Creative and effective ideas to promote your restaurant

Attracting new customers to your restaurant, while retaining existing customers is one of the toughest challenges that you will have to face. However, plenty of effective methods are available for you to overcome this challenge and get more people to walk in. That’s where you need to take a look at the most creative and effective ideas to promote your restaurant. Here are 27 such creative and effective ideas available for you to promote your restaurant.

  1. Get the help of delivery services

In order to promote your restaurant, you should not just think about increasing the number of customers who walk into it. Along with that, you need to think about getting more people to order your foods and enjoy them from the comfort of their homes as well. This is where you need to think about getting the help of delivery services. You must partner with all the food delivery services operating in your city, including Eat24, Postmates and Uber Eats. When your restaurant is listed on these apps, you will be able to boost the overall visibility as well.

  1. Provide discounts to take part in local events

You can think about providing discounts to the customers so that they will be able to take part in local events taking place in the neighbourhood. People love to receive such exclusive discounts along with enjoying a fine meal. Therefore, you will be able to get more people to come to the restaurant. When you are doing this, you will be able to provide excellent assistance to the local businesses as well.

  1. Get your business listed on the food apps

There are numerous food apps used by people in today’s world. In fact, most of the people refer to these food apps and make the decision to visit the restaurants accordingly. You can, therefore, think about getting your business listed on the food apps and improving the visibility. Then people who are looking for a restaurant to dine in or order food will be able to see what you offer. Along with that, you can tempt them to come to your restaurant and experience what you offer to them as well.

  1. Use your loyal customers as influencers

An influencer marketing program will be able to deliver impressive results to any business out there. Therefore, you can think about running an influencer marketing campaign as well. In here, you can think about picking your loyal customers as influencers and move forward. You can simply get them excited to capture pictures of food served in your restaurant and upload them on social media. In return, you can think about providing them with a monthly gift card.

  1. Go ahead with text message marketing

Text message marketing is not yet dead. People rarely use text messages, but they will be able to see the text messages that you are sending out. Therefore, a text message marketing campaign will be able to increase the possibility that you have to attract new customers to your business. You can think about collecting the numbers of your existing customers and then running a text message marketing campaign. For example, you can offer a coupon through the text message and you can get them to come to your business again.

  1. Define the brand

People in today’s world tend to follow the brand even when they are selecting a restaurant to dine in. You need to be mindful about this. That’s why you need to make an effort to clearly define your brand. When you define your brand, you will be able to convince what your restaurant is all about to the potential customers with ease. Then you will be able to remain solid in the industry as a competitive business. You can have this brand in your website, staff clothing, and social media and in many other places to impress people and get them to walk in.

  1. Create a profile on Google My Business

If you want to boost the visibility of your restaurant on the internet, including Google search results and Google maps, you will need to create a Google My Business profile. Most of the people who look for restaurants tend to go online. You will be able to capture the attention of such people by having a Google My Business Profile. You can also provide lots of information about your restaurant through the Google My Business profile.

  1. Share behind the scenes photos

People would love to see what is taking place in your kitchen while their food is being prepared. You can showcase them via the website. All you have to do is to capture some impressive behind the scenes photos and share them through your social media profiles. You can also think about getting the assistance of your website to share these details.

  1. Join the local chamber of commerce

When you join the local chamber of commerce, you will be able to expose you to a large number of networking opportunities. It is one of the best methods available for you to get connected with the local community. When you are a member, you will be able to host parties or events to the other guests as well. Along with that, you can promote your restaurant.

  1. Promote the restaurant on Facebook

Facebook is a social media network, which can create a massive impact on the overall success of your restaurant. Therefore, you must think about promoting your restaurant on Facebook. You can create a profile for the restaurant on Facebook and upload engaging posts with it. You can also use Facebook paid advertisements.

  1. Create a mobile app

It is better if you can have a mobile app for the restaurant. Then the customers will be able to take a look at your menu and order the menu items directly from the comfort of their homes. You can also embed other aspects of the restaurant, such as customer loyalty programs into the mobile app as well.

