RESTAURANT MARKETING IDEAS FOR MARCH

The rush of the New Year and business of January is out of the way, February is almost over and now it’s time to turn your thoughts to March, and all the fantastic ways you can promote your restaurant as well as introduce or reintroduce customers to your delicious dishes.

To help you with ideas and inspiration for new concepts, we’ve put together a list of event days celebrated around the world that you could connect with. Just remember though, you need to balance the needs of your audience, maintain customer expectations and your brand voice, and decide which elements of your business need to be focused on – and in what order.

It’s important to note that don’t involve yourself with everything. Only select the events that really make sense for your brand – they need to be relevant in some respect, whether that’s to the business directly, the venue, the location, the ingredients or the customers.

The following list covers events from the UK, US, Europe and beyond; it’s absolutely fine to get involved with most events, even if you’re not in the hosting country.

RESTAURANT MARKETING IDEAS FOR MARCH:

• Dechox: Go Choc-Free for March
• National Nutrition Month
• National Celery Month
• National Flour Month
• National Frozen Food Month
• National Noodle Month
• National Peanut Month
• National Sauce Month
• National Caffeine Awareness Month

WEEKLY AWARENESS EVENTS IN MARCH:

• British Pie Week – 2^nd – 8^th March
• Eating Disorders Awareness Week – 2^nd – 8^th March
• Salt Awareness Week – 9^th – 15^th March
• National Butchers’ Week – 9^th – 15^th March
• American Chocolate Week – 15^th – 21^st March
• Nutrition and Hydration Week – 16^th – 22^nd March
• National Agriculture Week – 22^nd – 28^th March

National Intergenerational Week – 23^rd – 29^th March

Our Recommendations for Getting Involved

If you’ve read the list carefully, you’ll have noticed a few items on there that aren’t related to food, and some that seem to be a bit random (we’re looking at you Mario Day), but this is where we explain the beauty of lateral thinking and carefully aligning your brand.

So Mario Day… MAR 10 (it really does read like Mario), why would we include this? Well, if you serve Italian cuisine, this famous Nintendo created character happens to be rather famously Italian – his favourite food is pasta (he’s also fond of pizza).
Likewise, if you’re operating a restaurant that caters to younger clients, gamers and pop culture – this is an observance you can make use of!

Okay so that explains Mario, what about Common Courtesy Day? What should you do with that? I’m pretty sure there’s not a server out there that hasn’t had to deal with difficult situations, promoting common courtesy and sharing examples of horrendous diner behaviour (without the identifying details) can show the human side of your business, give you a chance to promote your amazing staff, and encourage engagement from your audience!

Thinking outside of the box, whilst still remaining relevant, you can show the personality and human face of your brand, making it easier for people to connect with you!

But really though – don’t try and celebrate everything. When making your decisions you should:

1. Only pick events that are relevant to your brand, business, vision and values.
2. Only choose days that celebrate topics that will interest, engage or delight your customers
3. Fully understand what the event is about before you get involved!

Ask yourself:

1. Is the topic of the event consistent with the business vision, values and goals?
2. Can you use your own brand voice to promote this?
3. Does it make sense for your brand to be associating with this?
4. Will this help highlight a part of the business? (Menu / Venue / History / Staff)
5. Do you really understand the event and who it’s aimed at?
6. Have there been any scandals or problems associated with the event that might reflect badly on your brand if you get involved?
7. Are your customers going to want to get involved with your content?

Answering these will tell you what’s appropriate for you. If you’re not sure, then you’ve already got your answer – no, it’s got to check the boxes and be a good fit to be worth your time.

Keep your standards high, your posts regular and your content mixed up (video, images, blogs, sales posts) and give your customers reasons to keep coming back and getting involved!

If you’re struggling to find time or not sure how to manage your marketing, you get in touch with our Experts by booking a call and we’ll arrange a Coffee Call with you to help you determine what your marketing needs to hit that 5-star standard!