Concepts for Success: 5 Ways to Attract More Tourists

The 2017 summer season will likely bring more tourists to your city or community since it will include a major birthday for Canada.

There will be many of festivities and events from coast to coast across Canada to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Additionally, Montreal is celebrating the 375th anniversary of its founding in 1642, and to top it off, the city will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Expo 67.

These and other summertime events could bring thousands of visitors to your community. Have you started planning your summer 2017 celebrations and marketing plan yet? Tourists will be looking for quick snacks and yummy and healthy meals while attending events, or on their way to or from these events. Every bakery owner wants more new customers, so get going.

Here are some simple tips that will help you draw more tourists to your bakery.

Maintain an Attractive Storefront and Upgrade Your Bakery Décor
People judge books by their covers, and as you know, first impressions matter. Your storefront’s curb appeal is a make-or-break factor when it comes to attracting customers inside your bakery. Neglecting your bakery’s front area could also mean missed opportunities for owners to catch the potential new customer or tourist wandering by, so make sure that your storefront is free of debris, and spruce it up so it’s clean and inviting.

To add some warm-weather cheer to your bakery, apply a fresh coat of paint or wallpaper, new plants and fresh flowers, vases, tablecloths, cheerful umbrellas and colourful wall décor. As well, take the time to design a great window display that tells a good story and that will encourage customers to peek in just out of sheer curiosity. Your window display must be your personal invitation to tourists and should showcase your best bakery products.

Tourists Love Free Wi-Fi
If you have a small café or eating area, offering your guests free Wi-Fi access will build customer loyalty and boost sale. Travellers have come to expect fast, convenient and reliable Wi-Fi. This is the number one thing that tourists have on their mind these days … being able to connect their devices to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and smart bakery shops provide Wi-Fi to their customers. Most people travel with their laptops, smartphones, and iPads, and they need to keep up-to- date with their emails, but many do not want to pay the exorbitant roaming charges that telecommunications companies like to charge. Customers will love to enjoy a nice cup of coffee with some baked goods while catching up on their emails and posting to their social networks.

Update Your Website Regularly
Today many people love to research online before visiting a café or a bakery shop. They can find you when in your area via your website and social media sites. Be sure to update your website frequently with an easy-to-read menu, and with many high-quality, tantalizing photos of all the great bakery products you have to offer. As a bakery owner, you must provide high-quality images, even if it means hiring a professional photographer. This is incredibly cheap to do these days and lets people see what you can deliver and gets them excited.

With social media apps, you can generate a following by offering special social media deals. Offering a 10 per cent reward to followers who bring their friends in to your bakery could make you the destination of choice for someone going to an event in your area with their friends. The power of social media is undeniable, and it’s an essential tool to marketing your bakery this summer. Just like tourists search for what’s new in your area, the search engines also favour websites that have fresh and relevant content.

Offer Superior Services and Get Positive Customer Reviews
As you know, exceptional service and delicious products are time-tested ways to get customers coming back to your bakery. Eating something yummy and unique will make people talk and even get them to write online reviews. Tourists going to events out of their area often use online reviews to decide on the best possible hotels, coffee shops, restaurants and bakeries.

Thus, your website and social media platforms should have customers’ reviews on them and should encourage customers to review your bakery and menu items. This will help improve your star rating and surveys have shown that star rating is the number 1 factor used by consumers to judge a business. And you know how the saying goes – 12 people tell four of their friends, and those friends try your bakery products, like them and tell their friends, and so on, and so on. Since customers love helping out businesses they appreciate, make sure to ask them to leave feedback after their great experience.

Diane Chiasson, FCSI, president of Chiasson Consultants Inc., has been helping foodservice, hospitality and retail operators increase sales for over 30 years. She is recognized as the industry leader in providing innovative and revenue-increasing foodservice and retail merchandising programs, interior design, branding, menu engineering, marketing and promotional campaigns, and much more. Contact her at 416-926-1338, toll-free at 1-888-926-6655 or chiasson@chiassonconsultants.com, or visit www.chiassonconsultants.com