Restaurant marketing is a lot more than knowing how to advertise a restaurant with your restaurant menu and some pictures. With so much competition in the market, there is an ever-increasing array of challenges and obstacles that might hinder you to promote your restaurant.

Restaurant ads are now more about sharing something unique and engaging for people, in terms of presentations, ideas, and pricing. It these ads that put an eatery ahead of others when it comes to restaurant marketing.

To help you to keep up with the advancement in marketing strategies that actually work for your business, we have enlisted some highly practical business ideas on honest restaurant promotion, whether you are a startup or are already in the business. 

How Can I Promote My Restaurant Online? 

Let’s look at some tactical strategies for your business growth with these restaurant promotion ideas using social media’s power.

1. Have A Check On Your Restaurant Social Media Presence 

Social media platforms have taken online marketing to the next level. Social media is no longer restricted to personal profiles and connections.

It is seen that restaurants that have a robust online presence on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, have the best customer engagement and loyalty.

If combined with an affordable faring by highlighting different discounts and delivery services, this engagement can easily turn to fantastic ROI. If you didn’t know yet… people tend to spend about 135 minutes per day on social media!

The key is to keep your customers/guests engaged, even when they’re not physically at your place. Don’t let your feed be a dead page, even when commercial challenges are there. For instance, with the COVID-19 prevalence all across the globe, you must work on things that will be still providing some sort of benefit to the audience such as 

• a delivery system
• a trivia quiz
• or some positive notes

If you find it hard to keep up with the requirements a social media platform comes with, you can download software plans for 

• Following specific hashtags
• Sharing articles
• And creating custom posts
• Scheduling your posts 
• Ask for feedback! You can send me a DM if you want to, for example, on Instagram.

2. Add All Your Details For Contact For Restaurant Promotion

Remember to add your details on the About page on Facebook, on a Pinned Tweet on Twitter, and other social media links. Include relevant data that shows extensively how your restaurant stands out from the other with all relevant details. Don’t make it confusing for the viewers.

Make sure to share the following relevant information:

1. Photos and videos
2. Share your opening and closing hours
3. Location
4. Your Menu 
5. Pricing and discounts 
6. Additional features (WiFi, outdoor, parking, etc.)

What about a photo wall with polaroid photos from guests? You can then re-share these on social media. Check the photo below!

3. Focus On Beautiful Presentation Of Dishes to boost your Restaurant Marketing

Instagram is the best platform for presenting your dishes on the internet, making it one of the top sites for restaurant promotion ideas. We think that every detail in a picture, matters. From background to the colors, and from the garnishing to the plating and other cutlery, you can make your dish look like a Michelin star quality with the perfect frame. The prettier you make your dishes look, the higher the chance of people taking photos of that dish and sharing it on social media.

Also, if you are new to Instagram with your business venture, try taking a lesson from Google and Instagram search engines about trending hashtags on food and use them often below your posts.

But remember not to do too much of it as it might drive your audience away. Do it in moderation instead. Restaurant Instagram marketing involves a lot of research on your competitors and identifying the aspects that make them stand out. So, don’t imitate the style, instead take note of the framework and bring your own individuality to it.

You don’t have to present a new dish every time. You could also present the same dish in multiple ways.

To create the perfect restaurant Instagram experience, do: 

• Use ingredients with matching and contrasting rule
• Create experience related videos
• Add two dishes of similar colors in one frame
• Use bright colored ingredients 
• Use adequate lighting 
• Use unique plating for attention
• Use some decorative elements 

You can also leverage the power of Cinemagraphs, especially for discounts and coupons to grab viewer attention.

4. Engaging And Responsive Restaurant Website Design

Your restaurant’s marketing plan needs a beautiful and user-friendly website. Creating an engaging and user-friendly website for your clients is a must where they can see all your cuisines and information related to your business. 

As a part of placing restaurant ads in Google, you can optimize your website using SEO to make it trending in the search results. You must have your menu online on the site or can also opt for a third-party provider for online delivery platforms.

Also, don’t forget to add engaging features through plugins, including animation videos, chatbots for responsive customer support, and mobile-friendly interface to optimize your audience’s engagement.

5. Local Targeted Ads To Promote A Restaurant

Facebook offers a useful campaign managing program in the form of Facebook Business, where you can take hold of running campaign ads. Have you ever checked out the Facebook Ads Library? Here you can check what ads your competitors are running. It’s a great learning tool!

Moreover, you can also use the location feature on apps like Instagram, so viewers, when viewing stories of a specific region, get to view your restaurant as well. This ultimately boosts up your business growth as more and more audiences are viewing the stories.

In formal terms, it is known as Geo-Targeting your restaurant ads on Facebook. You can use the zip code of your locality in the system or simply add your location in the ‘location’ space provided by the ads system to target your specific audience. 

Most restaurants find it essential to use this feature through different ad networks as one of their unique restaurant promotion ideas. I recommend using Facebook and Instagram since Google is much more expensive when it comes to ads. You can also employ local SEO practices to fuel the marketing game. Local SEO is a lot more time-intensive, but it works, especially in the long run. So yes, restaurant SEO shouldn’t be neglected.

Final Words About Restaurant Promotion

So, now you know the answer to “how to promote my restaurant?” Whether you want to market a café or a restaurant, when choosing the best marketing strategies, remember specificity is vital. It will bring you a much higher ROI.

With that said, I hope these restaurant ideas will help you. So, make use of these restaurant marketing tips and do let us know the results!