Not only do we eat with our mouths; we also eat with our eyes. Did you know that 82% of people would buy a dish based on an image of it, regardless of whether or not they wanted it in the first place? Restaurants that went from text-heavy menus to photo-based menus in online ordering increased their conversion rate by 25%. Quality photos that trigger your customer’s visual hunger are the solution for all your marketing needs.
In this article we discuss:
- Gain Huge Customer Growth
- Food Pictures to Outshine Your Competitors
- Turn Your Guests into Cheerleaders
A good photo can sell a product. When your customers see mouth-watering photos of your food, they will be reaching for their wallets before they even place an order. Whether your customers are looking at your website, menu, or social media, high-quality images of your dish draw their attention immediately. You can advertise your most profitable and popular dishes that will keep customers coming back for more. Customers want to know what they’re going to get when they order from your restaurant, especially if they are first-time buyers. Images will build trust and credibility with your returning customers, showing them what they see is what they get.
Gain Huge Customer Growth
A photo is worth a thousand words; it can spark emotions of instant desire. More than that, a photo is universal. Anyone can understand a photograph, regardless of their nationality or spoken language. If you are an international restaurant, you will especially want to have photos of various dishes so that customers who are unfamiliar with your cuisine and language can feel confident in their order. Utilize the universal language of photos to appeal to a broader audience.
Food Pictures to Outshine Your Competitors
Every decision you make in staging a photo affects the story it will tell. Make sure that you choose the most flattering angle for your dish, depending on the dish’s height, shape, and size. Identify the signature qualities of the dish, then select the angle that best highlights that. For example, in the cupcake images below, the front view is the best. The details in the cupcakes stand out in the front view (left image), while the top view doesn’t even show the size or shape (right image).
Once the camera angle is selected to compliment the food, surround the dish with related props and ingredients to add interest. Make sure that the props never take away from the subject by keeping background color to a minimum. As a general rule, the subject should always be the brightest thing in the photo. You can use black cards to prevent light from hitting areas that could compete with the subject. Finally, before snapping your shot, make sure your lighting is good. When working with direct sunlight, always use a diffuser (or even a thin white bed sheet) to improve the light quality. The photos below are both good examples of using props that complement the main dish without taking the spotlight or distracting from the main dish.
Turn Your Guests into Cheerleaders
Once you put in a little time to do a food photoshoot, it will have a huge payoff in multiple marketing areas. The most immediate and profitable solution is to put them on your website and menu. Having an online ordering system and a mobile menu will allow you to put photos on every menu item if you like, giving customers an easier choice and more enjoyable experience. Additionally, photos will boost SEO because users are more likely to click on links with pictures. When more users click on your website, it will bring you a higher ranking on google, thus generating more website traffic. Also, take advantage of social media! Post your best food photos here, but also consider using customer photos posted on social media (with permission). However, it is only acceptable to use this content for social media. We recommend enhancing your social media with this additional content but sticking to professional photos for the menu and website.
When you have quality photographs, Skipli can assist you in implementing your photos to maximize your marketing profitability. Skipli offers Marketing Menus which feature instant menu updates, self-ordering for guests, and customer data capturing. We also offer ordering websites that turn your restaurant website into a money-making machine.
Want to market your restaurant with Skipli today? Visit our website: skiplinow.com or email us at info@skiplinow.com and find out how we can best help you.
