13 tips for promoting a restaurant with ease

How to promote a restaurant easily? 13 tips to get the word out about your restaurant. Know how to attract customers to your restaurant.

Do you own a restaurant and are looking how to develop your customer base?Don't know how to go about promoting your restaurant effectively? This article is for you.

You'll find 13 tips to boost your restaurant and attract new customers to your establishment. It's time for you to improve your restaurant's communication to raise your profile as a restaurateur.

Are you ready to attract more local customers to your restaurant? Let's get started!

1. Have a website to get the word out about your restaurant

If you're wondering "how to attract customers to your restaurant?", start by showing up where people search for a restaurant, i.e. on Google.

To make your restaurant easily known, you absolutely must have a website that is properly referenced and that will give all the information your future customers are looking for (your menu, your opening hours and days, your address, whether you offer a delivery service, etc.).

Your website is the heart of your restaurant's brand, and it's even more important, now that people are going to order online. And as well as being a real tool for attracting new customers, it will also help you build customer loyalty to encourage them to visit again.

{{INTERN}}

Make sure it contains these elements:

• A simple home page that makes people want to visit your restaurant
• An easy-to-read menu
• A form for'subscribe to your newsletter
• Online ordering button (if you offer it)
• Reservation button
• Icons to your social networks
• A page with your contact information and address

Make sure your site's texts and images are of the highest possible quality and encourage your visitor to come and taste your restaurant's dishes. You can also present the history of your establishment, its owner, your team and share customer reviews.

The more you succeed in creating a universe that is specific to you, the more successful your restaurant communication will be.

2. Be present on social networks

Creating Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages is an essential way to promote your restaurant business in a local market. It's vital that you're able to use at least one of them to communicate directly with your community of customers or prospects.

These platforms are also a great way to publicly display your customers' positive reviews to the rest of the world. Don't deprive yourself.

In the restaurant business, Facebook and Instagram remain the best platforms for showcasing you and your establishment. In particular, Instagram will allow you to publish beautiful photos of your establishment, your dishes or your team. Enough to attract customers to your restaurant.

Here are a few key points to bear in mind when posting on the networks.

Posting images of your restaurant

Make sure your photos are bright and full of color so that they stand out on social networks and best represent your offerings. Find out here how to make beautiful instagram photos.

Choosing the right hashtags

Using hashtags such as #[Restaurant name]HappyHour, #restaurant[location] or #pizza will also help you gain more followers and therefore offer your restaurant more visibility. Use them wisely.

Update your restaurant's news

Social networks are also a great way to keep customers informed of the latest changes in your business, such as new opening hours, new company policies or new products and services.

When you post, the timing you choose should be strategic. For example, feature a tasty food product or special dish a few hours before lunch so customers have time to plan their order.

Ideally, posting a photo of food before eating is the best time to post, in the case of a restaurant.

Handle customer reviews

Having a Yelp account encourages customers to write reviews, and since these accounts can exist even if you don't create one, it's important to have an official Yelp account.

Whether reviews are negative or positive, always treat them kindly and professionally.

You can also share positive reviews on your various socials to give them even more weight and encourage new people to do so.

Measuring your success on networks

Finally, don't forget to monitor the success of your social networks using measurement tools such as Google Analytics and Hootsuite.

With these few points, you have the basics to launch your restaurant's communication on social networks.

We would remind you, however, that managing these platforms is a job in its own right, and if you don't know how to use these tools, it's best to opt for one of these options:

• Delegate to a community manager
• Take training
• Automate your platforms

The InstaSchool training course is currently one of the best training courses.fr/">best Instagram training courses for developing your account.

And for those of you more determined to boost your restaurant, here's more on using instagram bot and instagram automation.

3. Integrate a newsletter into restaurant communications

Integrating an emailling campaign into your restaurant's marketing plan is a great way to promote your restaurant and build customer loyalty.

The concept is simple, ask your customers to sign up (via your website and when they dine at your place) to receive an email from you on a regular basis. Once registered, you can send them a weekly or monthly e-mail to share a new menu, a promotion to encourage them to come back, or simply remind them that they ate well at your place and are welcome to return.

