RESTAURANT MARKETING IDEAS FOR SEPTEMBER

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With the holidays over and Autumn on its way, you’re going to be looking for new and interesting ways to bring customers into your restaurant and get your tables filled.

It might feel like a hard task – finding something new and different to promote about your brand and doing it in a way that makes sense for your business. But we’ve put together this helpful list of ideas that could give you a whole new approach to your marketing strategy!

From single day events to monthly celebrations, we’ve founds a whole selection of events in September that you can use to promote your brand, menu and venue, and create a buzz about your business.

Just remember:

1. Double check the events before you start using the related hashtags or creating content around them. It’s essential that you understand what the event is about, who it’s aimed at and why they’re doing it. You don’t want to end up creating content that has nothing to do with the event and making trouble for yourself!
2. Not every date on this list will be relevant to you – so don’t try and do them all. Your customers come to you for a particular cuisine or style, they’re not going to be interested and you’re not going to attract any new customers by doing marketing that is unrelated to your brand.
3. Only take part in events if they’re going to add some value to your brand. That value doesn’t have to be monetary; it could be reputation building, encouraging word-of-mouth referrals, building your community, etc – but there has to be a worthwhile reason for your getting involved.
4. Keep your vision, values and brand image firmly in mind when determining what to take part in. If the event doesn’t match these, then it’s no good for you! Don’t compromise your brand identity by trying to force it into something that isn’t reflecting what you stand for.

Please Note: Some of the entries on this list are National Days from the UK, US, EU and other parts of the world – but if the theme fits your image, it’s okay to go ahead and celebrate, even if you’re not in the host country! Social Media and Digital Marketing connects people from so many different countries, that there’s no problem celebrating a National Day or Awareness event from another country!

So without further ado, here are your freshly picked event ideas for September!

Restaurant Marketing Ideas for September:

• National Courtesy Month
• Self-Improvement Month
• Organic September
• Sourdough September
• National Chicken Month
• National Honey Month
• National Mushroom Month
• National Papaya Month
• National Potato Month
• National Rice Month

Events in September Lasting Longer Than A Week:

• British Food Fortnight – Sept 21^st – Oct 6^th

Weekly and Other Events in September:

• Love Lamb Week – Sept 1^st – 7^th
• Zero Waste Week – Sept 2^nd – 6^th
• Red Tractor Week – Sept 11^th – 17th
• Build a Better Image Week – Sept 15^th – 21^st
• ^{National Rice Week} – Sept 16^th – 22^nd
• ^{Rugby World Cup – Sept} 20^th – Nov 2nd
• Rosh Hashanah – Sept 29^th – Oct 1st

September Event Days:

1^st

• Father’s Day (AUS / NZ)
• National Tofu Day
• Gyro Day

2^nd

• Grits for Breakfast Day

3^rd

• Welsh Rarebit Day
• Baby Back Ribs Day

4^th

• Wildlife Day
• Macadamia Nuts Day

5^th

• International Day of Charity – #CharityDay
• Cheese Pizza Day

6^th

• Coffee Ice Cream Day

7^th

• Beer Lover’s Day
• World Salami Day

8^th

• Grandparents Day
• Date-Nut Bread Day

9^th

• Boss / Employee Swap Day
• I Love Food Day
• Wiener Schnitzel Day

10^th

• Hot Dog Day

11^th

• Hot Cross Bun Day

12^th

• Day of Encouragement
• Chocolate Milkshake Day

13^th

• Friday the 13^th
• Roald Dahl Day
• International Chocolate Day
• Peanut Day

14^th

• Cream-Filled Doughnut Day

15^th

• Double Cheeseburger Day
• Crème de Menthe Day
• Linguini Day

16^th

• World Guacamole Day
• Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Day

17^th

• International Guinep Day
• Apple Dumpling Day

18^th

• Cheeseburger Day

19^th

• Talk Like a Pirate Day
• Butterscotch Pudding Day

20^th

• Punch Day
• Rum Punch Day

21^st

• World Clean-up Day
• International Day of Peace
• Pecan Cookie Day

22^nd

• Car Free Day
• Hobbit Day
• Ice Cream Cone Day

23^rd

• Autumnal Equinox
• International Day of Sine Languages
• White Chocolate Day

24^th

• Cherries Jubilee Day

25^th

• World School Milk Day
• Lobster Day
• Food Service Workers Day

26^th

• European Day of Languages – #EDL2019
• Key Lime Pie Day
• National Pancake Day (US)

27^th

• World Tourism Day – #WTD2019
• Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning
• Chocolate Milkshake / Chocolate Milk Day

28^th

• Drink Beer Day
• Good Neighbour Day
• Strawberry Cream Pie Day

29^th

• International Coffee Day
• Mocha Day

30^th

• ^{Mulled Cider Day}

^{Putting Awareness Dates into Practice for Your Restaurant}

^{Some of these dates are pretty easy and obvious to deal with – especially ones that deal with individual ingredients or dishes. But you may have noticed some of the events listed here are a bit more unusual and might be wondering why we’ve included them in a restaurant marketing strategy.}

^{Well, this is where thinking creatively and outside of the box comes into play! Rather than just taking the obvious dates and creating the expected content, you can intersperse your marketing strategy with some more unusual dates – showing that you’ve got a great understanding of your community, audience and their interests.}

^{For example:}

1. Roald Dahl ^{Day may seem like it has nothing to do with food, but a good number of his books have extravagant meals, iconic dishes or wonderful ingredients – you could perhaps think of doing a Giant Peach dish!}
2. ^{World School Milk Day might not be something you’ve considered, but if you’re doing catering to any of the local schools or have schools in your local area, you could consider doing a promotion that highlights milk and its health benefits.}

^{As we said before though, you need to be choosy when it comes to making your marketing decisions. Your promotions must be worthwhile and designed to have an impact on your business; if you create content for the sake of it, you’re not going to attract interest or new customers, you’re just going to bore people or worse – give a negative impression of your business.}

^{To help you make smart choices when marketing your restaurant on social media, we recommend that you ask yourself these questions:}

1. ^{Does the topic match with the brand and the food you sell?}
2. ^{Are your vision and brand values uncompromised by the goal or method of the event?}
3. ^{Can you promote this event in your own brand voice?}
4. ^{Does associating with this event make sense for your brand?}
5. ^{Will this event highlight something about your brand? (Foe example: Menu, Venue, Cooking Techniques, Staff, etc)}
6. ^{Do you know what the event is about, who it’s aimed at and what it’s for?}
7. ^{Has the event had negative connotations or problems associated with it?}
8. ^{Will your brand get damaged if you get involved?}
9. ^{Will your customers be interested in seeing content related to this event?}
10. ^{Do you personally think this will add something to your content strategy?}

^{Once you’ve got your answers to these questions, you’ll have a really good ideas of which events are going to work for you, and which you’d be better off leaving. When you’re got your short list of events that are going to improve your brand then it’s time to get creating content!}

^{Try to avoid generic stock phrases and vague platitudes. Your content needs to be original, fresh and exciting!}

^{If you’re not sure on what direction to take, or how to best harness the opportunities, we’re here to help you. We’ll help you determine your current online standing with our Free Report, and you can Book a Call with us to discuss your next steps.}

^{Our services are offered ‘As You Need Then’ or ‘Done for You’, and we can also provide bespoke training and consultation to help you serve up the best quality on a regular basis.}

^{Get in touch with our experts today and take your digital marketing to the five star standard.}