Tips to boost your restaurant advertising

Nowadays, diners have no shortage of ads circulating their screens trying to capture their attention and spark interest in a business or service. Fortunately, restaurants are selling one of the most appealing things on the web — food.

At times, customers might feel overwhelmed by the number of restaurant options to choose from. In these situations, why not give them a little help and motivation to find the perfect restaurant — yours!

What is Restaurant Advertising?

Effective restaurant marketing has become a key priority for any business wanting to stake a claim in the crowded and competitive hospitality industry. In this day and age, serving good food is not enough to make a restaurant a viable business. Rather, establishments generally reinvest between 3-6% of their gross sales revenue into advertising for restaurants to achieve the main goal of any growing venture: attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. 

Why Restaurant Advertising is Essential for Success 

A little extra focus on advertising is a great way to reach new diners. Restaurant advertisements remind customers why they should always have your establishment in mind when they’re looking to book a table. 

We know you’re already offering delicious dishes and great service, so here are a few tips to help spread the word to current and future diners by boosting your restaurant’s marketing power with some of the best ways to advertise your restaurant.

Boost your restaurant advertising: a few simple tips

Restaurant advertising is fundamental to your culinary journey. Not only should advertising effectively promote your establishment with eye-catching pictures and content, but it should also strengthen your business’ reputation. 

Ad campaigns can be launched online or offline. The goal is the same: to give your menu the right visibility, attract new diners, and retain loyal customers. 

Thanks to targeted restaurant marketing actions on social media platforms and search engines, there are many ways to garner a crowd.

Incentivise with offers and promotions

Who doesn’t love a good deal? Potential customers are much more likely to make a booking or seek out a specific restaurant when they have an incentive. Offering promotions, loyalty programmes, and special offers are easy ways to advertise your restaurant and spark interest. 

However, you should not feel the pressure to deliver grand promotions or unbelievable deals — even small incentives go a long way when diners are choosing between you and your competitors. 

Some incentive ideas to utilise to advertise your restaurant with promotions: 

• Happy hour or speciality menus
• Restaurant loyalty schemes
• Social media contests
   

Capitalise on Social Media Marketing

Once you have curated some offerings to draw attention, it is imperative to make sure they are seen. Utilising social media platforms is an easy way to spread the word. Don’t worry, though 一 you can still catch the eye of new viewers without depending on paid social ad campaigns. Publish posts with hashtags on your Instagram story to expand your content’s viewership. You can also broaden your presence by uploading content to popular new platforms like TikTok. 

Use TheFork to Reach and Incentivise Diners

Another way TheFork partners can let customers know about their deals is by highlighting them on their TheFork page. When diners are searching for establishments like yours, they will easily see the advertised offers for your restaurant. Even during periods when your business has no promotions available, TheFork partners can benefit from our Yums reward programme. Through this loyalty programme, customers receive Yums after every booking, eventually building up to obtaining a dining discount.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another excellent strategy for boosting restaurant advertising and highlighting your promotions.

Advertising your restaurant with email marketing is an excellent way to improve CRM (Customer Relationship Management) by staying in contact with your diners and getting them back to the table. Share news on your restaurant, promotions, menu information, and much more all in one eye-catching bundle. Email marketing can be very effective and simple to achieve with the help of online email platforms. With many choices available, you can experiment with creative designs, add and manage customer databases, and keep track of your communications.

TheFork Manager Enterprise package offers a great email marketing tool and an excellent addition to restaurant management resources. Use TheFork Manager’s Enterprise CRM tool to boost your advertising and easily access the benefits of email marketing.

Cultivate a good reputation

What better way to promote your restaurant than letting your diners advertise for you?

Did you know: 21% of diners rely on friends and family to advise them in choosing a dining establishment, and 58% use reviews*.

Word-of-mouth has always been one of the most powerful advertising tools. Encourage diners to capture and share photos on social media when dining with you and incentivise them to leave reviews.

With TheFork Partnership, when customers book at a restaurant, they will automatically be sent an email, prompting them to leave a review. These will be viewable by all users. Also, don’t be afraid to share what diners say about your restaurant on your social media platforms, in your newsletters, and on your website. This is a great way to advertise your restaurant, as diners feel more confident booking an establishment that has already received a thumbs-up from others. 

This summer, make the most out of these tips and benefit from working with TheFork to boost your restaurant advertising for extra buzz and visibility.

Leverage online advertising platforms for your restaurant

If you want to promote your restaurant effectively, consider leveraging online advertising platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads. These platforms help you to create an engaging campaign that highlights your establishment’s strengths, from your dishes to the restaurant’s service and atmosphere. By targeting a specific demographic and location, they ensure your advertising efforts are seen by the most relevant audience. 

Search engines and social media are vital advertising tools, as they impact visibility. While Google Ads focuses on boosting local search results, driving traffic to your website and tracking online orders, Facebook Ads can help to improve overall engagement. By leveraging eye-catching visuals and compelling messages, advertising your restaurant on Facebook will help the platform’s effectiveness extend beyond simple word-of-mouth. 

Customers sharing their experiences will also always enhance your online reputation, as authenticity is the most effective long-term advertising tool. Authentic reviews are invaluable, and these endorsements will resonate with the social media community, convincing potential diners to visit your restaurant.

Optimise your restaurant's website

Do you want to take your restaurant advertisement to the next level? Consider optimising your website. This involves improving user experience with striking visuals, excellent content and technical UI. 

• Integrate relevant keywords throughout published content and content you plan to post soon. SEO strategy is fundamental to making your restaurant rank higher in search engine results, driving more traffic and promoting activity. Don’t forget to resize images that are too big and always insert an optimised alt text.
• Create a dedicated blog section where you publish engaging content about culinary experiences, menu updates, chef interviews, news, trends, etc. This will keep your website up-to-date and deliver useful information to users.
• Incorporate your social media profiles in the footer. This way, users can easily move between your dynamic online profiles. This will promote your restaurant through an impactful, multi-channel strategy that will boost your reputation, advertising efforts, and online visibility.

Although restaurant advertising is an important and often daunting consideration for any restaurateur, there are a multitude of ways to easily boost the scale and reach of your marketing efforts. By doing so, you can expect to make your business more profitable in no time! For a host of restaurant marketing tips and tools, get in touch with us at TheFork Manager today to start discovering how we can help your restaurant thrive.