4 Great Digital Marketing Strategies for New Restaurants
While there are a lot of marketing tools that are used widely across industries, every business has its own unique approach that works best for reaching an audience and building a customer base. For restaurants, it is important to connect to the local community near your location and to demonstrate your value as both a provider of freshly prepared food and as a gathering place for your customers to socialize and break bread. That means you need to make an impact locally, and your best strategies when approaching top online marketing platforms and services will be ones that get you traction in local searches.
1. Opt-in Marketing via SMS or Email
Regulars are what drives a restaurant business between seasonal demand surges, and opt-in marketing allows you to create messaging targeted at them with incentives they can only get by opting in. The regular reminders about your business along with the incentives like coupons and off-menu specials that are only mentioned on-list will help motivate subscribing customers to visit more often.
2. Post Menu and Special Updates Online Regularly
Keeping customers up to date on your menu innovations and reminding them of old favorites that are rotated back into availability is an important digital marketing strategy for any restaurant. It does not matter if you are focusing on the carryout and delivery markets or building a reputation for fine dining, clear menus that are up to date communicate to prospective customers what they can expect. On top of that, regular rotation is a best practice for the industry anyway, so you may as well use it to drive engagement with your social media and website.
3. Feature Community Involvement and Charitable Works
The best way to get the community around your restaurant to invest in your success is to make them see you as a part of that community. This means engaging in networking events for local small businesses in your area, but it also means making publicly visible investments like sponsoring youth league sports teams or participating in fundraising efforts for a local cause. Any time you do this, it is an opportunity to feature that participation on your social media, so people who do not see you at events or see your sponsorship ads will still come to know that you give back to your local community.
4. Promote Events and Advertise Banquet Rooms
Your menu is not the only thing that brings customers through your doors. Often, your venue is just as important. If you have private party spaces available, featuring those on your social media and site is just as important as discussing your menu rotation and specials. If you have live entertainment of any kind, the reasons to promote it online are pretty self-evident at this point. Customers who are going to come in and spend money when a favorite act is around are not hard to find, but they need to know about the performance dates.
Putting Everything Together
If all four of these strategies look like pieces to one social media management puzzle, you are not mistaken. The best way to approach marketing in digital spaces is to weave together several efforts that use different digital tools synergistically. These are hardly the only tools available, so make sure you keep expanding your options and trying out new online strategies. There are dozens of ways to approach marketing through digital methods, but it takes time to find the right ones for a given business in a given location with the customer base you, in particular, are aiming for. Be persistent and you are sure to figure it out, though.
10 Effective Restaurant Instagram Marketing Tips
Instagram is the king. Unquestionably, it is taking the world by surprise, especially the online food delivery industry. Learn the Instagram marketing tips that will help your business grow.
Introduction
Being 'Instafamous' has become the new social media world norm. Hands down, Instagram has evolved from being a simple photo and video sharing platform to a top marketing platform. So, as a restaurateur, how will you use this platform to spread the word about your restaurant business? How do you plan to adopt the new-age marketing rules and tell people that your restaurant has the world's best online food delivery platform? You definitely need some valuable tips, which we will discuss in this blog. When you finish reading this blog, you will know more than just a couple of ways to market your restaurant business perfectly.
If you are still confused about why Instagram marketing is helpful for your business, then here are a handful of statistics that'll speak for themselves.
● Hootsuite says that about 1.22 billion people across the globe use Instagram every month.
● According to Omnicore, 58% of the users are interested in a brand after seeing it on an Instagram Story.
●MetaforBusiness says that about 90% of the people using Instagram follow a business's account.
These Statistics must be convincing enough to realize why Instagram marketing is the first thing to include in your restaurant's business plan.
Are you ready to learn some practical Instagram marketing tips to help your restaurant and online food ordering system grow exponentially?
10 Best in Class Instagram Restaurant Marketing Tips
These tips may seem challenging for a few initial days of your business, but they'll draw great results in the long run.
