13 Tried & Tested Digital Marketing Strategies for Restaurants

Digital Marketing Strategy for Restaurants

The restaurant industry is notoriously competitive, with as many as 50% of restaurants failing within the first five years. And while that can be attributed to many factors, poor online marketing efforts is usually one of the most common.

This article will go over 13 digital marketing strategies to help grow your online presence and attract more customers to your restaurant.

Restaurant Marketing Statistics:

90% of people research restaurants online before going out to eat. (Source)
57% of people will visit a restaurant’s website during their research. (Source)
Restaurant reviews are the most read out of all industries. (Source)
33% of people would not eat at a restaurant that has less than 4 stars. (Source)

86% of Millennials are likely to try out new restaurants after seeing food-related content online. (Source)
34% of people spend $50+ per order when ordering online. (Source)
Online ordering has been growing 300% faster than dine-in since 2014. (Source)
70% of people say they prefer to order directly from a restaurant than through a third party. (Source)
13% of people consider themselves brand loyal to restaurants. (Source)
45% of people say that offering loyalty programs would encourage them to order more online. (Source)
77% of chefs surveyed by the NRA said that cannabis-infused drinks are currently the number one trend in the restaurant industry. (Source)

13 Restaurant Digital Marketing Strategies, Tips and Ideas

1. Get an optimized website

Did you know that 85% of people search for local businesses on the internet? A website is the foundation of your online presence. It’s the central hub where people can find information about your restaurant, menu, opening hours, contacts, etc.

Most internet users will carry out some form of research whenever they’re unsure of where to eat. If they’re craving Indian food, they’ll Google a phrase like “Indian restaurants near me”. If they can’t stop thinking about sushi, they’ll Google “best sushi restaurants”.

Search engines work by gathering information from various sites across the web, and then presenting the most relevant results based on what a user is searching.

When you have a website, then it could also get shown to people searching for restaurants in your location. The phrase “restaurants near me” gets more than 10 million searches every month!

The most important thing to keep in mind when building your restaurant’s website is that the quality of the user experience, or UX, can determine how well Google ranks it. A good ranking means that your site will be placed among the top results for all relevant queries.

User experience is simply how well designed your site is, how fast it loads, and how responsive it is. A responsive site should load seamlessly on every device, from smartphones to computers. Essentially, every page has to be optimized to provide the best possible experience to visitors.

You can use tools like Wix or WordPress to build your site if you don’t want to spend money on expensive developers. Wix has tons of ready-made restaurant templates that you can add to your site with just a click, and just edit the content. Alternatively, you can use FreeWebDesign to get professional developers to build your entire site for free.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the practice of increasing a website’s authority to help it rank higher on search engines. A good ranking means that the site will be visible to more people searching.

SEO is the best digital marketing strategy to drive organic traffic to your site without spending money on ads. The main goal for your website will be to appear on the first page of the Google results for relevant queries such as:

“Restaurants near me”
“Best restaurants in [insert your city]”
“Top 10 restaurants in [insert your city]”
“Where to eat in [insert your city]”
“Restaurants in [insert your city] that serve [insert menu item]”

SEO has two main parts. The first is on-site SEO, which mainly entails optimizing individual pages on the website to make them user friendly. Some ways to optimize a page include increasing its loading speed, using a mixture of text, images and videos in its content, and making it mobile responsive. If you built your site using a Wix template then all the pages will be optimized by default.

The second part is off-page SEO, which mainly entails link building. Whenever other sites link to your site, Google sees it as a referral, which is a sign of authority. The more authoritative your site is, the higher the ranking it’s likely to have, and ultimately, the more traffic it will receive.

Since link building can be extremely complicated and time consuming, you can outsource it to an SEO agency or freelancer. Investing in SEO will eventually pay off once your site starts getting organic traffic from search engines.

3. Run a display ads campaign

Display ads are image banners that can be placed on other websites and social media platforms. They are a great way to reach people who might never have known that you exist.

A lot of digital marketers spend aggressively on display ads because they are so effective at catching people’s attention.

You can run your campaign on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. All those platforms allow you to target people based on numerous characteristics, including their location, interests, and even other pages they visit.

With such advanced targeting options, you can easily pinpoint people who are most likely to be interested in your restaurant, and only show ads to them.

For example, if you have a restaurant in London that serves keto friendly food, you can create ads that specifically target Facebook users based in London who have liked pages related to keto diet.

If you’re still on the fence about display ads, you can run a trial campaign with a limited budget just to test the waters. The minimum expenditure on most platforms is just around $5 per day. It’s one of the most effective restaurant digital marketing strategy.

4. Collect reviews

Proactively collecting reviews is by far the best online marketing strategy for displaying credibility. As mentioned before, most people nowadays first conduct some research before going out to eat. Restaurant reviews are the most read out of all industries.

You can create listings on platforms like Yelp, Zomato, Open Table and Trip Advisor to start collecting reviews for your restaurant.

The more positive online reviews you have, the more people are likely to visit your restaurant. Studies show that over 33% of diners will not eat at a restaurant with less than a 4 star rating. Make sure to politely remind your diners to leave a review if they were happy with your food and services.

5. Get a Google My Business page

Google My Business, or GMB, is a platform where businesses can create and manage their online profiles. GMB pages often get priority ranking in the search results and on Google Maps.

A GMB page is very important to add to your collection of digital assets. It can increase your online presence dramatically. A person searching for restaurants in your location is likely to see your GMB page even ahead of your website.

Another advantage is that it enables you to collect reviews effortlessly. Whenever people visit your restaurant, Google will follow up by requesting them to submit a rating and review.

