Have you ever wondered about how to market your restaurant? Marketing your restaurant can seem somewhat complex and daunting at the outset, but it really doesn’t have to be this way! With this thought in mind, today, we’re looking at some of the key things you need to know about the best marketing for restaurant businesses.
The Best Marketing Strategies for How to Market your Restaurant Business
Marketing any business can seem tough, and we here at OrderAx understand this better than most. Fortunately, you can take numerous (surprisingly simple) steps to bolster your restaurant marketing efforts. We’ve listed ten crucial steps in this regard as follows on how to market your restaurant business.
#1 Start with the Right Online Presence
It doesn’t matter whether you have the best marketing for restaurant businesses if your customers can’t find you! In fact, as many as 90% of customers will look up your website online first before choosing whether or not to dine with you, which is why having an online presence is so vital.
There are two vital components to this. Of course, you’ll want a website or social media presence to help your customers directly reach out to your brand. However, you’ll also want to invest in a specialist restaurant app for your website – one of the most often overlooked aspects of running a food business!
Data suggests that the majority of consumers prefer to be able to order directly from your restaurant rather than going through third-party sites such as GrubHub or UberEats. As such, ensuring you have a fully functional restaurant app is also vital to your restaurant marketing.
After all: if you invest in restaurant marketing and convince a customer to try your brand, you need to hold their interest. As such, the best marketing for restaurant businesses is still undeniable, which leads back to a fully functional restaurant website and app.
Restaurant Website and App Development Don’t Have to be Expensive!
Many people put off creating a restaurant website and app for concerns about the cost. This is completely understandable. After all, when you hire an app developer, you’ll have to:
- Pay a large sum of money for the app development
- Create a full plan of how the app will operate
- Complete research to see how you could “one-up” your competition
- Spend ages reviewing the app’s functionality and identifying errors
- Wait a long time for the final app to be ready
However, this is no longer an issue with online restaurant app development software, such as OrderAx. As such, you’ll be able to quickly and easily get your new restaurant app live, without the hassle, expense, or frustration. Plus, OrderAx ensures you’re in control of the app development at every stage, so you’ll get an amazing result every time. Check out our article on how to create a restaurant app.
#2 Identify Your USP
Once your website and app are up and running, you can begin to look at your marketing campaign. The best marketing for restaurant businesses should focus on a USP – in other words, why do people dine with you? Why not your nearest competitor? Whether it’s higher-quality ingredients, cheaper menu prices, a broader range of options, a particular unique cuisine, and so on, there are countless USPs you could target. Choose yours carefully; this is what will “hook” potential new diners and you can start to better understand how to market your restaurant.
#3 Identify Your Brand’s Personality
Your brand might not be a person in its own right, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a personality of its own! Showing that your brand genuinely cares about its customers, and demonstrating your brand’s tone and style, is a great way to develop a brand identity.
This should ideally tie in with your chosen USP – for example, if you’re going for a premium-quality USP with your restaurant business, you should also focus your business’s tone towards a more sophisticated style (and so on).
Once you’ve identified your brand’s personality, make sure this comes through in your final marketing efforts. It doesn’t take much to tweak your marketing strategy to ensure that your brand’s tone of voice and themes come through.
#4 Ensure All Contact Details are Complete
One of the biggest issues many restaurants face with their marketing campaigns is that their contact information isn’t readily available. With this thought in mind, potentially interested customers may find themselves giving up as they can’t book a table or find your menu. As such, ensuring this is visible on all of your business’s platforms – including your website, social media page, and apps – is vital before you go further.
#5 Reach Out Through Social Media
Once everything’s up and running, and you know that your website and app are in a good place to hold potential customers’ attention, you can then begin an outreach campaign through social media like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In this day and age, social media is one of the fastest ways to promote your business. This is especially true for a restaurant which relies exclusively on local trade.
As such, begin posting on your social media page about the different meals you offer, and try to encourage potential customers to like and follow the page to watch how it grows. As you do, you’ll likely find that your restaurant naturally begins to gain popularity through word-of-mouth marketing. Check out our article on the best restaurant marketing tools to help take your restaurant to the next level.
#6 Get Listed on Google My Business
Did you know that tools such as Google my Business are incredibly powerful for enhancing your restaurant marketing efforts? Setting up Google My Business doesn’t take long, but it allows customers searching for local brands like yours to find you easily.
This simple strategy can easily get your business showing in the first place on Google’s search results. Plus, you’ll also appear on your local Google Maps results when customers search for “restaurants near me.” Make sure to link your restaurant website, social media, and/or app at this point to bolster your marketing results further.
#7 Request Reviews from Happy Diners
Restaurant marketing is more than just a one-off thing. That’s why the best marketing campaigns for restaurant businesses focus on the long-term result by requesting reviews from happy diners. These reviews can be displayed on tools such as Google My Business, the brand’s website, social media and restaurant review sites.
In turn, potential customers are far more likely to trust your restaurant. Thus, this increases the chances that they’ll book through your restaurant app compared to your local competitors.
Top Restaurant industry Review sites to monitor
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to market your restaurant businesses can understandably seem tough. However, by taking things one step at a time, you’ll be able to find the ideal restaurant marketing options and solutions for your firm. Fortunately, with specialist app development sites such as OrderAx, this becomes easier than ever. So, why not give this a try for your brand, too?
After all, first impressions are everything, and with OrderAx’s tried and tested restaurant app development software, you can give your brand an amazing style that customers will instantly adore. In turn, you’ll likely find it bolsters your restaurant marketing efforts, translating to better conversions for your brand