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According to Statista, the tourism industry had a global economic contribution of a whopping $9.25tr in 2019. That is an incredible amount of revenue by any standard. And it’s growing by the years. Or it was… that’s before Covid-19 struck and crippled every industry there is on the plane continue reading...

A customer review or feedback is a piece of content (e.g. text, video, etc.) created by a customer expressing a positive or negative experience such a customer had with a business/brand. Let’s talk about reviews, shall we? If you are a restaurant manager, I can bet that the thought of review continue reading...

Photo by Mohammad Metri on Unsplash Do you sometimes feel like reviews and feedback aren’t enough to know what your customers want? I feel the same way, too. Customers usually hold back their feelings or opinions about your brand or industry on your ‘official’ review platforms. And th continue reading...

Photo by Valeria Boltneva  Ever heard the term “9 to 5”? I bet you have. You are probably working a 9 to 5 job right now. Well, unless you work at a restaurant or a hotel, in which case, you don’t. That’s because the hospitality industry works a little differently. There are ve continue reading...

Photo by: Andrea Piacquadio It wouldn’t make sense for you to intentionally buy a machine that will hurt your business. But you may unintentionally have. And the machine in focus here is the cash register. While the cash register has been in operation for many years, the advent of a ca continue reading...

Photo credits: Cassidy Mills. Do you own a restaurant? If you do, then you must be familiar with two things in your business – high operating cost and slim profit. Amongst many other factors eating at your profit, the biggest of them are rent, food, and labour. Lots of restaurants go out continue reading...

The coronavirus pandemic hit the world hard. Many industries are still reeling from its detrimental impact. An impact that will see nearly every industry changing the way they do business. The hospitality industry included. And so, having come to terms with the new reality, we must press on an continue reading...

There’s one thing that gets restaurant managers sweating and shaking in their boots. Something even scarier than the coronavirus. Do you know what it is? I’ll give you a hint – it is connected to reservations. That’s right – no shows! Fun fact: Did you know that 20% of all r continue reading...

2020 has been an incredible year, wouldn’t you agree? The corona virus pandemic took the world by storm and brought it to a standstill. The hospitality industry took the biggest hit. Hotels were forced to shut their doors to the public and wait it out. Restaurants didn’t fare any better. F continue reading...

Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world, maybe forever. And for restaurants, this change has affected both owners and customers. Many will have to rethink how they serve customers. Customers will also adjust how they eat out, if such a thing will still exist. Prior to the pandemic, customers c continue reading...

2020… The year the world stood still. Everyone got hit. No industry was spared. But no industry had it worse than the hospitality industry. Hotels, restaurants, and airports were shut down and they bled out. Many employees lost their jobs. And those that didn’t, had their hours reduc continue reading...

Just one year ago, social distancing wasn’t really a thing. Restaurants used to be the one place people could totally hang out and have a good time with friends and family. Enter Covid-19… And it has become a buzzword, right next to the word “ventilator”. Governments of the world continue reading...

5 benefits of self-service technology to restaurants include increase in restaurant revenue, reduction in human error, speed in customer service, etc. I’d talk about these benefits a bit more later in this post, but first… Ever heard of self-service technology? Sure you have. You pro continue reading...

Customer service is important to every business. And the team behind it more so. They are the unsung foot soldiers of the business world. People celebrate CEOs, COOs, Founders, Presidents, but rarely customers service agents. Regardless of tech, your customer service team make the differenc continue reading...

You will be glad you did. One of our biggest messages as a brand is – understanding your customers. That’s why we are in the business of harnessing customer data to gain insight. The truth is: the more you understand your customers the better you can meet their needs. And the more successf continue reading...

Life is full of ups and downs. The same is true in business. It’s no news that business owners experience periods of lows and highs. While many businesses may experience a peak every weekend, some others experience it during holidays. For instance, people buy more toys during the Christma continue reading...

And you should, too. Why? Because things are changing fast. Let me tell you how… Customer service agents have been the face and voice of brands for many years. They have done this majorly through phone calls and emails, and in recent times, through instant chats and social media. The r continue reading...

In business, trust is everything. You lose that, and poof, there goes your business. As humans, we are wired to function with the emotion of trust. In fact, our entire society, dare I say civilization, is built on trust. For instance, you took a cab to work this morning, without knowing if continue reading...

