You probably have a website set up for your restaurant business already, and you might have a social media account too. That’s great news if so, as you do need some sort of online presence if you are to market your restaurant business to others.
However, to get the most out of your digital marketing attempts, you need to do as you would with the food you prepare, and that is to focus on the content you create. The words you write and the visual images you cook up for your online pages can really push your business forward, as you will be able to tantalize and tempt potential new customers into entering your restaurant.
Check out our content marketing ideas below, and stir them into the pot of your marketing strategy. Your business should benefit because of them.
Think of this in two ways.
For one, you might want to tell the story of your restaurant. In your ‘About Us’ page, you might want to let your customers know how your business started, what inspired you, and a little bit about the people who are cooking up the foods that you serve. People love reading success stories, so if you can inspire them with your story, they might be inspired to enter your restaurant.
Secondly, tell a visual story. Showcase the foods you create with high-definition photos on your website. Let your story flow on the page, with pictures of the food being created at the beginning to the pictures of your happy customers enjoying your menu towards the end. These pictures should tantalize the taste buds of the visitors checking out your website, and they might be tempted to pick up the phone and book a reservation with you after checking them out.
Influencer marketing is great for business, as if you can find somebody who loves food as much as you do, and who has their own band of followers, you might grow your customer base from the people who look up to them. An influencer could be a food critic, a food blogger, a social media personality, and even a celebrity. If you could find somebody in your local area, you could create content together. They could write about your restaurant on their blogs, review sites, and social media pages, and you could include what they have written on your own website and social media pages.
Check out this advice on how to partner with a food influencer, and benefit from the custom that they might be able to bring to your business.
According to the latest statistics, 92% of marketers say videos are an important part of their marketing strategy, so never underestimate this visual aspect of digital marketing.
You can add videos to your website and your social media pages, and you might want to create your own YouTube channel too! Of course, the question you are asking yourself is this: What videos should I create?
Well, you could showcase how your chefs prepare the food you serve, perhaps with interviews of them discussing the processes they go through. Of course, if any of your chefs turn the air as blue as Gordon Ramsey does, you might want to ask them to watch their language before the camera rolls!
You could include customer testimonials too, with short videos of them enjoying the food you have prepared for them, alongside their satisfied comments after eating their meal.
Check out these video marketing tips for some other ideas for your restaurant, and if your skills with a camera aren’t great, hire a professional to ensure your videos look as good as the food you serve in your restaurant.
Not only will a blog increase the traffic to your website, but it might increase the footfall of customers coming through your doors too. Your blog is another way to tell a story to your customers, and if you use your words well, you will be able to tempt your readers into making a reservation.
In your blog posts, you could talk about the items of food on your menu. Discuss the ingredients, detail the tastes your readers can expect, and perhaps share the origin of the food in question.
You could share guest posts from food critics and customers too, and perhaps even posts from your team talking about the work they do at your restaurant.
And you could include ‘customer/employee of the month’ stories, announcements about events you are holding at your restaurant, and any one of these other blog post ideas.
For the professional touch, consider hiring a freelance writer to craft your words for you, as they should have the skills to engage the taste buds and interests of your readers with the written content they provide for you.
YouTube is a great platform for your restaurant videos, Instagram is a great place to showcase pictures of the delicious foods you serve up, and Facebook is a great place to share videos, images, and text pieces about what is happening at your restaurant.
Social media marketing can do much to increase brand awareness for your restaurant business, so explore all of the social channels that are open to you. Be sure to encourage your friends, family members, and happy customers to share news of your business on their networking sites too, and ask them to share your posts with their followers.
Talk to us about the social media strategies you might want to adopt for your business, and benefit from the tools and techniques that our digital marketing agency can offer you.
These are just a few of the content marketing ideas that you should be considering for your restaurant business. For more advice, turn to our experts at Pivotal New Media, LLC, and benefit from the skills and experiences of our professional marketing team. We can manage your marketing campaign for you and can do much to ensure that your restaurant is never short of customer reservations.
Your restaurant won’t be the only food venue on the block, as there will be competitors opening up all around you, each one hoping to get a slice of your customer base. To fight back against your nearest rivals, and to keep your customers on your side, you can implement a range of digital marketing strategies within your business. Here are just a few of them.
Many digital-savvy businesses are already using chatbots to improve the customer experience, and to benefit the lives of your customers, you might consider doing the same.
We’re here to connect the dots between your business goals and digital marketing success. Let’s talk and see if we are a good fit.
