I’m lucky to stay in a metropolis that has a thriving restaurant scene (it’s most recognized for its barbecue and Tex-Mex, if that provides you any trace). And whereas I don’t think about myself a meals connoisseur by any means, I used to be a meals journalist in a previous life, so I proceed to remain on prime of the most recent tales and tendencies surrounding the restaurant business.
To do that, I observe a variety of eating places on social media. I additionally subscribe to their newsletters, attend their particular occasions, enter their giveaways, and join their rewards packages.
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And since my advertising mind by no means shuts off, I can’t assist however be inquisitive about these restaurant marketing strategies. How effectively do they work? Which channels do these eating places carry out greatest on? How do established eating places keep curiosity after the grand opening buzz wears down?
To determine the solutions to those questions, I’m digging deep into restaurant advertising concepts, methods, and real-life campaigns.
Restaurant Advertising Methods That Work
I needed to get extra perception into the world of restaurant advertising, so I spoke with Rachel Ayotte, the founder and CEO of Bread and Butter, a communications company that works with hospitality shoppers.
Why do eating places of all sizes want a advertising technique? What does an efficient marketing campaign appear to be today?
“In New York Metropolis alone, there are over 25,000 eating places, which might take the typical particular person 22 years to attempt,” shares Ayotte.
She provides, “With an enormous stock of choices and a comparatively quick time to succeed, individuals should know your restaurant not solely exists however can be someplace they need to go.”
That is why having a restaurant advertising technique is crucial.
If you wish to stand out on-line and produce extra individuals into your restaurant, listed here are examples of profitable restaurant advertising methods and campaigns to take inspiration from.
Buyer-First Content material
A vital restaurant advertising technique is to focus in your prospects. This is applicable not solely to the best way you market your restaurant but in addition to the menu objects and merchandise you create.
One artistic instance of that is Chipotle’s restricted version Serviette Holder, which is impressed by its prospects.
Right here’s the backstory: It’s frequent for Chipotle prospects to seize a stack of napkins to retailer of their automobiles on their manner out of the restaurant.
As an alternative of reprimanding its prospects for stocking up on napkins, Chipotle created a possibility for elevated model loyalty by making a branded automotive serviette holder.
As a bonus, the marketing campaign launched across the holidays, making it an ideal gifting alternative. Every serviette holder additionally got here with a present card for a free entree to encourage prospects to go to a restaurant to “restock” their serviette provide.
Chipotle’s restricted version Serviette Holder was not solely a superb customer-inspired product, however the marketing campaign was additionally an ideal instance of social listening in motion.
By being attentive to their prospects’ behaviors and what they’re sharing on-line in regards to the restaurant, Chipotle was in a position to create a viral second out of it.
Chipotle’s purpose on social is to “meet [their] followers the place they’re,” according to Candice Beck, the restaurant’s director of social, influencers, and Web3, and this marketing campaign fully aligns with that technique.
To make use of this technique, get to know your prospects on a deep degree. Immerse your self within the platforms they spend their time on, whether or not that’s Instagram or TikTok, and make observe of their pursuits, behaviors, and objectives.
Nostalgic Advertising
To at the present time, I can’t hear the phrases “child again ribs” and never consider Chili’s. That’s as a result of I, like many millennials, grew up listening to the enduring “I would like my child again ribs” jingle on TV and the radio.
Chili’s has tapped into its Y2K previous and created a number of nostalgic marketing campaigns this yr to focus on its now-adult millennial viewers.
The campaigns embrace a business that introduced again the restaurant’s well-known jingle, now sung by Boyz II Males (one other popular culture fixture of the 90s and 2000s).
Utilizing nostalgia in advertising has been a well-liked technique in recent times as many companies’ goal audiences are rising up. If you happen to’re a longtime restaurant, don’t be afraid to rehash the previous.
This might imply bringing again an previous menu merchandise, promoting merchandise with retro branding, and even sharing flashbacks from all through your restaurant’s historical past.
Nostalgic advertising works not solely as a result of it faucets into individuals’s reminiscences and feelings but in addition as a result of it serves as a reminder of how lengthy you’ve been round.