- Express your restaurant's authenticity
Use your Instagram profile to tell your audience what makes you different than others. Your restaurant's authenticity can be its menu, location, or ambiance.
Start capturing things that express your restaurant's experience, how you prepare the food, or how much you love food.
- Think out of the box
Billions of people scroll through Instagram daily, and there are probably more than a million different types of content. That makes it important for the restaurateur to take a leap and think of out-of-the-box content to post. The main purpose here is to catch the interest of the scrolling audience to stop, double-tap the post, and follow your business account.
Use some great food photography ideas. Take inspiration, but stay original no matter what.
- Collaborate with food bloggers
Collaborating with abundant followers with food bloggers can put all your marketing efforts in place, and it is one of the proven ways to increase your brand awareness. Think of them as your best friends with an eye for great food, great places, and the best services, such as your own online food ordering system.
Food bloggers are influencers with foodie people as their 'Followers.' Well, restaurateurs, you have a bigger pool of people than you've imagined. So, collaborate first and rule later!
- Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags haven't gone out of fashion. They still are an essential part because they make your post discoverable and help to increase your engagement. Hashtags are clickable and allow Instagram users to find your restaurant and connect.
Every industry has its own set of hashtags relevant to them, even restaurants and online food delivery. Use more than one hashtag that Instagram users popularly search.
For example, #restaurant #food #foodie #instafood #dinner are some popularly searched Hashtags.(best-hashtags.com)
- Show what’s on your menu
Food lovers are always in search of great food. So, whenever they come across a restaurant, they might just love to take a sneak peek into what's on your menu. Post your menu, if not entire, then partial, on your Instagram stories or feed.
If your menu changes regularly, post it on your story, and it is the best way to keep people updated about your changed menu. Over 500 million Instagram users use stories every day, so why not you?
- Make the best use of Instagram highlights
Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours. Restaurants use the story feature to show off their treats, menu, reviews, photos their customers share, and much more. So, if you want to keep these stories for long on your Instagram account for every new follower to see, then put the stories in Instagram highlight.
With highlights, you can segregate the stories so that your followers or visitors know what the stories are about.
- Show love to your customers
Customers are your treasure. So, keep them safe. Now, how will you do that? Here are some tips to help you:
● Let your customers know that you see their content and really care about what they say about your brand. So, every time you get a notification that someone has mentioned you in their Instagram post, video, or story; like, share, and comment!
● Use Instagram to take care of your customer's queries. Suppose you respond to customers' queries in the quickest time. It will change their perspective towards your Restaurant, and out of ecstasy, they may even order something on your online food ordering system!
- Make the Instagram account look and feel like your brand
Marketing your restaurant will take more than just posting pretty images or videos; and it should also have your branding. Your restaurant's logo, color palette, and brand slogan/message are a part of your branding—present at least one of these components with the image or video you post. In the long run, it will help you build brand loyalty!
Not only will branding give an aesthetic look to your Instagram feed, but it will keep your creative posts safe from thefts like someone posing your image as theirs.
- Post at the right time
To master Instagram algorithms, one surefire way is to post at the time your audience wants to see something. Posting more times in a day doesn't reduce your engagement as long as you remain consistent with the posting frequency.
To keep up with the posting consistency, prepare a calendar. It can be new weekly themes, happy Hour posts, and so on. Targetable says that the best time to post on Instagram is 9 AM, noon, 1 PM, and 8 PM, as these are the times when people are most hungry and might just open your restaurant's online food ordering system and order something.
- Keep an eye on your Inbox
Monitoring your message box is one of the crucial things for your business. Statistics say that more than 70% of the customers are eager to recommend a restaurant if the business responds to their messages on social media quickly. (Beambox)
Think of yourself as the customer - when was the last time you thought of going back to a restaurant or business that took forever to respond to your message? Well, the answer would never be. So, as a restaurateur, regularly check your inbox, respond to any direct messages on time, and sound helpful to your customers.
