So we were asked by a local restaurant Zeenat “how can I get more bums on seats?”.
Zeenat Restaurant has been running for more than 30 years it’s had three different owners in that time and has outlasted the first two, the current owner a Pakistani born Sheffield business man Mr Maqboul has been in charge for the past 10 years. The present Zeenat Restaurant is a large 70 seated restaurant with an authentic Indian interior design, the bar is located away from the dining and has a friendly and entertaining bar woman. The food at the Zeenat Restaurant has been changing recently Mr Maqboul tells us about the chef he originally brought over from his home country to work here as an authentic Indian chef, this worked really well for the Zeenat Restaurant and the reviews were exceptional. However immigration laws made keeping the Zeenat’s authentic Indian chef in the country too complicated and problematic for the restaurant, due to the chef being required to return home for the standard visa application rules.
Zeenat Restaurant
Mr Maqboul has now after a few trial errors found an ideal replacement chef, the restaurant has now got back on track and is running smooth. However.
Because of economical and social change over the past couple of years the Zeenat Restaurant was in need of an awareness and marketing lift. Mr Maqboul was aware of this new trend but the introduction to online marketing was a total new industry and was passed to someone younger within the business. This is probably one of the worst mistakes a business can make.
1. Pass a professional job to somebody without the proper skills, we relate this to the chef situation.
2. Wrongly implementing social media can have a negative effect on your business
3. The time invested in resources to market does not show a worthy ROI
What was needed and has been implemented to handle the marketing was a local marketing company that could fit the budget levels of the restaurant and give a respectful ROI. The levels of understanding how to use social media for business is on the opposite ends of the scale when using social media for personal use. Some of the power of tools like facebook, twitter, digg, delicious, blogger, wordpress, G+, twylah and many more social tools that are indispensable for businesses in 2012 and beyond can sometimes overwhelm SME.
Sheffield City Guide has now raised Zeenat Restaurants online social presence and continues to do so. Sheffield City Guide has raised Zeenat Restaurant to more than 5 first page key word results, Zeenat Dining, Dining Zeenat Restaurant, Sheffield City Dining Guide, Twitter Zeenat Restaurant, Twitter Zeenat Sheffield.
So the answer to the question how do I get more bums on seats is…. Raise your social presence in a professional manner in order to bring more people through the door. Then the rest is over to you.
www.sheffieldcityguide.com
www.zeenat.co.uk
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