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A well-thought-out restaurant marketing strategy will help you increase revenue, foster customer loyalty, create brand visibility, and build a solid reputation. Targeted promos and seasonal initiatives are great, but every marketing campaign plan needs to be part of a larger strategy to reach its full potential. The good news is that it’s easier than you might think to build an effective approach.
I’ll run you through some crucial strategies for engaging with new customers, plus restaurant marketing ideas that don’t break the bank. I’ll also cover the basics of setting up a marketing plan from scratch.
Restaurant marketing includes all the actions a food service brand takes in order to attract, satisfy, and retain customers. It usually entails using a mix of online and offline channels to promote a restaurant’s offerings. Doing it well leads to an improved occupancy rate and increased revenue.
This one can be filed comfortably in the “water is wet” category, but it bears repeating: increased revenue and brand awareness go hand in hand. The more people can distinguish your brand identity, the more you can rely on a steady stream of customers.
Customer loyalty is one of the biggest perks of a well-executed restaurant marketing plan. Being top-of-mind for food lovers in your area is about more than growing the number of repeat customers (though that’s a big part of it). It also increases the chances of organic buzz and word-of-mouth bringing in new faces.
Panera Bread caught on to this early. They’ve got one of the oldest loyalty programs among restaurant chains and their focus when creating it was on offering a personalized experience. At this point, over 50% of purchases are made by members of MyPanera Rewards. There’s definitely a lesson here!
Most of all, a good marketing strategy provides you with a clear advantage over the competition. You know it’s not just about who makes the best food. It’s about who, from those who make the best food, manages to reach the people who’ll enjoy it. Your tasty menu items deserve to be savored, so here’s how to make that happen.
Let’s look at a few marketing strategies that are proven to succeed within the restaurant industry.
An engaging social media presence can truly put your restaurant business on the map, especially when coupled with savvy email marketing. Set up some good loyalty programs, make local connections in your community, and you’ll be top-of-mind for more and more people in your target audience.
Social media marketing is square one. If you’re not sure where to start, this is the place. Instagram and Twitter are some of the best platforms to start with, and I’d also definitely recommend making a Facebook Business Page.
Pinterest is also a great choice if your delicious food looks as good as it tastes, and especially if every pin comes with a link to your website (optimized for mobile, of course). When your team has the capacity to expand into making videos regularly, go for TikTok and YouTube as well. The knack is to research the number of users for each platform in the area where the restaurant is located but also to match your social media channels of choice to the habits of your target audience.
To make sure your content is engaging, I recommend fleshing out a simple social media strategy that includes a few fruitful content pillars. You can and should adjust as you go, but having a clear direction for regular posting will make each social media post easier to create. Keep up with questions and comments from followers, but remember that each interaction should reflect your brand voice. Staying true to it even when writing a one-line comment will cement your brand positioning in people’s minds.
Running ads is crucial as well, especially with organic engagement being what it is. Do some A/B testing, but on multiple levels: try different types of posts and similar posts with different visuals or copy. But always reserve slots for special promos and new dishes.
Whatever mix of social media platforms you choose, Planable makes it a breeze to manage content for each one. You run everything from a single social media calendar, schedule easily, and reschedule with a drag-and-drop.
Social media content calendar in Planable
Search engine optimization is essential for multi-location marketing. This is how people find you. First order of business: your Google Business Profile listings, which should be optimized. Do a bit of research into local keywords and include them where appropriate, but also go for keywords that are product-specific.
Your listings should be as complete as possible to make a good impression. This includes accessibility (an online menu, wheelchair access info, details about the parking situation, etc.) plus high-quality photos and videos.
You should also look into getting listed in local directories. Some are the famous ones you already know (social media outlets, Apple Maps, Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc.). But it’s worth researching if there are also local versions making a splash in the area where your restaurant operates.
Finally, make sure you create some sort of incentive for people to leave online reviews. It could be something as simple as a free dessert or a discount on future purchases. As good reviews stack up, it’s easier for your brand to build trust.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote a special offer or a new menu item. But best of all, it increases revenue by acting on three fronts: more new customers, more repeat orders, plus an increased check size.
To build a mailing list, diversify the way you collect emails (at checkout for online orders, when signing up for rewards programs, when logging into your mobile app, if you have one, and so on). Create impactful emails by letting your brand voice shine and complementing the writing with eye-catching photos. Make sure they’re optimized for mobile and analyze campaign performance by following a few key metrics (open rates, conversion rates, etc.).
Planable’s Universal Content feature bundle helps you plan and create email campaigns (but also blogs, ads, press releases, and more). It comes with a character and word count, plus the option to embed images, GIFs, tweets, or YouTube videos. Best of all, working on all these long-form formats includes rich text (headings, bullet points, hyperlinks, formatting, etc.).
Collaboration on a newsletter in Planable
A loyalty program builds repeat business like nothing else. In addition to fostering customer engagement outside the actual restaurant, it helps build a community of people inside it. As regulars start recognizing each other over time, a lot of goodwill flows in the direction of your brand. Most loyal customers can become unofficial brand ambassadors.