Social-Pushed Content material
In my expertise, eating places that prioritize social media of their advertising technique are likely to generate a variety of on-line buzz.
An instance of a restaurant that creates social-driven content material is Austin-based El Arroyo. Though El Arroyo is a Mexican restaurant, you received’t discover any photos of meals on its Instagram.
With virtually 700K followers, the restaurant is as a substitute recognized for its real-life marquee signal that shows cheeky jokes and ideas, typically submitted by followers.
The account shares an image of its signal with a brand new message on daily basis on Instagram.
El Arroyo has constructed a big following round its every day signal, giving its viewers one thing to stay up for seeing — and sharing — on daily basis.
The restaurant additionally makes use of its signal to tie in present occasions or make main bulletins. For instance, when the hit Netflix present, Queer Eye, was filming in Austin, El Arroyo partnered with the solid to generate buzz.
If you wish to use social media to drive visitors to your restaurant, create one thing shareable. This might be a mural or an indication that folks need to take photos of or a novel menu merchandise that will stand out within the feed.
Signature Model
After I consider a restaurant with a signature, distinct, and memorable model, the primary place that involves thoughts is Taquero Mucho.
The Austin-based restaurant is thought for utilizing the colour pink in all the things — from its decor to its margaritas — even the tortillas are pink.
Pink is splashed throughout its model imagery, making it unmissable on-line and in social media feeds. The colour pink typically evokes a sense of playfulness, optimism, and femininity, that are all phrases I’d use to explain Taquero Mucho.
Creating a robust model is an effective way to make your restaurant memorable, as a signature model basically markets your restaurant for you.
Model Partnerships
“Considered one of our favourite and only advertising concepts for eating places to maximise consciousness is a partnership with a like-minded model to faucet into their viewers,” shares Ayotte.
Ayotte says it is a low-lift manner to attract on what you have already got — an important restaurant and an important menu. You may “leverage that by one other model that shares an analogous ethos and has entry to prospects the restaurant won’t,” she notes
An instance of a profitable partnership Ayotte’s staff developed and executed was between the dessert model, Lady M Confections, Netflix, and Pearl Studio prematurely of the discharge of the extremely anticipated musical Over the Moon.
To celebrate the release, Woman M created a mooncake lantern. As soon as the partnership was able to be introduced, Ayotte’s staff reached out to media and influencers to share the information, in addition to samples of the mooncake lanterns.
“The partnership was a powerful success,” Ayotte recollects. “It [resulted] in an enormous bump in gross sales for Woman M [and generated] over 1.7 million impressions and 19,804 complete social engagements.”
10 Restaurant Advertising Concepts for 2024
Primarily based on the methods above, together with extra perception from Rachel Ayotte and my private encounters with restaurant advertising that works, listed here are ten restaurant advertising concepts and greatest practices to do this yr and past.
1. Construct a easy but efficient web site.
Whether or not I’m looking for a restaurant close to me on Google or I’ve found a brand new place by Instagram, my subsequent step is at all times to take a look at the restaurant’s web site. Having a website for your restaurant is a necessity.
“Even when a restaurant has the perfect service and greatest meals on the earth, company want a option to discover out data and join not directly,” states Ayotte. “In our expertise designing web sites for eating places, we emphasize the necessity for repeatedly up to date, user-friendly codecs that make it simple for company to see the menu, hours, location, and methods to make a reservation.”
What we like: The excellent news is you don’t have to have web site growth abilities to construct an efficient web site. “Eating places don’t want a massively advanced web site to achieve success,” says Ayotte. “A web site may be comparatively easy if designed effectively.”
2. Handle and replace your Google Enterprise Profile.
Along with their web site, one other factor I instantly check out when looking for eating places is their Google Business Profile.
Your Google Enterprise Profile is the profile that pops up on the fitting facet of the display when somebody searches for your online business. This snapshot of your online business creates a primary impression to searchers who need to see what kind of meals to count on and what the environment is like.
It additionally shows data they’re most definitely searching for immediately, corresponding to hours, location, and evaluations.
