Digital Marketing Strategies for Restaurants
Why does your Restaurant require a live online/digital appearance?
Can Digital Marketing bring dead/struggling Restaurant Business back to life again?
Yes! You are at the right place fortunately, you will get all your doubts clarified here.
Overview:
This particular blog post mainly addresses the importance of having Digital Marketing services for any Restaurant. And explains in detail every single Digital Marketing Strategy that is applied to promote the Existing Restaurant/brand new Restaurant/Food Outlet. By the end of this article, you will attain the farthest knowledge on the various strategies applied by ZITCO Group and our Digital Marketers so as to show you the results of uphill in the Restaurant Business.
For Whom is this Article for:
- For Restaurant owners who decided to begin Digital Marketing services with ZITCO for their business.
- For an Entrepreneur who is planning a career to start a Brand New Restaurant with Digital Presence.
- For Restaurant Holder who is struggling to compete with the competition.
- For any Digital Marketer who wants to serve Marketing Services to Restaurant Business owners.
- For any Restaurant Keeper who follows Digital Marketing Strategies yet fails to reach the desired targets.
Problem Statement:
When in this smart electronic world, full of smart devices taking over 70% of people’s average time. When you do not focus on creating awareness of your existence online, you are definitely a failure. A functional restaurant doesn’t refer to a successful Restaurant. You might do the basics right by providing good food and service at a decent price, but simply relying on word of mouth is not the wisest thing. You must be smart enough to be accessible in their smart devices when they hear or think about you. Getting the right amount of profits to run the business is often referred to as a success. But when you cannot perfect your online visibility you may stumble anytime as your competitor has already risen digitally.
Hello Greeting to all the Restaurant guys out there!.
Here is a delicious, favorable refreshing recipe which when followed the right way can make you remembered forever. Let’s get started.
As 59% of the world’s population is believed to be internet users, among them, about 80% of People go online looking for restaurants that can offer them an appetizing repast. When the world is taken over by the internet, your Restaurant needs to be available Digitally for your prospective customers. When you choose growth over anything else Digital Marketing is the only choice that you have that can uplift you above the competition.
You must know the answer to how can I attract people to my business. Any successful business should know how to market for its targeted audience.
Maintaining a Digital Presence that aligns with the overall look, feel, and values of your business is a key to create a cohesive experience that WOWs your customer every time.
Digital Marketing Strategies for Restaurants
These Strategies for Restaurants when they are implemented can make you stand out as the prime one in the competition. If you have a thoughtful Digital Marketing Strategy, it acts as a key to help businesses grow their bottom line, irrespective of size: small or large business. Digital Marketing Strategies for Restaurants are as follows:
Hold Excelling Web Appearance
Accentuate on SEO
Focus on improving your Social Media Strategy
Enable Email Marketing
Google your Business Listing
Online Reviews can rise Desirability
Use Influencer Marketing
Network with other Local Business
Keep online Engagement High
Sum up with Interactive Video Content
Add User Generated Content
Apply SMS Marketing
Measure Results
Hold Excelling Web Appearance:
You must perfect your website so as to impress 88% of the online consumers, who rely on Online channels to check for products or services. If you are successful in impressing them, then they stay on your business rather than jumping into your competitor’s Website.
Most of the people who check your presence online will no longer care about your storefront as your business icon, they judge you and your business from the design and development of your website more than anything else.
What they really prefer is User-friendly, Functional, and Professional Websites above all. One very good thing about having a Website is that you can create a great impact on you and your Restaurant to your prospective customer even before they visit your place.
One most important thing that is not to be leftover is the optimization of your website to be mobile-friendly, as the majority of people research on their smartphones regardless of whether they are at home, in the car, at the work, and so on.
Accentuate on SEO:
When coming to Restaurant Digital marketing, SEO plays a vital role in acquiring organic traffic to your website as well get the prospective customers to be seated on your tables, right in front of you in your Restaurant.
Few important mentions about SEO development for your Restaurant Business:
Keywords play the most important part in promoting SEO. It is essential to utilize local keywords and other forms of SEO coding like Metadata, Embedded in pictures, Videos, and head tags.
Your Website becomes SEO-friendly when you have both internal and external links. It works wonders making your website stand among the crowd in the competition to be the prime one.
