20 Best Digital Marketing Strategies For Restaurants

Being a restaurant owner in the Internet age is no easy job. Not only do you have to make sure your dishes are on point, but you also have to market them skillfully. Otherwise, you become your competition’s side dish and get eaten alive.

In this article, we share some of the most effective ways to do digital marketing for restaurants. While reading this, make sure you keep your restaurant in the back of your mind so that you can pick the ones that best fit your business.

Restaurant Digital Marketing Benefits

• Increased visibility: Digital marketing strategies like SEO, restaurant social media marketing, and online advertising can increase your restaurant’s visibility and make it easier for customers to find you online.
• Improved customer engagement: Digital marketing allows you to interact with customers in real-time through social media, email marketing, and other channels, improving customer engagement and loyalty.
• Cost-effective marketing: Compared to traditional marketing methods, digital marketing can be more cost-effective, allowing restaurants to reach a wider audience with a smaller budget.
• Targeted marketing: Digital marketing allows you to target specific audiences based on factors like location, interests, and behavior, improving the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
• Increased revenue: Digital marketing leads to increasing revenue by attracting new customers, retaining existing ones, and encouraging repeat business through loyalty programs and other incentives.
• Real-time analytics: Digital marketing provides real-time analytics that can help you track the success of your marketing campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve your restaurant’s performance.

What Makes for Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Restaurants?

A lot of folks get it twisted. Effective marketing has little to do with budget; it’s all about research and data-backed action-taking.

Below are some suggestions to keep in mind while planning to use one of the marketing strategies from this article.

• Know Your Customers: When planning a marketing campaign, make sure you pay attention to who your customers are. Are you addressing a pro-environment audience or free-range shooting cowboys?
• Research Your Competition: See what your rivals are up to and learn from them.
• Identify the Most Effective Marketing Strategies: Try, fail, and keep all the data. See what works for your business and double down on it.
• Improve Your Product: Marketing is more than just pretty food pictures and fun social media contests. If your place is nasty and your food tastes funny, no amount of marketing is going to help you.
• Focus on Metrics That Matter: The only reason for marketing anything is to increase sales. Monitor sales results and other associated metrics to see what’s selling and what’s not.

20 Digital Marketing Strategies for Restaurants

Below you’re going to find 20 digital marketing ideas for your restaurant.

1. Build a Restaurant Website and Sell While You Sleep

A responsive website design is a large piece of the whole puzzle. While your social media profiles make your restaurant more visible, an optimized and responsive website allows you to sell directly to your customers. That way, you avoid all of the murderous fees that come with most third-party food apps.

Another cool thing about having a restaurant website is that it allows your clients to schedule food deliveries. This means you are earning money in your sleep.

Make sure your website is easy to navigate, has high-quality images, and is mobile-friendly. There are many ways to go around building your website. Using a dedicated restaurant website builder will be the quickest and most cost-effective. That way, you avoid a lot of hassle dealing with designers, developers, hosting services, and all the extra technical stuff. You just get right to selling.

2. Establish a Restaurant Online Ordering System to Reach More Customers

If you’re not in a position to build an entire restaurant website, it’s essential that you do establish an ordering system. For example, Uber Eats commission can cost you as much as 30% of your revenue!

A lot of people are forced to use these massive ordering systems to remain competitive when it comes to online customers. And that’s absolutely understandable, as it’s better to use these systems than to be invisible.

That said, some platforms allow you to easily establish your own restaurant online ordering system, so you can reach new customers more easily commission-free.

3. Build a Restaurant Mobile App to Make Ordering Easier

Develop a restaurant mobile app to provide your customers with an easy and convenient way to order food.

Mobile ordering is becoming increasingly popular, with more customers using their smartphones to order food. According to one survey, 60% of customers order delivery or takeout from restaurants using a mobile device. Restaurants often use mobile ordering apps like Grubhub or Uber Eats to reach more customers.

However, If you’re looking to avoid the fees that come with these apps, you might want to build your own restaurant mobile app so that you can sell directly to your customers.

4. Use Restaurant Email Marketing to Reach Your Customers Instantly

Another great marketing tool is restaurant email marketing. Restaurant email marketing campaigns help keep your customers informed about new menu items, promotions, and events.

