The restaurant industry is as vibrant and varied as its flavors. A thriving establishment offers a distinctive blend of culinary delights, ambiance, and experiences that entice diners. Yet a restaurant’s success depends on more than its menu and décor; it hinges on its ability to attract patrons in the first place. Crafting a restaurant marketing strategy that resonates with food enthusiasts and casual diners is therefore essential.
Below are restaurant marketing strategies to raise your eatery’s profile and create a memorable brand that keeps loyal customers returning for more.
Table of contents
What is a restaurant marketing strategy?
A restaurant marketing strategy is a plan to build awareness and increase the visibility of your restaurant to attract and retain customers. It involves various outreach tactics, like online ads, social media posts, or even working with local food bloggers. The goal is to make your restaurant stand out in a crowded market and ultimately drive sales and profitability.
Restaurant marketing ideas
- Optimize your website for search
- Take high-quality food images
- Set up your Google Business page
- Offer online ordering and delivery
- Place your restaurant on review sites
- Submit your restaurant to online reservation platforms
- Initiate a paid search campaign
- Partner with food bloggers and influencers
- Build a social media presence
- Take advantage of user-generated content
- Develop an email newsletter
- Use SMS marketing
- Provide discounts and promotions
- Sponsor local events
- Implement a loyalty program
- Offer gift cards and vouchers
- Host cooking classes or workshops
- Create a direct mail campaign
- Host a giveaway or contest
- Publish a blog
- Create a dining subscription service
As you navigate the food industry, it doesn’t hurt to arm yourself with diverse restaurant marketing tips and tricks, from email marketing to working with social media influencers.
Here are restaurant marketing ideas to pique customer interest and turn first-time visitors into regulars:
Optimize your website for search
For restaurant owners, implementing search engine optimization (SEO) means tweaking their website to rank higher in search results for potential customers looking for places to eat.
While you don’t need to name your restaurant something as direct as "Thai Food Near Me" to capture attention, small SEO tweaks, like incorporating local area names in your content and ensuring fast page loading times, can boost visibility.
Use relevant keywords, update your Google Business profile, and ensure your site is mobile-friendly. Good SEO practices help locals easily discover your restaurant on digital maps, too.
Take high-quality food images
High-quality food images are versatile assets for your restaurant marketing plan and a wise marketing budget investment. Add them to your website, social media marketing profiles, online ordering platforms, and press coverage.
Good photos reflect your brand identity and can attract potential customers to your restaurant by visually appealing to their appetites. A tasteful photo can suggest a tasteful meal.
For example, The Tamil Prince, a relaxed restaurant serving Indian sharing plates in London, features a stunning selection of food photography on its website, including signature okra fries, roti, and curries.
Set up your Google Business page
Establishing a Google Business page is a straightforward step to amplify your marketing efforts and help users find your restaurant online in search results and maps.
It is also a platform where customers can leave online reviews, enhancing your restaurant’s credibility and visibility to potential diners looking for a great place to eat. To improve searchability, update your restaurant’s profile with essential information like location, hours, menu, and contact details.
Offer online ordering and delivery
Offering online food delivery can boost repeat business by providing convenience to customers. Work with popular services like Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub; they not only handle logistics but can also serve as a discovery platform, putting your business in front of more eyes.
Be sure to maintain the same quality and freshness as dine-in experiences—a poor delivery service can damage your brand’s reputation, no matter how good your dine-in service is.
Place your restaurant on review sites
As a restaurant owner, you can list your establishment on restaurant marketing channels like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Zomato. Review sites increase your discoverability and let you share menus and photos with potential diners looking for their next meal.
Taberna Dos Mercadores, a seafood and Mediterranean restaurant in Porto, Portugal, has its restaurant listed on platforms like Tripadvisor, Yelp, and Tripexpert.
Submit your restaurant to online reservation platforms
By submitting your restaurant to online reservation platforms like OpenTable or Resy, you make it easier for customers to book a table. These platforms streamline the booking process by providing a user-friendly interface that lets customers view available times, select their preferences, and confirm their reservations instantly, eliminating the need for phone calls or waiting for confirmations.
Initiate a paid search campaign
Use your restaurant marketing budget to start a paid search campaign using platforms like Google Ads. These platforms sell targeted ad placements appearing at the top of search results for specific keywords. Targeted online marketing helps you directly reach those searching for specific keywords related to dining options, which can lead to more website traffic and customer inquiries.
A Seattle sushi spot could strategically invest in Google Ads by bidding on keywords like “Seattle sushi bars,” “best sushi in Seattle,” or “fresh sushi delivery Seattle.” This method ensures the restaurant appears prominently in the paid advertisement sections of search results when potential customers use these terms, directly capturing their attention by positioning the restaurant’s ad above organic search results.
Partner with food bloggers and influencers
Collaborating with food bloggers and influencers can be a powerful restaurant marketing strategy. Integrating well-known foodies into your restaurant marketing campaign can help you reach a broader audience on social media.
