Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I hear this all the time. Restaurant owners who say, well, I just don't know what to post and see. That's not a content problem. That's a misunderstanding of what social media actually is. Social media is not content. At least I don't want you to think about that. It's communication at scale. And once you understand that, posting gets easier and more effective. I'm going to show you how to do that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy.
[00:00:25] There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
[00:00:56] Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close. This is the Restaurant Strategy podcast. Two episodes every single week. I have a coaching program is called P3 mastermind. You can learn more about that in the show notes. I give talks. I have a membership site called Restaurant Foundations. I also wrote a book. You want to get that book for free? I will give it to you for free. You just pay shipping. It includes a free month of our Restaurant Foundations of the Restaurant Foundations membership. So you get 30 days to go in there and explore it absolutely free. If nothing else, go swipe all the files before you cancel. It then charges $97 a month. After that you can cancel whenever you want. New content every single month. We do masterclasses. We do Ask me anything sessions. There's tons of ways to engage with me and the other coaches who work with me. If you want to get a copy of my book the Restaurant Marketing Mindset and get a free month of Restaurant Foundations, just click the link in the show notes. It's very obvious. You'll know exactly what to do and I'll send it to you.
[00:01:53] Okay, restaurant owners, you want a steady, predictable flow of new customers, right?
[00:01:59] If that is the case, then you need to check out Restaurant Scale Secrets. They have a fully done for you marketing system that has already helped tons of restaurants including more than 50 members of this restaurant strategy community. They work with a ton of my P3 members. I recommend Restaurant Scale Secrets because I know it works. They run meta ads, they run Google Ads, and they have an entire automated system to get people into your orbit and to get them coming in and coming back. The program works. It's why I recommend it not only here, but to all of my P3 members. You get to fill tables and add tens of thousands to top line revenue. So if you're ready to take that whole piece of marketing off your plate and start filling your seats, head to restaurantscale secrets.com chip book a free discovery call. There's no pressure. Get to meet Monica and her team and you'll see what they do and what they have already done for so many people in this community. Again, restaurantscalesecrets.com chip as always, you'll find that link in the show Notes okay, Content thinking is, I think, why restaurant accounts feel random. So content thinking asks questions like this, well what should we post today? Or what's trending? Or what do we think will get likes? Or man, the worst, what do you think? What do you think will go viral? And what happens is that creates randomness communication. Thinking asks questions like, well what do you what do we want people to believe about us? Or what should they remember about us? Or what feeling should we reinforce?
[00:03:37] See, random posting builds noise. Consistent messaging builds memory. Which by the way, when it comes to marketing is number one. Attention. And staying top of mind being part of the consideration set is everything.
[00:03:53] See what happens. And I'm going to step away from the social media conversation for a second. What I see a lot of is people run promotions, discounts, things like that, you know, special one off nights, trivia night and karaoke and things like that. All of that to say that we are not interesting enough on our own. So we have to have a gimmick to get you in. We got to give you a deal. We got to have something special, right? Trivia is more interesting than a dinner in our restaurant. And that's flawed. It's basically assuming that the only reason people aren't coming to you is because either you're not interesting or it's too expensive. Discounting doesn't work because I believe it only attracts a certain kind of buyer. The reality is that people aren't coming to you has nothing to do because you're too expensive. It's because they're busy. It's because you're inconvenient. It's simply because you're not top of mind.
[00:04:42] And when it comes to running all these like trivia nights, wine dinners, karaoke, and all of that, you have to make sure that you, your concept, your food, your experience is more interesting than any of those gimmicky nights.
[00:04:55] So that's what you have to communicate because I guarantee you, 99.99% of all of you out there are more interesting. You personally are more interesting. Your restaurant is more interesting than you are letting on.
[00:05:08] So random posting just builds noise Random programming builds noise. Consistent messaging keeps you top of mind. Here's the deal. People follow restaurants for familiarity, not necessarily for entertainment. And so here's the myth, right? Well, if we're more creative, we'll grow.