  1. Create a buzz with local media

You can invite a local newspaper, local magazine or local news station representative to come to your restaurant and enjoy a free meal. Along with that, you will be able to create a buzz with local media in an effective manner.

  1. Provide a free dessert in exchange of an Instagram post

You can ask the guests of the restaurant to snap a photo of a dish and upload it from their Instagram profiles. In return, you can think about providing a free dessert.

  1. Keep the NAP consistent

NAP refers to Name, Address and Phone Number. You need to keep your NAP consistent across all the platforms that you use online. Then you will be able to provide a credible signal for Google to index your business in the local search engine results pages.

  1. Keep an eye on online reviews and respond to them

Your customers are using a variety of platforms to publish reviews about your business on the internet. It is important for you to keep an eye on all those platforms and monitor the reviews. Some perfect examples for such platforms used by your customers include Trip Advisor, Yelp and Google. While monitoring the customer reviews, you are encouraged to think about responding to them as well.

  1. Create a contest on social media

Social media contests have the ability to go viral. Therefore, you can think about creating a content on social media. A lot of people will come forward and join the social media contest. Then you can think about providing a small reward, such as a coupon code to them. You can also use a hashtag along with the social media contest. This contest will help you to boost the overall visibility of your restaurant.

  1. Use high-quality photos of your dishes

You must be using images of your dishes in the website and social media channels. While uploading such dishes, you need to make sure that you are uploading high-quality ones. You can capture them from a professional camera and retouch them. It is better if you can get the help of a professional photographer for it.

  1. Promote the restaurant on user review websites

User review websites such as Yelp are also in a position to enhance the overall popularity of the restaurant. That’s because potential customers who would come to your restaurant are spending their time on those websites. In order to grab the attention of those customers, you can think about promoting your restaurant on such websites.

  1. Use a table management software

It is important to deliver an efficient service to all the customers who come to your restaurant. That’s where you can think about using a table management software. Then you will be able to deliver personalized dining experiences to the guests who come to your restaurant as well.

  1. Partner with another like-minded business

If you can partner with another like-minded business in your local area, you will be able to create a win-win situation for both and receive outstanding results. For example, you will be able to partner with a local bike shop. Then you can offer a discount for the customers who walk into the bike shop and vice versa.

  1. Have a user-friendly website

Your customers are referring to your website before coming to the restaurant. Therefore, you need to think about having a user-friendly website. You must make sure that the overall website is easy to navigate. Then people can figure out all the important details from the website and go to the next step of coming to your restaurant.

  1. Develop an interesting email newsletter

You can take your time to develop an interesting email newsletter. Then you can promote that email newsletter and get customers to walk into your restaurant. Along with that, you will be able to promote your new dishes and new promotions to the customers as well.

  1. Promote the restaurant from POS

Your restaurant will be using a POS to streamline the day to day operations. You can also think about using it to promote the overall restaurant business. That’s because you can get some important customer data out of the POS. Then you can run effective email marketing campaigns.

  1. Provide excellent customer service

Your staff at the restaurant should think about delivering memorable customer service to all the people who walk in. This is one of the most important factors, which can contribute towards the overall success of your restaurant. You need to think about using customer experience to build up the credibility of your business as well.

  1. Host events for the influencers

You can think about hosting events for the local influencers on a regular basis. You can provide free drinks and food to them. Then you can request them to provide you with exclusive content. This is one of the best methods available for you to promote your restaurant within the networks of influencers.

  1. Develop brand loyalty

You should also think about developing brand loyalty in an effective manner. This is one of the most outstanding methods available for you to promote the restaurant business. You need to focus on managing an easy to customize and easy to use program to offer digital customer loyalty. Along with that, you can think about gamifying the customer experience delivered through your restaurant as well.

  1. Develop life-sized menu items in the photos

When creating the buzz for your restaurant, you need to think about developing life-sized menu items within the photos. In addition to that, you will be able to include specific information on where your restaurant is located as well. The large food items that you promote are in a position to grab the attention of potential customers. Hence, you will be able to get more people to come to your restaurant and contribute towards the success of it.