As a restaurant owner, you might send out invitations for a tasting or offer a meal in exchange for a review to harness their influence and attract followers. Their endorsements can lend credibility and entice their community to try your establishment, tapping into a ready-made customer base.
Build a social media presence
Use social media platforms like Instagram to showcase your dishes and give your followers a behind-the-scenes peek into your kitchen in action. This approach helps you maintain a connection with existing customers and piques the interest of potential patrons.
Try Facebook for sharing updates and promoting upcoming events, and X for quick communication with your diner base.
DOSC, a craft steakhouse, cocktail bar, and café in Edmonton, Alberta, uses Instagram as a brand hub, showcasing new menu items, promoting local events, and highlighting stories about its team members.
Take advantage of user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC), such as customer photos and reviews on social media and review sites, can be a key element of your restaurant marketing campaigns.
Encourage diners to post about their meals and use these genuine moments in your promotions to add credibility and engage your audience. This strategy builds trust and encourages community among patrons.
Develop an email newsletter
Email marketing can be a direct channel to support your restaurant marketing efforts. It can keep patrons informed about new menu items, upcoming locations, and special offers.
Create a newsletter that reflects your restaurant’s brand identity, and collect email addresses (with customer permission) at the point of sale or through your website. Regular updates keep your restaurant top of mind and encourage repeat visits.
Use SMS marketing
Incorporate SMS marketing into your digital marketing plan to instantly connect with customers and foster loyalty.
To collect customer phone numbers for SMS text marketing, encourage patrons to sign up for your messaging list through incentives at checkout, online reservations, and sign-up forms on your website or social media pages, ensuring transparency about the type of content they’ll receive. Use SMS campaigns to offer perks like a free meal on special occasions and craft messages that align with your brand voice.
This approach, with its direct and personal reach, can achieve higher open rates, drive immediate engagement, and encourage repeat visits.
Provide discounts and promotions
Strategically timed discounts and coupons can spark interest and drive foot traffic. Feature these specials occasionally in local magazines or as exclusive events to ensure your offer is perceived as a treat, heightening appeal without diluting brand value.
Sponsor local events
Sponsor local events like festivals, sports competitions, or charity fundraisers to boost your restaurant’s advertising efforts. This exposes your brand to a broad audience and aligns it with community interests, enhancing your local presence. Choose events that resonate with your target demographic to capture customers and build loyalty.
Implement a loyalty program
Loyalty programs can transform one-time guests into regulars at local restaurants and serve as a foundation for sustained customer engagement. By offering tangible rewards for repeat patronage, like points toward discounts or freebies, loyalty programs can help drive your marketing strategy.
Offer gift cards and vouchers
Gift cards and vouchers not only invite newcomers to dine at your restaurant but also serve as a tool for existing patrons to enjoy their favorite meals or to recommend your place as a thoughtful gift. This strategy immediately increases revenue and introduces your establishment to a broader audience, potentially reinforcing loyalty among current customers while converting gift recipients into new, loyal customers.
L’Artusi, an Italian restaurant based in New York City with a modern take on traditional Italian cuisine, sells digital gift cards for between $10 and $500 through its website.
Host cooking classes or workshops
Offering cooking classes or workshops can boost your restaurant’s brand and add an experiential element to your marketing. This approach showcases your eatery’s culinary expertise while fostering a community around your brand. Share events on your social media accounts to generate organic social media buzz.
Create a direct mail campaign
Leverage a direct mail campaign to reach potential customers in a targeted geographic area. By mailing out menus, coupons, or event information, you create a tangible touchpoint that can stand out in the digital clutter, making it an effective component of a restaurant marketing campaign.
Host a giveaway or contest
Use your social media page to run a giveaway or contest where customers can win a meal or a discount by posting pictures of your dishes and tagging your restaurant. This encourages user interaction and spreads the word about your establishment, tapping into your patrons’ networks for broader organic reach.
Publish a blog
A blog gives your restaurant a voice. Dive into your cuisine’s narrative by publishing articles that explore the journey behind your menu items—from farm-to-table stories to the chefs’ culinary inspirations.
You can also share event recaps and invite readers behind the scenes to foster a deeper connection with your audience.
Create a dining subscription service
Introduce a dining subscription service where customers pay a set fee for exclusive access to monthly meals or discounts. This provides a steady revenue stream and creates a community of regulars who value the convenience and sense of belonging that comes with membership.
El Lopo, a Spanish-inspired wine bar in San Francisco, offers a Take-Care-of-Me Club for frequent diners. For a monthly fee, members can enjoy a unique dining experience with no menu, no bill, and exclusive perks.
Restaurant marketing FAQ
How do you start a marketing strategy for a restaurant?
To start a marketing strategy for your restaurant, identify your target audience, assess your unique selling proposition, and choose the appropriate channels to reach your customers.
What is marketing for restaurants?
Marketing for restaurants involves promoting your establishment’s food, ambiance, and unique dining experiences to attract and retain customers.
Why should you market your restaurant?
A restaurant is a business that’s supposed to earn a profit. Market your restaurant to increase visibility, attract diners, build brand loyalty, and boost revenue.