Having a Business Account on Google can help you a lot to be featured and to Display the details of your Restaurant Business when people look for you on the internet.
Focus on Improving Your Social Media Strategy:
Creating a successful Social Media Strategy is a key to validate your business digitally. There are a few must-follow things that help you get found on Social Media. They are Searchability, Shareability, Interactivity, Desirability, and Exclusivity.
Searchability: To be easily found on Social Media platforms like Facebook and Instagram is actually important for your Restaurant to be recognizable. In order to be successful in this searchability, one has to select a username that is direct and includes relevant keywords in your profile. To get caught by curious guests you should use relevant hashtags when posting.
Shareability: One of the best features of social media is Shareability. While writing/creating posts one must use powerful, relevant, and high-quality images. Make sure you use a concise caption and a very well-composed post. Every post you share on social media has the potential to be reshared by hundreds and millions of users, keep that in mind.
Interactivity: Social Media is just another way of interacting with your guests. You can ask your customers what they like in your Restaurant, you can even ask them to suggest to them on naming a cocktail. You can also run polls to tell their feedback on what's their favorite dish in the menu by comparing two similar dishes at one time.
Desirability: You could take great advantage of photos to grab the attention, to gain desirability.
Like you put up added texture to your food in the form of garnishing with contrasting colors. Taking action photos can make the customer imagine what it would be like having a feast with you, this has the capacity to add huge benefits. You can also take the advantage of giving them a sneak peek by sharing the behind-the-scenes videos on how chefs are working hard preparing a delicious meal for your customers.
Exclusivity: To get appreciation from your customers, build exclusivity for your loyal customers by providing them with some secret menu items, Coupons, Promotions, and Contests just for them in order to make them believe that they are very valuable/special to you.
Enable Email Marketing:
Email Marketing is considered the best marketing tool in developing Customer Relationship Management. First of all, you will need to start the email marketing by sending a Thanking message: appreciating them for sharing their email space with you.
You can use the email list to send out welcome emails to your customers, thereafter you could use it to send regular greetings and offers. You can also use your email list to send your monthly newsletters as it’s a great way to engage your customers.
Effective email marketing for Restaurants is usually a combination of Text, Images, and Videos.
Your email marketing plan can include: Current Specials - To know different specials in each mail you send to capture their attention and draw them back in. Upcoming Events - When you have plans for a special menu or open event for a holiday or any event like a Restaurant anniversary, let your loyal customers know first. Important Updates - If you are having a Special Guest or if you are introducing a seasonal item to the menu, you can inform your email list first. Latest Blog Posts - Send your subscribers a snippet of your latest blog post that provides them a value.
The purpose of Digital Marketing is not just to gain customers, the email marketing tool of Digital Marketing is about nurturing your customers to retain as well.
Google My Business Listing (GMB):
Creating a Google My Business Listing for your Restaurant is the smartest way to promote your Restaurant business Online. If you are missing this out then you're missing out on one of the best Digital Marketing Restaurant strategies. Google provides a special listing for Restaurants on mobiles called “Local 3 pack” that offers many benefits to your Restaurant.
When your Contact Number is provided in the Google My Business Listing then your customers who found you in the search engine can directly call your Restaurant with just one single click.
Your customers/potential customers can easily locate your Restaurant along with the driving directions when they are willing to travel for your Restaurant. Also, your locality in the map is displayed in the search results giving your Restaurant the highlighted Visibility. Restaurants listed in the GMB can easily upload their menu which can be displayed in the listing.
Online Rating and Reviews can raise Desirability:
Review and Rating of any Online Business plays a crucial role in any business success. One thing the majority of people look at when they research your Restaurant is what the previous customer felt said about your Restaurant. It is a proven fact that 33% of people would never eat in a restaurant with less than four stars and 99% of people read the review before their Restaurant visit.
As in this busy day-to-day routine even if you are liked by many, they may not take their time to appreciate you. In such cases, you can encourage them to write a review by offering an advantage like for suppose if you rate and review us you will win a coupon worth 10% and you will get a complimentary dessert on your next visit. This way they are more inclined to write a review and at the same time, they revisit you to avail of the discount.
Use Influencer Marketing:
This strategy is often given the least priority by many Restaurants. You may implement any other strategy but giving this particular strategy to your Restaurant can definitely bring some positive growth to your Restaurant Business.
