The worries of how to market a restaurant is a major issue many restaurant owners have to deal with. This is because the knowledge of marketing for restaurants is not very known.
Are you a restaurant owner and are not satisfied with your level of sales? If your answer is yes, then you don’t have cause to worry. I have carefully put together 10 tips to help you out. These tips are centered on marketing for restaurants
To effectively market your restaurant, you need to have the knowledge that people never stop eating. Now, the question is why not at your restaurant? Answering this question is the very first step to the successful marketing of your restaurant.
Knowing how to promote your restaurant is vital for every restaurant owner. So here are 10 amazing tips that will help you properly market your restaurant.
1. Tap Into The Power Of Images
Marketing for restaurants relies hugely on images. This is because images do a lot of magic especially when they’re of mouth watering foods. They can literarily get people to do what they never planned to do. You will be surprised at the number of customers an image of food made in your restaurant will attract. To take advantage of this, I will advise that you hire a professional photographer.
Although, you might consider this unnecessary, quality pictures of delicious meals are not as easy as you think. Usually, good lightings are needed to bring out the beauty in a delicacy. If you do not completely buy into the idea of a professional photographer, you could do it yourself. With the availability of a smart phone, you could also get yourself some mouthwatering pictures.
2. Start A Website Or Blog
If you must market your restaurant, you must have a website. The website or blog should contain information about your restaurant. Such information should include opening hours, available meals, etc. Your restaurant is a business and therefore you should treat it as one.
Every business that must thrive should have a website or a blog. Websites and blogs help give your business some level of online exposure. With a website there is a lot you can achieve. You could always post pictures of meals prepared at your restaurant and also guests enjoying themselves in your restaurant. You could also write on recipes and other interesting topics in the food niche.
3. Setup Your Social Hubs
Social media marketing for restaurants is a great idea. Tips on marketing for restaurants won’t be complete without social media. Social media appears to be the biggest platform for showcasing your business to the world. Not having an active online presence is not the best for your business. To effectively market your restaurant, you should be active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and especially Instagram. Being an active member of any of these platforms gives your business the opportunity to relate with customers on a very personal level.
4. Tap Into Local Marketing
It is an undeniable fact that those patronizing your restaurant regularly are situated in your locality. Being a little nice to them will surely get local customers rushing to your restaurant.
Take out time to give back to your host community by giving out discounts. Also coming into partnership with other local businesses to support a cause in the interest of the community will boost your sales. You should also make sure that your keywords are optimized to target audiences in your business locality.
5. Use Geo Ads
Geo ads are about the best kind of ads you can get for your restaurant. They ensure your ads are targeted to certain folks in your locality. It is good to go global, but when edibles are involved only people living close by can patronize your restaurant.
Geo ads advertising options can be gotten on advertising platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. They also come at no extra cost. Rather, they help you save money.
6. Be Obsessed With Instagram
Instagram is the “go to” platform for making your pictures and videos popular. Just as I wrote down earlier, pictures pass a lot of messages. After taking those pictures of delicious meals, displaying them just in front of your business location is not enough. Taking advantage of Instagram is the way to go. In addition to posting on instagram, tagging your target audience is equally very important. These tips on marketing for your restaurant won’t be complete without this vital point.
7. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the easiest ways to make your customers aware of something new. Usually, customers can leave their email address on your site when they visit. With a comprehensive email list of your customers, you can always send them emails when there is something new. With this your customers will always be the first to know about a new deal.
8. Tap Into The Power Of Yelp
Yelp is to your restaurant what Instagram is to a model. Yelp is one of the most influential platforms in the restaurant world. Having lots of positive reviews from yelp will go a long way in placing your restaurant where you want it to be.
Yelp can do the work of both a blog and an instagram account at the same time. To get the best out of yelp, set up an account with the following included.
- Restaurant location
- Price range of your meals
- And available meals.
It is important to note that activities on yelp are very delicate. Therefore, your response to reviews (both negative and positive) should be very calculated and polite.
9. Use Positive Press
Leveraging on the power of the press is good for marketing. To create positive press for your restaurant, send out a press release to local media houses. This should only be done when you have some good news in your camp. News such as the introduction of a new menu, the arrival of a new chef, a reduction in price and an expansion of your restaurant should be made public. With an increase in publicity, there should be a proportional increase in patronage from customers.
10. Use Promotions
This method of marketing might not cost much money. However, it will certainly place demands on your time.
Organizing events or parties to promote talents is good for your restaurant. This can be done monthly, or fortnightly. For each promotion, flyers should be printed and pasted round the locality. Monthly gatherings like this are definitely going to bring attention to your restaurant.
Plus one more…
11. Give Out Branded Items
One easy and straight forward way to market your restaurant is by giving out branded items at major events. Doing this regularly will make your restaurant a house hold name and definitely get you into the faces of customers.
The knowledge of marketing for restaurants is required by every restaurant owner that wants to succeed. The list of things you can do to market your restaurant does not end here. There are a whole lot of other things you can do. However, with the tips listed in this article, you can successfully market your restaurant. Finally, always that social media is vital for the success of any restaurant today. If you don’t have the time, you can always get in touch with an affordable social media professional to get it done.
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