If customers visit your restaurant and love your food, chances are, they will remain loyal for years or maybe even for a lifetime. But for that, they need to find you first. And that’s where advertising comes in.
This article will explore some paid and free advertising tips for your restaurant business.
10 tips for advertising your restaurant business
- Get a website
A website is a must-have for every business, including restaurant business. For example, 77% of visitors check the restaurant’s website before dining or ordering from there.
You lose many potential customers if you don’t have a website. The best thing about having a website is that you can design it the way you want. Give it your own colors, graphics, and content. You can display the dishes you make and talk in detail about – what’s unique about you.
- Setup social media pages
Posting on social media gives you a broad reach without putting much time into SEO. And if you keep posting good stuff, some of your posts may go viral. Giving a lot of visibility to your restaurant.
People in restaurants take pictures of their food to share with their friends; if you’re on social media, they will tag you in the picture. This way, your customer’s friends will know about your restaurant, who were unknown before this post.
- Sign up for restaurant review apps
Getting listed on restaurant review apps is most effective for your restaurant business, as people on restaurant review apps have very high intent. If someone is using a restaurant app, chances are that they are looking to get some food.
The key to winning on these platforms is adding as many details as possible, such as your website address, phone number, operating hours, menu, price range, photos, Wi-Fi availability, etc.
- Set up a google business profile
Setting up a Google business profile is the way to own search engine result pages.
Google business profile makes you appear on Google Maps, local search results, and the right side panel of search pages.
Creating a Google business account is not enough. You need to do a little local SEO to rank higher on Google Maps and search results when people search nearby restaurants.
- Design a beautiful business card
Like any other business, restaurants must also have a business card to make a first impression in front of their customers.
Sharing business cards will make your restaurant stay top of mind for all your customers. They will remember the taste of your food whenever looking at the card.
- Design an online menu
Designing a beautiful online menu is very important for your restaurant business. People visiting your website, social media, or google business profile want to see your menu.
Sometimes customers go through this embarrassing situation where they visit a restaurant and can’t decide what to order. An online menu helps them decide what to eat before entering the restaurant.
- Advertise on digital billboards
Digital billboards are engaging and cheaper than traditional billboards as you can show animations and moving visuals.
Digital billboards are rented by minutes, meaning you only pay when your ad is displayed in front of people. In addition, you can choose specific times of the day when you want to display your ad.
- Flyers and banners
Regarding the restaurant business, flyers and banners are never old. Even some of the biggest restaurant brands use flyers and banners to advertise their restaurants.
Flyers and banners are cost-effective. For example, if the restaurant has a special offer during festival days, it is easier and cheaper to quickly design a flier and distribute it to a large audience than creating an ad on a billboard or local tv channel.
- Participate in local events and fundraisers
Participating in events and fundraising programs at your local community, schools, colleges, charity, etc., is beneficial for your restaurant business to increase the reach to the new audience.
Look for opportunities where you can conduct a “dine and donate” fundraiser program. Where people will come and eat. And a percentage of the bill amount will go to charity.
- Paid online advertisement
And finally, we have paid online advertisements. You can run ad campaigns on Instagram and Facebook to get in front of people with a specific interest in a particular area.
You can show your ads specifically to people who engage with your social media posts or those who follow your competitor’s channels.
Summary
Paid or free, both types of advertisements are essential for a business. Paid ads give quick results with better control over reach and customer information, while organic advertisements give long-term benefits without spending too much money and help establish a brand.
