You open your restaurant and don’t know how to attract new customers? Or your restaurant opened two years ago and still only your few neighbors come to your restaurants?

With these challenges, you might think that your food isn’t good enough or the neighborhood isn’t suitable for opening a restaurant. But actually, it is not your fault; all you need is some Digital marketing strategies for restaurants.

With digital marketing for restaurants, you can advance your business and gain a lot of loyal customers. 

15 Digital marketing strategies for restaurants

If you’ve decided to use restaurant digital marketing, this post is for you. Apply even a few of these digital marketing tips for restaurants, and boost your sales. 

1. Take high-quality photos from your dishes

Did you know that many people choose a restaurant based on its photos on Instagram?

One of the most important things in digital marketing for restaurants is perfect visual content. So you need high-quality photos and videos to show your delicious food.

Take your camera or smartphone to the kitchen, show the process of cooking and snap some nice images of the final dish.

If you have enough budget, hire a professional photographer or write a contract with a digital marketing agency.

If you want great photos, you need some equipment such as lighting equipment and professional cameras. Also, you can edit your photos and videos with some of the best content-producing applications like Canva and Inshot. 

Whatever way you choose, our point is to take visual content seriously in restaurant and food business.

2. Create video content

Video has gained a lot more power these days. According to insights from Facebook and Instagram, videos have more engagement than other sorts of content, which means that people spend more time to watch and interact with them.

Also, People prefer to watch videos on different social media and look at the details of your business. So post your videos on various platforms like Instagram and YouTube.

If you use video content, don’t forget to add subtitles to your videos, because some users watch videos in silent mode. 

3. Use online food applications

There are a lot of foodie apps like Belly, level up, loyal Block, and Perka. You can make a partnership program with them to encourage visitors to discover your restaurant.

These applications use gamification and customer loyalty programs and provide free purchases or discounts to customers.

As one of the recipes in the field of digital marketing for restaurants, online food applications help you develop your restaurant’s digital marketing program furthermore.

4. Don’t forget to use Yelp 

One of the most popular review websites in the restaurant industry is Yelp. People can find different restaurants on Yelp and write their feedback; so you should do your best to be present on it.

Try to be active on your Yelp account and post different photos. You can upload your diner’s menu and write store hours and price range as well. 

If your restaurant has Wi-Fi or parking, add this information to your account as well.

Don’t forget to thank positive reviews and respond as quickly as possible to negative ones. Responding to the negative reviews politely and professionally can help your brand. In this way, people know that you respect your customers and fix the problem as soon as possible. 

5. Be active on Instagram

A strong Instagram presence is something that you can’t ignore in digital marketing for restaurants.

This popular social media can promote your business and attract new customers. Using hashtags, cooperating with food bloggers, and producing good content are some of the strategies that you can apply. 

6. Design a website

Having the perfect website is one of the most fundamental things in digital marketing for restaurants.

You have many options for getting a website: using website builder sites, hiring a freelance website designer, or working with a website design company. Also, you can cooperate with a digital marketing company. These companies help you in the field of digital marketing for restaurants.

7. Write on your website

After making a website, you should plan for writing on its blog. You can write about the menu, different chains, and recipes. 

8. Schedule an email marketing program

Though some business owners think email marketing is an old strategy, this approach is one of the most influential plans in digital marketing for restaurants.

You can send an email newsletter to your loyal customer and give them a unique discount. Also, email is a great way to celebrate your success, advertise new food, and discuss everything related to your brand and restaurant. 

9. User-generated content is the best

If you use user-generated content, people will fall in love with your restaurant soon.

Many customers take a photo of their food in a restaurant or take selfies with their friends and post a photo as a normal post or story on Instagram. Share their photos on your Instagram account.

In this way, you develop personal communication and intimate engagement with your customers and followers. 

10. Show your staff

If you want to win in digital marketing for restaurants, you should humanize your staff.

Introduce your staff on social media; as a result, people realize that you care about your employee. Some restaurants make high-quality videos of their staff explaining menus and food. 

Also, you can ask them to congratulate the new year for other religious or national holidays on social media.

Using name tags for the staff, addressing their concerns, and speaking to them clearly are some useful approaches. Many restaurants use this strategy to stand out and build a positive reputation. 

11. Collaborate with food delivery services

Since the spread of the Covid-19 virus, many people prefer to stay home and order food from food delivery applications. If you use these applications, you’ll always have customers.

Remember the time that nobody goes to restaurants and a lot of people order different food at home to cope with quarantine. 

There are a lot of food delivery applications, some of them work in different countries and others provide services to a special city of the country. At last, you can reach your maximum potential with these services.

Another thing that you should consider in digital marketing for restaurants is discoverability. When you collaborate with food delivery applications, people can find your restaurant and make an order.

12. Invite food bloggers to your restaurant

When we talk about digital marketing for restaurants, food bloggers are one of the crucial parts of it. You can’t underestimate their power and influence on people.

Users of Instagram and YouTube scroll down and watch different videos of food bloggers every day. They decide based on bloggers’ reviews and comments. 

Consequently, host an event and invite famous food bloggers to your restaurant. Don’t choose bloggers on random, some of them aren’t good for your brand. Thus, pick a person that has a great influence on your preferred customers.

For instance, If you own a vegetarian restaurant, vegan food bloggers can take your restaurant to the next level. 

13. Use word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful strategy for restaurants. You can offer different discounts or build a unique experience for your customer. In this way, your customers tell their friends and family about your food and services. 

14. Advertise on Instagram

You can apply for paid promotion on your Instagram account. In this way, the overall reach of your brand is increased, more people see your restaurant and order food.

Some restaurants use promoted posts on Instagram to develop their brand awareness as well. This method is helpful and increases your restaurant’s brand awareness. 

15. Register your location on google map

One of the best ways for restaurants to produce more leads and show the location to old and new customers is by registering their location on google map.

You can do this by getting a Google My Business account set up for your restaurant.

Summery

In this article, we talked about 15 recipes in digital marketing and online strategies for restaurants.

Applying these strategies helps you boost your revenue and have an online presence.

Have you ever used any of these digital marketing recipes in your restaurants? Are they useful? Let us know in the comment section below.