In today’s email:

• Where everybody knows your name: Know your customers like the back of your hand to bring in the big bucks.

How to get more restaurant customers using better buyer personas

Every seat is filled. There’s a line to get in. Your restaurant is the talk of the town.

Your secret? You knew exactly who your customers were before they ever walked in. You created detailed buyer personas that let you create content online that spoke to who they are and what they want out of life. And you applied them to your marketing.

Having better buyer personas (or customer avatars. Whatever you wanna call them.) at your disposal is essential to talk to your customers in their own words, attract more people like them, and help you create a never-ending fountain of content ideas.

If you’re a restaurant owner who wants to get the most out of your marketing dollars instead of throwing them into the dark social media abyss, then keep reading.

This is not only about increasing the lifetime value of each customer that walks through your doors, but also increasing the number of customers who walk in.

They’ll keep coming back and bringing their friends.

Full disclosure: this isn’t the way to go viral and get thousands of likes that don’t contribute to sales. This, here, is the long game.

I’ve worked in restaurants for 13 years, and I noticed how restaurant marketing is often similar- promotions about the menu, but otherwise not too engaging. So I left kitchens to learn content creation and copywriting. When I created my first buyer persona and applied the results, the results were jaw-dropping to say the least.

What should I ask?

You want to know more about them. You need to address their hopes and fears. Their history and interests. You then make content focused on these issues. This makes them feel understood- heard. Which in turn leads to trust and then to… repeat visits.

For example:

If your customers went to university, you can infer that they might be willing to pay more for high-quality food and service. Someone who was a good student might be more detail-oriented, organised, and have higher expectations for service quality.

Are you meeting their expectations?

Do they like their job?

Knowing their employment status and how they feel about their work can help you tailor your offerings and pricing for different budget ranges. If a bunch of your customers are unemployed, they may be looking for lower-priced options.

If you know the career aspirations of your people you gain a deeper understanding of their personality, preferences, and their needs.

Are they looking for ways to escape that job they don’t like? Create top 10 lists of the best places to (insert hobby or interest here)

Are they excited about their job and would love opportunities to network with like-minded individuals? Provide a free meeting space on your slowest afternoon.

This provides valuable insights into the lifestyle and purchasing power of your customers. Maybe Friday nights is beer night with coworkers rather than cocktails. Maybe their employer funds a wellness program that pays them for healthier choices.

What do I do with this?

Loaded with information like this, you can make tons of content on any platform that either gives a benefit to your best customers or gives them something they want:

• Infographics

• Carousels

• Tweets

• Short form videos

• Long form videos

• Podcasts

• Polls

• You name it.

Post last night’s game highlights. Let them know their favourite author is coming to town. Provide a free meeting space on your slowest afternoon. Create top 10 lists of the best places to (insert hobby or interest here). Be a resource that they check regularly.

They may not care about how you make your best-seller. Or maybe they can’t get enough of that behind-the-scenes action. But you won’t know until you ask. And until you ask you might be wasting your time and money.

Wrap it up

There are way too many questions you could ask to list in this post. Not to mention there are plenty of templates you can download online. The type of venue, geography, and other factors affect the questions that are important for your particular business. I’m just here to let you know why they’re important to ask.

But the short and sweet?

If you don’t know your customers like your close friends, then you’re leaving money on the table.

Freebie

Wild thang: "The most-followed brands were all sports or nature-related" in 2023. Download this Instagram engagement report to make the most of your posts.

Inside the report:

• Instagram video tips

• To 🐝 or not to emoji?

• What's popular in your region

• Are your captions too long or too short?

In other news

Restaurants near me: Popping up on local search results is a better way to win a top 3 position in Google search that can earn a business 126% more traffic than other rankings.

What’s SERP dog?: If your content isn’t smooth on mobile and packed with backlinks, there’s probably fewer people seeing it than you think.

Your money where your mouth is: These 8 brands have put some serious moolah into content creation. There must be at least 1 idea here your team can pull off.

You’re not on the list: Are you accidentally excluding potential customers from enjoying your content? Might want to make a few changes.

Hey, writing rookie: Here are some habits you can create to jumpstart your career.

Breakfast can wait: Remote work is causing some blurred lines for meal offerings; anything goes anytime.

Fascinating

Tossing shrimp: Steve Aoki's dad was a professional wrestler who drove an ice cream truck for seed money to start his own restaurant...Benihana.

Here’s your menu and your map: The largest restaurant in the world is the Bawabet Dimashq (Damascus Gate) in Syria at 20,000m² with over 6,000 seats.

#hashtagfail: Corporate was sleeping on the job with these 13 hashtag fails.

Meme

Thanks so much for reading the first newsletter of many to come! Please reach out to let me know if you found it useful and what topics we can discuss in future emails.

All the best.