For restaurant businesses existing in today’s environment, digital marketing is of utmost importance. The market is severely competitive, however, the demand is not on the lower side either. If you own a restaurant, you need more customers for your business to grow, or even sustain itself. Marketing has always been about going where the customers(present & potential) are. And in today’s digital age, a substantial proportion of business for restaurants comes from hungry stomachs sitting all over across a city looking for a nice place to eat at or order food from. To tap into this vast marketplace, you need the support of digital marketing.
Digital marketing rewards you with a huge reach on the internet and with a reasonably high Return On Investment. It can basically be free if you don’t go for paid online ads. Through digital marketing, you can reach your customers, both present and potential, directly and vice versa.
Here are some detailed tips for you on how to harness the potential of digital marketing using its different channels in a smart and efficient style:-
- A Stunning website and a slick online menu
First thing’s first. You need a terrific website for your restaurant. A website for a restaurant should correctly represent the persona of the restaurant. The restaurant’s ambiance should reflect through the website design. Your website should be eye-catching and aesthetic in a way that complements your restaurant’s theme. Create a functional and dynamic website that should be intuitive and easy to use.
A restaurant’s website must contain the following elements:
A. Slick, easy to read, functional online menu
Most of the people will be visiting your website for your menu. If your website doesn’t include your restaurant’s menu, it is automatically rendered useless for most of the visitors. Your menu should make use of digital creativity which many graphic designers offer nowadays and should look inviting. The menu is what decides if the customer will be dining with you. Make sure to include all your preparations and delicacies on the menu along with their details. You can take advantage of the digital format and add dynamic effects to your menu.
B. Picture gallery / Photo catalog
Show off the outside and inside of your restaurant through a picture gallery or a photo catalog on your website. Include pictures of your restaurant’s interior decor, and the ambiance. Display your hall area, dining area, seating setup, cutlery sets, etc. Vivid and mouth-watering photographs of your restaurant’s preparations and delicacies work like a charm in garnering customers.
C. Your restaurant’s story
Giving your customers a story arouses their interest in your restaurant. The story can be about anything – how your restaurant was established, when it was established, and by whom. It can also be about a special recipe that has been inherited from your ancestors (something to give out a sense of cultural history and authenticity to the patrons). Basically, anything creative that is interesting enough to captivate customers’ attention. Let it be known that a made-up story never did a restaurant business any harm.
D. Your Restaurant’s persona
Through words or art, your restaurant’s persona should be distinctly reflected on your website. Including your restaurant’s theme, facilities provided, cuisines offered, and any other such information which may be vital to your restaurant’s persona which makes it special.
E. Online booking system – make patrons’ life easier
Provide online bookings through your website for your restaurant to facilitate your patrons. Enabling people to be able to make reservations online without having to go through the hassle of calling your restaurant is the preferred trend among today’s crowd.
- Show off your staff / introduce your team
In a time where people are used to being entertained by robotic customer service reps, or automated interactive software, meeting a group of real people visually through your website will really be a breath of fresh air. Customers seek to be served by happy workers. Place happy, positive pictures of your staff members or chefs on your website and introduce them by writing a bit about them. This will induce a homely feeling in the customers, as most services and businesses lack the touch of the human elements in their public dealing procedures.
- Social media presence (Social Media Marketing)
Connect to (present and potential) customers through social media. Social media is a pool of potential customers for restaurants. If your customers are able to find you on social media, it establishes credibility and confidence in them towards your restaurant. They will recommend you to their friends. Upon hearing from their friends about a good place to eat, they will be converted into your customers. Create your page or account on all the different platforms for universal exposure.
- One great initiative is to persuade your incoming customers to follow you on social media platforms – whichever ones they actively use. Through them, you can work your way to a greater number of followers. You might as well take a picture of them or with them and post it on your social media, or include it in your newsletter.
- Take the help of paid ads on social media. All social media platforms provide geo-targeted advertising campaigns based on age, gender, location, interests, etc of people on social media. Through geo-targeted ads, you can configure your target audience of choice.
- Post regularly. You need to post regularly on all your handles in order to maintain an image of the growth and movement of your restaurant in the minds of your audience. You can employ food photography and post enriching food pictures on your handles. You can run contests and campaigns on social media as well, to engage your customers and audience.
- Email marketing
Email marketing is still one of the strongest and most effective marketing tools for restaurants. Keep your customers (present and potential) in touch through regular emails. You can send a welcome email to your clients and then follow up with other emails in a timely manner. The emails can be about:
- Greetings on festivals or their birthdays (record some personal information of your customers when they dine in with you like their name, birthday, contact no., etc)
- Offers and discounts. You can distribute coupons through mails.
- Invitations to events like special weekends or festive celebrations and parties.
- Updates regarding your restaurant. For example, If you added a new dish or a new dessert to your menu, or got a new chef on board.
- A Newsletter. You can send it to your customers or target audience, newsletters. The newsletter can contain a list of weekly specials for a month, reviews by food critics, articles covering events that take place in your restaurant, etc.
Introducing your culture to your patrons would give them a homely feeling when they visit your restaurant.
- ‘Google My Business’
When building your digital marketing strategy, do not miss out on signing up on Google My Business.‘Google My Business’ is a free online software service provided by Google that helps businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. When an internet user searches with phrases like “near me” or “around me”, Google displays the businesses that match that search on parameters of – the type of business, location, and few others.
So if someone searches “restaurants near me” on Google, Google will display the names of businesses and a host of information about them including – contact number, address, the menu, opening & closing time, ratings & reviews, pictures, etc.
Thus, if you create a Google My Business listing for your restaurant, it will be surprisingly easy for customers to find you, and drive to you through directions on Google Maps. Your online visibility will get a major boost.
- Approach food bloggers/vlogger
Food blogging and vlogging has grown greatly as a profession in the last few years. Individuals in this field of profession visit and explore new places to eat and then blog or vlog about it. If a famous food blogger or vlogger covers your restaurant in their blog/vlog, it can help you get some good publicity on the internet and do good for your online presence. You can contact a food blogger or vlogger and invite them over to your restaurant and then politely ask them if they would like to review your restaurant or mention you in their blog/vlog.
Some food bloggers and vloggers have a really large following and being included in their blog or vlog can prove to be hugely beneficial for your restaurant’s image and hype online.
- Online listings and review sites
Online listing and review sites for restaurants have caught on furiously among the younger masses lately. Online food delivery sites and apps have grown like anything thus leading to growth in the restaurant business, especially the small ones. Registering with these companies will result in a great online presence for two major reasons.
One, if your restaurant appears on online food delivery services like Zomato, Swiggy, etc, customers near you will discover you and possibly become your customers.
Two, Google uses the information from these online listings for its Google My Business listings. The more online listings you are present in, the better are your chances of getting ranked in Google’s Local Pack. The Local Pack is a section of Google’s search results that shows the local business related to your query.