Overall, email marketing is a cost-effective way for restaurants to reach and engage with their customer base, offering personalized promotions, menu updates, and event invitations.

By building a targeted email list and leveraging email marketing tools, restaurants can drive sales, build customer loyalty, and increase brand awareness.

5. Use Restaurant SMS Marketing to Send Special Offers

Use restaurant SMS marketing to send promotions and updates to your customers. SMS marketing is particularly effective because of its high open rates and instant delivery directly to your customers’ mobile devices.

SMS marketing is an effective way for restaurants to reach customers in a timely and personalized manner, offering promotions, reminders, and updates on menu items or events. With high open rates and quick delivery, SMS marketing can help drive sales, increase customer engagement, and build brand loyalty for restaurants.

6. Introduce Restaurant Loyalty Programs to Increase Client Retention

Create restaurant loyalty programs to encourage repeat business. Overall, loyalty programs can provide several advantages for restaurants, including increased customer retention and repeat business, valuable customer data and insights, increased customer lifetime value, differentiation from competitors, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

7. Use a QR Code Menu for Restaurants and Be Easier to Find

You can use a QR code menu for restaurants to direct customers to your website, social media pages, or online menu.

What’s more, QR code menus allow you to easily update your menus in real-time, making it easy to add or remove items or update prices. They can be easily customized and translated into multiple languages so that you don’t have to print all the language versions.

QR code menus can also provide valuable data and insights into customer preferences and behavior, allowing you to understand your customers better.

In summary, QR code menus offer customers a contactless and convenient way to access menus and make orders while providing restaurants with a cost-effective and flexible solution to update and promote their offerings in real-time. Additionally, QR code menus can also help restaurants reduce their environmental impact by minimizing printing and paper waste.

8. Start Restaurant Social Media and Multiply Your Revenue

Social media marketing is the one digital marketing strategy you really want to focus on. Without a social media presence, you’re not competitive. That’s why planning a social media marketing strategy for your restaurant is one of the absolute key steps.

Use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn to promote your restaurant and interact with your audience. These online marketing channels make it much easier for your business to attract customers, increase customer engagement and boost your social media presence in general.

Keep in mind that you do not need to open up all of the above-mentioned digital channels. I’d highly encourage you to consider building a restaurant marketing plan to help you determine which social media platforms will give you the most bang for your buck.

9. Get Listed on Google to Become More Competitive

Create and verify your business on Google My Business to enhance your local search visibility. According to one survey, 86% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, including restaurants. Positive online reviews can lead to more customers and higher revenue, while negative reviews can deter potential customers.

Getting listed on Google My Business is crucial for all businesses, including restaurants. The benefits it provides are extremely valuable, including increased online visibility, improved search rankings, easy access to customer reviews, and valuable insights into customer behavior, allowing restaurants to better understand and connect with their target audience. In essence, this is how you get your business online.

10. Engage With Your Audience Through Content Marketing

If you’ve decided to build a restaurant website, you can consider publishing valuable content, such as blog posts and videos, to attract and engage your restaurant target audience.

Below you’ll find a couple of content marketing ideas for restaurants.

11. Register on Restaurant Review Sites to Build Customer Confidence

Monitor and respond to online reviews on platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor to improve your restaurant’s reputation.

Review platforms can help you increase your online visibility and attract more customers. They can also help you build reputation, credibility, and trust with potential customers. In contrast, negative reviews can provide valuable feedback and insights you can use to improve your customer experience.

Online review sites also allow you to stay in touch with what’s happening. By actively monitoring and responding to reviews, you can address customer concerns, thank satisfied customers for their feedback, and demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction.

Online review sites can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, trends, and behaviors. If you use this information to make informed business decisions and tailor your offerings to better meet customer needs, you will greatly benefit from it.

12. Optimize Your Website to Rank Higher on Google

Optimize your website for search engines so people can easily find you on Google. Unlike online-based SaaS businesses, you don’t need to find for global keywords to make your restaurant visible. All you need to do is join the local restaurant marketing game.

Optimizing a restaurant’s website for SEO offers several advantages. By improving your search engine rankings, you can increase your restaurant’s online visibility, attract more potential customers to your website, and ultimately drive more foot traffic to your place.

