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Do you feel like your restaurant is a step above all the rest – offering a unique and decadent menu, friendly staff and an experience unlike any other restaurants in your area? Well, the hard truth is that it doesn’t really matter what you think about your restaurant, it matters what the consumer thinks. Online marketing is crucial to a restaurant’s success and is the recipe for helping the consumers in your area to see your restaurant through your own eyes. How do you do it? Here are some tips on marketing your restaurant online.
Create a Yelp Account
If you don’t already have a Yelp account then it’s about to become your restaurant’s new best friend. This is where people go to find and review your restaurant. Create an account with as many details as Yelp will allow, including -
· Menu
· Photos of popular dishes
· Location
· Hours of operation
· Price range
Be sure to respond in a friendly and positive manner to reviews, even the not so great ones. Look at negative reviews as a learning experience.
Create a Mobile-Friendly Website
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We are doing everything from our phones these days, including looking for the best place to eat nearby. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, chances are your restaurant will get skipped over.
Have an Easily Accessible Online Menu
The #1 thing that consumers want to find online is your restaurant’s menu. Your online menu should be as sleek and user-friendly as possible. Give the people what they want!
Food Photos
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I know – as if we don’t see enough of that on our Facebook newsfeeds, right? Well, as far as the restaurant business is concerned, food photos are everything. Some restaurants even hire a professional photographer to be sure that their photos are as drool-worthy as possible. This is what draws people in to your establishment.
Create a Blog
Creating a blog is a great way for your customers to get to know you and your staff and also a great tool for developing your restaurant’s brand identity. Your blog can be as casual and light-hearted as you wish, featuring topics such as –
· Wine & Food pairings
· Employee spotlights
· Local farmer’s markets where you shop for the freshest ingredients
· Recent awards and recognitions
Create an Instagram Account
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Visual content is key for restaurant marketing, so Instagram is worth its weight in gold. Instagram is a great place to showcase popular menu items, high quality photos of the highest quality ingredients used at your restaurant, action photos of the chefs hard at work, etc. Instagram is a great tool to grab the consumer’s attention and draw them in to your restaurant.
Creative Social Media Strategy
Social media is essential to reaching your target audience. Work with a professional marketing agency to develop a social media strategy that will help your restaurant stand out from the others. There are so many ways that you can get creative with social media –
· Chef in action videos
· Social media contests
· Organic connection with potential customers
Geo-targeted Ads
When you advertise online, your goal is to achieve a higher click-through rate. However, if the wrong people are clicking through to your restaurant website, that isn’t doing you any good. Purchase advertising that will be limited to targeting the people in your specific region, which will generate more business for your restaurant and is more cost efficient.
Monitor Your Social Media
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Social media strategy requires consistent efforts in order to be effective. Neglecting your social media can prove to be more harmful than not utilizing social media at all. Once you set up your platforms, they must be monitored on a regular basis. Any interaction from your audience warrants a response from you. Sounds like a lot of work, right? This is why more businesses are now hiring social media managers to handle this side of their marketing strategy.
Show the Human Side of Your Restaurant
Everyone loves a little behind-the-scenes action and your restaurant will benefit from allowing the customers to get to know your staff on a more personal level.
· Spotlight an employee who has gone above and beyond
· Tell the story of how your restaurant came to be
· Showcase behind-the-scenes footage of how the restaurant operates
· What inspired the cuisine choice of your restaurant?
Are you interested in developing an online marketing strategy for your restaurant? Reach out to us at The Storyteller Agency. Call us at 850.267.0931 or send us an email to info@storytelleragency.com. We can help you find the perfect online marketing recipe that will leave customers craving their next visit to your restaurant.