Chipotle Rewards started in 2019 and used a points-based system to gift people bonus meals. But in time, they gave folks more rewards to choose from, more ways of accruing points, and even the option to support social causes instead of redeeming. All in all, they listened and kept adjusting.
A new loyalty program with an impact needs to be super-easy to use. Keep the bells and whistles to a minimum: people need to earn points instantly. Same goes for redeeming prizes. You can also add a little bonus incentive by creating a special offer or menu item, exclusively available for people who sign up.
You might manage loyalty program communications through a mix of newsletters, blogs, and social media posts. All of them can be streamlined with Planable. It helps you track the performance of loyalty-related marketing materials through analytics so you move forward knowing exactly what resonates with your audience.
When you set up cross-promotions and campaigns with local businesses and influencers, the obvious advantage is that you reach a wider audience. But you also build relationships in your community, cultivate trust on multiple levels, and showcase your brand from surprising angles.
Peruse your followers for interesting accounts, find influencers that live close to your restaurant, and check out influencer databases. Do your research before reaching out to people (don’t invite vegan influencers to a steakhouse!). Once you establish contact, keep it short, friendly, and to the point. Your goal with influencer marketing is to nurture long-term relationships.
Oji Seichi, a Toronto-based ramen shop is a good example of a local business-influencer relationship. They partnered with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan from Netflix’s Never Have I Ever to generate trial and buzz for limited-time menu items (ramen and ice cream).
When you work with external collaborators, Planable’s workspaces come in handy. Each one has its own media library, helping you keep brands or locations separate. When you need input from someone outside your team, all you need to do is send them a link.
Media library in Planable
Running things on a tighter budget? No problem. Here are some restaurant marketing tips you can implement that won’t break the bank.
Optimize your presence on Google My Business. The way your restaurant shows up on Google Maps and Google Search is essential for building credibility and trust. Include high-quality visuals and thorough information for every listing, then sprinkle in GMB posts that paint a vivid picture of your food’s unique vibe.
User-generated content really helps with cultivating an authentic presence. When potential customers see dishes beyond glossy, professional photos, you’re more likely to generate trial. Encourage people to leave reviews or mention/tag your social media accounts.
What counts is to provide a little incentive, have a clear view of the kind of user generated content you want, and curate with flair as you repurpose it for the website or even marketing campaigns.
While the numbers will definitely look different for a small restaurant, the Lid Flip Challenge from Chipotle generated 111,000 TikTok videos in the first week. The trick is to adapt your approach to the specificity of your target audience and the platforms they frequent the most.
Last but not least, brainstorm types of events you could host. If you have an outdoor area, make sure to showcase it. Anything from a new menu-tasting event to a poetry reading could create buzz and goodwill.
Mapping out a thorough plan protects you from wasting resources and increases the chances you’ll achieve objectives in due time. It helps keep everyone on your team focused. The more you see how information flows between different marketing materials, the more you can adjust each one to create a strategy with maximum impact.
Brand awareness, for example, is a crucial and legitimate goal. But unless you define its parameters, it’s hard to know if it’s being accomplished. Every goal you set should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
Consider objectives that sound like this:
Some of the best restaurant marketing ideas spring to mind when you gain an in-depth understanding of your audience. Map out detailed buyer personas that include demographic and psychographic info, but also behaviors, digital preferences, and taste in food. Make room for perspectives from team members in customer-facing roles (they know the regulars like no one else) and keep an eye out for pain points you could address for different segments of food lovers.
You can get super-useful data about audience behavior via Planable’s analytics feature. It shows your top-performing posts and in-depth insights for every piece of content. Generating reports only takes a few clicks and you’re good to go.
Social media analytics dashboard in Planable
Figuring out who your audience is and what goals you’re working toward makes it easy to narrow down a list of channels. Some of your options include:
To narrow down your choices even more, take a peek at the competition and see what mix of owned, earned, shared, and paid channels they use. See how they can be integrated into your budget, but also consider your team’s capacity for producing tailored content.
The right approval software helps your content and copy pipeline to flow no matter what channels you choose. The only bottlenecks should be on the drinks you serve, right? Planable helps you build simple but efficient approval workflows, so your strategy stays on track with a steady stream of content.
Approval workflow options in Planable
Tracking marketing performance tells you how close you are to every goal and what you need to adjust. The more you make data-driven decisions, the better your chances of creating a positive experience for customers.
Choose a few KPIs to track and soon enough, you’ll know whether you need to, for example, tweak specific marketing materials or change the frequency of your newsletter. Here are some options to consider:
Social media analytics tools like Planable let you monitor and optimize campaigns in real time. You can generate account statistics for a specific period and see the impact of individual promos or events.
Creating a good restaurant marketing plan means being strategic, every step of the way. Start small, with optimized social profiles, then work your way to more ambitious collaborations. The key is to get to know your audience in as much detail as possible.
Keep tweaking your approach. As you gain new insights, you’ll settle into an efficient workflow and you’ll find the audience that resonates with your unique mix of flavors.
Irina is a freelance senior copywriter & content writer with an advertising agency background. If she’s not rummaging for good synonyms, she’s probably watching a sitcom or listening to radio dramas with plucky amateur detectives. She loves collage, doing crosswords on paper and shazamming the birds outside her window.
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