Catering Business Marketing Tips

By Steve Sutherland

To really do well in catering you have to try every conceivable method of marketing your services to prospective clients.

Here are some catering business marketing tips and promotional strategies that you can try out to get more new clients and to maximize revenue from each client.

Buy Leads

There are a number of services that will sell you catering leads. For a price that can be as low as five dollars you are put in touch with someone in your area who is looking for the type of catering services that you offer. Lead generation companies operate mostly online.

It is definitely worth testing out this method and some of the various providers. One question to ask when buying leads is if they are exclusive to you or if they are also being offered to other caterers in your area.

Media Attention and Publicity

Media attention is one free marketing strategy that can potentially reach a large audience. You could submit press releases to local media or even try some kind of publicity stunt to get their attention.

Ask around some local radio stations or local publications and let them know that you are available for interviews. You could talk about cooking in general or how to throw a successful party to get people interested. Delivering free samples of your dishes to key people in local media can certainly do you no harm.

Get involved by sponsoring community events or offer free catering services to them. Offer to cater to charity events for free in return for some publicity.

Up-Sell Your Clients

Try to squeeze as much revenue out of each of your clients (without being pushy) by up-selling them with additional ‘event related’ services.

Ideas for up-selling include more expensive ingredients, dishes or wines. You can also offer additional services like decorations for the venue or organizing security. You can then have your staff arrange this or hire people to do it. You can even take on a larger role and manage the whole event.

'Word of Mouth' Marketing

Appreciate that getting referrals from customers is an important way of getting new clients with no acquisition costs involved. Making your service so unique and memorable is the best way to get customers talking about your business. You could also try an incentive program where customers get a considerable discount off their next event if they refer others to you.

Work with Competitors

Try to get close to at least one of your competitors. You can then assist that caterer when their business is overloaded with work, and likewise, they can assist you.

Competitor cooperation also works well if each operator specializes in different types of events and can cross-promote the services of the other.

Networking

Try to meet customers through socializing and networking. A great way to go prospecting for corporate accounts is to join your local Chamber of Commerce and network with the wide variety of business owners who are members.

Cross-Promotions with other Businesses

Team up with other related businesses such as wedding planners, decorators, security providers and even ice sculptors to help each other gain business.

Borrowing marketing ideas from other industries and applying them to the catering business can also be smart thinking.

Spending some time brainstorming about unconventional ways of marketing your catering business can really pay off. You may discover some unique methods that can bring in some quality leads for little cost.

Follow these catering business marketing tips and add your own unique ideas. You may come up with some ‘marketing magic’ that allows you to shoot your catering business to the A-list.

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