The digital world is now fully integrated into our lives and with so much information available at our fingertips. People are fulfilling their wants like Food, Dress, Home appliances, Movie tickets and more by direct ordering via online mediums.
Especially online food ordering sector is growing exponentially and it will be expected to grow at over 16 percent annually by 2023 according to a study by business consultancy firm Market Research Future.
Now multiple companies like Swiggy, Uber, Zomato are flagging as top online food delivering companies. And more restaurants are already started their restaurant business online and others are getting into it. These things make competition among restaurants is fierce.
Getting found your restaurant by the audience online and manage the new and existing users is highly difficult without marketing your restaurants digitally. Yes..!! Even if your restaurant prepares and offers amazing food to the customers is not going to rich you until unless you promote it digitally. If you do so it will make you richer and build a big brand for your restaurant.
Reasons why digital marketing is necessary for restaurants
Let me first explain what is digital marketing and reasons to choose digital marketing for your restaurants? Digital marketing is the practice of marketing/advertising your business product/services through digital channels, mainly on the internet, mobile phones, and other digital mediums.
Nowadays the Customer's expectations and buying habits have changed a lot. Before making a buying decision online, 9 out of 10 people research the buying product/services and then make the purchasing decision. Here, Digital platforms act as one of the primary tools that people use to decide where they’re going to eat, what they’re going to have it and more things.
The online food ordering marketplace is filled with heavy competition. It’s highly difficult to differentiate your restaurants from your competitors and maintain loyalty with new and existing customers.
If you want to expose your restaurant as a unique one and gain more potential foodie customers towards your restaurants then digital marketing is the best option for you. With the planned marketing strategies, You can stay ahead and manage the customer expectation in the future also.
By adding digital marketing to your restaurant, you’re going to acquire hundreds and thousands of new customers in a short time. Still, you’re confusing in investing your time and money on digital marketing then here are the top reasons to pick it.
1) Build trust and credibility.
2) Reach a huge audience.
3) Convert visitors into loyal customers.
4) Build brand identity.
5) Promote your restaurants widely.
6) Maintain brand reputation.
Now you can get the importance of digital marketing for your restaurant business. If you’re not having an online presence for your restaurant business, you are missing out on many opportunities to enrich your business.
Restaurant Marketing Strategies
Here are some of the restaurant marketing tips and strategies that will help to build an effective marketing plan for your restaurants which will build a brand identity, magnify your reach, create brand awareness, drive more users, and gain huge audience attention. A strong digital marketing strategy for your restaurant will have a higher chance of getting success. Well, let us see the marketing plan one by one.
Build a functional website
Having a professional website for your restaurant strong your online presence. This will help to find your restaurant easily by new and existing customers. And have a lot of opportunities to change the visitors into a potential customer by optimizing the landing page properly.
Here is the step by step guide for landing page optimization
One more important thing is that the website must be in a mobile responsive manner because most of them are making a food order via smartphones. Your website must be fit in all mobile devices. So, Hire a professional website designer and make a stunning restaurant website that is going to act as the digital door for your restaurant business.
Get listed on Google My Business:
List your business details in Google My Business listing which helps users to find your revenue and reach you easily. It is very important to list your business here because it will help the local audience to reach your restaurant shortly.
The positive star ratings and reviews on Google My Business listing will create a positive brand perception for your restaurant and have the chance to drive them towards your restaurants.
Get listed on Yelp:
Yelp is one of the best business directories for restaurants, entertainment, shopping and more and it is a crowdsourced review forum where people frequently use this share their opinion. First, let you list your business information on yelp and ask the customers to provide their feedback here. Having more positive reviews on Yelp can do wonder your restaurant business. Fill the exact details of your business clearly on Yelp.
Keep in mind that don’t ignore the negative feedback from your customer and respond to the reviews either negative or positive immediately. For negative reviews, take a deep breath and respond to them positively. These things expose you like that how you’re valuing customers.