It’s essential to maintain your profile up to date so prospects have probably the most correct and up-to-date data. Eating places that actively keep this data get 89% extra calls, web site visits, and path requests, and 79% extra evaluations, in response to knowledge from Mobile.io.
Right here’s an instance of a Google Enterprise Profile for an area pizza restaurant right here in Austin known as Via 313:
The profile consists of the restaurant’s important data corresponding to location, hours, and telephone quantity. However it additionally consists of issues that may assist diners make their choice, just like the menu, service choices, evaluations, and loads of photographs.
Professional tip: You may add your personal photographs to your profile for those who don’t need it to solely function photographs from buyer evaluations.
3. Observe on-line evaluations.
“Folks like to broadcast detrimental experiences and evaluations,” Ayotte states. “This could hang-out a restaurant for years.”
When you can’t management what individuals write of their evaluations, you may select the way you reply. Take the time to learn and reply to each optimistic and detrimental evaluations.
Right here’s one other instance from Through 313, the pizza store I discussed above. The restaurant takes the time to thoughtfully reply to each buyer evaluation on Google, even acknowledging their suggestions when prospects share it.
Greatest for: Monitoring your restaurant’s on-line evaluations isn’t solely so you may keep on prime of detrimental evaluations. You may as well use buyer suggestions to enhance your restaurant service, get inspiration for brand spanking new dishes, or accumulate optimistic evaluations as social proof in your web site and social media posts.
4. Share UGC (user-generated content material).
For me, seeing posts created by different accounts and prospects helps persuade me to attempt a restaurant. That is known as user-generated content material, or UGC.
UGC establishes social proof, which is the idea that prospects are influenced by different prospects’ experiences, habits, and suggestions.
For instance, the Reel beneath was created by a meals influencer sharing their expertise on the New Orleans-based restaurant Willa Jean (which, by the best way, I can verify is a good brunch spot within the metropolis!).
The restaurant shared the video by itself web page to amplify the influencer’s optimistic suggestion.
What we like: Not solely does UGC present social proof on your restaurant, however it additionally offers you loads of content material to share, so that you by no means run out of issues to submit.
5. Be part of a reservation platform.
If you wish to get prospects within the door, you must make it simple for them to return. This typically means assembly them the place they’re, which, within the case of upscale eating, is on the reservation platforms.
Reservation platforms like Resy or Tock are nice channels for eating places to extend their discoverability and get in entrance of latest prospects.
On the client facet, these platforms are handy. Reserving platforms typically curate eating places for purchasers, organizing them into classes corresponding to “High Rated” or “Greatest Brunches” so individuals can navigate their choices higher.
Resy, as an illustration, even has a class known as “Guide Tonight” that shows openings for last-minute reservations.
Professional tip: If you happen to supply reservations or group eating, make it simple on your prospects to e-book a desk by including a reservation web page or plugin in your web site.
6. Have interaction prospects immediately with e-mail advertising.
In 2023, I had certainly one of my most memorable eating experiences at Bar Marilou in New Orleans. From the library-inspired inside design to the mouth-watering bites and flavorful drinks, the expertise has caught with me for almost a yr.
So, in fact, anytime I see the identify “Bar Marilou” pop up in my inbox, I instantly open the e-mail simply to be reminded of my magical expertise.
That is the ability of e-mail advertising. When executed proper, emails can be utilized to extend buyer loyalty and function a reminder of your story, your menu, or your occasions. E-mail is a option to attain your prospects immediately, whereas social media posts can get misplaced in a sea of content material.
Bar Marilou solely sends out emails as soon as a month (generally much less) to share upcoming occasions or updates. This cadence is sufficient for me since I don’t even stay in the identical metropolis and may’t simply drop in at any time when I would like.
Nonetheless, when you have sufficient knowledge in your prospects, you might ship extra personalised emails relying on their places, demographic, and eating historical past with you. As an example, if you understand your prospects’ birthdays, you may ship them rewards to redeem on their particular days.
Greatest for: If you wish to talk essential data or share upcoming occasions along with your prospects, e-mail advertising could be a extra direct channel than social media.
