Running a restaurant with so much competition around is not less than a challenge in itself. You need to stand out from your competitors in order to win the race. Ever wondered how? Well, here I am coming up with proven restaurant marketing ideas that can introduce your restaurant to new customers and move your sales graph up.
Target your customers with Google Ads:
In order to win the race, you should be there where your customers are. Confused how you can do this? Well, Google Ads is the answer. With Google Ads, you can run ads targeting your customers in the nearby location. You need to have a website in order to direct users to the relevant page. For example, if you offer Mexican food than you are target users searching for ‘ Best Mexican food nearby’ on Google and send them to your website’s food menu page. It does sound complex but its really simple to do using Google Ads. Good news is that you only pay when someone clicks on your Ad. You can either outsource the work to run your Ad campaign or create it on your own by following Google study guides. I would recommend you to outsource it to some professional on a freelancing basis. But don’t forget to ask for fortnightly or monthly reports of the campaigns.
Claim your business listing on Google:
Claiming & verifying your business on Google is vital as if someone searches for your restaurant on Google, the listing will show up like this.
If you don’t claim your listing on Google then anyone can suggest an edit to your business listing and competitors can take advantage of it. They can add any false information about your business & you will never get to know if you don’t claim your listing. There is a lot you can do with your business listing. You can add description & services related to your business, you can add images & videos. Your customers can put reviews on your business listing; make sure you always reply to any good or bad customer reviews.
Tie up with local influencers:
Reach out to food bloggers and influencers in your city. Give them an invitation to taste food at your restaurant for free and in return you can ask them to review and post the food images to their audience. We understand that doing this will take a lot of efforts but it’s totally worth it. People trust word of mouth more than anything.
Participate in local events:
People love going to food festivals and a local food event. Make sure that you keep an eye on upcoming events in your city and to participate in such events. You can come up with a different menu from your regular one to grab the attention of people. You can try some fusion and come up with a new dish which will entice people to come to your food stall and trust me if they like it, they will always remember your business. Food events are one of the best methods to introduce your business to new customers.
Manage your Zomato, Yelp & Trip Advisor listing:
87% of people trust online reviews. Make sure that you have a good image online. Do claim your listings on these review based websites and add information about your business. Don’t get anxious when a customer leaves a bad review about your business, everyone has a bad day. When a customer leaves a bad review, do acknowledge it in a positive way. Always thanks to the customer for their honest feedback and tell them that you will try to improve. You can also offer them some sort of discount in the future. Many organizations go an extra mile to keep their customers happy which pays a good return in long term.
Partner with coupon selling websites:
Customers loves a discount. You can definitely increase the footfall of your business by offering discount coupons to your customers. There are many discount selling websites out there like Groupon which let you list your discount offers for free and only charges you when your coupons start selling. Great, isn’t? So what are you waiting for? Check coupon selling organizations in your city and start selling your awesome discount deals. You can’t imagine how much it will help you in your business growth and reach until you do it.
Partner with Food delivery websites:
If you haven’t partnered with any food delivery website, do it now. Many customers who use these websites to order food may discover your restaurant business from food delivery sites. You can look for food delivery sites in your city and partner with them by following a few simple steps. You are not only increasing your sales by getting online orders but also increase your reach to new customers.
Social media is the new word of mouth:
I have seen that almost all the restaurants have a Facebook & Instagram page but they are not leveraging it. People are spending a lot of time on social media these days and if you are not leveraging the power of it then you are losing a big chunk of the audience. To get the most out of social media you should post your food photos, happy customer’s faces, new events and discounts on your restaurant’s FaceBook & Instagram accounts. You can also create a video of an event going in your restaurant and upload it on Facebook as videos perform better than photos. Also, whenever you come up with a new food item don’t forget to announce it on social media. You can also run a contest before launching the new food item to create a craze amongst people. For example, you can ask them to suggest a name for the new menu item.
Many people think that you need a professional photographer to take pictures and record a video for your social media but that’s not true. With the average photography skills you can take pictures from your smartphone and they work well.
Start up a blog:
Though it’s not a necessary thing but you can engage your audience and reach the new audience by starting up a blog. You can share food recipes or write about a recent event happened in your restaurant. The opportunities of blog topics are endless. You just need to be creative. You don’t need to write blogs on your own or have an in-house writer to do this. There are thousands of freelancing writers; you can reach out to on sites like Up-work.
Run a loyalty program:
Loyalty program works wonders in order to retain a customer. You can either run your own loyalty program or partner with food apps to run it for you. You can offer a discount or offer a free meal when a customer visits your restaurant a specific number of times or spends a specific amount. A lot of restaurants are running loyalty programs and taking advantage of it, you shouldn’t be missing out on it.
Keep your employees happy:
Last but not the least, keep your employees happy. Nobody likes to see sad faces, not even your customers. The employees working at your restaurant speaks a lot about your business. It’s very important that you appreciate your employees and create a positive work environment. The experience a customer has at your restaurant depends on how happy your employees are working there. If a customer had a good experience, they are sure to come back.
That sums up the marketing strategies that could help you grow your restaurant business. Hope it helps in your restaurant growth.