Building Brand Advocates ??

Here’s a humbling statistic... 70% of customers who visit your restaurant once probably won't be back.

But why?

It's not that they didn't like it. It's just, there are a lot of restaurants out there and you didn't do enough to make yours their new favourite place. You'll get put into the "ah that was nice" section of their brain rather than the "fuck yeah, that was incredible!" part.

So when it costs way more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an old one, don't pour money into acquisition without focussing on the retention and creating promoters in equal measure.

Because when it gets going, it's an exponential curve that really drives itself. Once your customers are shouting about you, they're doing your brand awareness and driving new business on your behalf, and it's all genuine.

We all know a stat that goes like - you only need 1 person to tell [insert any number here, usually 10] and very soon the word about your restaurant, its incredible food, and next-level service will spread - but the truth is, you only need them to tell 1.

Not only does it look after the bottom line but it grows the business through authentic brand advocacy, and eventually creates a cult-like tribal following... which is your dream, right?

So, how do you build brand advocates?

Start with your team

Remember, hospitality isn't limited to just your customers. Give out perks and incentives to your brand ambassadors in return for their help promoting your business with consistently outrageous hospitality.

At eat the bird we offer our team a free meal on us once a month for them and 3 others to dine in at any of our restaurants because they deserve it and it's our way of giving back and it also allows them to experience what it’s like for the customers that they serve every day.

If your team reflects your customers and buy into the brand too, that's a big win straight away. It's really easy to form long-standing relationships with people if you share a common feeling or opinion.

Don’t disregard the classics

We all love a new menu item, a creative burst of flavour inspiration to channel our own inner Ramsey but don’t forget your OGs. Your original customers fell in love with your food for a reason, don’t disrespect the dishes that got you where you are.

It's like when you go and watch your favourite band from back in the day and they don't play any of the classics that you fell in love with and instead play their middle-of-the-road new album. But when they do crack out their old-school bangers, it's got an extra guitar solo at the end or a seemingly freestyle intro that lifts it up to the stratosphere and makes you fall in love with it all over again and play it on repeat in the car on your way home.

The same goes for your customer favourites and top sellers. Channel your creativity and keep tweaking and reinventing the classics so the customer can fall in love over and over again.

Remember, there's a future favourite waiting to be found around the corner at your competitor, so stay ahead of the game.

Celebrate your customers like your mates

No one goes out to have a soulless, lifeless experience. Get to know them. They're giving you their hard-earned money and fueling your business dreams. Care about them and treat everyone like the most regular of regulars get treated in their local pub.

Send birthday wishes, be considerate, and cater to their wants. You're there to; pick them up when they're down, celebrate them when they turn a year older, or to be the wingman to their first date.

Treat the ol’ timers

As you build your repeat customer tribe, don't forget to give them something back too. Generosity goes a long way to creating loyal brand advocates.

Even if it's just a free refill, an upgrade, or a sincere thank you. Harness the power of surprise and delight too to really lock in that salience that your restaurant is the place to be and that you really care about their repeat trade.

Be consistent

There's not one single more important thing when building your tribe of loyal brand advocates than to make sure that every single plate of food that goes out and every single customer experience touchpoint is the same every time.

You'll never really know the reason people come back, it might be; the cleanliness of your toilets, the slice of lemon served with a soft drink, or even the welcome alone. Make sure you hit the spot every single time and meet their expectations.

How many times have you had a recommendation from a friend about a great new restaurant, gone there yourself, and been completely underwhelmed? Don't let this be you.

Limit or eradicate your bad days and hit the spot time after time. Because after all, there's not much point building a group of customers that shout about you and drum up new trade on your behalf if when those newbies come through the door you don't convert them into brand advocates too.