5 Best Marketing Strategies For Restaurants To Drive More Customers
Why Must You Market Your Restaurant?
Simple! To stand out from the million other restaurants in the US alone.
In today’s industry, there is more to running a successful restaurant than just serving great food and giving your patrons the experience of a lifetime. It’s about letting food lovers around the world know that you serve good food and give your patrons the experience of a lifetime, so more patrons mill at your restaurant’s doorstep!
And that’s where marketing comes in.
You’ll be surprised how much a simple restaurant website and consistent social media presence can help you build a lasting relationship with your patrons and keep them coming for more!
Benefits of Marketing Your Restaurant:
Increased Revenue:
With the right marketing strategy, you will not only attract new customers but also stay in your existing customers’ minds longer keeping them coming back for more. These are the customers who are also most likely to recommend you to their friends & family.
Build Customer Loyalty:
If this doesn’t make you want to keep your customers coming back for more…!
Improve Brand Awareness:
By leveraging various marketing tools, you can tell more people about your restaurant and why they should choose you over the other restaurant in the neighborhood. You must make them remember you and later on find you when they are in your area!
How Do You Go About Marketing Your Restaurant:
Here’s how you can show up when customers look for a place to eat!
1. Create a Mobile-friendly Website:
We’ve already established that most customers go online to find where to eat and the best way to show up online is to have a simple yet drool-worthy website. Here’s what your website should have:
- Search Engine Optimized content.
- Food images that make them drool.
- Your menu so they know what to expect.
- Online ordering system for those who’d rather eat in their PJs.
- A secure and direct payment system so you don’t lose money on commissions.
2. Get Listed in Restaurant Listings:
This is so that you should up when customers are doing generic searches for restaurants nearby. Being listed on nearby listings can help customers discover you more easily. If you don’t know where or how to start, here are a few to start with:
- Yelp
- Foursquare
- Urbanspoon
- Google Business/maps
3. Add a Blog to Your Website:
Yes, this might seem like too much work but imagine searching for recipes or cuisines and your content shows up? And they like it? So they follow or subscribe to your content and the next time they are in your neighborhood, where better to eat than that restaurant whose blog they read?!
Here’s what you can include in your blog section:
- Videos
- Funny anecdotes
- Simple/special recipes
- Customer stories
- Staff stories
- About the cuisine
4. Leverage Email Marketing:
An oldie but goodie! Ok, promotional emails can be annoying but here’s how you can make it worth your patron’s while. Email them about,
- Promotional events like festivals and specials
- Recipes they can try at home
- Loyalty programs so they can bring their friends
- Specials & new additions to the menu
5. Build a Strong Social Media Presence:
I hate to say this but if your business is not on Instagram, does it even exist? Just kidding! But being present on social media is probably the best way to both keep in touch with your existing customers and attract new ones. Here’s how you can do this:
- Select 1 or 2 platforms and be present in them
- Feature your food, your customers, your staff, your chef, etc
- Ask your patrons to tag you on social media when they take photos
- Engage with them when they do tag you and thank us later!
While serving great food and giving your patrons a great experience will leave a lasting impression on your patrons but effective marketing will keep reminding them of that experience and keep them coming back for more.
So what are you waiting for? Go put some of these ideas to work!
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