Using Print Marketing to Increase Brand Success

Print marketing for restaurants

The beginning of the year can often be the toughest for restaurant businesses due to a decrease in consumer leisure spending after the Christmas boom. Therefore, it can often be difficult in the harder months to push the vision for your business further in order to boost both profit and footfall. A key tool for driving brand awareness and reaching people organically, particularly within the food and drink industry, is print marketing. Restaurants require print marketing to be successful, as menus act as the doorway between your product and the consumer. Because print is so necessary to the restaurant business, it’s important to know how print marketing can be used to increase the success of restaurants.

Create innovative print marketing designs

Traditional marketing can be used to capture the attention of an audience organically, with the use of signage and leaflets to name a few. It is a refreshing way to entice new customers to dine with you if, for example, they’re passing on the street in close proximity to your restaurant. Indoor and outdoor signage are both essential in print marketing for a restaurant, and in a climate where  mass production is the norm, such print items can be an inexpensive and convenient way to manufacture hundreds or thousands of eye-catching leaflets or menus to spread the word of your business in a passive way. 

A prime example of innovative print design is the folding card design for Sheffield restaurant Sakushi. Sakushi approached Alpha Card looking to create the restaurant’s takeaway using the credit 6×3 classic Z Fold Card. The fun and colourful artwork in the Z Fold format made it easy to handout to customers who could either take it home or keep the menu stored in their purse or wallet, making the smart and innovative design portable and compact.

Maximise the space available

Particularly if working on a smaller scale of print marketing, such as folding cards and small leaflets, making the most of the space is essential to get your message across as well as giving the consumer as much information as you can to entice them to return to you. 

A great way to utilise the space by enticing customers is by offering daily specials, offers and discounts rewards for brand loyalty, such as 10% off for loyalty card holders. Aesthetic art and photography of meals and drinks are also a great marketing tool, with photos acting as a universal language on social media platforms. In addition, 67% of consumers say that the quality of a product image is very important in selecting and purchasing a product, which will directly impact how much a party will spend in your establishment.

Use strategic placement

A tactical way of making the most of the space on a menu is by menu engineering – this is a subtle way to increase the sales of the most popular and profitable items, and is often done by dividing the menu into four quadrants based on most popular, most profitable, least popular and least profitable. This can cleverly market the dishes that your business wants to push sales of the most, often leading to higher sales.

Offer more than your competitors

Going the extra mile for your audience will pay off in the long run, so investing in top-quality print marketing, such as table tents and branded coasters, will show consumers that you are invested in your business so they are more likely to invest in your business. 

Ensure that your message spreads past the walls of your restaurant too; promote your business by distributing pocket-sized menus and cards with the latest offers or new dishes that have been recently added in order to build on your core audience whilst reaching people in a less forceful and a more natural way.