10 Ways to get your Wine Farm or Restaurant to stand out

Published by Helene Haarhoff on 2nd September 2020

#1 Build your brand around your target market

Your brand includes everything from your logo, colour scheme, images, voice, even your menu. When building your brand, take your target market into account and form an identity around this. Are you a fine dining establishment, a bar with pub food, or a wine farm in the countryside? Understanding who your target market is will help you know how to present yourself to them!

#2 Use social media to expand your brand

Social media offers the perfect platform to show off your best photos, especially for businesses in the food industry. Show off your location, post photos of your delicious food or the resident cat! Wine farms can also boost engagement by posting photos of the grapes being harvested, the tasting room and fun events. Remember, social media is a place to show your customers the “personality” behind your business, so have fun with it! Consider hiring a pro to take high quality photos of your food to draw those who haven’t dined at your restaurant yet.

#3 Include your followers in your content

Think about having a contest on social media where your customers send in photos of their favourite memory from your establishment. This is a great way to grow engagement with your followers and people always love seeing their own photos being shared! (with their consent of course)

#4 Send out an email newsletter

Consider sending out a newsletter to your customer database every month or so. This is a great way to get in contact with previous customers whose contact details you already have. Use your newsletter to share news, events, new menu items or wines – or share a special loyalty discount to those on your mailing list! If you don’t spam your customers with weekly mails, a newsletter is a great way of reminding your clients about your business. Did you know that 60% of consumers feel more loyal to a restaurant when in their email club?

#5 Keep your website updated!

As many as 89% of consumers research a restaurant online prior to dining. Make sure your website is updated with your latest menu items or wines, as this is the first place a potential customer will visit. No one wants to look forward to a certain dish just to find out it’s not available at your restaurant anymore!

#6 Start a blog

Use your website as a platform for sharing knowledge, recipes, interesting stories, and news. Writing blog posts doesn’t have to be a time-consuming exercise – keep it as simple as you like! Even if you don’t post weekly, having a blog set up on your website is great for when you do want to post news or announcements.

#7 Host interesting events!

Nothing gets people in the door like a fun event! Hold a harvest day where visitors can try grape-stomping, host a family day, get some live entertainment…the list is endless! Events should be advertised online with plenty of lead time to build up the hype. Your business might even become known for its great Friday Night Market!

#8 Set up your Google My Business Account

When you search a business on Google, the details will be available in the sidebar. Doing this is free and shows your customers all your contact details at a glance, including the link to your website.

#9 Try Geo-Targeted Google Ads

Running pay per click ads on Google can become an expensive exercise, so setting up your ads correctly will help you get the most value out of them. Most people are looking for places to eat out or enjoy a glass of wine close to home. Why not try geo-targeting your Google ads so that only people within a specific radius of your business will see your ad? This will help eliminate non-relevant clicks!

#10 Online Delivery Services

Everything is available at the touch of a button these days. This is no different for food! Partnering with a service like UberEats or MrD makes your menu easily available for delivery. Having a delivery option for your restaurant, especially in the form of an easy-to-use app, will open your doors to those who prefer to eat at home. Some customers might even see your business for the first time on an online delivery platform. Do your research to see which delivery service could work the best for you (and how much they charge).

We hope these ideas have been helpful fro your wine farm or restaurant! We at Designer Needed are invested in growing small businesses, no matter your service or product. Check out our portfolio (here) to see what we can do, or subscribe to our mailing list below!