Holidays are the Best and Worst Time to Grab Catering Clients’ Attention

Can you feel it? It’s already starting-the frenetic pace of the holidays. Whether you’re booked solid or you’re looking for a few last minute bookings, the holidays are the best and worst time to grab clients’ attention and remind them about how your catering service is their best choice for quality, value, and convenience.

It’s the worst time obviously because of how busy everyone is. It’s going to be difficult to grab their attention and make an impression.

At the same time, it’s the best time, because your target audience is in that mindset of looking at caterers and thinking about event planning, even if they’ve already chosen a caterer.

So even if you’re already booked solid, you still want to grab people’s attention during the holidays, so they will:

• Feel regret for not having booked an awesome caterer like you sooner
• Keep you in mind for next year.
• Think about you and hopefully follow you during the rest of the year (because while it’s sometimes hard to remember when you’re in the thick of it, there are catering-worthy events after New Year’s)

Here is some of my top writing advice you can apply to your marketing during the holidays and all year round.

• Know your audience. You don’t want just any client. You want the clients who are right for you. If you’re a small, in-home, private party kind of caterer, don’t present yourself as the person for your next corporate holiday party, and vice versa. Find the right words that will attract that audience.
• Easy SEO tricks. When you’re writing blogs or text for your website, think about search engine optimization-the practice of peppering the right keywords throughout your text so Google will list you higher in their searches-but don’t let it drive you crazy. One good practice when writing blogs or web pages that have a title-repeat the title in the first paragraph and bold it, as I’ve done in this post. My first title for this piece was, “Grabbing Clients’ Attention during the Busiest Season of All,” but I just couldn’t fit that wording into the paragraph. So, I wrote the paragraph first and then modified the title. With a little practice, this will become easier-and can even be a fun little word game! For more on SEO practices, check out Mequoda.com. A fun place to start is with this little exercise.
• Talk to your clients-don’t sell them. This is my best overall advice. I cannot stress enough how easy and how hard this one step is, but it will make all the difference in the world. Too many people make the mistake of “selling the benefits” or just listing everything they do. Put yourself in your potential client’s seat. What would you want to read in that email, blog, or even Facebook post? Imagine for yourself where their headspace is as they try to imagine their event and whether or not you fit into the picture in their head. Then, just talk to that person. What would you tell them if you were sitting in a loud bar? You’d have to get your point across fast, because it’s loud and you don’t want to waste words, but the tone would be casual. Casual and direct. It’s usually a great combination.

And finally, grammar and punctuation do matter, so check out www.GrammarBook.com whenever you have a question. They are a great, easy-to-understand free resource. Hire a proofreader, if you need to, and have others in your office proofread your text too.

So remember, whether you’re writing a blog, your event page on your website, or a 140-character tweet, be accessible to your reader. Tell them what they want to know the way they want to hear it. That’s the best way to make a lasting impression.