marketing
-
Lead Magnets for Hospitality Businesses: How to Give People a Reason to Hand Over Their Email Address
There is a moment that happens in every small hospitality business when someone has a genuinely good experience. They finish a meal that exceeded what they expected. They check out of a hostel after a week that felt like a month. They sit in a cafe for two hours on a rainy afternoon and leave…
-
How to Get New Customers After Opening a Restaurant: What to Do in the First 90 Days
The first 90 days after opening a restaurant are unlike any other period in the life of the business. Word of mouth is starting to form but has not found its shape yet. Your reputation is being built in real time. You are simultaneously learning how to run the operation, fixing what is not working,…
-
What Is Direct Response Marketing and Why Every Small Restaurant and Hostel Owner Should Learn It Before Spending a Dollar on Advertising
Most small hospitality businesses spend money on marketing before they understand what marketing is supposed to do. They boost an Instagram post because it seems like the thing to do. They run a Facebook ad because someone told them it worked for their friend’s restaurant. They hand out flyers because they have always handed out…
-
How to Set Up Your Google Business Profile as a Restaurant Owner: A Step-by-Step Guide for Non-Technical People
When someone searches for a restaurant in your area on Google, the business that appears at the top of those results with a map, photos, hours, and reviews is not there by accident. It is there because its owner set up a Google Business Profile correctly and has kept it maintained. A Google Business Profile…
-
How to Respond to a Bad Review on Hostelworld or Booking.com Without Making It Worse
A bad review on Hostelworld or Booking.com feels different from a bad review on Google. Google reviews are written by the general public and read by the general public. Hostelworld and Booking.com reviews are written by travelers who stayed in your beds, read by travelers who are deciding whether to do the same, and scored…
-
How to Calculate Your Real Cost Per New Customer (And Why Most Hospitality Owners Are Shocked When They Do the Math)
Here is a question that most restaurant and hostel owners have never sat down to answer properly. What does it actually cost you to get one new customer through the door? Not a rough guess. Not a feeling. The actual number, calculated from real money spent divided by real customers acquired. Most owners who go…
-
From Zero to 200 Email Subscribers: The 90-Day Marketing Roadmap for Independent Hospitality Businesses
Most marketing advice for small hospitality businesses falls into one of two traps. The first trap is too vague. Build your brand. Engage your audience. Create content that resonates. These phrases sound meaningful but give you nothing concrete to do on Monday morning. The second trap is too overwhelming. Here are 47 things you should…
-
How to Ask Customers for Google Reviews at Your Restaurant (Scripts)
Google reviews are one of the biggest factors in whether a new customer picks your restaurant over the one beside it in the results. When two places are similar on location, price, and photos, the one with more recent, higher-rated reviews wins the click. The good news is that most happy customers will gladly leave…
-
How to Respond to a Bad Restaurant Review on Google (Examples)
A bad Google review feels personal, and that feeling is worth acknowledging before the tactics. Someone ate your food, sat in your dining room, and then told the entire internet it was not good enough. But the most important thing happening when a negative review appears is not the sting you feel, it is that…
-
How to Get Direct Bookings for a Small Hostel (No Budget)
A small hostel chasing direct bookings without a marketing budget is in a stronger position than it looks. Hostels serve travelers who are unusually motivated by authenticity, local knowledge, and community, which means the personal touch you can offer is exactly what your guests value. Learning how to get direct bookings for a hostel is…