This is how you do it, to get the maximum benefit out of it. If there is any Food-Specific Influencer in your locality, do visit them and make a request for them to accept your offer of a free meal. After serving the best of what you have asked them for their feedback. If they point out any few improvements, try to implement them and offer your food again, and when they like your food you can approach them with an Influencer Marketing Contract. Make a contract with them to create a post about your restaurant for a fee or by completing them with a certain number of free meals.
Network with other Local Businesses:
This Strategy can definitely help you gain new customers but it is up to you to take this into consideration or not. This Restaurant strategy is nothing but building an affiliate relationship with complementary businesses other than Restaurants. You can get together and work on each other by guest posting on each other’s blog’s recommending their services and more.
Let us assume you have approached a local hotel business. You can seek them with an appeal to recommend your restaurant to their travelers and guests. They can do this in two different ways, one by doing this in person and the other is doing it through their website. When they help you with this you can offer discounted prices for the customers who have come to you through that particular hotel.
Not just hotels you could even team up with any other small businesses and offer them business-related meals like team luncheons, after-work parties, salesmen meeting with current or potential clients, etc. By this, you can attain more customers and stronger influence within your community as exchange.
Keep Online Engagement High:
It is very important to maintain consistency in Restaurant Digital Marketing. Running an advertisement once a year doesn’t fetch you anything in today’s world, this doesn’t mean that you have to spend all your profit on advertisements so as to make your Restaurant remembered. When it comes to grabbing a meal, you must strike their heads, you must put some effort to make this happen. These include a few little things like updating your website regularly, Posting new content on social media a few times a week, Advertising new items on your menu, etc. But try to remember one important thing to keep the community involved by campaigning on running contests, new specials online, and giving back.
Sum up with interactive Video Content:
Videos are the way where Digital Marketing is going. They are fun to watch, informative, and overall a lot more shareable. You could add videos of people admiring your super delicious food.
You can put a few short videos of high lighting at the event held in the Restaurant. Sometimes you can introduce your chefs and team members through videos. You could add some tips and tricks in serving and cooking through videos to grab attention and to create curiosity in your business. Add videos of updates on recent happenings in your Restaurant.
Concentrate more on Content:
Content has brought so many astonishing benefits to Restaurant Digital Marketing unbelievably.
With efficient high-quality engaging content in your blog, you can inform your clients about what your business is, what can your Restaurant offer your prospective customers so as to satisfy their desires.
Moreover, with proper Content for your Restaurant marketing, you will be able to drive more traffic to your Website. It can also improve your SERP position. You could promote your Content to Potential Customers through social media with a personalized web page for your Restaurant. As only a user can analyze and understand the requirement of what exact Content fits the purpose. It is important to provide user-generated content.
Apply SMS Marketing:
An SMS consisting of a promo code or some offer is an excellent method of Restaurant Digital Marketing as it has the maximum visibility and high opening rate. To make sure that your SMS is not lost from so many other promotional SMS, make sure that it is written clearly, precisely and it must be an eye-catching one.
A must-follow rule in SMS marketing is to send the SMS with a Call-to-Action, such as Order Now, or Try out our New Menu Item. When tracking with customer's activities, If they are not visiting you often to get them back you can send them an SMS saying ‘WE MISS YOU’, along with a discount coupon.
They play an important role in delivering orders too, like updating their order status, by sending them tracking details through SMS.
Measure Results:
Unlike any other Digital Marketing Strategy, even a Restaurant's Digital Marketing Strategy’s success is determined when we measure its results. Everything you spend time or money on should be measurable, which is why you must always track how much you are spending on promotions. Once the promotion is complete you will be able to track the Return on Investment(ROI) and figure out how much you actually spent and how much money you made.
Bottom Line
It might really look cumbersome to implement a Restaurant Digital Marketing Strategy but you will definitely thank Digital Marketing for adding new Customer and Awareness to your Restaurant. From the customer emails to your social media posts, digital marketing gives your business another opportunity to set your business apart from the competition.
We definitely know that taking care of your customer’s hunger is your business and you are busy satisfying them with the best delicious food. Do not worry, ZITCO is here to help you with implementing every strategy mentioned above, We have experienced Digital Marketers who work without bounds to see you succeed in your Restaurant Business
- ZITCO Group
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