Impromptu Marketing Audit
Yesterday I had a meeting with a new client, and I did what I’ll do from time to time: a deep dive into everything I could find online with regards to their restaurant’s marketing. Basically, I did a deeper version of our Attention Audit, linked at the end of this email.
I did this because I knew the owner would be receptive to the feedback, and to be honest, I enjoy going down these rabbit holes.
Below is what I found: good, bad, and great.
Google Reviews
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FIRE responses
I rarely see custom, detailed replies like this. Every review response was 3-4 sentences written 100% for that review and not a “copy and paste” reply. What they mentioned in the review was incorporated into the responses, and extra touches were added to make these review replies among the best I’ve ever seen. The owner told me that he handles this task himself.
My only suggestion was to sprinkle in some keywords, like the city/region, into the replies for local SEO punch.
Website & Data Capture
No menu on homepage. They are using only the external online ordering link. This hurts your website’s SEO (being found on the internet) and doesn’t give customers who are not ordering a place to browse.
Ditch the “newsletter” label on the email capture. Consumers don’t want a “Newsletter” from a restaurant; name it something fun like “Brew News.”
Email Game
Food pics are taken from too far away. I had to pinch in and zoom to see what the items were. Get really close and make people HUNGRY
Great send frequency. For the past 4 months that I’ve been on their email list, I’ve gotten a longer, more in-depth email on the 1st of the month, and then mid-month, I get a 1-off email about a specific event with a CTA.
Social Media
NEED videos! They did a few awesome reels in the Summer, then stopped. Facebook and Instagram are meant to be social, and there’s nothing more social than you and your team showing up on video to tell stories, have fun, and show the people WHO the players are in the restaurant.
Facebook Post Suggestion – They had a great event and catering post, but it was missing a DIGITAL CTA. It said “call us” instead of putting a link in the post body. That link getting clicked helps the Facebook algorithm find more customers to click it. You can also make the first comment on the post a CTA link.
This is a first: I had to yell at a restaurant to actually post FOOD content. This is probably the first time that’s ever happened; it’s the other way around. I’m telling you to STOP POSTING FOOD EVERY DAY. But they had only made 2 posts in 5 months with food, WILD! Your customers need food porn! They had solid content, but it leaned too far one way. My suggestion is a posting schedule. Have a theme for every day, like:
Monday = Menu Monday – Feature a menu item by showing how it’s made ON VIDEO.
Tuesday = Tap Tuesday – Showcare a beer you have on tap
Wednesday = Wacky Wednesday – Do a contest, have fun, give people a reason to comment
Thursday = Thirsty Thursday – Give customers a promo
Friday = Community Spotlight – Highlight an event or business in your area
Social media is meant to be SOCIAL! So stop hiding behind graphics made for direct mail. Create content that gets customers’ attention, tells stories, and gains their engagement.
IN CLOSING
Click below and see how you score on the audit, and then have a friend who knows marketing give you THEIR opinion on what they see. Heck, I’ll do one for you if you’d like. Just reply to this email
https://business.
– MP
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Blue Train by John Coltrane
