Marketing is an incredibly important part of the world of restaurants. It’s a tool to help build your name, become more easily recognized, and create a name for yourselves; beyond that, though, it’s a great way to get both new and returning customers through the doors. Restaurant marketing looks a bit different for small restaurants as opposed to large chains so in this blog we’re breaking down ten of the best marketing strategies for small restaurants.
Why Marketing Matters for Small Restaurants
Restaurant marketing matters because it helps build brand recognition and get your name out to the greater world. Not only does it bring in new guests, but it can help encourage returning customers to come back.
10 Best Marketing Strategies for Small Restaurants
Below are the ten most useful tips for small restaurant owners and operators!
1. Develop a Strong Social Media Presence
Social media is the place to build your name, find new friends and followers, and to share information about your business. Social media is quite literally built from the ground up to help you market your business, so use it! One of the most important things you can do as a restauranteur is to regularly post on social media; it doesn’t have to be perfectly curated, but it does need to be engaging.
No matter the platform, engaging social media has a few things in common. It uses high quality photos that capture the eye, it conveys important information without spamming paragraphs upon paragraphs, and it finds a niche..
Another important aspect of social media is its ability to tag your physical presence and, by extension, tag your posts to get them in front of the relevant people. While a professional social media manager can do all of this for you, if you’re doing it yourself, research relevant hashtags to your business and include them on posts.
2. Leverage Local SEO to Boost Online Visibility
Search engine optimizaation (SEO) is a fancy term for a simple concept; it’s the way that Google and other search engines find your content. Generally, it consists of a combination of formatting, keyword usage, and knowledge about what to do (and when) for a website or web page.
One of the first places that you’ll want to spend time is on your Google My Business listing. Ensure it’s completely accurate and filled with good photos, reviews, and up-to-date information on events, open hours, and menu items.
As far as optimization in general, SEO applies in a lot of areas; it applies to social media, your website, any reviews that are posted about your business, and just about anything else that mentions your name. Because of this, hiring a professional can help to streamline this process immensely, both saving you time and ensuring things are done well the first time.
3. Offer Exclusive Deals and Discounts
Among the most honored of marketing strategies for small restaurants is the practice of providing discounts and deals. Whether this comes in the form of happy hour, coupons, punch cards, or something else — what matters is that the customer feels like they got away with a deal.
Among the best types of deals and discounts to run are limited-time offers. These force guests into a feeling of fear of missing out which is a powerful motivator. Whether this comes in the form of discounts that only apply during specific times, a limited special, or a one-day event, limited-time offers help build hype around your business.
Once you find a discount or two to offer, it’s time to promote yourself. This is where your social media comes in handy! Beyond socials, though, be sure to use any contact information (like emails gathered through customer data) to reach out, too.
4. Build Partnerships with Local Businesses
Restaurant partnerships are fantastic for building your name in your area. Whether it’s a partnership with another restaurant, a local art collective, farmer’s market, or something else, that’s up to you — just find a way to lean on local businesses in which you can help support each other.
One such way to build attention on both brands is to cross-promote each other. Each time one of you posts on social media, tag the other. Each time you run a special, emphasize how they helped you to get to that point. By doing this, you’re able to lean on both business’ regulars, rather than just yours.
Here are a few examples of collaborative marketing:
- Create specials using produce from specific stands at your local farmer’s market. Tag each stand, as well as the farmer’s market’s socials.
- Have a local artist create stickers for your restaurant; give them out for free with the purchase of a drink, appetizer, or special.
- Offer a local tea or coffee shop’s drinks and have them feature a baked good of yours.
5. Utilize Email Marketing to Stay Top-of-Mind
While email marketing may feel a bit old-school, it works. If you have access to customer emails, it’s crucial that you build a newsletter of some sort to keep returning customers engaged.
