Digital Marketing for your Cafe or Restaurant

The competitive nature of restaurants makes for a crowded, difficult market. You’ll always have to be finding new ways to stick out among your competition and bring in the customers. But in so many cities around the world, the restaurant and food industry is congested with a variety of small and medium-sized businesses all vying for attention. One way to can wrest the attention of the market from other businesses is by maximizing your digital marketing campaigns. In fact, these campaigns have become even more important in the past two to three years, as more customers are ordering online and using reviews and the online presence of a restaurant to go by when assuming the quality of the food and restaurant in question. So, let’s break down a few tips and tricks your business can utilize to improve your digital marketing abilities and bring the customers in to your restaurant.

Monitor your Reviews and Be Proactive

Good and bad reviews can be a great determinant of the success of your restaurant. This is why monitoring review sites and being proactive about feedback is so important. Not only does it give your business an air of credibility and trust to respond to both negative and positive reviews, but it allows you to utilize this feedback to better your business. You shouldn’t shy away from criticism, rather you should be proactive and use bad reviews as ways to better your business and services. Your customers will thank you for it, and pay this pragmatic attitude back with their business.

Have an Active Social Media Presence

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any social media platform; being an active presence on these platforms is a great way to attract business and customers to your restaurant. When it comes to social media marketing, consistency is also key. Try to schedule your posts for about four or five times a week, and keep it related to your business or restaurants in general. You can even use customer photos and reviews of your food for advertising and content. Whatever you choose to post on your social media, the fact remains that you can’t avoid this great platform for marketing your restaurant.

Utilize Video Content

Among the more engaging things you can post to your social media page, video content is a great way to reach your customers. Your restaurant should take advantage of video content: whether it’s giving a tour of your restaurant’s kitchen, sharing how to recipe videos, or simply filming your menu items for customers. Regardless of how you choose to use the content, it’s show videos typically receive 10 times the engagements as written content typically does.

Revamp your Website or App

Even if you have a great social media presence, you still need a website for running your business. Think of your website as something similar to a digital business card – if it looks old, outdated, and neglected; no one is going to want to browse or use it! If your restaurant is struggling to generate web traffic, a redesign might be in the cards. You can try optimizing for search engine optimization as well, which can boost traffic to your website. Additionally, if you have an app that has gone neglected; you may want to update it to help do away with pesky bugs or glitches that have been troubling your users.

Use Online Campaigns and Targeted Ads

Given your restaurant is a location-centric business, this means you need to narrow done and refine your advertising for those in your area. By addressing local markets and customers through your social media ads, email campaigns, or physical advertising; you help build a loyal customer base in your immediate area who can help to provide revenue to your business. While it’s still important to be active on social media and advertise to those outside of your community, the reality is you’ll mostly be serving those who live in your location.

Set Up a Newsletter System

A newsletter system is a great way for a restaurant to reach customers about exciting announcements and important news. You can utilize it to announce new menu items, share important information like event dates or COVID-19 tracking news, or even share free coupons or tickets for events or services related to your event. Incentivizing your business is always a good idea, as it makes your customers feel thought of, and builds a sense of loyalty between your business and your customer.

Regardless of how your business chooses to advertise itself, it’s clear your restaurant needs some form of digital presence in order to be noticed both locally and worldwide. While some businesses might think otherwise, it’s simply not feasible to run a business without the help of at least a website or a social media page.

We have digital marketing plan for $250/month to $2500/month for Restaurants.