Promotion in a Pandemic
Posted by estiator at 5 August, at 08 : 27 AM Print
PROMOTION IN A PANDEMIC For restaurant PR veteran Steven Hall, it’s all about standing out, staying current, and embracing change.
BY MICHAEL KAMINER
How can you promote dining out when restaurants can’t even open for dine-in business?
That’s the dilemma facing firms like Hall PR, a 25-year-old public relations and marketing agency focused on “restaurants that have a cultural experience.” Clients have included hugely successful Greek eateries like Periyali, Kellari Tavern, and Merakia.
But as founder Steven Hall told Estiator, public relations means a lot more than talking to media. A PR firm can become your partner in everything from menu development to food packaging to social-media strategy. And even if you can’t hire an agency right now, Hall’s tips can help you steer through the worst crisis most restaurateurs will face in their lifetimes.
For people who haven’t worked with a PR firm, can you define what you do?
Public relations covers such broad range of services these days. It’s not black-and-white. For our clients, we reach out to media to produce stories that plant seeds in the minds of the public. Once the media has done its part, we keep those stories alive in the minds of the public, which involves marketing. Through incentives, social media, email blasts, mailing lists, and other tactics, our aim is to keep diners coming back.
How has your work with clients changed since the pandemic started?
Before the pandemic, it was about generating ideas, getting press, creating holiday menus and seasonal dishes, and making sure a client’s food, cocktails, and wines exemplified the restaurant experience so we could keep press and customers coming in.
Now it’s completely changed. Not all of our clients were able to switch to delivery and takeout. For the ones that did, we worked right alongside them. We helped create packaging. We worked with them to figure out which foods would travel best. It’s not like pizza; you’re delivering a composed meal. How do you do that in a way that reflects well on your brand? And, of course, we made it known that clients are doing takeout and delivery.
Are there any advantages Greek restaurants might have with takeout and delivery?
Greek restaurants have a much wider selection of Greek wines than the average liquor or wine shop. If you make delivering Greek wines part of the package, you’re giving people the Greek-restaurant experience in their homes. New York’s State Liquor Authority has lifted the ban on delivering alcohol, so that’s helping everyone. Most restaurants also make more on alcohol than food sales, of course.
How do you advise clients to handle negative comments on social media?
Some restaurants are seeing complaints, even though they’re trying incredibly hard on takeout and delivery.
First, I try to calm them down. These days, the minute people have any experience they deem negative, they’re going to go to some online platform and complain. And the minute you answer that person in a public forum, their impulse will be to fight back. It’s not worth it. If the feedback is really meritless, we’ll compose a note to send to the people who run the site.
Some restaurants respond and say things like, “Please come back so we can take extra special care of you.”
We try to avoid that. I always say restaurants are the only business where someone gets rewarded for being a bad dog. It’s not good practice, especially if you put it up in a public forum. Others will see it.
By necessity or by choice, restaurants that make it through the crisis may reinvent themselves. What kinds of changes might have the most value for Greek restaurants?
It’s time to get creative and put your own touches on what it means to be a Greek restaurant. So many Greek establishments have the “dead-fishon-ice” thing going. And the decor in so many Greek restaurants looks the same—they go for blue and white to evoke the seaside rather than create a stylish environment. Yes, people expect a formula; a brasserie is a brasserie. But if it becomes too commonplace, and there’s no creativity, you lose them.
And with all due respect to Greek restaurants, a lot of them don’t change seasonally. They use certain greens all the time, whether or not they’re in season. To keep an audience engaged and curious and interested, you have to try something different—whether it’s soft-shell crab or asparagus or corn or beautiful tomatoes that are in season. Even though people expect that salad, the ingredients might not be as fresh as they could be. For some of our clients, we even research seasonal ingredients and ways to use them.
You launched a philanthropic campaign to help restaurants. How has that gone?
Because the restaurant community has been so devastated, the first thing I wanted was to think of ideas that could benefit the industry. A colleague and I came up with dining bonds—discounted vouchers that would allow people to provide necessary funds to restaurants. The bond would be redeemable at full value when the restaurant came back online and the customer came to dine. The idea went global. We now have 500 restaurants on the site. It’s been a very fulfilling experience.
What’s your prediction for the future of dining out?
People are going to get tired of things they’ve been able to make in their own homes. When they go out, they’re going to want the cultural experience they can’t re-create in their own kitchens.
Tips and tactics
If you aren’t in a position to work with a PR firm right now, Steven Hall of Hall PR offers these tips to help get you through the pandemic—and to the next stage of business.
1. Create your story. Know who you are. Figure out what you want people to know about your restaurant before they walk in the door. Write your story down. Then you can use your web site and social media to tell your story.
2. Reach out to journalists. If you want to be on sites like Grubstreet or Eater, or even in The New York Times or your local news outlets, it’s not that hard to find journalists. Reach out to them through their work emails. Introduce yourself as restaurateur. Send them a menu. Let them decide if they want to cover you. Make sure you provide proper contact information, including an email address and phone number to call you. You’d be surprised how many people forget that.
3. Engage on social media. Social media can be your best form of advertising. How do you get traction and followers? If you start a campaign on your own, make sure you engage. If you put up a picture and someone responds with a “yum” or an emoji, react. Social media is social. Have the conversation.
4. Build business one person at a time. You have to look at every customer—even your regulars—as if they’ve never been a customer before. Don’t rest on your laurels. Every customer sees an experience as a fresh experience. Even for a regular, just one thing wrong can turn them off forever.
5. Make news. Do special events. Host wine dinners. Let people know when you’re changing menus. If it’s a holiday, do something special. Continuously let people know you’re creative.
