Desirée Gomez describes herself as born into the restaurant business. When her father opened Coyote Grill, a Baja-inspired Mexican restaurant near downtown Laguna Beach, he was creating a family business. While he cooked and handled nearly every other task, her mother was the bookkeeper and occasional dishwasher. Desirée was bussing tables and eventually graduated into hosting. Now, she’s running the show and understands how her father felt trying to operate Coyote Grill while also working in the front and back of the house. Luckily, she partnered with Popmenu so she can spend more time creating a dining experience that brings guests back and less time worrying about technology.
“In the restaurant business, you have to learn every facet of the restaurant—the front and back of the house. You learn how to grout tile and how to fix a toilet, and you need to have an idea of how to work social media and run a website. It's not my forte, but you can’t be completely in the dark if somebody leaves or goes on vacation,” said Desirée.
And that’s exactly what happened when Coyote Grill decided to partner with Popmenu in 2017. One of her managers, who had been the go-to resource for website upkeep, left the restaurant and Desirée realized she didn’t have the time to take on all that extra work.
Popmenu took all those concerns off Desirée’s plate by creating the website for Coyote Grill, ensuring SEO best practices are in place, the restaurant’s Google Business Profile is connected and current, and the guest experience is smooth. Desirée’s busy schedule often kept her from having a free moment to worry about her Google Business Profile or staying current with SEO best practices. When guests are looking for information about a restaurant, they want to find it easily and conveniently—and restaurants want that, too.
“There are a lot of restaurants—especially Mexican restaurants—in Laguna Beach and Southern California. We want to be on the first page of search results. We don't want to be a couple of pages back because guests can get lost. They’re looking for one thing and then go off on a tangent and then I lose my audience.”
Coyote Grill also uses Boost, Popmenu’s people-powered marketing service that creates a content strategy tailored to your restaurant's unique goals for growth and helps bring a unique touch to marketing across several channels. Coyote Grill used Boost for an influencer campaign where five local micro-influencers visited the restaurant through exchange agreements—in this case, a free meal. These smaller influencers are often more effective than larger, global influencers because they speak to a regional audience that trusts their opinions about what’s happening where they live and places they can easily visit. In addition to bringing in new guests, these influencers also help restaurants build a strong, relevant social media presence.
The influencer partnership was a success for Coyote Grill. Thanks to these five influencer videos, Coyote Grill reached 82,801 locals, saw an average engagement rate of 6.4%—which is three times the industry average—and received 1,785 active engagements. Those 82,000 local viewers are now aware of the restaurant and are more likely to consider Coyote Grill when looking for a place to eat. Those 1,785 people who engaged are likely already considering the restaurant, which means they’re even closer to walking into the restaurant soon.
In addition to social media posts, the Boost program offers expert strategy and guidance on how to effectively execute email and text message marketing to keep that audience engaged and on the path to a dining experience. This combination of marketing efforts helps restaurants build strong connections that can pay off both in the short term and long term, restaurant manager.
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