[00:05:26] But most guests don't actually want creativity. They want reassurance. They want to know what this place is like, what it feels like to be in the dining room, who it's for, whether it fits for tonight. Right. There's plenty of times where I look at something and somebody says, oh, you got to go to this restaurant. And I go, oh. And I check it out and I'm trying to understand, well, man, will my in laws like it there? Do I think I can go with my brothers here? Should me and my buddies go, is my son going to like it here?
[00:05:54] I want to understand, I want to be reassured that it's going to fit in with what I need and what I'm looking for.
[00:06:00] So from a restaurant perspective, from a communication perspective, your job is not to impress.
[00:06:06] It's to feel familiar before the visit and then to remind people afterwards of the experience they had.
[00:06:14] And that happens through repetition. Repetition is how trust is built. And I find a lot of owners fear repetition. Well, we already posted that. Or man, we only keep doing that. We don't want to be boring. Trust me, you're not boring. You are teaching. Do you know how many times I post? You know how many times I, me personally, how much I show up in the Internet? I do two podcast episodes every week. I post a YouTube video every week. I post five shorts on YouTube every single week. I do three to four posts on Instagram and Facebook every single day. I do at least three to TikTok posts every single day. And I still bump into people who say, oh, I've never heard of you. Oh, I've never heard of the podcast. And that's incredible. But it blows my mind because I am all over the Internet, or I think I am all over the Internet.
[00:07:05] You never have the kind of attention you believe you can always do more. And you do that by repeating yourself, by fortifying the message. I heard this the other day and I'm going to use, I'm going to use it now. I'm going to share it with you guys. Dave Ramsey. So you know, Dave Ramsey is a talk show host and now he's an author and a public speaker, and on and on and on. Dave Ramsey has spent the last 40 plus years talking about personal finance. He has a talk radio show where he takes, you know, he has call listeners call in and he listens to their problem and he gives them advice. Basically, the advice is the same, spend less than you make. And he has been saying spend less than you make in all kinds of different ways over and over for the better part of four decades. And now he's passing it on to his kids and partners because they're eventually going to take over the company. Guess what? They're going to keep saying spend less than you make. But they're going to say it in new ways, different ways, interesting ways. But it is the repetition that fortifies the messaging. That is why Dave Ramsey has a brand.
[00:08:06] You need to repeat yourself and to keep talking about the things you care about. It is about communication. So trust me, you're not boring. You are teaching, you are repeating, you are ingraining that in.
[00:08:20] See, here's the reality. People don't see everything. They don't remember everything. They are distracted. You are, I am certainly all of our customers are. Repetition respects that reality.
[00:08:34] Now, do you want to pulse on what's actually happening in your restaurant? Ovation gives you real time understanding about your guest experience, transforming guest feedback into clear, actionable insights so you can stop guessing and start making smarter decisions about your business. Their AI driven reporting breaks down every review into restaurant specific categories like speed of service, order accuracy or food quality. And it shows you where to actually focus. One operator put it like this. Ovation is a game changer. It helps us identify issues early before they turn into bigger problems. Another operator starts every staff meeting by reviewing recent Ovation data, giving the team one source of truth to work from with heat maps, goal tracking and performance dashboards. Ovation doesn't just tell you what's wrong, it actually helps your team fix it. You can even assign action items and track the follow through on those items. So if you want to get all the answers without having to ask all the questions, go to OvationUp to book a demo, mention this podcast and guess what? They'll waive your setup fee. As always, you'll find that link in the show notes.
[00:09:47] Now, most restaurants post what they care about, meaning plates, dishes, drinks, ingredients, their chef. And what guests actually care about is the energy of the place, a sense of belonging, the atmosphere, the vibe, what the actual experience is every step of the way. And I know this because I dine out a lot and I work with a lot of restaurants every step of the way I am trying to envision myself in that restaurant. Am I going to like it? Because guess what, there's tons of restaurants that I don't like. And we can talk offline about what kinds of restaurants I don't like. But I don't usually go to certain kinds of restaurants. Guess why? Because I don't like them. So I want to understand if this is for me because here's the deal. The restaurants that I don't like, I walk by every day. There's a restaurant in my town I don't particularly like. I don't like the vibe, I don't like the energy. I'm not comfortable in that place. Every time I walk by is a line out the door. It's packed, people waiting for tables, God love them. Here's the reality.
