8 Restaurant Marketing Ideas Your Customers Will Love

Every restaurateur should be looking for fresh marketing ideas.

While advertising a local business might not be as easy as a digital one, there are still plenty of online and offline tips you can follow to attract new customers and increase sales.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Take customer service seriously.

Nothing works like word-of-mouth marketing. And for that to be effective in your business, you’ll need to amaze your customers.

Keeping regulars and making them happy by going the extra mile is where more restaurant owners fail. Don’t make that mistake.

Do a little something they don’t expect to provide a great experience at your restaurant and even after they’ve left.

That might mean personally greeting loyal customers, serving them first, having chats with them every now and then, giving them discounts around the holidays, or sending free desserts every few weeks.

They will think about that with a smile when they are in the area and might even come more often. But what matters the most is that they will tell all their friends about how special you made them feel.

2. Have a great website.

Chances are you already have a website with all the essentials. But what about taking it to the next level?

Consider adding the following elements:

– real images of the food and location;

– easy navigation;

– a blog with news and fun content;

– give people a way to make reservations directly from the site;

– add social sharing buttons;

3. Be social on social media.

Improve your online presence by being on the biggest social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Create short videos, take pictures and share content from your blog. Together with that, interact with people, utilize hashtags, connect with influencers, and respond to messages and comments.

4. Analyze customer behavior data.

For proper restaurant marketing, you need software that collects data and creates detailed reports about your customers and how they interact with your business.

Find the right one and make the most of it. Thanks to the information it will give you, you’ll get an insight into your weaknesses and what you can do about them as well as potential areas for growth.

5. Be active in your community.

A local business should take different efforts than a national brand to promote their services. To be known in your locality, you can take part in a fundraising event or even set up one yourself. You can sponsor a sports team or support a local organization.

Additionally, you can allow other businesses to use your space or donate a portion of your sales to charity.

6. Send out promotional newsletters.

Email is one of the most genuine ways to keep in touch with customers. They subscribe to your newsletter voluntarily and that means you can send out promotional or educational emails.

Did you know that people open 70% of their emails to find a discount? They like deals and special offers and email is a nice way to give them exactly that through their favorite device.

For a start, you need to set up a newsletter using an email marketing software and start getting subscribers. The most common way is by publishing valuable content on your blog and offering incentives so people can subscribe and get a bonus.

Once you have a discount for them already, it’s worth investing in email marketing, using Facebook ads or running a campaign, in order to turn more visitors into subscribers and grow your newsletter.

7. Update your menu.

People crave novelty. Make sure you keep them coming back by regularly adding things to your menu or changing its looks.

Don’t forget to post about that on your site and mention it to your email subscribers and on social media.

8. Share your story.

You need a way to differentiate yourself in a competitive niche like the restaurant business. Do that by sharing your unique story together with what your values are, what your local business stands for, and what you want to do for your customers.

Brand storytelling is a powerful technique that makes you stand out in a crowded niche. It allows people to connect with you and remember you.

You now have 8 ways to promote your restaurant both online and offline so you can retain your current customers and attract new ones. What will you start with? And what other marketing ideas do you have for anyone owning a restaurant?