Restaurant marketing was focused on one goal for most of its existence: to get more people into the restaurant. How do you get customers to visit your restaurant and spend money on your food?
All that changed in 2020. Technological advances and industry changes brought about by COVID-19 have turned the tide in restaurant marketing. Your 2021 marketing strategy should focus on getting customers to your restaurant and bringing them there.
Do you need help reaching your customers at home or on the move? These six channels will help you market your restaurant.
Mobile Menus
Your restaurant’s digital marketing strategy will be centered around your online menu. To encourage takeout orders, you should direct customers to your mobile menu. Your digital marketing strategy is only well-built if your mobile experience is good. Many restaurant technologies can help.
It’s more important than ever for restaurants to offer an easy-to-find online menu.
An online menu tied to your regular dine-in menu is one of the best ways to get an accurate Online Menu. A menu maker program will allow you to create menu templates that can be used for your dine-in menus. This program will enable you to easily convert your menu text into an online format compatible with smartphones.
QR codes
2020 was the year that the QR codes came back. They were adopted by restaurants to allow for contactless dining. After consumers and restaurants have become familiar with the technology, you can expect QR code usage to increase and fulfill even more digital marketing requirements for restaurants. They can be used for more than just accessing an online menu.
Follow your social media
Redirect to your site
Leave a positive Yelp review or a Google review
Fill out an online order form
Mobile devices allow you to pay the bill
Search engines have become the modern equivalent of window shopping for restaurants, with most people staying home for most of 2020. To optimize your website for these users, familiarize yourself with local SEO.
Customers prefer to walk down the street and find new restaurants by using Google searches such as “steakhouse delivery near me” or even “burritos nearby me.”
Social Media
Social media was used by restaurants to establish their brand and followership before 2020. Social media channels have taken on greater importance due to the uncertainty in the industry over the last year. They are also a way to communicate quickly with customers and restaurants. You can use many angles to create compelling Instagram marketing for restaurants.
You can start a Facebook and Instagram account in 2021, even if you have never had one. This will keep customers informed about new policies, hours, and closures. To learn more about what to do and not do, keep an eye on restaurant social media tips.
Delivery apps
GrubHub or Doordash are popular delivery apps that provide instant delivery infrastructure and coverage to restaurants. However, they charge high commission fees and eat into restaurant profits.
Sites for Review
Two reasons are why it is crucial to have a strong (and positive!) presence on review sites such as Google Reviews and Yelp. These reviews are critical because customers will use them to decide where to order their food. Reviews are a great way to earn customers’ trust in crowded online markets and help your restaurant stand out.
Google and other search engines consider reviews when ranking restaurants on Google searches. If your customers enjoyed the meal or service, you should encourage them to leave positive reviews.