My best friend has a saying, “Trust is a currency.” As cheesy as that may sound, there’s nothing truer. Trust is the cement that holds the brick of every relationship together. Husband-wife, parent-children, teacher-pupil, and brand-customer relationship are built on trust. Therefore, continue reading...

As a CEO, I can tell you that the world of business is changing. Fast. Sometimes it feels like adapting is impossible and stressful. Not only do you have to tackle the competition, you also have to deal with rapid change in technology. And those are a full plate already. Then there’s o continue reading...

The email was born over 50 years ago. Not that you didn’t already know that. But one would expect that it should have been made redundant by the up rise in other flashy communication channels. You and I know that that’s not the case. In fact, email is currently the second most used c continue reading...

You know the value of customer experience to your brand, don’t you? Good. So do thousands of business owners. At this point in the 21st century, many businesses have realized the value of customer experience. To a lot of brands, customer loyalty seats at the top of their priority. A ton of t continue reading...

Reputation is formed in the mind. You are forming a reputation of this website as you read this article – hopefully a good one. You formed an opinion about the café where you had coffee today. Do you get the point? The point here is we form reputations every day. The human mind – where continue reading...

Your brand is only as good as your reputation. Period. Let that sink in for a bit. No matter how great your product is, its value is weighed on the scale of your reputation. Seeing the importance of this, have you ever wondered how people perceive your reputation? I will tell you. If continue reading...

I can bet you have heard that it is 5 times more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to maintain old ones. If you hadn’t heard that, now you have. But the truth is, keeping regular customers loyal to your business is not as easy it sounds. Humans are dynamic creatures and have differe continue reading...

In recent posts, I have covered aspects of brand reputation such as 5 proven ways to build your online reputation. In that post you will learn 5 ways to build your online brand reputation from scratch. Brand reputation is crucial to the success of any business today. Without it (or with a bad one continue reading...

With the advent of the internet came online shopping. When this happened, many thought that brick n’ mortar stores would go out of business. They were wrong. Online stores didn’t wipe out offline stores. And you know why? Because a lot of people still love the feel of shopping by themselve continue reading...

I wrote in a recent article that customers are judgemental. I meant no offence. Customers really are judgemental. They make purchase decisions based on certain cues or factors they perceive about a brand. One of those factors is your brand reputation. At the centre of price, quality prod continue reading...

Having a solid online reputation is indispensable in today’s business world. Think about the time when you bought a product or used a service. What were the factors you considered before making the purchase? I am pretty sure you searched for the business online. You probably scoured through rev continue reading...

Yelp is a familiar name in the sphere of local businesses. If you have ever had to look up a restaurant or hotel online, Yelp would undoubtedly have been at the top of the result page. For many years – over a decade now – yelp has grown to be a giant in the online business directory sphere ma continue reading...

As far as I know, there is technology for every kind of business there is on the planet. Technology makes life easy for us. We can get things done faster and more accurately when we work with the right technology. It helps us do more in a short time than we can do by ourselves. Today, technolo continue reading...

In our previous article, I mentioned that humans are judgemental. Some people may not have taken it lightly, even when they know it’s the truth. I also gave a few reasons why you should take quality photos and how they affect your online credibility, visibility, and conversions. If you misse continue reading...

Are humans judgemental? Or let me make that question a bit personal: Would you consider yourself a judgemental person? Most people wouldn’t. Most people consider themselves fair and kind; they believe they give everyone a fair chance and benefit of doubt. But the truth is we are all judge continue reading...

Have you ever experienced bad Wi-Fi connection? In this day and age, there are only a few things more annoying than poor Wi-Fi network. There’s nowhere else people experience poor Wi-Fi connection than in hotels. Why? Well, there could be a zillion reasons for poor Wi-Fi connectivity. It continue reading...

I have written more than a couple of articles that stress the importance of customer reviews. Look at all the figures I included in this article to get an idea of how crucial online reviews are to your business. Seen them yet? As you may have deduced from those studies and surveys, online revi continue reading...

Reviews, especially positive ones, make people want to do business with your brand. If you didn’t know this, you do now. But you probably require some convincing for you to believe how important reviews are. Here are some statistics to put things in the right perspective: 94% of consumers continue reading...