An effective newsletter will be released regularly (maybe once or twice a month) and will highlight the exciting initiatives that your business is working on. Whether this means photos of specials, interviews with your chef, or highlights of new drinks and cocktails, that’s up to you — just keep things flowing.
Below are a couple of examples of email marketing strategies for small restaurants:
- Create a newsletter that highlights a new chef’s favorite dish each week. Once you’ve run through all of your chefs, switch to drinks with your front of house staff.
- Highlight an ingredient each month, creating a dish that focuses on using that specific ingredient.
6. Host Special Events or Themed Nights
Special events are a fantastic way to build engagement with your community and, ultimately, bring in more people.
Special events don’t have to be complicated; you can go as easy as running a themed food night (for example, surf and turf night). Inversely, you can go as deep into a theme as you want; some restaurants opt to host trivia or karaoke nights each week, others run watch parties for local sports teams, and others still find success with costume nights and gala balls. It’s really limited only by your creativity and budget.
Once you have an event figured out, it’s time to lean on social media. In the weeks leading up to the event, tease it a few times, eventually revealing it in the two to three weeks directly before it begins. From there, post twice a week highlighting something new about the event. If it’s trivia, share a few teaser questions. If it’s karaoke, drop hints at prizes for winners. Get your customers engaged!
7. Encourage Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Customer reviews are incredibly useful for restaurants, and because of this, it’s crucial that we encourage as many of them as possible. Even those that aren’t glowing are useful for SEO purposes, but be sure to highlight the best on your website and social media.
Positive reviews are often the first thing that newcomers see when looking at your online presence for the first time. Because of this, if you have a good number of positive reviews, you’ll find that more and more new guests come in over time. While this isn’t going to be the end-all, be-all of finding new customers, reviews have a lot more power than some restaurateurs know.
Once you have reviews, you need to display them. Share them on social media, highlight a few killers on your website, and be sure to comb through those on Google regularly.
8. Leverage Food Delivery Apps and Online Ordering
Food delivery apps are another great way to get new people to discover your restaurant. While they’re obviously not going to physically enter your space, delivery gives you wider reach in your area, which may encourage customers to visit you (or order again) in the future.
By getting on third-party delivery apps, you’re expanding the reach of your business. Traditionally, most restaurants rely on the business of people who are directly around them; people getting off of work, those who live nearby, and any people passing by due to foot traffic. With delivery, your name pops up to everyone in your town that wants to get food delivered and that’s a far wider reach than you’d have without it.
9. Offer a Loyalty Program to Encourage Repeat Visits
Loyalty programs are everywhere for a reason. They encourage customers to come back. Some restaurants offer punch card programs in which you buy nine of something (often appetizers or drinks) and get the tenth free or heavily discounted. Others offer a regular discount (~5%) to those who join their loyalty program. How you do it is up to you, but know that there are perks to digital loyalty programs.
Physical loyalty programs are tried-and-true, and that’s great. Digital programs, though, give you the opportunity to get customer data (email and/or phone number), meaning you now get to encourage them with discounts and email marketing.
10. Engage with Your Community
At the end of the day, your community is the reason that you’re around. They’re the ones who support you, who supply you, and who work for you — so engage with them.
Local events and festivals are an excellent place to build your name locally while supporting other local businesses. Whether you participate by sponsoring your local Little League, joining bake sales and fundraisers, or by supporting charity, it’s just a good thing all around. You get to help out the community, they get to see your name, and you both get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Community involvement, by its very nature, is used to build brand awareness.
How to Choose the Right Marketing Strategies for Your Small Restaurant
Ultimately, there are a lot of marketing strategies for small restaurants. While you certainly don’t need to pursue all of them, it’s good to be aware that there are plenty of options out there. Look at the logistics of the points above and see which work for you. You may find that discounts and social media are the most realistic for you. If not, maybe community involvement and events are more your bag.
In short, no two restaurants will use the same two marketing strategies to the exact same effect. You’ll need to figure out what works for your business and lean into it.
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