Restaurant owners are faced with a lot of inconsistent & confusing information about promoting business online. Owing to the growing competition in the catering & dining sector, restaurants require a strategic plan to expand from inside. A good starting plan can lay the foundation to your business growth.
The increasing number of online food orders is one aspect that shows restaurant promotions online. Building a strong online presence for your brand is very much a necessity today. In this 10-step guide we are going to show you how to promote your restaurant business online.
An online brand presence for your restaurant will attract customers & improve your profitability. Let’s find out how to make your restaurant popular in 10 simple steps.
1. Set your targets
The competitive restaurant business requires efficient goal-setting. In the case of internet marketing, you have to understand your targeted customers. A target segment will provide insights into how you can create an effective branding strategy. What age group is likelier to buy food from your restaurant? How many colleges or schools do you have in the neighborhood? Is your restaurant pet friendly? What time is the busiest for your restaurant? These are some questions that you can ask yourself to get a clear picture about who you will be attracting through your online presence.
Knowing the target customer can help create a personalized, vocal &engaging experience for those who interact with your restaurant online.
2. Create a friendly website
A user-friendly website is an asset to any restaurant business. A website can make your restaurant more visible, accessible & approachable. A website can also serve as a platform to engage with your customers. You can always put up surveys, feedback forms & promotional offers for an all-you-can-eat buffet up on your website. You can engage with customers and prospects in so many ways that make a website experience worthwhile.
What makes a user-friendly website?
- A user-friendly website should be easy to navigate.
- The interface should be simple.
- The web layout & design should be exquisite.
- The website should contain necessary information about your food & dining experience.
- Should have access to your restaurant contact information.
- Should load fast & provide an engaging experience for users.
If you want to know more about how to create a stunning website for your restaurant business. Feel free to visit our Website Design page & book a discovery call with our executives right away. The important takeaway from a user-friendly website is that your website will be an anchor for all your internet marketing campaigns.
3. Optimize your online presence & brand identity
To attract more customers to your restaurant, you must optimize your online presence. Listing your restaurant on web directories, posting reviews on restaurant-focused portals & listing your business on search engines like Google business listing are effective optimization techniques.
You can even send out flyers & press releases to food bloggers, online newspapers & magazines to generate a hype around your restaurant. Go the extra mile and send a pamphlet to manufacturing services & offices nearby, to let them know that your restaurant is open for business. Effective email marketing with mouth-watering images of your menu items can attract traffic to your restaurant. In fact, online marketing is much cheaper than traditional print-based promotions.
The best way to engage with potential customers is to have a review system live on your website. If you can offer online reservations or online food orders, you are in for a big treat. Your restaurant will become a household name for everybody looking to order food online.
4. Create a social media presence
Social Media is the place where most web traffic spends a lot of time at once. A strong social media presence for your restaurant will create a community of followers for your brand. Social Media makes it easier to interact with internet users & gain their valuable feedback. Social Media advertising is a great way to boost your restaurant’s popularity.
Paired with exceptional quality, you can promote content surrounding your restaurant online and reach the whole world through social media marketing. Deliver a wonderful experience for your restaurant visitors remotely. Let them know that you value their presence by contributing with catchy content that speaks in volumes.
List your restaurant on Social Media & start marketing today!
5. Make visually engaging social media posts
When designing a creative social media presence, your posts should be interactive. Visual content is always a good fit for your business.
Create fabulous posts about the food you serve, the dining experience & much more! Post insider videos of your top chef at work. Give prospects a glimpse at your restaurant with catchy content that will make them want to know more. The increased traffic on your social media makes your website more popular and thus your restaurant more sought-after.
Click here to find out more about Social Media Marketing with Zerozilla success stories.
6. Make optimum use of multiple online promotional channels
Online advertising & promotion can market your restaurant successfully. You have an opportunity to test your branding strategy & measure the effectiveness of each marketing campaign. This allows your restaurant to create compelling content that appeals to your targeted customers online. A personalized content strategy is delivered with the use of multiple online promotional channels.
With the opportunity to promote on various channels like Blogging, Web Directory listing, Review Websites, Search Engine Marketing & Social Media Marketing you can easily reap the rewards of increased business success.
In fact, most restaurants chains like McDonalds & Burger King dedicate a huge budget for online advertising alone. With guaranteed results, you can confidently dedicate 80% of your marketing budget to online promotions for your restaurant. Small or medium restaurants are increasing their online promotional efforts with improved access to various online promotional channels & online advertising techniques.
7. Be responsive to online interactions
Google alert is a good set up to keep in touch with people who interact with your online presence. With an alert every time somebody posts a review or rating for your restaurant, you can be extra responsive. Responsive to customer inquiries, queries, comments or ratings are an excellent indicator of an improved customer relationship.
Try and be as responsive to as many internet users who engage with your social media posts or blogs. Engage with website visitors by promoting valuable content about your brand. Showing value for a user’s effort is a great way to kickstart a fulfilling brand relationship with customers. Online marketing can improve customer relations& give access to valuable market insights for your restaurant.
8.Make your story heard
A unique journey about your restaurant & it’s employees can be purposeful for internet users. You can put a video up on your website landing page to share a powerful story behind the scenes. You can post fun videos that tell your brand’s story. You can start an email marketing campaign that reaches thousands of users in the matter of moments. You just have to ensure that you story is unique, compelling & resonates with the values of your restaurant brand.
9.Delivery services are everybody’s favorite
Having food delivered to your door is a great way for people to contact your restaurant again. A home delivery, pick up delivery & online order can save valuable time. You can always go the extra mile to create a custom mobile app exclusively for your restaurant. A payment integration on your website can encourage more online food orders directly through your website.
With the availability of excellent services online, you can always list your restaurant on Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats or the many other delivery services that continue to deliver food at the click of a button. According to economic times, Zomato states that 1.25 million orders are placed on their platform every day. Swiggy on the other hand lands 1.4-1.6 million orders a day. These statistics show that a delivery service is a great way to promote your restaurant and its quality.
Generate orders all throughout the day and get busy promoting your restaurant online.
10.Invest in a restaurant management system
Enterprise software solutions are gaining popularity in the restaurant business. A customized or generic restaurant management system can improve efficiency of your restaurant operations. By saving time, reducing costs & creating an error free management of information, specialized software can contribute to business growth.
A restaurant management system is good if you have multiple restaurants or if you want to manage a single restaurant with a lot of daily orders. Either way, the benefits of a restaurant management system are many. You can save valuable customer data, check on your restaurant supplies, improve billing &accounting efficiency, monitor employee performances, customize messages for regular customers, and much more.
With the rise of technology, the requirements for businesses to invest in digitization of their assets is also increasing. The fact is that online advertising & custom software are gaining popularity because of its many applications, benefits & efficiency.
Explore more about software developers that can build specialized custom software for your restaurant business. Click here to browse through the Zerozilla website packed with exciting information & success stories.
You can always hire the right professional to nudge your leads through the marketing funnel and create conversions. Within the first few days, you will realize the vast potential of online marketing & digitization for restaurants.
Looking for an expert digital marketing company to strengthen your marketing landscape? Talk to one of our experts.
No Comment