7. Create shareable moments.
Shareable content material is vital to succeeding on social media. Once you create content material that draws and resonates with individuals, they’re extra more likely to share it and allow you to improve your restaurant’s on-line attain.
There are just a few methods to create moments or content material that folks need to share. A method is to make your dishes Instagram-worthy so prospects are compelled to take photos and share them.
Right here’s one other instance from the pink restaurant, Taquero Mucho, I discussed earlier. The restaurant creates a enjoyable new drink each month and shares it on Instagram. This one aligned with the Barbie film that premiered final summer time.
One other manner is to design your restaurant in a manner that’s share-worthy by creating an Instagrammable spot inside or outdoors of your area, like a mural.
8. Begin a loyalty or rewards program.
Everybody loves free stuff. A rewards program could be a enjoyable option to encourage prospects to develop into frequent guests to earn free meals and drinks.
McDonald’s presents an important instance of methods to execute a rewards program. To encourage individuals to make use of its app, McDonald’s presents prospects free giant fries after they make a purchase order.
The extra orders you make within the app, the extra factors you get and may use in direction of future orders.
However you don’t have to have a flowery app or be a big restaurant chain like McDonald’s to start out a loyalty program.
My native espresso store, Sorrento’s Coffee, presents a rewards program that’s arrange by its POS system, Square.
Each time you purchase a drink, you get factors. 140 factors get you one free drink. (Which jogs my memory — appears to be like like I’ve a free espresso or two ready for me!).
Greatest for: Loyalty packages are supposed to reward frequent prospects. In my expertise, the rewards packages I’ve been most definitely to take part in are locations that I already frequent.
These packages work nice with espresso retailers or lunch spots in a busy workplace space — anyplace the place you’re more likely to see the identical prospects regularly.
9. Create branded merchandise.
Creating bodily merchandise or branded merchandise is an effective way to let your prospects do your advertising for you.
Just like the Chipotle marketing campaign I shared above, branded merchandise is a good advertising thought for eating places with a loyal buyer base. The important thing to creating branded merchandise is to create a product that not solely displays your model however can be one thing your prospects would take pleasure in.
For instance, El Arroyo, the restaurant with the well-known marquee signal, additionally presents a full line of merchandise that’s synonymous with its signal. The cheeky nature of the signal lends itself effectively to different gift-type objects like doormats, coasters, and enjoying playing cards, just like the merchandise beneath.
What we like: Branded merchandise is an effective way to encourage prospects to advertise your model for you and improve word-of-mouth.
10. Associate with comparable manufacturers.
As Ayotte talked about earlier when speaking about restaurant advertising methods, model partnerships are an efficient option to amplify your model by getting it in entrance of latest audiences.
To get probably the most out of your model partnership, associate with a model that has a distinct but like-minded viewers. It doesn’t even must be one other restaurant or meals model. The purpose is to be launched to a brand new viewers that will profit from or take pleasure in your product.
As an example, for those who’re a small native restaurant that simply opened in your city’s important road, you might associate with different small companies on the block for an in-person occasion or a social media giveaway.
Professional tip: Model partnerships needs to be mutually useful. Take into account what the opposite celebration will obtain in return for partnering with you once you make your pitch.
What I Realized About Restaurant Advertising
The most important factor I’ve discovered from digging into totally different restaurant campaigns and techniques is that there’s a ton of room to be artistic with restaurant advertising.
There’s no proper or fallacious manner. Eating places can incorporate tendencies of their social posts or follow publishing high-quality photographs of their dishes. They’ll attempt to get in entrance of latest audiences by partnering with comparable manufacturers, or they’ll construct loyalty with present prospects by e-mail advertising.
The important factor your restaurant must succeed is an internet site with the next key data:
- Menu
- Hours
- Location
- Telephone quantity
- Reservations (if relevant)
The most effective restaurant advertising technique is to know your model and your prospects. From there, you may experiment with totally different on-line and in-person channels to execute your imaginative and prescient and produce extra individuals into your restaurant for years to return.
