Promotional Marketing for Restaurants

Restaurant Promotional Marketing Tips That Continue To Deliver

• Restaurant Promotion Ideas to Create Loyal Customers
  • Take Advantage of Social Media Channels
  • Use Third Party Delivery Apps
  • Email Marketing
  • Other Digital Marketing Channels
  • Promotional Items
  • Local Partnerships
  • Direct Mail
• Competing in the Restaurant Industry
  • Consistent Brand Voice
  • Adopting New Trends
• What are Your Restaurant Promotion Goals?

The restaurant industry is a highly competitive sector of business. In almost every municipality, there is a plethora of other restaurants where customers spend their money to enjoy a dining experience. Restaurant owners everywhere are constantly on the lookout for new ways to promote their establishments to find new customers and retain loyal customers as well.

If you are a restaurant owner, then marketing is an extremely important aspect of your job. Restaurant marketing is unique, and building an effective strategy takes knowledge, time, and clearly defined goals. You need to understand the geography that you serve, be embedded in the local community, and know how to communicate with your target customers to convince them to visit your location.

Restaurant Promotion Ideas to Create Loyal Customers

As a key decision-maker for your business, you have a role in determining the restaurant marketing plan that will be executed. Your goal is to attract both new and existing customers to your establishment. Here are a few restaurant marketing ideas that you need to know about.

Take Advantage of Social Media Channels

If you own a business in 2022, then social media should be a part of your marketing strategy. One of the most effective methods to attract customers is to connect with them first on social media. Having social media accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or even LinkedIn can be useful for your restaurant promotion. You can share promo codes, images of delicious food, a loyalty program, discounted drinks, and other information that will immediately be seen by your followers. Plus, these individuals can like, comment, or share your social media posts to reach more customers.

Use Third Party Delivery Apps

Easy delivery is the present and future of food service, especially after the effects that the last few years have had on the food industry. Partnering with entities like Ubereats or DoorDash can grant you access to a larger audience of people who want your menu items to be combined with convenient delivery services.

Email Marketing

Email marketing can be a powerful tool for your business. Using targeted emails that go out to people who have subscribed, you can offer discounts, advertise happy hour, introduce new menu items, give away a free appetizer, or even share your new online menu. Loyalty programs that only work with customers who have subscribed on your website can keep those customers coming back with repeat business. Or, it may boost sales by convincing a first-time subscriber to take advantage of free drinks that they learned about from the email.

Other Digital Marketing Channels

There are plenty of methods for restaurant promotion in the digital era. You can build up your website and focus on search engine optimization to rank higher in local results. Including an online ordering system can be enough to entice new customers via your website. Paid advertising such as Google ads or social media ads can reach new audiences based on certain demographic data points. Sharing positive reviews from regular customers via social media or on your website can also boost your online reputation.

Another great strategy is to connect with food bloggers. You can either invite food bloggers to your restaurant or ask them to link to your website from their content.

Promotional Items

Your restaurant name and logo need to be out in the public sphere to connect with potential customers. Branded merchandise can accomplish this very well. Ordering items like custom t-shirts, branded hats, mugs, personalized umbrellas with your logo, or other everyday products with your brand information can generate additional leads whenever someone uses the item. This method is all about increasing brand visibility, but it can also reward loyal customers for their enthusiasm. After the initial purchase, it becomes free advertising for your business.

Local Partnerships

Restaurants are particularly dependent on their local reputation. One of the best ways to improve the perception of your brand in the community is by partnering with other local businesses or sponsoring local events. This method can form mutually beneficial relationships in the area, giving you more exposure and a better reputation with local customers. Get in touch with the local newspaper to put an advertisement in that medium as well.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is another restaurant promotion idea that can be effective. You can send postcards that contain coupons for a free meal, membership in a loyalty program, or just images of signature dishes that will get the mouth watering. Include a restaurant description and a positive review from a past customer to give them enough information to consider visiting your establishment.

Competing in the Restaurant Industry

These restaurant promotion ideas may not work for every business in this industry. How you reach potential customers can look different depending on where you are located and what kind of dining experience you create.

No matter what channels you use for your restaurant promotions, there are a few things you need to remember for effective messaging.

Consistent Brand Voice

The tone of your messaging should appear consistent throughout your marketing collateral. Though it can have a slightly different tone depending on the medium and the intended audience, it should be obvious that each piece of promotion comes from the same restaurant. If you own a luxury establishment, your tone should probably never be considered zany or excitable. It should be calm and sophisticated.

Adopting New Trends

It could be tempting to try to do business the same way that you always have. But the world is changing and your restaurant may need to change with it to keep up. New restaurant promotion ideas may work better than old ones. Bringing your restaurant online by including your menu online and considering delivery apps can keep you competitive. Sharing online reviews to show that past customers love your food is a must for drawing in new customers. You are in the hospitality industry, and making people comfortable by adopting new trends should be a priority for your restaurant.

What are Your Restaurant Promotion Goals?

Any restaurant promotion campaign will fail if it is not guided by clear goals and key performance indicators. When laying out your strategy for increasing brand visibility and building customer loyalty, remember to create specific and realistic goals that can be measured with KPIs. This is the only way to assess whether or not your marketing campaign has been successful.

Try out these restaurant promotion ideas to reach more potential customers and propel your establishment to higher profitability.