Marketing Ideas for Restaurants

There are more than 200,000 hospitality businesses in the UK, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. With that much potential competition, how do you stand out from the rest?

Marketing for your restaurant or takeaway can come in all shapes and sizes, from good signage to cutting through the noise on social media. Having a variety of tools at your disposal is the easiest way to keep your sales up and your customers coming back.

Social Media Marketing

Use social media to help shape your brand by sharing pictures of your guests enjoying a night out or by sharing stories and quotes – It’s worth it. There are billions of social media users worldwide, and those users spend at least 45 minutes each day on social networking, so make sure they see and share your content.

Let Technology Guide The Way

In 2018, approximately 194 million Apps were downloaded worldwide. Restaurateurs can get Apps in all shapes and sizes, from free Apps to custom Apps, developed specific to their needs. These Apps offer a world of potential to businesses, including reservation systems, loyalty programs, online ordering and easy access to information like menus and opening hours.

Before you take the time to get an App, consider taking a few simple steps. Learn what pain point an App might solve for your business and work out the cost saving and benefit(s).  There is no point in getting an App if it doesn’t solve a problem or offer your business some benefits or a competitive edge.

Google Your Business

A common search on Google is “restaurants near me.” Guests are likely to check out your restaurant online before visiting. Tools like Google My Business allow users quick access to the who, when, where, what and why of your restaurant.

This means you need to make sure the information Google is showing to users is correct.  Keep you opening times, address, images and any menus and offers up to date. 

Also ensure any ordering or booking links that Google displays are to the best service to suit your needs. If you have your own App and ordering then Google should be listing these, not a third-party provider that may be charging you commissions!

Watch Your Competition

Keeping an eye on your competition is a standard practice, but you should also learn from what they do well and what they fail at. 

You may be able to adopt similar tactics to benefit your business or you may be able to see where they went wrong and stop yourself making the same mistakes.

Have some fun!

Marketing is a lot of work in an ever-changing world. What works today may not work tomorrow, so when in doubt, find ways to have fun with what you do.

Want to engage with millennials? Look to ideas like the “unhappy meal” or put together competitions that encourage community-building that might brighten someone else’s day.

Whatever you do, and however you do it, remember that satisfying your customer is integral to building loyalty and securing repeat customers.

App4 work with hundreds of restaurants, takeaways, pubs, cafes, coffee shops and other catering and food businesses, across the UK and Northern Ireland, and provide a complete digital solution to help those businesses to grow and be competitive..

If you would like to find out how we could help you increase your orders, improve customer loyalty or encourage new customers, please call us on 01332 742514 or click here to arrange a call back.