The importance of being found on Google Maps cannot be over-emphasized. Online businesses have web addresses that make them easy to locate. For an offline business, it’s not the same thing. Even though you may have a website, you need people to visit your physical location to do business with you. continue reading...

I am sure you have been to a restaurant at one time or the other. What was that one thing that made you choose to dine at that particular restaurant? Was it the food and drinks? Did you like the restaurant staff? Did you choose it because of the occasion? Or did you have more than one reason? Whi continue reading...

Hotels and internet access go well together. People book hotels for leisure and business accommodations which means they would love to enjoy their stay there. While most hotels have facilities in place that help their guests have a great time, none of them compares to internet access. Lots of peo continue reading...

Every business experiences seasons of slowness. Your bar is no different. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. You probably have thought long and hard about it, and maybe tried a few things without any results. Relax, I have got you covered. Wait… Did you consider continue reading...

One of the best ways to engage with your customers is through the use of email newsletters. Email has been with us for over 50 years now and shows no signs of going anywhere anytime soon. A large majority of businesses make a significant portion of their sales through emails. As awesome as that s continue reading...

Have you ever heard of location marketing? If you haven’t, you are not alone. There are many business owners who haven’t. And a few who have aren’t maximizing it to its full potential. Basically, location marketing is raising local awareness and driving traffic to a business’ physical loc continue reading...

The internet came and with it a new way to reach out to more people. Digital marketing took the marketing world by storm and it will continue to. The internet levelled the marketing playing field for both online and offline companies. This means that you –a brick-n’-mortar business owner – sta continue reading...

There is something many business owners miss. And that is the fact that businesses are sustained by loyal customers. Most businesses only pay attention to acquiring new customers. They do little to build their relationship with their current loyal customers. Loyal customers are pretty importan continue reading...

Want your marketing to be more effective? Then you had better consider segmenting your customers. Customer segmentation is one of the most effective strategies you can use to improve your marketing results. Your customers obviously comprise of people from different backgrounds and with different continue reading...

Getting customers is important. But keeping customers is even more important. It is more cost effective for you to keep your customers than to get new ones. Keeping your customers will ensure that you have repeat business. In an industry such as the restaurant industry, where the competition is high continue reading...

Every relationship needs to be nurtured and managed in order for it to grow. This applies to customer relationship as well. Customer engagement is the process that helps you strengthen the bond between you and your customer. You can say customer relationship is that emotional connection that exis continue reading...

Businesses grow with new customers but are sustained by loyal customers. That’s why it is crucial to find effective ways to track and engage your loyal customers. In order to engage your customers effectively, you need to get personal with your communication. But you cannot get personal with peopl continue reading...

Dining may become a thing of the past if we do nothing about it. The wall street journal published a post showing a decline in restaurant visits in the year 2016. Even though the trend declined by 1%, it resulted in a $3.2 billion loss in the restaurant industry. Researchers cited a couple of fac continue reading...

Do you know how your business is doing? If you do, then it means you have some parameters with which you measure your business growth. There is one important metric that many businesses do not use often to measure growth – customer satisfaction. Ignoring customer satisfaction as a way to measur continue reading...

If you own or manage a restaurant, then you will agree with me that your industry is a tough one. Not only are there millions of other restaurants competing with yours, online food delivery companies are getting customers to dine in the comfort of their homes. That ultimately means that there are fe continue reading...

Content marketing is one of the most misunderstood branches of digital marketing. Why do I think that? Because when people hear content marketing, all they think of is writing articles online. While they aren’t totally wrong, they haven’t even scratched the surface of what content marketing is. continue reading...

For ventures to stay profitable, business owners must tip the balance between loyal customers and the other customers – in favour of loyal customers. A report published by Belly shows that small businesses get 72% of their revenue from their loyal customers. I have a saying – businesses grow by continue reading...

Restaurant business is one of the most difficult businesses to manage. Restaurant patrons are fickle creatures who would turn away at the slightest flaw. This means you must, at all times, give your customers the kind of experience that they are looking for. The restaurant sphere is a highly competi continue reading...

Information rules the world, especially the world of business. In this world, you make the best business decisions only when you have got adequate information. Adequate information about your customers, your products or services, and your competition are vital if you want to stay profitable. Every s continue reading...

