Digital Marketing For Restaurants

Digital Marketing For Restaurants – India has always been a food-loving country with each region having its own special cuisine and recipes, Indians have never been very big on eating out. The restaurant industry in India has been growing at a rapid pace over the last decade or so and the growth story is set to continue for the next foreseeable future.  In order to be successful in this highly competitive restaurant industry, you need to be on top of your game in a number of areas: from excellent customer service and menu optimization to digital marketing for restaurants and overall management of your business. In this context, digital marketing plays a very important role for restaurant businesses. Not only will the customers find your restaurant business online in order to come and dine at your address, but they may also find you and place an order online. Effective digital marketing from a good digital marketing company holds huge potential in attracting new orders, as well as make your relationship strong with your existing customer base. Our experts at WebHopes Infotech have worked with many restaurant owners and managers as clients. And we have developed a good marketing strategy over time for digital marketing for restaurants.

Digital Advertising for restaurants by WebHopers Infotech Private Limited:

Here are some practical tips, points, and ideas to take your digital marketing strategy of the restaurent to the next level this year. If done right, this will definitely help you get more orders, genuine customers, and grow your business.

1. Optimize Your Website

The first part of marketing in restaurants you need to start with is a professionally designed and up-to-date website. If your restaurant’s website is not appropriate then they’re going to bounce off your website to find one they like better. If your website should have these features that will make any customer want to eat at your restaurant.

• Mobile-friendly: Your website needs to be professional, functional, and mobile-friendly. The customers need to be able to navigate your site intuitively to find things like menus, hours of operation, and your address on their cell phones
• Legible and updated menu: There’s a pretty good chance that your customers are visiting your website to see your menu. Make sure your menu is easy to read on desktop and mobile devices, no zooming-in required. For more advanced optimization, add name and alt tags to all your images so search engines know exactly what the food is that you’re showing.
• Hours: If you only serve brunch on Sunday mornings, you’ll want to make sure your customers know that. Having your hours at the bottom of your homepage and on a dedicated page will ensure that no one shows up for dinner on Sunday nights.
• Reviews option: Any restaurant should make sure they are registered on as many of these sites as possible to attract reviews. This helps to build their online presence and can advertise the restaurant to new customers who may not have heard about the restaurant otherwise. Once the listing is set up, it’s also important to check back regularly and respond to all reviews, both negative and positive. That will help you both build and protect your restaurant’s reputation.

2. Be Active on Social Media

If you are relatively new in the social space, to get started, you can use the following social media best practices:

• Engage the audience by posting polls online
• Create a blog on your website full of engaging and relevant content
• Make sure every page of your website utilizes local keywords and other forms of SEO coding (metadata embedded in pictures, videos, headings, etc.)
• Use both internal links (to other pages of your site) and external links (to affiliate websites, sources of data, etc.)
• Create a Google My Business Account 
• Make sure your contact information and address is listed multiple times and is easy to find
• Post all types of media types including simple text posts, videos, and photos
• Share recipes and interesting food concepts
• Use popular hashtags and trending topics

3. Drive Business via Email Marketing

If cultivating relationships with your newcomers and turning them into potential customers are your key goals, email marketing will be a great assistance. The bottom line is to create an authentic and engaging email notification that inspires a client’s loyalty and links them to your brand.

• Upcoming event: Let your loyal customers know what you are planning — a special menu or holiday event?
• Current specials: It is always a good idea to refresh your existing customer’s memories by mentioning your current specials. This will capture their attention and increase their urge to visit your restaurant.
• Rewards and discounts: Give them more reasons to come to your restaurant by providing them exclusive discounts and rewards. Tell them they are special and the discounts only apply to them!
• Blog posts: Everyone loves to read interesting content on food! Give them your best blog post snippets and invite them to your blog to read more!
• Important updates: Last but not least, you can also use the emails to tell them about important updates about your restaurant. It can be related to new additions to the menu or a special guest!

4. Targetted Ads and Online Campaigns for your restaurant

Restaurants are location-centric businesses so it is important that your digital marketing strategies do not just address the internet in general, but local markets in particular. Locally targeted online advertising is a great way to build your customer base and drive more sales.

5. Understand Your Customer Value

Speaking of customer value, focusing on the lifetime value of a customer is key to the success of your business. Owning your audience is key to boosting the lifetime value of a customer, and there are three ways to do it.

• Own the search traffic in your area. Restaurants aren’t your only competition these days. Delivery services like Uber Eats and Grubhub are taking a piece of the search traffic pie, as well as reservation websites like OpenTable.
• Collect customer information. Build your own database of customer contact information so you don’t have to rely on third parties.
• Offer special programs. Make your customers feel like family with programs and special offers that will make your restaurant their regular spot.

Why Is Digital Marketing Important For Restaurants?

So what is a restaurant marketing and how can it help my business? Take Instagram as an example. According to Social Media Today, 30% of millennials diners actively avoid restaurants with a weak Instagram presence. And as restaurant customers become more digitally oriented, it’s critical to define an online presence and identity that stands out.

• Provides information and opens communication with customers
• Gives your restaurant the opportunity to be found online
• Allows you to share your food and recipes visually online
• Adds professionalism and legitimacy to your restaurant
•  Internet marketing costs far less per lead than other methods, even if you utilize channels like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
• Digital marketing is effective to maintain the identity and credibility of your brand which will definitely attract customers to your restaurant.

Nowadays, your restaurant should also be using social media as a channel to keep the lines of communication open between you and your guests in addition to a marketing channel.

Looking for More Help With Restaurant Digital Marketing?

Owning a successful restaurant nowadays isn’t like it used to be. At one time, as long as your food and service were good, you could set up shop on the street corner and do business for years. However, it takes a little more intention now in the way you market and engage with the community.  The learning curve for restaurant digital marketing is steep, but we can help. If you have any questions about our digital agency network, contact us today and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.