Do SEO:
SEO Stands for Search Engine Optimization which is the process of optimizing your website as SEO-friendly to place your website at the #1 place when the audience searched your business relevant keywords. It is purely organic and the outcome results stay for long-term.
The SEO process involves on-page and off-page optimization which takes some time to deliver the expected results. It helps to drive more customers towards your digital door. It is not a quick easy job to place your website at the top position, need to put full-effort to attain it.
Better hire a professional SEO agency to work on your website. They’ll entirely take care of your business website ranking.
Social media marketing:
Without using social mediums, our day is not complete. Trillions and more people are using social channels daily. It is the best place to promote your restaurant which drives customers towards your restaurants.
Build a business profile in top social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and more. And start engaging with people by posting visual treat food and your restaurant images continually.
Promote your festival offers, discounts and exclusive coupons on various social mediums will gain audience attention. Creating a business page is an easy job but engaging with the audience instantly on social mediums will build a better reputation for your restaurant business.
Also, check out the social media marketing services to empower your business to the next level.
Email Newsletter:
Many of them are thinking like that email was dead. But it was not whatever happens people are likely to open up their mail first. Still, it’s alive and used as a big source for business people.
Let us get into the matter, Start sending your special coupons and exclusive offers to the customers bring back towards your digital door. And offers a special discount for your newsletter signup. Surely, These things will help you to bring back your existing customer and referral customers.
SMS marketing:
Sending an SMS with promo code and special offers will surely have a high chance of opening rate and increase website visibility. Take into an account, Don’t disappoint the customer with long-descriptive content and so many promotional SMS.
Nowadays people are getting so many messages with promotional content. Without opening they just ignore it. So, send a message with short, clear, eye-catching content and a call-to-action at last to the audience.
Mobile app marketing:
Having an app for your restaurant that is an additional benefit for your restaurant business. There are so many restaurant mobile apps are available in the mobile app marketplace.
If you want to get your mobile app at #1 on search result then you have to concentrate on mobile app marketing services. Or else just advertise your restaurant website at in-app ads. This will surely increase the website traffic and drive sales for your business.
Geo-Targeted Facebook and Google Ads:
Wanna customers instantly then make use of paid advertisements like Google ads, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and Quora ads. Here, you can focus your advertisement on the targeted audience and region.
Google paid ads will showcase your business website at the top position. For each click, the amount will be taken from your account. It is a pay per click advertising services but it brings more customers towards your restaurant website. When compared to SEO services it takes no time to list your website on search engines.
Facebook and other social media paid ads will bring more benefits to your restaurant business. Monitoring your campaign daily and change your strategy based on the flow and make use of it effectively.
Online listings and review sites:
Start submitting your business information on various business listing and reviews website regarding your business category. This will help to rank your business website, build a reputation for your business and people get to know easily.
Ask the customer to submit the reviews and give a rating on top review sites. The important thing is that you don’t force them to do it. It sometimes backfires you.
Promote User-generated content:
User-generated content is one of the effective ways to develop engagement with users. Conduct a contest by asking the customers to post their photos with favorite food and share that on your website and social mediums.
Randomly select the luck contestants and offer the best price. By doing this, will create a positive impression on your business brand.
Go Live from your kitchen:
Youtube is one of the biggest channels in the online medium which has trillions and more people are using it. It is one of the biggest platforms to reach the target audience by promoting your restaurant business in video format.
Make a wonderful video with taste recipe preparation and post that on your youtube channel. This will grab audience attention, increase likes, shares, and subscribers for your channel. Post a live video of making a recipe from your kitchen will gain massive response from the audience. So, start to make a live video..!!
Final Note:
Wanna any assistance to make your restaurant popular in local or across the globe? If yes then hire SEOWarriors experts without any hesitation. We are glad to assist you in the best way.
Feel free to ask digital marketing related queries to promote your restaurant business.