To many people, a restaurant is a place where they go to eat (hopefully) delicious meals and drinks. For you, as a restaurant owner, it should be that and much more. You have to be at the top of your game to know what your most loyal customers want. This is the only way you can guarantee that they w continue reading...

Email messaging is effective. You know this and that’s why you are taking advantage of it. But guess what? You are not the only one who knows this. Your competition knows it, however many they are. Your customers’ friends, family, boss and colleagues know this. The point is that all continue reading...

Ever heard of email segmentation? You will in a minute. But first, picture this scenario. Imagine you are a 60 year old unmarried male and you get an email about shoes for kids. What will you do with such an email? You are most likely going to hit the delete button on it. Next, all subseque continue reading...

Are you stuck? Are you looking for a way to raise customer loyalty for your restaurant or retail business? Well, the answer is not far from you. You only need to get creative just the way other companies have. Talking about creativity, one company really achieved great success by taking someth continue reading...

Information, as they say, rules the world. And in this era of information generation and consumption, free access to data is invaluable. This has put mobile data plans at the top of the list of items in mobile phone packages. People spend a lot of money on monthly subscriptions for data plans. continue reading...

Check this out. Of the hundreds of thousands of restaurants in the world, there are only a handful that have an online presence. Do you know why? It is because many of them do not understand the digital marketing landscape. Indeed, some even think that brick n’ mortar stores cannot benefi continue reading...

What is your definition of growth? A lot of companies are running around online like hamsters in a wheel trying to “hack” their growth without answering this basic question. And as you may have guessed, it hasn’t worked out so great for them. If you belong to this class of people, you ne continue reading...

Do you know how crazily important it is to have positive reviews about your business? Let me tell you. According to stats on Google by Business, 56% of consumers will choose to do business with you if you have got positive reviews on your site. Isn’t that scary and exciting at the same ti continue reading...

Restaurants have never had it better. Not too long ago, restaurants had to spend a lot of money on advertisements in order to bring customers in. But with the advent of the internet, it is now much easier to draw in customers to your place of business. The internet has bridged the gap betwe continue reading...

Do you want to boost your restaurant growth? Are you currently trying many schemes, tools, and strategies? Have you thrown money and bodies at it without getting much in return? If you answered yes to all three questions, you are not alone. Every year, thousands of restaurants spend several continue reading...

“Scientia est potential” is a profound phrase attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, scientists, and author. It means – knowledge is power. In this age of the internet, this statement is truer now than it was at the time of its writing. Many businesses now know that inform continue reading...

Well, you spent money setting it up; you might as well make some money with it, right? It’s not wrong to think about monetizing your social Wi-Fi platform. Your guest Wi-Fi solution could be a lucrative source of income if you do it right. Several companies like yours are making money enough to continue reading...

A few years ago, at the dawn of instant messaging (and social media in general), a lot of people thought email messaging would be made obsolete. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Email has, in the face of severe odds, stood the test of time and has gone toe to toe with social media. continue reading...

You are probably reading this article from a smart mobile device. A few years ago, you would have had to pay a significant sum of money to do the same thing for a few minutes or an hour. Accessing the internet from anywhere using almost any device that has a screen is now commonplace. In our pres continue reading...

Online reviews The internet is an amazing tool. It gives businesses the opportunity to reach out to millions of prospective customers. It provides platforms for customers to come in contact with products/services, purchase and review them. And that last part is where it can get really good or reall continue reading...

Review sites have slowly, but surely, become an indispensable tool to many brick n’ mortar businesses, especially restaurants. Increasingly, people are relying on review sites such as Tripadvisor, Google and Yelp to make decisions as to which restaurant to dine at. This makes having positive onlin continue reading...

Restaurant WiFi It’s not uncommon to see restaurant marketers floundering in their efforts to acquire customer information, in a bid to learn more about them. More often than not, they find themselves with scarce resources and without proper tools garner useful data. For these marketers, this dat continue reading...

WiFi analytics For years, since the advent of e-commerce, brick n’ mortar businesses have struggled in the area of acquiring customer information. Online businesses have always had the upper hand owing to the internet which serves as an excellent platform for this purpose. However, all that is ch continue reading...

Hospitality WiFi: WiFi marketing and its benefits to hotels In every industry that exists, there is always fierce competition going on between players in the industry. The hospitality industry is no exception. Marketers at the small players in the industry saddle the huge responsibility of increasi continue reading...