“What do you feel like eating tonight: steak or sushi?” The best restaurant marketing ideas provide the answers to these all-important questions by targeting potential consumers trying to decide where to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The competition can be brutal, too, so finding fresh ideas for marketing your restaurant is the best, and possibly only, way to stay in the game.
An Effective Restaurant Marketing Strategy
By now, restaurant marketers are familiar with terms like “search engine optimization,” “search engine results pages,” and “social media platforms.” Everyone seems to be doing it, but they are not necessarily making the most of these opportunities. While a close-up photo of a juicy burger is a great idea, how many of these photos do people want to see? Wordstream emphasizes the importance of using more creative strategies to grab attention, and some of them are quite unique.
While food photos like that juicy burger are still important, find ways to make yours stand out from the crowd. Instead of business as usual, show it cut in half with onion rings sitting on the top! You could also feature a customer walking out of the restaurant, taking a bite of one because she can’t wait.
Your other social media content can focus on other things besides food, too. Highlight your chef and other staff members by asking them what their favorite menu items are and why and write about them.
Among the best ways to establish strong attachments and positive engagement with users is encouraging user-generated content. Sponsor photo and written meal review contests and share them with incentives like food discounts or free meals. For this to work, though, you have to monitor your social media constantly. Be responsive to questions and feedback promptly; it is the best way to show your customers how much you care.
More Restaurant Online Marketing Ideas
7shifts agrees about the influence of social media, adding the awareness campaigns can also include paid ads. If this fits into your budget, you can target users of specific ages who live in certain areas.
Search ads are a good example and can get your message to the right people at the right times. These ads are based on keywords specific to a business and can push Google search result rankings higher. Your audiences are more likely to see you when they Google something like “Indian buffet near me.”
Mobile ads are another viable option that works particularly well for people trying to nab a meal when they are out and about. These ads can also share customer reviews, allow you to make immediate reservations and also provide directions. This process takes all the guesswork away for the customer in a fast, streamlined manner; all they need to do is come to the restaurant and enjoy the food!
There are many kinds of restaurant campaign ideas. However, when you use different mediums like a main web page, listing services like Yelp, paid ads, and various social media platforms, you have to make sure that the messages are on-brand and consistent.
While the channel formats can vary greatly (compare Twitter to YouTube, for example), the basic information should not vary much. Imagine posting your new menu and hours on Facebook without updating this on your website. Customers do not appreciate misinformation and can be very fickle; when faced with this, they might walk out the door even if they are already seated inside your restaurant.