Restaurant ownership can be an incredibly rewarding experience. When done right, it can also be an incredibly successful one. A key part of that success is marketing.
When you open a restaurant, marketing is crucial to raising your brand’s profile in a crowded market. An excellent way to improve your marketing is to reassess what’s working and what can be improved when you already have a restaurant. Marketing efforts that failed are not too late to get back on track.
Twenty years ago, restaurants had to market themselves solely through local yellow pages listings and home delivery menus. The 21st century requires much more than that.
If restaurant owners want their restaurants to be fully booked every night, they need to use digital marketing.
Digital marketing for restaurants can seem daunting to an inexperienced marketer. But that isn’t necessary.
Your restaurant can become “digitally enabled” right now if you do a few simple things. The following post explains how you can begin using digital marketing.
Create an account on Google
Google isn’t just a search engine. The company has a suite of products designed to help you make the most of your website. You can also increase your web presence through their various platforms. These include
- Google Webmasters – for managing your website on Google
- Identify the number of visitors and where they come from using Google Analytics
- Use Google Maps to allow locals to easily locate your restaurant
- Add your restaurant to Google My Business to be shown in its map results
- Pay-per-click advertising: Google Adwords – to launch your website to the top of the search results
Keep your Facebook account up-to-date
Increasing your website’s visibility is not just a matter of using Google. Engage in regular communication with past and potential clients. Facebook is the ideal platform for achieving this. There are several Google features restaurant owners can (and should) use. Some of these include
- Customer check-ins: customers can let their Facebook friends know when they visit your restaurant. There’s nothing like social proof to get people to show up.
- You can reach many people using Facebook ads for a few dollars. Few online platforms can rival Facebook in this regard. You can use Facebook ads to grow your Facebook likes or drive users directly to your website.
- Facebook pages are a great way for restaurants to build communities with their customers. It is the perfect place where you can gather honest feedback from customers, discuss their concerns and show that you care. People will visit you more often if they see you doing this.
Make sure your reputation is good
Managing reputation is the third leg of our marketing tripod for beginners. Using Yelp and TripAdvisor in particular. It may seem foolish at first to open up your restaurant to criticism, but that’s only true until you realize that criticism (and compliments) happen on their own. In reality, you probably have a dozen other review sites and Yelp and TripAdvisor already listing your business. Bad (and sometimes incorrect) reviews can destroy your restaurant if you aren’t around to control the narrative.
We’re here to help
Need help launching your restaurant’s digital marketing campaign? We have experts who can assist you. Call us today to schedule a consultation.
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