If you own a small business restaurant and not able to afford a marketing firm, then you have landed at the right place. Today, we’ll share some insights on how to market your restaurant online without spending hundreds of dollars.
The problem with hiring a marketing agency is that they are expensive. They either charge huge or will ask for commissions and eat all your profits. The good news here is – you can market your own restaurant on the internet with some basic marketing tactics.
5 marketing ideas for small restaurants –
1. Turn social media into your secret ingredient
Without social media, you’re missing out on hundreds of potential millennial and Gen Z customers. If you don’t already have social media profiles, start by creating accounts right away. Set up pages on Facebook and Instagram – it’s as easy as creating a personal account. Invite your friends and relatives to follow your pages to build an initial audience. Make sure to post images and videos at regular intervals.
Your content doesn’t need to be highly edited or photoshopped. Simply take pictures or short videos of your food, dishes in preparation, behind-the-scenes moments, or anything interesting related to your restaurant, and share them. Post about offers, menus, rewards – anything that adds value. If you don’t have time to do this regularly, use Facebook’s scheduling feature to plan your posts for the upcoming days or weeks.
2. Social media ads
It’s not as complicated as you think. You don’t need to be a marketing expert to run paid advertisements on social media. Oh, and it’s not that expensive either. Social media ads are actually quite effective for building brand awareness and increasing customer engagement.
First, choose a platform. If we were in your shoes, we’d go with Facebook and Instagram. You can create and launch ads on both platforms using Meta Ads Manager.
But how do you set up ads? Fortunately, Meta makes it easy for anyone to get started. Every Facebook user automatically has access to an ad account. You can start running ads with as little as $20 or $50 – it all depends on the budget you’re comfortable with.
Choose a creative (your post or image), select the ad objective (like awareness, engagement, or conversions), narrow down your target audience (e.g., Mexican food lovers in Manhattan), set your budget (say, $100/month?), and run the ad for as long as you’d like.
3. Reach out to influencers
You don’t need to pay influencers. Just invite them, offer some free food, and they’ll likely be happy to share their experience on social media.
But how do you find local influencers? Head over to Instagram or Facebook and search for terms that come to mind, like “NY food,” “Thai food NY,” or “Pizza in New York.” Look for influencers with a strong following and reach out to them.
A simple message like this can work wonders:
“Hey! If you’re ever in Brooklyn and hungry, we’d love to invite you to our restaurant for a free meal 🙂 .”
This kind of casual and friendly message often gets a great response!
4. Google business profile listing
Most restaurants rely on local search results, and to make your business visible on Google and attract more customers, you need to have a Google Business Profile for your restaurant.
Google may automatically create Business Profiles based on information found online. If your restaurant doesn’t have one, make sure to create and verify your Business Profile listing immediately.
To maximize your visibility on Google and Google Maps, optimize your profile with accurate and relevant information – including the correct business category, operating hours, up-to-date contact details, photos and videos, and prompt responses to customer reviews.
5. A website for your restaurant
As mentioned earlier, restaurant businesses rely heavily on local search traffic – primarily Google – to attract nearby customers. To maximize visibility on Google, having a website for your small restaurant is crucial.
Google favors businesses that provide relevant, fresh, and accurate information. Your website is where Google gathers key details about your restaurant to display in search results. That’s where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) becomes important.
The higher your restaurant ranks in local search results, the more customers you’re likely to get.
So, the first essential step in your marketing strategy should be to create an SEO-optimized website. Fortunately, you can easily build your own restaurant website with the help of tutorials available online.
If you don’t have the time, budget, or technical skills to manage a website or run social media ads for your small restaurant, feel free to reach out to us at info@digimunch.com or explore our super-affordable services here. We cover everything for just $99 per month.
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