Conclusion:
I hope you found these Digital Marketing Strategies Restaurants helpful. Use these tips and strategies because only when you put effort into marketing will it deliver you great returns in terms of growth, profits, or success.
Keep a close watch on what your competitors are doing. Don't imitate them, but adapt. Think of it as a bonus tip! A watchful eye on the market trend will never hurt you but only keep you sailing.
Effective Digital Marketing Advice for London Restaurants
Restaurant businesses have been some of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the restaurant industry in the U.K. was already grappling with the implications of Brexit, the novel coronavirus created new challenges for business owners.
Nationwide lockdowns and social distancing regulations made on-premise dining a distant reality. The good news is that these restrictions have compelled consumers to gravitate towards online ordering.
That, in turn, emphasizes the need for restaurants in London to bolster their online presence. Whether you’re running a fine dining restaurant or a fast-food joint, you need a strong digital marketing strategy to attract and retain customers.
You could consider working with a company that specializes in restaurant marketing in London. They’ll help you identify the needs and preferences of your target consumers. Also, they’ll handhold you through the process of building brand awareness across various online channels.
Even if you’re working with a digital marketing agency, it’s a good idea to develop a firm understanding of various strategies and best practices. Between social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, and display ads, there are several ways to market your London restaurant business on the internet.
In this blog, we’ll discuss a few useful restaurant marketing techniques that can fortify your digital marketing strategy. Let’s get started.
1. Revamp Your Website
In 2021, you don’t need someone to lecture you on the importance of creating a business website. Whether you’re looking to build your brand or generate revenue through online orders, a website is integral to your digital marketing strategy.
However, most restaurants make the mistake of creating poorly designed websites with outdated information. While such websites worked in the past, they won’t make the cut in 2021 and beyond.
That’s because 88% of consumers go online to research a brand and its products/services before making an in-store purchase. That means your website deserves as much importance as your restaurant’s storefront.
Start by checking whether your website is mobile-responsive. If that isn’t the case, use a responsive theme to ensure that your website delivers a flawless user experience across all devices. Also, check your website’s speed and make sure it loads fast on every device.
Enhance your website’s visual appeal by adding high-quality photographs of the dishes served at your restaurant. Use clear and crisp copy to further engage website visitors. Check your website architecture to find out whether it’s easily navigable.
2. Prioritize Local SEO
Restaurant owners in London can’t ignore the importance of SEO. It isn’t simply a tool for getting more organic website visitors. You can also use SEO to drive more footfall in your restaurant.
A robust local SEO strategy will ensure that your website grabs a top position in organic search listings for “restaurants near me” and similar queries.
The first step is to identify keywords with local intent that are relevant to your business. If you own a quick-service restaurant in Kensington, you can target the following local keywords:
- Fast-food restaurants in Kensington
- Eateries in Kensington
- Places to eat in Kensington
It’s important to analyze each keyword to check the average search volume, level of competition, and other metrics. A keyword research tool comes in handy for that purpose. Also, make sure you’re targeting keywords with the right search intent.
While you’re at it, create a Google My Business page, and complete your profile with an accurate business description and other details.
3. Collaborate With Other London Businesses
Partnering with other established businesses in London will go a long way to amplify your reach. It’s particularly useful when you’re launching a new menu or targeting a new demographic. The key is to identify businesses that are related to your niche without being direct competitors.
For instance, if you own a cafe, you can collaborate with a local home bakery to tap their existing clientele. Outline a social media marketing strategy to cross-promote each other’s brands.
Also, you can partner with them to host a giveaway. Make sure you offer an irresistible reward that’ll compel consumers to participate in the contest.
4. Leverage Online Reviews
Reviews are an effective tool for reinforcing your restaurant’s credibility and reputation. Offer a free meal or gift vouchers to entice existing customers to review your website on directories, such as Yelp. Also, you can ask them to write a review on Google, and recommend your business on Facebook.
The world of restaurant marketing in London is gravitating towards a digital-first approach. Restaurant owners must be swift in embracing various digital marketing techniques to turn their business into a brand.