What is your PR and marketing strategy as the country enters recession?

PR is a must have in trying times because it can help brands to achieve so many objectives and reach so many audiences with relatively simple tactics. 

You just need to be super clear as to what you need to achieve to bring in the cash and customers.

Hospitality is a crowded market, especially in big cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool and one that is facing a fair amount of challenges right now, as consumers are spending less in the face of the cost of living crisis.

A recent release of data from the CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker revealed that hospitality sales were flat in January as consumer spending has been squeezed.

The tracker showed that Britain’s leading hospitality groups had an amazing December and a tricky January. Plenty of friends and clients across the industry are really seeing a challenging time, even the ones that were doing better than the majority of those in the market last year.

So what can you do?

• Build excellent relationships with your local media and feed them regular stories to keep you front of mind with local audiences. From new menus to seasonal launches or the odd stunty dish - who doesn’t love a Christmas dinner burger or a chocolate pizza for Easter!

• Consider a paid media partner. Pick one with the right readership to match your audience and get them creating fantastic content right away.

• Influencers have huge power, especially in local markets. They have engaged followers who really do follow their advice. I know this because I buy fashion, beauty, food, nutrition products and more as a result of what my favourite influencers talk about on Instagram and Tik Tok.

• Think national. National media write about regional brands and venues, not just those in London. Do your potential customers read travel mags or women’s titles or do you think they are more Jay Raynor and Sunday Times Style. Get this right and the bookings will pour in.

• What about a stunt? A brilliant trick for driving queues - which drives social media buzz and media coverage - is free stuff. Everyone wants free stuff and they love talking about it on social media so pick a date, a time and get the news out there. Think about data capture if you can so that you can remarketing to these people again in the future.

Pick one tactic or do them all but make sure you have a plan, that you set some objectives, benchmark your metrics and measure them again at the end. Sales might be your ultimate objective but don’t underestimate the value of brand awareness and staying front of mind with your audiences - it still often takes 10 touch points to make a sale so you need a consistent ongoing plan to drive real change.

Not sure you can handle this yourself or just want to sense check your plans? We offer consultation or full campaign planning and delivery and will always offer a free introductory call first so give us a call.

We have done this for hundreds of regional and national brands from Crazy Pedro’s to Black Dog Ballroom, Vapiano and Shoryu Ramen and Rudy’s Pizza. We have launched over 60 Chopstix sites across the UK over the last three years, everywhere from Leicester and Blackburn, to Baker Street and the Trafford Centre here in Manchester so we know what works!