How to market your restaurant online to increase revenue

While every restaurateur’s dream is to make a mark on the industry, it can be hard to stand out from competing businesses. To get and stay ahead in the game, you need to offer delicious food, great ambiance, welcoming staff, and a seamless customer experience across all your sales channels.

But is that enough to succeed? 

You may serve the best meals in your city or area, but that doesn’t mean people know how to find your restaurant. To ensure you’re getting your seats (or delivery bags) filled, you need to promote your business and actively attract customers to the restaurant.

However, because operators have so many other things on their plate, marketing is often put on the back burner. But while creating a solid marketing strategy may not come naturally to restaurant owners or managers, marketing your restaurant doesn’t have to be overly complicated or expensive. 

In this online marketing guide for restaurants, we’ll show you five easy ways to do online marketing to reach new customers, retain your existing clientele, and drive more revenue. 

#1 Create an attractive website

In today’s age, a website is essential for any business. Your website is your digital visit card and an effective tool to share your brand, menu, and vision with potential and existing customers.

A restaurant website doesn’t need to be cutting-edge. More important than its look is that the site is user-friendly, professional, and informative, telling potential diners everything they need to know about your restaurant. Basic information on your website should include your operating hours, contact info, menu, brand vision or mission, and location and parking details. 

If you want to perform well on search engines like Google, you can create even more quality content to boost your Google ranking, such as blog and news articles, testimonials, videos, or e-books. Later in this guide, we’ll talk more about search engine optimization (SEO).

In any case, building and managing a website isn’t as hard as it used to be. These days, you can easily create a custom website using online website builders like Deliverect Online Ordering, Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, and many others. These tools enable you to add new pages and keep current web pages up to date.

A restaurant website doesn’t need to be cutting-edge. More important than its look is that the site is user-friendly, professional, and informative, telling potential diners everything they need to know about your restaurant.

#2 Use social media

Social media is an easy and mostly free marketing tool your restaurant can use. By creating an account on social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, you can share interesting content with your followers and update them about promotions, new menu items, and other news about your business.

Learn how you can now turn followers into customers with Deliverect Social Media Ordering

While there are dozens of social media channels to choose from, don’t spread yourself too thin and stick to two or three networks that work for your primary target audiences. It’s good to test different channels and observe your interactions with your followers on each one.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some ideas for engaging content you can post on social media:

• mouthwatering pictures of your dishes

• user-generated content like photos or videos from customers enjoying your food

• behind-the-scenes videos and stories

• restaurant employees in the spotlight

• seasonal dishes and limited-time menu items

• company news and practical announcements

• contests, games, polls, and quizzes

To maximize your use of social media, you can also consider collaborating with food influencers in your area or setting up paid campaigns to amplify your posts’ reach. However, both strategies involve more effort and follow-up than organic social media posts. We recommend hiring a dedicated (freelance) social media expert to help you reach your complete social media potential.

#3 Optimize your website for search engines (SEO)

Adding enough valuable content to your restaurant website is vital to keep your visitors engaged. But the right website content can also help hungry users find your business on search engines like Google. 

Imagine you run a restaurant in New York. Then, whenever people search for “restaurants in New York” on Google, you’d want them to see your restaurant in the search results – preferably on the first page!

To boost your ranking on Google (and other search engines), you need to include the most common keywords people use in their search queries on your web pages. To reach as many people as possible, consider using:

• high-level restaurant keywords, like “restaurant in New York”

• niche-specific keywords, like “pizza,” “poké bowls,” “Mexican restaurant,” or “theme restaurant”

• brand keywords, combining your brand name with other terms

You can read more on keyword research if you want to dive into the SEO specifics for your restaurant.

#4 Add delivery and takeout channels

Listing your restaurant on third-party delivery platforms is another good way to market your food business online. With billions of regular users worldwide, delivery services like Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Deliveroo help you amplify your reach without little effort. What’s more, by signing up with multiple delivery service providers, you’ll be able to reach even more potential customers. 

Similarly, creating an online ordering store enabling customers to order food for takeout or delivery will drive additional revenue while boosting your restaurant’s visibility online.

There's a solution if you’re worried about managing all these additional online sales channels. Deliverect’s online ordering management platform allows you to synchronize your online channels with your POS, consolidating all your delivery and take-out services into one screen and making it effortless to manage online ordering channels.

#5 Register with review websites

Many consumers read reviews about a business before making their buying decision. That’s why review websites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, or Zomato are powerful and influential marketing tools for any business. Signing up with the most popular review sites can boost your restaurant’s visibility and credibility with foodies looking for their next favorite spot.

Ask your customers to leave a review if they were happy with your restaurant’s food and service, and frequently feature positive reviews on social media or your website. 

If your restaurant gets a less positive review, take the time to respond appropriately and politely to help build your restaurant’s reputation.

Online marketing is a must for future-proof restaurants

Any restaurant brand looking to drive more sales and increase profits should have at least a fundamental online marketing strategy to attract and retain customers. 

There are many ways to market your business online with little effort to generate an excellent investment return. These include putting your restaurant on social media and review websites, building a modern and SEO-optimized website, and implementing online delivery and take-out ordering options.