[00:10:42] Every time you figure out who you're not for, it's one step closer to figuring out who you are for. And if you're really clear, the people who aren't for you will self select out. Like me and that restaurant down the street. And everybody else though everybody else I know is like, oh my God, I love that place. Great man, God love you. Go support them. Because I want nothing but more, more success for the people in our industry. But don't pretend that everyone's gonn every other restaurant out there. So the guests care about the energy, they care about belonging. They care about the community, the atmosphere, the vibe, the experience they get. And so your feed should answer the following question. What will this feel like when I go there? Social media should sound like your dining room. See, mismatch kills trust, right? And so think deeply, right? We used to talk about websites all the time, right? A website is an extension of your brand.
[00:11:36] A really great restaurant website is an extension of the dining experience. And guess what? That's now true of all of your digital assets. So Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, if you use it, YouTube, you should use it. All of these things are assets, right? Your Google business profile is an asset. And all of these also must be an extension of the dining experience. And when there's mismatch, there again, mismatch kills trust. So if your restaurant is warm but your captions are cold and corporate, there's a disconnect. If it's casual, but your folks, your posts feel precious and stuffy, there's a disconnect. See, consistency creates confidence. And there's that word again. Confidence.
[00:12:17] Guess what? Likes don't matter. Memory matters. See, most guests when they're scrolling through actually won't like your post. They won't take the time to comment, they probably won't share it, but they'll probably remember. And memory drives their Choice. Again, talk about being top of mind. They have to remember you to be able to think of you. When it comes time to make the dinner reservation, you have to be part of what's called the consideration set. When people say, hey, man, I'm too tired to cook tonight, let's just go out. Sure. Where do you want to go? You want to be there?
[00:12:50] Or if you're a fancy place, you have to say, man, so where are we going to go for our anniversary? You want to be one of the three or four places that immediately come to mind.
[00:12:59] So depending on your market, that should be easy. Sometimes market in a certain market, that's hard.
[00:13:04] That's why you keep fortifying your message and keep staying top of mind. So here's the real reframe here. Social media isn't just about more posts. It's not about more creativity. It is about clarity. Clearer messages repeat it longer, over and over. Remember Dave Ramsey? You think Dave Ramsey at a certain point gets sick of saying the same thing over again? I'm sure there's some nights where he's open up a bottle of wine and going, man.
[00:13:29] But on the other hand, he's got a thriving business because he's gotten really good at repeating that message in bunch of different ways. Always on message, always on brand. He just says it in different ways.
[00:13:42] So it's about clarity. Clearer messages repeated for much longer period of time than you realize. So here's your action for today. Answer the following question. What three beliefs do we actually want guests to hold about us?
[00:13:57] And post only those relentlessly. Again, what three beliefs do we want guests to hold? What do we want them to come away with? What do we want them to believe about us? And you make sure that everything you post fortifies that message.
[00:14:13] Here's the deal. The restaurants that win online don't chase attention. They simply build familiarity until the choice feels automatic for the guests that they're trying to to attract.
[00:14:25] Again, I want to thank you for making this show part of your week. My name is Chip Close. I'm the founder and CEO of Restaurant Strategy, and I am. I'm here every single week hosting this show. The whole point of this show is to increase the profitability of your restaurants. Do me a favor, if you get any sort of value out of this, just pass this along. Just send this message to somebody. Send this podcast, send the link to somebody you think should listen to it. Maybe it's somebody on your team. Maybe it's a colleague. Maybe it's another restaurant owner. Maybe it's somebody you used to work with, right? Just. Just pass it along. Spreading the word like that is how we grow. And that helps me grow. This my small business. Appreciate it very much, guys. I will see you next time.
[00:15:24] Sam, It.
