Branding and website tips for chefs and restaurant owners
It’s as simple as a stand-out brand and website in a crowded market
Your brand is what people regularly see and read wherever they meet you. it’s made up of your logo, your brand colours and your positioning (how you talk about yourself).
o For example, our positioning is ‘your partner in potatoes.’
o We use blue, orange and yellow as our main brand colours, alongside the logo on this email.
o If you haven’t already, we recommend you set up these important elements with an experienced brand designer because that ensures wherever people find you, digital channels included, they’ll know exactly who you are and what you stand for.
MAIN TAKEAWAY: WITH A CLEAR BRAND PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS RECOGNISE YOU
Website 101
You may have heard of multi-channel marketing. This is simply all the channels you use to successfully market your business. Your website should be one of the biggest channels you focus on, and one of the first as well.
o Multi-channel marketing will include social media and review sites, as well as others.
o Most of these channels will drive to, or end up at, your website.
o For the many consumers browsing on mobile, your website is also the first port of call via Google/other search engines.
o It therefore needs to look more than professional with great images, copy (the words on the page) and design that clearly paints your business’ picture.
Think of your website as your online shop/restaurant/cafe front. You want it to represent your food offering fully.
o It should be technically good or great. It needs to work well (technically set up properly in back-end), i.e. hosting, DNS, email, contact forms.
o It all needs to be designed properly with a good, easy to read, layout and an easy to use navigation, plus all links need to work. Again hire someone with expertise, if necessary.
o Information design on websites is really important. This means where your different levels of information sit on your different pages.
o What sits immediately on people’s screens is a first level, and what lies further down the page that people have to scroll to are the lower levels (called being above or below the fold).
o Do the sections you have make sense?
o Is it easy to find out how to book a table, or order food via takeaway apps from your site? Is there anything else you need?
o Is your visiting address and book a table phone number clearly visible from the get-go, so people don’t give up and go elsewhere?
o Do you have a link to an online booking tool so they can easily book a table online?
o Are your Call To Actions (CTAs) in the right places?
Use a mobile-friendly website template.
If you've hired someone to create your website, let them know it needs to work on mobile. If you're doing it yourself, check your website from a phone to make sure it’s good. Some things to think about:
o Again make sure it’s set up properly in the back-end (where your site is built), so it scales for smaller mobile screens and still works well.
o Even though many website templates do this automatically, it still requires some extra work, for example with differently formatted images (portrait/landscape) for website or mobile.
o A simple navigation with i.e. not too many drop down navigation options that pushes your important info to the bottom of the page.
o Your copy (word count) will most likely need to be reduced on the mobile version too.
Call To Actions (CTAs).
We can’t stress this one enough. This is what makes people DO something when they interact with your website. Book table now, read more about your top class hygiene score, find you via this App in the App Store, call, get in touch.
o Each piece of information you give people on your website is a chance for them to further get to know you. Take advantage of it.
o The further down the page your CTAs are, the less people will interact with them because it is always more effort to scroll up or down a page.
o Therefore, have your important CTAs higher up the page and track how people click on them (possible in the technical part of your site or with expert help).
o Experiment with new or differently placed CTAs if the ones you have aren’t working well when you track them.
MAIN TAKEAWAY: A WEBSITE THAT WORKS WELL IS A NECESSITY NOT A NICE TO HAVE
Reviews 101
Reviews from other people are one of the main trust-drivers to your food business. People prefer to read what other people experienced than what you tell them; which totally makes sense.
o Online reviews are a social currency for your brand and help people get a clear idea about your tasty food business from other people.
o Pull those trusted online reviews into your own site and clearly display them.
o If positive, reviews help draw new customers in and reassure loyal customers you’re always the tastiest choice.
MAIN TAKEAWAY: SERVE A GOOD HELPING OF TRUST ALONGSIDE YOUR MENU
Download our handy brand and website 101 checklist.
We hope you’ve found the website and brand part of our Digital Success Masterclasses helpful. Keep your eye out for more tips, coming soon.