In this article, I will show how to connect with:
- Local restaurants
- Use cross-marketing with other businesses
- Improve website SEO
- Being recognized by local businesses
Establishing Yourself as a Kids Night Restaurant Expert
If you do not object to doing a little research, visiting a restaurant or two, and improving your website SEO, then you should do the following:
- Analyzed the number of restaurants that have a kid’s night in your neighborhood?
- Determine the difference between the kid’s restaurants?
- Write about your findings.
Pretend you are a news reporter doing an article on restaurants in your neighborhood. You have been tasked to find all family-friendly restaurants in your area and need to provide a quick overview of each restaurant.
First, you go online and look at all the different restaurants offering kid’s nights. Next, you stop in and talk with a manager of these restaurants and introduce yourself as an entertainer doing some research for your customers. Lastly, you write a Facebook post about these restaurants that offer kid’s nights.
I recently did this by blogging about restaurants in Tinley Park that are an excellent choice for hosting a 1st birthday party. I found the managers were happy to talk about their restaurant and party room options.
In my article, I narrowed the scope of my investigation by the city, food, and if they had a private party room. You might have to do the same thing if surrounded by restaurants.
Once you gather your data, write a post and share it on Facebook or in your blog. Send a copy to the restaurants, Chamber of Commerce, Mayor’s Office, a local newspaper, and other businesses that cater to kids. Businesses like kids beauty salons, baby photographers, and children specialty clothing will all find the article interesting because you are writing about their target markets.
Cross-Marketing with Other Businesses
I have always found it awkward to approach a kid’s beauty salon and make a business connection. I’m sure you have barbershops/salons that cater to families in your neighborhood.
Here is where I fail,
- What to say
- Why would they want to connect
Using the word “report” makes it sound more official then saying “Hey, I just wrote a blog post”.
By writing an article on the topic, I can now contact these kids’ barbershops and say….”I just wrote an article about a restaurant in town that has kid’s night. Would you like me to send you a copy of the report?” Using the word “report” makes it sound official, then saying, “Hey, I just wrote a blog post.”
The goal is to share the report with businesses and allow you to make the first contact with the company. Once done, you have a reason to follow up, leave comments, and build a rapport with them on social media, as you are no longer a stranger but a resource and friend of the business.
Consider the following:
- In high-growth organizations, sales teams make an average of 16 touches per prospect, within a 2-4 week span (source). Using this report will lead to many conversations/email touches, which is what you want to do to establish a working relationship.
Improve Your Website SEO
You might be like me, surrounded by restaurants and parents with young kids who are looking for places to take their kids. Parents turn to the internet, Google, and Facebook for answers, and what will they find? Your article answers the questions they are looking for, as it lists all the neighborhood family nights reviewed.
Each share, like, or comment helps your local Google SEO ranking as you will have a link back to your website. People searching for a kid’s restaurant in your city will find your article and have a web link to learn about your entertainment service.
Being Recognized by Local Businesses
Writing about your city will strengthen your public awareness in your town. The more articles you write about your city, the restaurants, shops, and community, the more you will appear on Google and become recognized as a trusted resource by the search engine. A local store will see the benefit of working with you and will quickly recommend your service.
Web influencers do it all the time, and you, too, can become a local influencer by writing about your city.
You can dominate your turf, increase your web SEO, and become better known in the community. Remember, produce marketing material useful to the local community, and the community will talk about your business.