Being a food lover and having a knack to whip up some amazing recipe is enough to open a restaurant. But it is not enough to make it successful. How will people eat your delicious delicacy if they are not aware of it? That is why having a fully baked marketing plan is vital if you want your restaurant business to take off and be successful.
Now, if you are a new restaurant or if you are not making as much money as you hoped, putting too much money into advertisements and marketing will seem like a bad idea. But there are ways which can help you market your business without spending too much of your hard-earned savings. But you do need patience, hard work, and the willingness to invest a bit more money to ensure you get the best results.
What am I talking about? Online marketing, of course! Digitalization means that you can promote and reach a lot more consumers with the use of the internet. It is fast, it is productive, and it can be free if you don’t collaborate with influencers or run paid ads (not recommended). So, here in this article, we will discuss some simple online marketing tips for restaurants that have a low-budget.
Let’s begin...
1. Create a website
Your restaurant deserves a well-crafted website if you are looking to encourage customers to dine there. It is best to hire or partner up with a freelancer or a designer to create your website. You need it to be stellar, functional, easy to navigate, and appealing. If you can do this, use WordPress to design the site. Also, make use of Canva to create logo or edit images or more for your website.
Since you are looking to promote your business online, make sure that the website has all details related to it. Don’t just put a menu and a form for booking tables. Provide the address, give direction, and share some fun stories and even a blog.
Also, keep in mind to put the link of your website to your business card, physical menu, and other advertising tools.
2. Make use of social media platforms
Do you realize how much time people spend on Instagram drooling over food videos or images? It is a sign that social media can help you gain more business. As a rule of thumb, you should start promoting your restaurant on all social media platforms. After a while, it will become easier to figure out which platform is popular amongst your audience.
From the photos of the restaurant's interior to the food to events that are happening or the discount that you are running should all make their way onto your social profile. Share videos of parties happening there, tagging people, and more. Moreover, if you have live music, you can share clips of the same as well. Another video idea is chef cooking and plating a delicious dish. It shows their creativity and the hygiene rules you follow.
3. Try to get feedbacks
Feedbacks are imperative in bringing more clients to your restaurant. It is an inexpensive way to promote your business online. Whenever a customer visits you for dinner or lunch, ask them to submit a review on their social media platform while tagging them. Also, if you tie-up with online food delivery platforms that have a review system, ask the customer to submit a review there.
Positive reviews that users share with appealing photos of your food is the best way to encourage other food-lovers to try your food.
4. Be smart with incentives
Running discounts or offers through your website, or social media is an efficient way of promoting your business. But if you are not careful and smart about it, it can make your restaurant business lose a lot of money. So, whatever you are offering has to be measured and carefully planned.
For instance, if you want to provide an offer that makes the entire meal 40% free, think again. It is a loss for your business while also giving false expectations to the customer that they will get the same discount next time. Instead, you can provide a complimentary bread basket or so on. Also, it doesn’t hurt to send personalized emails to loyal or existing customers giving them a discount or offer, which is hard for them to resist.
5. Work with online partners to deliver food
Customers who order food online for home delivery or pickup is a trend which is gaining fast momentum. Ubereats, Swiggy, Zomato are three top dogs when it comes to online delivery of food in India. When a restaurant partners up with them, they gain more visibility, they serve more customers, and they raise more revenue.
There is a registration fee, which depends from region to region. You can also have an app where you let customers order online and use employees from restaurants to make the delivery.
Online marketing is cheap in comparison to traditional markets. But you still need to invest some money and time, if you want results.