The most important thing in this means of communication is to be authentic and bring real information to your customers. You've succeeded in introducing your restaurant to these people make sure they come back to boost your restaurant.

You don't know how to go about it, read this article detailing how to do an e-mail campaign.

4. Update the menu regularly

One of the best ways to get the word out about your restaurant is to have regulars coming back regularly to taste your little dishes. They will then talk about it around them and value your quality dishes.

And to encourage these people to come back, what better way than to offer them a menu that changes regularly?

Updating your menu regularly, will encourage your customers to come back for a dish they love and that is available for a limited time, or to come and discover your new products.

Are you having trouble creating your menu? Use Canva. It's free and easy.

Here are two examples of templates you can use for your restaurant's communication:

5. Create a customer loyalty program to boost your restaurant

These days, customer loyalty is more important than ever. If you don't already have a loyalty program, now's the time to start.

{{INTERN}}

A loyalty plan is a great way to build customer loyalty, but also to get the word out about your restaurant for free. Indeed, people will tell their friends about it or compare the prizes they can have with their current points.

To set this up ,several possibilities are open to you:

• The good old card with a stamp on each visit
• Use loyalty apps
• Innovate. Find your own way to build customer loyalty.

Integrate this into your marketing plan now to make it easier to advertise your restaurant.

6. Come up with new ideas for your restaurant

The number of restaurants keeps increasing in every town in France, so you need to stand out. To do this, you need to do your testing, try new things, offer new products and new experiences.

Are there unique products and services you can offer? Special promotions that can attract more people to your restaurant? Should your aim be to create a buzz among your customers or prospects?

Here are some examples of restaurant advertising that can help you stand out and spread the word about your restaurant:

• Cooking workshops
• Tastings
• Hosting events
• Make one or more promotional videos
• After their meal, offer customers a card with a simple recipe to make at home
• Propose a special promotion every day of the week.

7. Organize contests and games to attract customers to your restaurant

Organizing contests or games related to your restaurant can be a great way to encourage interaction with your customers and/or liven up your social networks.

For example, offer your customers the chance to leave a positive review or comment on one of your Instagram posts, to perhaps, be drawn and choose the name of the dish coming out next month on your new menu. It's up to you to be original and consistent with your restaurant's image.

But I guarantee it will encourage word-of-mouth and attract new customers.

8. Leverage local media to get the word out about your restaurant for free

Send out a press release when you have news to share about your restaurant. Be sure to also share positive press on your website and network pages to promote your restaurant to local customers.

9. Use effective keywords for SEO

You now have your site to advertise your restaurant, all that's left is to be well referenced on relevant queries.

When thinking of keywords for your restaurant, try entering queries you think your prospects will use to find a restaurant in your category and region, such as "[your city] restaurants", "[your food category] [your city]" and "restaurants in [your city]".

Now that more and more people are searching for takeaway restaurants and ordering online, referencing your site is more important than ever.

10. Partner with delivery services

Today, customers expect to be able to order from most local restaurants via delivery services. You can also offer your own delivery services to meet these needs. Market-leading apps include:

• Deliveroo
• Uber eats

11. Offer coupons and discounts to promote your restaurant

What better way to promote your restaurant business than by offering savings? Join a local online savings site, such as Groupon, to offer discounts where customers are already looking for local deals.

12. Team up with local suppliers

If your budget allows, team up with a local vendor specializing in fresh produce or ingredients, so you can both cross-promote your brands. What could be better than bringing your restaurant to the attention of the person who supplies your produce?

When two companies have the same goals, it's a win-win situation.

Value the products of the producer who supplies you by clearly specifying the origin of your restaurant's products to your clientele, and he'll recommend you to his customers who are looking for a place to eat well.

13. Join your local chamber of commerce

Membership in your local chamber of commerce gives you valuable access to the local community and the possibility to organize events and parties for members.

You'll also receive a link on its website, which can help you rank in search engines. It can also help you get in touch with mentors, advisors and other professionals who will guide you in your efforts to boost your restaurant.

Concluding: How to promote a restaurant

We hope these 13 tips help you better understand how to promote a restaurant and attract more local customers to your establishment.

To make managing your social networks easier, we remain at your disposal, so don't hesitate to make use of our Instagram automation tools and start your trial version right now for free.