Increase Mid-week Sales
The restaurant and hospitality business can feel like feast or famine. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, your staff is slammed. On a rainy Monday? Crickets.
How can you plan for these temporary lags, and maybe even prevent them? We’ve got a few ideas.
- Determine your slowest periods. You may think you have an idea, but take a look at both your annual forecasts and the actual numbers. Analyze the data to pinpoint the days and weeks that need the most attention to focus your marketing. Once you’re clear on the data, you can devise a strategy.
- Try new things! Mid-week dips are the perfect time to experiment with new ways to engage with your audience. Consider hosting an event—a music, art, performance or business-focused talk to bring in customers. The right agency can easily find the exact audiences for each type of event and target them geographically so that only people near enough for a mid-week getaway or event would be marketed to.
- Create a special or a package. Have an amazing wine list? Offer 40% off on Wine-soaked Wednesdays. Does your hotel have a restaurant? Bundle the room with dinner and champagne at a can’t-miss price for a romantic mid-week getaway. If you offer a service, make it a BOGO. No one can resist the power of BOGO.
- Be timely. Sometimes the weather is just too gorgeous to not go to your beachfront hotel. If there’s a sunny forecast for mid-week, place a Facebook ad extolling the virtues of dining on your beautiful lakeside patio. Or, if you’re a ski resort, take advantage of the fact that the forecast calls for powder. Use mother nature’s whims to your advantage!
- Take advantage of events happening in your community. Will there be a conference in town? A festival for foodies? A marathon? Check your local community calendar and see if there’s a way to partner with event organizers to offer specials to their customers or if there are any other cross-promotional opportunities.
The resort and restaurant industries thrive on weekends, there’s no doubt. And while that can present a challenge, what it also means is that there’s a lot of room for growth.
If you’re interested in more information about increasing mid-week sales, let us know. We’d be happy to help.