It only takes a few minutes to create a Google My Business profile and add information about your restaurant, menu, opening hours, etc. And it’s completely free. Don’t miss out on it.

6. Dominate social media

Social platforms open up room for conversation and engagement in ways that a website or any other digital platform cannot. They allow you to develop a more intimate relationship with your followers and other food enthusiasts.

Studies show that up to 72% of people have used Facebook to make restaurant decisions based on comments and photos shared by other people.

The most successful social media platforms for restaurants are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Twitter users have the highest level of engagement with restaurants compared to other industries.

Make sure to consistently post the highest quality content for all your pages, including professional-grade photos and videos. A decent smartphone camera and some basic photography skills can go a long way.

All your posts should have a singular goal: to encourage engagement through likes, comments and shares.

If you don’t have the personnel to help execute your social media marketing strategy, you can easily outsource the work to a freelancer. Make sure to get your accounts verified to gain extra credibility points.

7. Run monthly contests

Social media contests are a great marketing strategy for increasing engagement and driving awareness to your page. They give your followers something to look forward to every month.

You can ask people to share photos of their meals while at your restaurant for a chance to win a voucher or a free meal. You can also ask them to tag you in a post explaining what they love most about your restaurant.

Be generous with your rewards to actually get them excited to take part. Don’t just give a 5% discount, offer a free dessert or cocktail of their choice.

The value of publicity and social proof you’ll get from all the people sharing photos and testimonials about your restaurant will be greater than the cost of giving away free food. You can make the contest expenses a part of your marketing budget.

If just 20 people with around 1,000 friends or followers participate, then their posts could be seen by a possible 20,000 people. It’s such an effective restaurant digital marketing strategy.

8. Partner with delivery platforms

Did you know that around 70% of people in the US order food for delivery? Food delivery is all the rage right now, and platforms like Uber Eats are thriving.

You can partner with delivery services that are available in your locality to tap into the rapidly growing market.

Offering deliveries will enable you to serve more people and create an additional revenue channel for your restaurant. If your food is as good as you believe it to be, then you’ll also be creating opportunities for repeat business with every new delivery.

Apps like Uber Eats spend heftily on marketing and often get millions of visitors in a month. By simply having your restaurant enlisted with them, you’ll be a direct beneficiary of their marketing efforts.

9. Email marketing

Email marketing has one of the highest conversion rates in digital marketing. A lot of people spend as much time on their emails as they do on social media. The click through rates on email campaigns are higher than on most other ad formats.

You can start collecting emails right from your website by simply integrating a sign up form asking users to enter their email address to receive your monthly newsletters. The newsletters in this case will be your lead magnet, a free item that is offered to get people’s contacts.

Publishing monthly newsletters is a great way to keep people on the loop with the latest news, menu changes and specials, upcoming events, discounts, latest blog posts, etc.

10. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a great online marketing strategy for building a brand on the internet. A lot of people trust the opinions of popular personalities that they follow and look up to on platforms like Instagram and YouTube.

If you can get such people to endorse your restaurant, then you’ll win over their fans as well. According to Forbes, influencer marketing is growing even faster than digital ads.

You can partner up with local influencers and offer a great incentive to get them to visit your restaurant and review your food. Some influencers might be happy to do it for a free meal while others might want a payment.

Make sure to only work with local influencers who have a fan base in your target location. The whole idea is to increase your brand awareness amongst people who can actually go to your restaurant.

11. Food blogger outreach

Getting food bloggers to publish posts about your restaurant is another great way to build your brand awareness and show credibility. There’s no greater honor than having other people talk about you. PR is key in the highly competitive food industry.

You can invite popular bloggers to your restaurant and offer a free meal in exchange for an honest review.

Unlike social media posts, blogs have a long lifespan on the internet. A social media post eventually gets buried as a person keeps posting, however a blog post will keep showing up whenever people Google your restaurant’s name.

12. Start your own blog

Starting a blog is a fantastic way to dominate the internet with content originating from your website. The more people come across your name online, the more familiarized they get with it. It’s the same reason why companies spend billions on branding campaigns every year.

You can publish blog posts on food related topics such as recipes, news about the latest festivals, reviews of other restaurants, etc. If you don’t have the time or personnel to write your content, you can always outsource it to a freelance writer.

Each post is simply an opportunity to get in front of people searching the internet for information. For example, if you publish a cheesecake recipe, then you’re likely to traffic from people searching for cheesecake recipes.

The more content you have, the higher the traffic you’ll get from Google. And when you have traffic, you can easily divert attention to your restaurant, promote any deals and offers you have, get people to sign up to your email list, etc. You can even monetize your blog by adding ad banners using Google Adsense.

The key to a successful high-traffic blog is keyword research; that is the process of finding phrases that are frequently search online. When you know what they are, then you can write posts addressing them.

For example, if you discover that a lot of people search for the phrase “easiest smoothies to make from home”, then you know it’s a topic you can cover.

SEMrush is a popular keyword research tool used by bloggers to identify high-traffic keywords to write about. You can use it to find content ideas for your blog.

13. SMS marketing

A lot of people will stop everything they’re doing as soon as they feel their phones vibrate. Text messages have the ability to get attention unlike anything else. They are one of the most effective, yet highly underutilized marketing channels. You can start collecting phone numbers of people who visit your restaurant and those who place orders for delivery.

Your SMS marketing campaigns should focus on promoting any limited time offers and discounts you currently have.

If you happen to keep records of all your restaurant visitors in a CRM, you can send special discount coupons to people who haven’t dined or ordered in a long time.

Remember to always end your messages with a clear call-to-action such as “Order Now”, along with your contacts.