What is a brand?
Your brand is not your restaurant’s name or logo. Nor is it you or your staff. Sadly, your brand is not as tangible as that. Your brand is the emotional and psychological relationship you have with your customers.
What that means is the emotional reaction someone has when they come into contact with your restaurant.
Look around you now. What logos do you see? Maybe you see the logo of your computer. Let’s say you’ve got a Dell computer… what do you feel about Dell? Look at your watch. When you see the Breitling logo what do you feel?
However you feel, that’s the brand. If you look at a logo and think “cheap and nasty” then that’s the brand to you. Typically, well-built brands mean the same thing to most people. When the majority of people look at the Apple logo, they have very positive thoughts – so positive in fact that Apple is considered to be the world’s most valuable brand. The products it makes are only a part of the overall experience.
Please don’t think that a brand is just about the logo. It’s so much more than that. The logo just represents your brand.
How important is building a brand for most independent restaurant owners?
Realistically… not that important. A good brand builds itself if the business is consistently delighting its customers.
Yes, having a strong brand is important. But there are so many other marketing activities that most restaurant owners could do that would make a bigger difference to the business, faster.
You see, building a brand is a long-term activity that is happening right now whether you are working on it or not. Just being in business means you build a brand in the minds of your customers.
But because it’s a long-term thing, it doesn’t get customers in today. Having a great brand where everyone thinks you are best restaurant in town is no use to you if you don’t have any bookings,
And since most restaurant owners don’t spend enough time on marketing; the time you do have to spend on growing your business should really be invested into activities that generate new customers; get existing customers to return to the restaurant; and increase average spend.
If you only have a few hours a week to spend on marketing, don’t worry about the brand. Focus on generating new bookings. On tightening up your loyalty marketing. On making your waiting staff better sales people.
What are the benefits of building a brand?
If you do spend time building your brand, you will see long-term benefits inside and outside the restaurant. Prospects will look at your business and immediately understand what it is about and whether or not they should eat there.
For your existing customers, a strong brand will keep reminding them why they chose your restaurant in the first place. And so long as the experience remains consistent, it will make them feel good about continuing to be a customer.
There are benefits for your staff as well. A strong brand tells them what the business is about and the part they play in that. The attitudes and behaviour of staff play a part in the brand image you build, so you want your staff to understand what that is and ensure they are behaving consistently with people’s expectations.
How do you actually build a brand?
The best brands are built by defining what you want your business to stand for, and then ensuring all the marketing communications consistently support that message.
Let’s say you want to appeal to the customers at the top of your local market (typically the biggest commercial opportunity for most independent restaurants, depending on your food format). Think about those people. What do they have in common?
How much do they earn? Where do they live? What cars do they drive? do they desire that you can provide to them?
Your brand must match the people you want to attract. If the majority of the audience you want to attract drive expensive BMWs and Audis, ask yourself if your brand is a match.
Does your logo look like a £30,000 design or a £30 one? Does the restaurant feel expensive or shabby? Do your staff look alert and at the top of their game, or tired and unengaged?
Are you sending consistent messages with your marketing? Does your website appeal to your target audience? Are the media talking about you? Is there a buzz about you among the target audience? Are they recommending and referring you?
Are you expensive enough? Do you have offers that add value rather than give money off?
You can see just from these questions alone that there’s a lot to do to build a brand. You need to work out how you want the restaurant to be positioned and then ensure that everything you do consistently supports that position.
How important is your logo or restaurant name?
They are important as they can support or damage the brand. But these are not things you should obsess over.
Just make sure they are right. It’s difficult to serve top end customers with a restaurant called “Value Burgers”.
Remember that as the owner you are emotionally attached to your business, so will find it hard to step back and get a reality check. Ask people you trust but who aren’t related to you what they think of your name and logo.
How important is your website?
Critical. The first thing most people do before eating somewhere new is to Google it. If your restaurant doesn’t don’t even have a website that can be pretty damaging.
Potential customers use websites to judge you. And customers use your website to find out how to contact you.
How important is your restaurant environment?
Again, this is critical. Your logo, website and marketing will paint a perception in people’s minds. If they are promised a bright, light, modern restaurant and discover a dark, dingy hellhole when they arrive… well, you might keep them this time but they’re not going to spend a lot, and won’t return!
Keep your restaurant clean, well maintained and up-to-date. Sometimes that means a lick of paint and new carpet. Sometimes it means a full refurb.
Just as with your logo get someone you trust to stand back and point out what works and what needs work in your restaurant. It’s funny how quickly your brain stops seeing that tatty bit of paper sellotaped to your window… but passers-by will see it immediately and judge you by it.
How much of your marketing spend should go into brand building?
For the majority of restaurant owners, none of it. Focus on generating new customers and improving loyalty marketing instead.
How much of your time should you spend building your brand?
A little, but only on reviewing your brand and how well you are delivering a consistent message. Your brand is not something you should spend a great deal of time on.
How do you maintain your brand?
By consistently sending the same message that appeals to the people you want to reach. That’s it. Find a positioning that works and stick with it.
You will be distracted and tempted to try new positions. But remember you are seeing it every day. Most of your customers will be exposed to it once or twice every couple of years or so. At the point you are bored with your position, your customers will only just be getting the message.
What can go wrong when building your brand?
The biggest error you can make is to lose consistency and start sending out different messages.
If you have a question about brands and branding I haven’t answered, please email my office and we’ll get a reply back to you ASAP: hello@restaurantgrowthuk.com
Article by Growth UK’s Paul Green
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