Promote your venue
At Restaurants Brighton we know all about marketing. We’re a small local company with a core team of just six. But, together, we manage to make enough (good) noise online to rival multinationals like Tripadvisor, DesignMyNight and Time Out for local food and drink web traffic. Proving it’s not how big you are that counts, it’s how clever you work.
So here are our top five easy-to-do things that can help you win at the BRAVOs. And winning the BRAVO’s or being placed in a Top 20 will make a difference to your business.
1. Use the marketing material we provide.
Use the posters we have dropped off to venues, or download and print one here.
Consistently give out the small BRAVO cards we have dropped off for you and encourage customers to vote for you. You must vote too, and your team, and your friends, and your family!
You can use your unique voting page URL to send your customers directly to vote for you. This can be via your newsletter, a direct email, or via a social media platform. Find your voting URL by searching for your venue here.
Make sure you’re using strong Calls To Action (CTAs) that tell your customers what to do and why they should do it. A strong CTA looks like this: “Vote for us in the BRAVOs and you could win £200!”
Keep CTA’s simple. People don’t like to have too many actions!
2. Post to social media frequently.
Can you remember a social media post you saw a week ago? Two days ago? This morning? If your post doesn’t get an instant response it will get forgotten, so you need to make sure your message is being repeated. Set yourself a minimum number of posts per week and vary the messages (calls to action) and images so it isn’t spammy.
Here is a link to new marketing material for this year. If there is anything you would like us to help with, then let us know.
Instagram Reels
Embrace the instagram upward curve and try making short videos, edit them on Instagram and then post to your profile. If you can’t make reels, then this is an opportunity that could encourage you to learn how to do it; otherwise give the responsibility to someone else.
> Watch our guide to taking food photos with a smartphone for better social media posts
3. Engage with your customers.
Your front of house staff should be your greatest asset. It’s the interactions they create that determine if your customers have an okay time or a great time. Make sure they’re telling your customers about the BRAVOs and how they’re excited to be nominated. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
4.Stay focused.
Pick one, two or three categories to focus your votes and tell your customers how you’d like to be voted for. Remember, it’s not how big you are, it’s how clever you work. Which categories do you think you can win, remember anyone can win, it’s down to the public to decide!
> View all the categories here
> If you’d like to change some of your nominations, get in touch at hello@restaurantsbrighton.co.uk
5.The hare and the tortoise.
You’re probably familiar with the story of the hare and the tortoise who have a race. Hare zooms off from the starting line at speeds Tortoise can’t dream to achieve. Pleased with his progress and confident he’ll win, Hare stops for a rest in the sun. Meanwhile, Tortoise slowly and steadily continues on his way crossing the finish line while Hare is still sleeping. Be the tortoise, not the hare – you only cross the finish line if you stay in the race!
With six weeks of voting there are lots of customers to convert into voters. Committing to push your BRAVO nominations to the very end with these simple steps is what will get you on a top-20 list.
Don’t forget to tag us in your posts and we’ll share our favourites! @brightonrestaurantawards and #BRAVO2023 #restaurantsbrighton #BrightonRestaurantAwards