Aside from inviting politicians from the neighborhood, requesting for the attendance of bloggers during the launching of your restaurant helps in the promotion of your new business venture.
Bloggers have readers and followers who could be your next customers. The types of bloggers who should be invited to your launching may include the following:
Food Bloggers- they go to restaurants, review the food and other offerings, and evaluate what has been served to them; most of the time
Events Bloggers- they attend parties and social gatherings, and relay to their readers what happened during the events
Personal Bloggers- they connect with their readers by sharing stuff that they have tried; they talk about anything that crosses their mind
In getting bloggers to cover the launching of your restaurant, read through our step-by-step guide:
1. Finalize the details of your launching before anything else. Set the date and time,
and make sure you have reserved a space for bloggers considering the maximum number of bloggers you can cater to during the event.
2. If you target bloggers, you can do a simple search on the internet. Once
you land on blogs that you are interested in, get the email address or available other
contact information.
3. In
contacting the bloggers, you need to lay all your cards: what they expect from the event and what you expect from them. Clarify if they will be given free rides to the restaurant or you will
just be expecting them. Identify the time they are expected to be at the venue. Provide them a copy of the flow
of the program and the other invited people. Never forget to give them a list of the food that will be be
served during the launching. For sure, they will ask if they can tag along a friend (it is up to you). If you will give them cash incentive afterwards, inform them immediately. You may email these things to them, and entertain questions.
4. In
case they have demands, try to work things out. If they need an amount of money
to be able to attend the launching, decide on the availability of your
resources. Remember, bloggers write about their experience so you need to give them enough experience of your offerings. Understand also that bloggers spend money to go to your
restaurant, write a blog post, and maintain their websites.
5. Produce a Press Kit containing a press release about the launching, briefing about the
restaurant and its management, menu, and other promotional materials. It is
recommended to send a softcopy of the Press Kit to them so they can just copy-paste some information.
6. Expect that some bloggers will
back out minutes before the event with silly reasons. Be patient in dealing with them. Do not burn bridges. You can ask them to
send a representative, instead.
7. A day or hours before the event, make sure to send them an SMS reminding them of the event.
8. During
the launching, meet them at the door and acknowledge their presence. Memorize their names if possible. Lead them
to the reserved seats for them. For sure, upon arrival, they will take photos of the
restaurant. If you
have an official photographer, you may share your pictures with them
afterwards.
9. While
eating, assign someone to entertain the bloggers. They ask questions
about the food, and the chef may be in authority to discuss what is on the menu.
The best thing is to have someone sit with them to look after their needs all through out the event.
10. Before
the end of the event, make sure to know their names and some information about
them. Who knows, you might be working with them in further blogging projects.
11. If
you decide to offer tokens to them, give them gift certificates (GC) or coupons that they can use in the restaurant. This will have them back again. Thank them and make sure all of
their questions are answered. If they have requests like posters, make sure to send them immediately.
12. Once
they are home, thank them again via SMS or email. Advise them to forward you
the links of their blog posts about the event. Never give any deadline, unless
you have paid them to blog about the event. In case a blogger decides not to
blog the event for reasons, have the guts to personally approach the blogger. Take the
reasons seriously. Never ever force bloggers to make a write up about the launching if they are not happy with the event.
13. To motivate the bloggers, do not stop rewarding them with tokens for attending the launching. You may have a simple contest to give prizes to the blogger who has crafted the best review.
14. Help
in promoting the blog posts. Post them on the official accounts of the
restaurant. Like their fan pages, and follow them on Twitter.
15. Stay
in contact with the bloggers. Connect with them on social media. For sure, you will need them again for the next events in
the same restaurant.
Always
pamper bloggers who attend your events, so they have a reason to pamper you back
on their blog sites. Once their readers learn about your restaurant, expect the
influx of people to your business venture. Say hello to ROI!
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