A restaurant owner always wants to know about the best digital marketing tips that can help them to grow.
Here we will be discussing some of the methods to market your restaurant through social media, email marketing, advertising, or other digital avenues.
However, the sheer number of options available can make it hard to decide which ones will be most effective and beneficial to their business.
To help you with your digital marketing strategy, check some of our restaurant digital marketing strategies that you should be considering as you work to grow your restaurant business.
Top 10 Restaurant Digital Marketing Strategies for 2022
Restaurant digital marketing is a great way to grow your business, but it can be not easy if you’re not sure where to start.
Do you focus on social media?
SEO?
For most restaurants, it’s best to utilize a multi-pronged approach, starting with a restaurant’s digital marketing strategy.
In other words, don’t simply dive in without first thinking through your efforts.
There are many different ways to grow your restaurant’s digital marketing strategy.
It can seem like an endless list of possibilities, from social media to content creation.
By following our restaurant digital marketing tips 2022, you can really take your restaurant’s online presence to the next level.
In this guide, we explore some of the best restaurant digital marketing strategies and how you can use them to get more customers through your doors.
Create a Website
If you’re looking to build a digital strategy for your restaurant, one of your first and most important steps is to create a website.
It doesn’t have to be flashy or elaborate; a simple site will give you plenty of room to expand in future iterations.
Some restaurants decide on WordPress; others find that Shopify works best for them. Once you get going, try these quick tips to help boost traffic.
If you’re a restaurant owner and not taking advantage of digital marketing, you are falling behind.
In 2019, Google reported that 91% of all internet users have searched online for local businesses at least once a month.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter can also be very powerful tools in driving consumers to your restaurant
In fact, according to Awario, as many as 74% of consumers rely on social media when making purchasing decisions.
This means that it is absolutely crucial for restaurants to have websites with an engaging layout and quality information about their menus.
Use Social Media Effectively
There’s no question that social media has become an important part of how restaurants market themselves.
A good restaurant digital marketing strategy will cover everything from posting updates on Facebook and Twitter to building a following on Instagram. Still, it all starts with how you use these sites.
The fact is that most restaurant owners are not experienced social media users, so it’s best to begin simply.
First, create a few different posts or tweets—one or two a day at first—and post only when you have something useful to say.
Use PPC Campaigns Wisely
From restaurant digital marketing tips to paid search, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to learn about PPC.
It can be an invaluable way to drive traffic and increase revenue.
However, you need to use it wisely. Without careful planning and research, your efforts could wind up costing you more money than they’re worth.
Be sure that you know where your customers are going online (versus where they don’t go) so that you can target your advertising accordingly.
Failing to do so is a great way to throw good money after bad by directing advertising at areas of low or no ROI.
Engage Locally
If you don’t live in a densely populated area, the chances are that people don’t know about your restaurant.
The beauty of local marketing is that it requires less effort and money than other forms of digital marketing.
Look for a few local blogs that cover events, restaurants, or hot spots in your city to get started.
When writing reviews for those blogs—or even just leaving comments on articles—use your business name with an email address and phone number listed so readers can easily contact you.
Don’t Forget About the Offline World
In an ideal world, all of your marketing efforts would be digital, and you’d only have to worry about your online presence.
In reality, though, you should also take care of offline advertising. For example, if you want to attract millennials (who don’t love advertising as much as past generations), try doing some targeted, local television ads that run during prime-time hours when those potential customers are more likely to be watching TV at home.
You could even add a QR code that leads viewers straight to your website.
It is an effective way for people interested in visiting your restaurant to learn more about it and contact you, but they’ll also see all of your other great digital marketing efforts while they’re at it!
Go Beyond Online Presence
Restaurant digital marketing is both a science and an art. Your online presence is undoubtedly critical—but so are in-person opportunities to build your restaurant brand.
In fact, there’s a good chance you’re neglecting what could be some of your biggest growth opportunities: word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) and event marketing (EM).
Between WOMM and EM, restaurants have some incredible outreach opportunities. Don’t miss out on these by only focusing on your online presence!
Get New Customers with F&B Special Offers
One of your biggest competitive advantages is your people—make sure you use that to get new customers.
Offer a promotion for first-time visitors: Buy one entrée, get one free or buy two desserts, get one free.
You could offer as much as 50% off (but not on alcohol) and make it clear that there’s no limit on how many visits each person can take advantage of these offers.
Make sure they’re available to anyone; even if you call it an anniversary or birthday offer, be prepared for lots of guests showing up who simply want to take advantage of a deal.
Look After Your Existing Customers
The best way to grow your restaurant is by taking care of your existing customers.
Focus on consistently providing them with great service and great food. Make sure your website is clear about what you can do for them, how often they can expect to hear from you, and how you’ll respond to their feedback.
And add social media interactions—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—to give them another way to get in touch with you when they have questions or concerns.
A big part of restaurant digital marketing is word-of-mouth promotion, so make sure that your existing customers are happy enough that they feel comfortable recommending your restaurant to others.
Grow Organic Traffic to your Website
People will probably find your website organically via search if you’re running a restaurant or food business.
But to really get people interested in visiting your site and turning into customers, you have to make sure they see you first.
There are plenty of different ways to do that—social media marketing is one strategy—but nothing will help you grow your organic traffic like investing in SEO (search engine optimization).
If done right, a good restaurant SEO agency can help you be found on major search engines like Google and Bing.
More people will click through to your site and become fans, followers, or customers if that happens.
And then—you guessed it—you’ll be able to convert those potential leads into real business opportunities. Talk about simple math!
Make Use Of Local Directories Like Yelp & Tripadvisor
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes.
You go to a restaurant and have a good time, so you decide to leave a review on Yelp or Tripadvisor.
If your restaurant isn’t listed, that will be a poor experience for your customer; it will also affect the number of recommendations you may receive.
Ensure you’re present on all online directories where your potential customers are!
Social media is also great for local search ranking – make sure that you post pictures of your food and restaurant on Instagram & Facebook with relevant hashtags and include location information, too.
Summing up the restaurant digital marketing tips
One of the best ways to sell more at your restaurant is through digital marketing; there are many different approaches you can take to accomplish this.
You can use social media channels to reach out to prospective customers and get them excited about visiting your restaurant.
Further, you can create an email marketing strategy with drip campaigns that helps you keep in touch with your most loyal customers; make them want to visit even more often.
The above list of the top 10 restaurant digital marketing strategies will help get you started on choosing the perfect one for your restaurant.
