Online Marketing Tips for Restaurants in the New Normal Era by Digital Tips

Many businesses are moving online, including restaurants, which have had to adapt. COVID-19 has accelerated consumer behavior, changing it faster than it should be. This means that business owners have to adapt to what is happening. It is interesting to see what the restaurant business will have to do with online marketing in the New Normal era from now on. What trends will arise? We have the opportunity to invite you. 'Khun Tip-Mandita Jinda', online marketing guru of Digital Tips Academy Come share your perspectives, share information and online marketing tips for restaurant owners.

Consumer behavior has changed in the New Normal era. Consumer behavior has changed significantly in terms of health and hygiene, which has led to new trends:

1. On Going This means that even after this crisis has passed, consumers will certainly be more concerned about these issues. It is the responsibility of business operators to communicate to consumers how we can support them. 2. Smart Consumer It plays a bigger role, meaning that people will want to know where the product comes from. For example, when we buy something, we will want to know where it came from and what the process was like. Therefore, transparency will have a great impact in this era. 3. Local Consumption This means that there will be more opportunities to consume local products. Products in small businesses called Neighborhoods (products in that area) within a radius not too far from where we live will have more opportunities because consumers will live closer to home, work, and where they live. This is also a good opportunity for small entrepreneurs. However, we must not forget that in the future, even if COVID ends, the economic crisis will not end. Therefore, people may be more careful about spending money. They used to go out to eat 3-4 times a week, but may reduce it. They cook more at home. And things that are easy, such as people living in condominiums or living alone, things that are convenient and easy to make are a trend that should come.

Restaurant business trends in this era New Normal What is worth watching is that restaurant operators must reserve margin (profit) for riders (delivery drivers) or various food delivery applications. In the past, restaurant owners may not have set a 30% margin for this part, but now that consumers are accustomed to ordering, restaurant owners must return to focus on this expense as well. Another trend that will emerge is Cloud Kitchen. In the past, when expanding a restaurant, we may have to consider the location, decoration of the restaurant, and hiring staff. But these days, there may only be a suitable kitchen, which is a trend that is definitely coming. There are clear models, such as Grab Kitchen in Samyan, including the Ready To Eat, Ready To Go trend, which has been very clear abroad during the quarantine period. It is growing.

Ideas for making Digital Marketing Interesting to learn in this situation During the COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen clear promotions, such as buying shabu and getting a free pot, which both small and large operators have done. Or selling vouchers in advance for people to buy food coupons in advance. The model of tying the bento box is also increasingly seen, which is paying for 1 month and having food delivered to your home every day. In addition to promotions, some brands have branched out, such as iberry, which is mostly a shop in a shopping mall. But when delivery became popular, they expanded their brand to Charoen Kaeng, which is a delivery model specifically. Or Copper Buffet, which went from fine dining to delivery. When the measures were relaxed to allow restaurants to reopen for dine-in, we saw the Welcome Back promotion and promotion of hygienic dining seats. But I think that promotions during the relaxed period are still normal. They are not as exciting or new as when the shops were closed due to the previous lockdown.

Go Online How to do marketing in this era New Normal Each platform has a different nature, for example:

Facebook has an advantage in that it has a lot of users. We can talk to everyone, to our followers, so it is good at finding new customers who may have never met or known before. It also creates good awareness. It can buy advertising. It can do everything in one place. Line Official Account is outstanding in turning casual customers into regulars, followers who are much more intensive, and loyal fans because they want to know about new promotions and menus. Line OA is also good at making promotions that make customers come back to buy again, such as making reward cards, making point cards, coupons, and sending broadcasts. Therefore, it is closer because don't forget that Thais use mobile phones a lot and are on chat applications. If you look at the statistics of Thais' mobile internet usage, they use it for about 216 minutes, of which 63 minutes are spent on Line. This means that 45 million Line users use their mobile phones all the time. Therefore, communicating with them through channels that they are familiar with has an advantage. If possible, I would like these two channels to be used together because they have different characters and different customer expectations.

Tips Online Marketing for Restaurants: Today, doing business online has become more competitive because there are not only opportunities, but there are also many new players coming into the game, both with existing players who already have physical stores and are now doing more online work, including new players.

Facebook Let's start from here. 1. Clarity of Segment Customers We must try to find out who our customers are and then penetrate that market accurately. This means that online marketing must not be spread thin, not thinking that everyone is our customer, not mass marketing, but how to be as targeted as possible. 2. Content That customers like. The secret to creating Facebook content is creating Meaningful Content, which means content that allows people to talk, respond, and converse. It is in the form of Open-ended Questions that allow people to participate, including creating Value Content that readers will benefit from, not just selling products. For example, Jone's Salad, a salad shop that does not create content to sell products, but uses methods to provide health knowledge through a character named Uncle Jones, telling difficult stories in an easy way, making good, credible information, and being fun. Or the Bar BQ Plaza page that uses Phi Kon as a communicator, using cute and friendly language, making it easy for people to engage. In addition to creating Meaningful Content, content that is about playing games and participating in fun activities can also be done. For example, during the quarantine, KFC released the KCF Cook Book, teaching how to make KFC menus easily at home, which also achieved good engagement. In addition, there are other tools such as Label to categorize customers, attach notes, enter details, create automatic response messages, create polls, and Live videos, which are free tools that should be used.

part Line OA What is necessary and very important is 1. Rich Menu Because it is like an admin who helps us work 24 hours a day, which is a tool that provides convenient information, allowing the store to answer frequently asked questions by customers, tell about promotions without having to sit and answer them all by themselves. It can also create Reward Cards or coupons. 2. Timeline It's something that SMEs can do right away and it's free. It's a public space, you can post as many times as you want, and the people who see the content aren't just our friends or Followers, but all the people who use Timeline. If we make good content, there's a chance that they'll follow or become friends with us later. I'd like a lot of people to use it because this year Line has started to focus more on features on Timelime, which at the beginning of the year was announced as a Social Private Platform. 3. Reward Card There is research that Thai people or Asians have a high response to Loyalty Programs. The advantage of Reward Cards is that customers will come back to buy more often. Recently, Facebook is testing a point collection feature or Loyalty Program.

When is the best time to post content or promotions in the restaurant industry?

Choose to post during lunchtime when people are hungry, or during the evening before ordering food. And most of them will focus on posting during the period when there are the most customers. We also have to look at what type of customer base they have. This is something that can be experimented with. For example, Sizzler focuses on families. Therefore, the periods when they will send out the most promotions are during weekends and holidays. However, if we are going to focus on office workers, daytime is definitely the most suitable period.

Important thoughts for restaurants The most important thing in marketing is to adapt to the changes in consumers. COVID-19 has accelerated the rapid change in consumer behavior, which has caused us, as restaurant operators, to adapt quickly. However, we still insist that our country has a lot of opportunities, especially in the food business because it is one of the four most important factors. Therefore, in addition to developing good products and services, I would like you to study more tools. Don't be afraid. Try reading books, find media that provides knowledge, which there are many to follow these days. If you study, you will know that in reality, there are tools that can help us do business easily. And many tools are free. Therefore, the more we understand, the more benefits we will get. Therefore, I would like you to start doing it. I would like to encourage all entrepreneurs.