Additionally, optimizing for SEO helps your business appear in search results for relevant local queries, such as “restaurants near me” or “best restaurants in [city name].” This can be especially valuable for restaurants that rely heavily on local customers. Overall, search engine optimization can help you increase your online presence, attract more customers, and drive more revenue.

13. Try Restaurant Influencer Marketing to Diversify Your Audience

Collaborate with influencers and food bloggers to increase your restaurant’s reach and credibility.

Influencer marketing can benefit restaurants in several ways. By partnering with influencers, restaurants can increase their brand awareness, credibility, and trust with a wider (especially younger) audience.

Influencer marketing can also provide targeted marketing, authentic content, social proof, and a cost-effective alternative to traditional advertising.

14. Go for Restaurant Video Marketing to Boost Organic Traffic

Use videos to showcase your restaurant, menu items, and events. Restaurant video marketing can greatly increase engagement, customer trust, and social media reach. It can also improve brand awareness SEO.

Importantly, video marketing can also help you differentiate yourself from your competitors. Making fancy reels showcasing your delicious food beats even the most professional pictures! And the cool thing is video marketing is extremely easy.

The best way for you to start video marketing is to use your phone to create short videos that showcase your restaurant and offer.

Overall, video marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. With just a smartphone and a bit of creativity, you can create high-quality videos that showcase your offer.

15. Organize Online and Offline Events to Gain Fame

Promote and host events and collaborate with local organizations to promote your restaurant. Online and offline events can increase brand awareness, customer engagement, revenue, and community ties for restaurants. These events also allow you to showcase your offer and gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behavior.

16. Invest in Online Advertising to Get Noticed Faster

Use paid advertising on platforms like Facebook Ads for restaurants and Google Ads to increase your restaurant’s visibility.

Online advertising can be an effective way for you to reach a wider audience and increase your revenue. But make sure you define clear goals and monitor your relevant metrics (for example using ad reporting tools). Below are some of the best online advertising strategies for restaurants.

The food industry is very competitive, so it’s best to have fresh restaurant promotions always at hand.

17. Offer Interactive Menus to Keep Your Customers Engaged

Create interactive menus that allow customers to customize their orders and provide feedback via restaurant survey questions.

Interactive menus for restaurants are tableside ordering systems that allow customers to engage with the digital restaurant menu in a more dynamic and personalized way. They can be accessed through tablets, smartphones, or other digital devices.

They may allow customers to create personalized dishes, such as a custom pizza or burger.

Interactive menus can also provide customers with personalized recommendations based on their preferences or previous orders. This data can facilitate ordering and payment processing.

Interactive menus offer a more engaging and convenient dining experience for customers while also providing valuable data and insights for restaurants. If you’re looking to quickly build an interactive menu, check out UpMenu’s QR menu builder.

18. Try Niche Marketing to Boost Social Media Engagement

Create targeted marketing campaigns for specific groups, such as vegans, gluten-free eaters, or fitness enthusiasts.

Use buzzwords like keto, vegan, and carnivore to stir interest among different groups of customers. Make sure you don’t offend your customers by spamming meat pictures as a vegan restaurant, though!

19. Organize Social Media Contests to Gain Recognition

Host social media food contests to encourage customers to share photos of your restaurant or menu items.

Social media contests can increase engagement, brand awareness, customer loyalty, and generate user-generated content and valuable insights for restaurants, making them a cost-effective marketing strategy.

20. Use Podcast Advertising to Reach New Audiences

Advertise on food or restaurant podcasts to reach a highly targeted audience.

You can also sponsor podcasts related to your niche, like vegan, environment-focused, or health and fitness podcasts in general. It’s a great way of reaching new audiences with little effort. The only challenge is choosing the right podcast.

Bonus Online Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Brand Recognition

If you’re still hungry for more, we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find an additional restaurant marketing idea. And since you’ve made it this far, we’ll give you one of our favorites.

21. Share Cool Recipes to Generate Online Buzz

Share popular recipes from your menu on social media or your website to attract food enthusiasts.

Sharing photos and videos of your recipes is one thing. Sharing your recipes and encouraging your followers to re-create and share them on their social media is a whole new thing.