Restaurant Copywriting Guide – Texts for the restaurant industry
Without copywriting, marketing doesn’t work. Copywriting is the marketing term for writing texts that are necessary for the success of any campaign. Without advertising copy, there are no product sales. But how do I write the right texts? What do I need to bear in mind when writing for the restaurant industry? Epu Shaha, managing director of the agency Epu Design GmbH, has all the answers.
Copywriting always has a goal. Whether it’s making a sale, closing a deal, or getting a customer to take action, such as signing up for a newsletter, ordering a meal, or visiting a restaurant. Depending on the marketing goal, the text is written in a serious, creative, or humorous style to reach both the target audience and the goal.
This goal is usually achieved through the AIDA marketing principle:
- Attention (Aufmerksamkeit)
- Interest (Interesse)
- Desire (Verlangen)
- Action (Handlung)
Even though the AIDA model is not always used in copywriting, it serves as a good guideline for copywriters to write texts that are intended to have an impact and achieve goals.
- Attention
Capturing and maintaining the reader’s attention is a difficult task for copywriters, especially on the internet. Internet users often don’t have much time and want to find the information they are looking for quickly. As a general rule, however, short headlines and concise statements are best. More on this later.
- Interest
Once the copywriter has captured the reader’s attention, they must spark their interest. To do this, the copywriter presents the features and benefits of the product or service, for example.
- Desire
Now that the reader’s interest has been sparked, the customer’s desire to own the product must also be awakened. This step is often similar to step 2. However, desire can be intensified through the use of emotions, such as images, emotional language, and emojis.
- Action
To elicit an immediate response, the copywriter can incorporate a call to action into the text. The call to action automatically prompts the potential customer to take the desired action without them consciously registering it.
When writing online, the basic rule is: keep it short and simple. Below you will find a copywriting guide that summarizes the most important tips and tricks for the various areas of copywriting.
Title
Brevity is the soul of wit. To ensure that Google displays your headlines in full on search engines, your headlines should be limited to a maximum of 65 characters. In addition, the title should not contain more than 10 words, as users usually only read the first and last 3 words. A title consisting of 6 words is therefore recommended.
Grammar
High-quality content is characterized by error-free content. Reading on screen can be more tiring than reading on paper. Therefore, web texts should be written in a reader-friendly manner. This also means that texts should be free of spelling and grammatical errors, as these errors affect the flow of reading. In addition, a text with errors appears unprofessional, untrustworthy, and therefore often implausible to the reader
Sections
Modern online readers “scan” texts with their eyes. They rarely read every single word, but rather skim through texts. Anyone who sees a lot of words in a text feels intimidated and is less motivated to start reading it. This impression can be avoided with the help of text design. Paragraphs and subheadings make the text easier to read and the content easier to understand. This is because a text divided into paragraphs prevents reader fatigue and thus a loss of interest.
Bullet points
To make a text easier to read, it’s a good idea to add bullet points. This helps users see the main points right away and makes it easier to read and understand the content.
Text alignment
Left-aligned text makes reading easier. Large gaps in justified text disrupt the flow of reading. The straight edges of justified text make it difficult for the eye to find the next line and therefore offer no points of reference. In addition, justified text also disrupts browsers, as they are usually unable to display formatted text correctly.
HONESTY
If you want to appear credible and trustworthy, you have to be honest. Only make statements that are true. There is no need to brag about a million completed orders and 24-hour delivery if this is not true. Do not lie to your customers. Write content that is truthful.
Language – Emojis and slang
As members of Generation X and Generation Y, many entrepreneurs often feel a little lost when it comes to who “Karen” is or why someone should be “stan.” In order to reach and understand the majority of today’s customers, it is important to try to understand the language of Generation Z. The use of slang and emojis seems to be steadily increasing in the online world. In online marketing in particular, they dominate Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds when writing posts and other content.
It is helpful to follow some Generation Z-focused feeds and blogs to familiarize yourself with the new internet language. This will enable you to write successfully for any audience, regardless of age.
Vibrancy
Blog posts are one of the best ways to generate organic traffic and leads and increase reach. With the rise of online shopping in Switzerland, companies and organizations should also expand their online presence.
High-quality, long-form posts that provide practical and actionable advice and ideas to the target audience meet today’s needs. Empirical evidence such as statistics, facts, and case studies are also valuable. To make posts easier to read, attention should be paid to correct grammar and spelling, and visual content such as images and videos should be actively integrated.
It is helpful to follow some feeds and blogs aimed at Generation Z to familiarize yourself with the new internet language. This will enable you to write successfully for any audience, regardless of age.
Storytelling
Storytelling brings emotionally touching stories that attract more attention than facts and figures. In marketing in particular, storytelling helps to give a brand a face and an identity. The emotional component of the story is better processed by the brain, attracts attention, and makes the information easier to remember.
Storytelling also increases the author’s credibility. On social media in particular, users crave more and more “reality” and are interested in the people behind a company.
Tell the story of your restaurant and your chef, strengthen your customer relationships, and increase your credibility and reach.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZED CONTENT
In order to appear in search engine rankings at all, your content must be search engine optimized. For this reason, every copywriter should know and apply the basics of SEO. If an article does not contain targeted keywords on the topic and is not written in the correct SEO format, it will not appear on the first page of search results. However, keywords should not be strung together, as search engines recognize this and rate it negatively.
It should be noted that SEO takes time. The more time passes, the higher search engine optimized articles will rank. Appearing in the top 10 does not happen overnight.
Voice-activated search
Voice-activated search is an SEO trend that is becoming increasingly popular. Voice-activated search means that internet users ask Siri, Google, Alexa, Cortana, and others a question verbally to get search results. It is therefore the fastest and easiest way to get answers to questions without having to type anything.
According to the 2020 Voice Search Study conducted by Semrush, the importance of voice search is increasing every year. Already 20% of internet users worldwide use voice search, 58% of whom use it to search for local businesses. But what does this mean for SEO?
The way we search for keywords is shifting from short keywords to the implementation of complete and natural language-like search terms. “Best restaurant in Zurich” becomes “What is the best restaurant in Zurich?”. It should be noted that colloquial speech does not always represent grammatical correctness.
Conclusion
Copywriting has always been an important part of marketing and sales. With the development of technology and the digital age, copywriting is also changing. Storytelling is particularly important for restaurants. Restaurants that have a story to tell can captivate guests before they even visit the restaurant. Stories create an emotional connection between the restaurant and its customers and often turn one-time guests into regulars.
What is your story?
The Author
Epu Shaha, owner and managing director of Epu Design GmbH
At her design agency, she and her team create harmonious works of art that are as unique as their clients themselves. From classic corporate design to charming web design and playful social media content, Epu Design turns your ideas into creative innovation.
EPU DESIGN GMBH
+41 79 849 45 73
info@epudesign.com |
epudesign.com
