How One NYC Restaurant Uses Video for Marketing [VIDEO]

Since it opened last year, Sons of Essex, a Lower East Side eatery, has been using videos to announce new menus and show consumers how it makes its signature dishes.

The owner, Matt Levine, has found that putting out content in this fashion has helped his business in a big way.

Mashable interviewed Levine, who says he goes the video route because, “We live in a society where information travels fast, and the entertainment value and visual stimulation of videos seemed like a great way to get a creative and innovative message to our guests.”

The restaurant tells its story using videos, which are low budget and produced by Sons of Essex’s employees. One two-and-a-half minute video is about the new brunch menu. Another is about serving cocktails.

Lauren Drell, who interviewed Levine, says, “If you’re opening a new location or adding a new product to the menu, use a video to make the announcement, and tease it on social media platforms without giving people the story. This will incentivize customers to click through and watch the video, so they’ll learn the news and recognize that your brand is a source of good content, which can keep them coming back.”

For restaurants, visual content is key, and one of the best ways to use online marketing. Many restaurants, especially those located in New York City, are active on Tumblr. This is a highly visual site, where the owners of these eateries post photos of food and content related to their establishments.

Consumers crave content — not just delicious food. Other ideas to get customers in the door, according to Really Practical Marketing, would be to post recipes online, do live cooking demos in person (or maybe on Google + Hangouts, for that matter), or write about the people/companies supplying the restaurant with its food.

Video content marketing is growing and restaurants, which have an almost 27 percent fail rate within the first year, could do well to follow the lead of Sons of Essex.