstances. And more importantly get a software to help you with this.
- Know Your Customers Feedback
Knowing what your customer thinks about your service is essential to improve your business in future. It will be amazing if you can follow up after every catering with a call. You can also do that at the end of the event by asking them to fill a customer satisfaction form. Take the comments seriously and improve accordingly.
It will be helpful to increase your reliability to all customers in every occasion and resolve any issue reported by your customer immediately.
- Keep in contact with your sleepy clients
These customers might have low amount of orders but these order may be good volumes. They can become a great source of revenue for your catering company in festive times or holidays. That is why it is important to keep reaching out to them with any of your special offers in order to get them to order more frequently or keep your brand as top of mind.
- Social Media
Nowadays most people take opinion and information from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. That is why being active in social media platforms is a must have marketing activity for any food business. You can put up photos of your dishes and post about the service you provide. Let your followers know that you are active and that your dishes look amazing, hence invest in good photos. It enables your customers to have a much clearer information on what you have to offer. It also allows them to ask direct questions about anything they want to know.
- Loyalty Rewards
Let your customers enjoy something related to your business. It is a good idea to organise a reward program for making them aware that they can be rewarded by using your service. Arrange a loyalty reward program for your regular customers where they get an extra discount for ordering regularly. It will make them aware that they are valued customers. Loyalty reward programs improve your relationship with them even more.
- Personalised Thank You Notes
Again, it is important to show your customers how much you value them. Thank you notes and especially hand-written thank you notes will make them feel important. That is why a thank you note should be personalized and tailored only to a particular customer, it is the key to making your customer feel special. Hand over the note after the event or by post. Make sure it is personalised and perhaps you can also send a discount voucher for their next order.
These marketing tips will hopefully become part of your business. You will ripe the benefits if they are applied successfully. They can bring more sales, profits and contribute to the overall success of your business.
