The hospitality industry has changed dramatically in recent years, and digital marketing is no longer just an option but a necessity in order to attract and retain customers. Gone are the days when a beautiful menu and word-of-mouth recommendations were enough to keep tables full. In an increasingly digital world, people are now more likely to search online, check out Facebook and Instagram, and even sign up for email newsletters to find out where to go to eat.
If you’re a restaurant owner or marketing manager, you no doubt appreciate that having a proper digital marketing strategy is no longer optional – it’s absolutely crucial to your establishment’s success. This guide will take you through each and every step of creating a digital marketing plan to grow your business, attract more customers, and put your restaurant on the path to long-term sustainability in what is now a highly competitive marketplace.
Why Digital Marketing is Important for Restaurants
The restaurant industry is becoming increasingly competitive, and traditional marketing methods are simply not providing the same level of results as they used to. Digital marketing allows you to reach a much wider audience, engage with customers in a meaningful way, and deliver results that are measurable, tangible, and can be seen in a very short space of time. So why is digital marketing so important for restaurants?
- Reach more people: Reach thousands (or even millions) of potential customers online through Google, Instagram, Facebook, and more. This allows you to reach a wider audience than you ever could through traditional marketing methods.
- Targeted Advertising: Create highly targeted campaigns that are relevant to specific groups of people based on factors such as demographics, behaviour, and location. This means you can get more bang for your marketing budget buck.
- Measurable Impact: Get real-time data on what’s working (and what isn’t) so that you can refine your strategy to get the best possible ROI.
With these massive benefits, it’s little wonder that digital marketing is fast becoming the only way to stay competitive in the restaurant industry today.
1. Do market research
Before you can develop an effective strategy, you must thoroughly understand your market and competitors, which means some comprehensive market research is absolutely essential.
Know Your Target Market: To attract the right calibre of customers, you’ll need to define your target market based on demographics and preferences. Ask yourself:
- What’s their age, gender, occupation, and income level?
- How often do they eat out?
- What factors influence where they eat out (eg convenience, special offers, type of cuisine)?
Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can start to coordinate your marketing accordingly, and make sure you are talking directly to them.
Competitor Research: Who else is competing for your customers’ attention and disposable income? Take a close look at your competitors’ marketing. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What do their customers say about them? Are they dominating certain channels or perhaps missing out on others where you could gain an edge? Once you get to know your competitors, you will have a better idea of where your business can carve out a unique niche.
For example, SEMrush can deliver a wealth of intelligence on your competitors, from website performance metrics to social media performance.
2. Be clear about your marketing objectives
Your online marketing will work so much better if you start by setting clear goals. And these goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART). Examples of SMART marketing objectives might include:
- Increase website traffic by 20% in 6 months.
- Grow Instagram followers by 15% in 3 months.
- Boost online reservations by 25% in a quarter.
Having specific, measurable goals means that all your strategies are focused on achieving quantifiable aims that will make a material difference to your business.
3. Set your budget
Setting Your Budget: If you’re new to hospitality marketing budgets, it can be quite tricky to determine exactly what percentage of your budget should be set aside for marketing. Generally speaking, independent restaurants tend to budget between 3-6% of total revenue for marketing, but this will depend on a number of factors, including your growth goals, local competition, and resource constraints.
How to allocate budget across channels: The first step is to identify the channels that work best for your business. Allocate your budget accordingly to marketing strategies such as social media advertising, search engine optimisation (SEO), email marketing, and content marketing. It is also important to review the effectiveness of each channel on a regular basis and adjust your budget accordingly to get the best ROI.
4. Develop your digital marketing strategies
Website optimisation: Your website is likely to be the heartbeat of your digital marketing strategy. It is important to make sure your website looks good, is mobile-friendly, and easy to use. In addition to these factors, the following are the minimum elements that it should include:
- Menu
- Location and contact details
- Online reservation functionality
- High-quality imagery of your dishes and ambiance
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Use keywords related to your cuisine and location to improve search engine rankings. For example, if you’re an Italian restaurant in London, you might want to target keywords such as ‘best Italian restaurant London’ or ‘handmade pasta Soho’. You might also want to think about creating interesting content, such as blog posts or chef interviews, to attract organic traffic to your website.
Social Media Marketing: Visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok can be ideal for building long-term relationships with customers.
- Post pictures of great food, behind-the-scenes, and special offers.
- Interact with your followers by responding to comments and messages.
- You can also run targeted ads to promote happy hour offers or events.
Email Marketing: Create a strong email list by using online forms and promotions in the restaurant. Send out regular newsletters with:
- New menu items
- Upcoming events
- Exclusive offers for subscribers
Online Advertising: Use Google Ads or Facebook Ads to run pay-per-click campaigns to target local people in your area who are likely to be looking to eat out. This can be a great way to get online bookings, promote new dishes, and increase takeaways. If you’re not sure how to get the best possible ROI from your advertising spend, it might be worth working with a specialist in digital marketing for restaurants to help you squeeze the most value out of your budget.
5. Digital loyalty program
No strategy is more effective at driving repeat business and building relationships with customers than a digital loyalty program.
Offer rewards for repeat visits (such as discounts or free items) and you’ll encourage customers to keep coming back. But the real power of a digital loyalty program lies in the valuable data and insights the program generates, allowing you to develop targeted campaigns and promotions based on what customers like and how they eat.
To get people to sign up and join in, promote your loyalty program on all your digital marketing channels, including your website, email newsletters, and social media.
6. Measure and track results
Measuring your success is vital in the digital marketing world. Some of the most common KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for restaurants include:
- Website traffic
- Social media engagement (likes, shares, comments)
- Email open rates
- Online bookings
Use Google Analytics, Facebook Insights or your email marketing platform reporting to monitor your numbers, and make sure you’re regularly reviewing and adjusting your marketing campaigns to make the most of the strategies that are working well (or not working as well as you’d like).
Keep Optimising for Long-Term Success
Creating a digital marketing plan for your restaurant isn’t a one-off process. Trends change, new tools come out, and customer behaviour evolves. Stay up to date and keep optimising so your restaurant stays ahead of the game in an increasingly digital-focused hospitality industry.
