Some restaurants open and don’t think twice about a rebranding strategy, but others open and need to switch things up in a matter of just a couple of months.
Regardless of whether or not your business is booming, it’s important to evolve a brand over time to maintain the market’s interest and to keep the brand relevant.
Rebranding Definition
Rebranding is creating a new look and feel for an established product or company. The goal of rebranding is to influence customers perception about the business by revitalizing the brand, which in turn, makes it more modern and relevant to the customer’s needs.
Rebranding Strategy
Just like a business has a branding strategy before saying, “We’re open for business,” most will eventually need a rebranding strategy months, years, or decades later. Whether it be changing a logo, slogan, interior design, menu, etc., change can be good!
If you change some things, either no one will notice or they won’t care. Sometimes, people will get angry. (Remember the new Instagram logo change?) Either way, you need to make those changes, no matter how minor, a big deal!
6 Rebranding Examples
Host a Media Dinner with Influencers
As a lifestyle blogger, I’ve been to a few media dinners. These are so much fun for local influencers and result in your restaurant earning exposure online and on social media. If your restaurant has a budget, you can hire major influencers to host an event at your restaurant or sponsor a blog post and social media shares.
Media Dinner at Cafe Med in Deerfield BeachRename Existing Dishes during a Tasting Event
If you’re looking for something to do at an influencer event, a tasting event is one way to entertain guests. You could make it even more exciting by letting an influencer, or even a guest, rename some of the existing or new dishes and drinks.
Social Media Contest
A nice social media following can’t hurt a business, right? Try doing something to get your customers and potential customers involved by holding a contest on social media. Promote it with ads on social media, table tents in the restaurant, and props like a step and repeat for customers.
Feed the Newsrooms
As a former TV reporter, I have seen food disappear faster than it arrived in multiple newsrooms. You will score points with the media if you send free food!
Tip: Reach out to the news anchors before you send your restaurant’s best and time it to arrive right before the end of the newscast when they have a couple of minutes to chit chat on-air.
Loving my Oreo milkshake from TGIFriday’s in Miami Beach… while pregnant (my #1 craving)Guest Celebrity Chef or Bartender Night
If you want to bring in traffic, bring in someone who has traffic. This ties in with the first rebranding strategy I mentioned, but think one, big influencer instead of many local ones. For more on how this works in retail with a real housewife, click here.
Tell the Rebranding Story
Some people will notice your rebranding. Some won’t. Either way, you’re rebranding for a reason, so why not turn that into a story for a blog post, a video for your website or social media, a series of social media posts, a pitch for the media, a release for a press release distribution, etc.
