The restaurant business is known to be one of the most competitive industries to break into. The new entrants face tremendous difficulties as they immediately face an uphill battle. According to Fundera, 50 percent of these businesses fail within the first five years.
In the current competitive market, the restaurant business is even more unforgiving. So, the question arises, how can restauranteurs and bar owners push the odds in their favour?
The key to business success is knowing the target market. Yes, know your customers! Though the common understanding might be that if the food is delicious and the ambience is right, the restaurant is definitely going to flourish.
However, in reality, you need more than this. Ask yourself questions like “How will the right customer know that I exist“, and “How can I attract more people to the restaurant“. Most of you might be wondering about its food, so why does the restaurant need to target the right customer?
Let’s answer this with an example. Suppose a person opened up an Indian restaurant in a foreign country. Now, people will come in who would like to try it. But, the major audience or the right customers will be the people who consume Indian food regularly or have a high spice tolerance. If you keep advertising to the segment that wants to eat sushi every day, then all your efforts are going to go in vain.
The only way to succeed and make sure that there is a heavy flow of customers is to engage in digital marketing. The common understanding when someone mentions marketing is handing out flyers or direct mailing. When the word “digital” is added, we think of social media. However, in reality, digital marketing is more than these definitions. It is an engagement and client-conversion umbrella that you can use to your benefit.
Let’s go through the top digital marketing strategies for restaurants and bars:
1. Upgrade Your Website
Even though you might think that you have a local business and no one is going to visit the website, just have it upgraded. You will be surprised to know that 88 percent of customers conduct online research before they purchase a product or avail of a service.
A website is like your digital storefront. It is your 24/7 sales agent that convinces the visitors that this is where their needs will be satisfied. So, when your website fails to do so, the potential customer can bounce off your website and find another business.
Keep your website creative, functional, and user-friendly. Do not use big words and a formal tone. Use the power of copywriting to really sell the idea that you have the best food. Ensure that there is a dedicated section for the food menu, testimonials, restaurant pictures, and other important information such as hours of operation and address. Most of the time, when people get hungry, they are in a hurry. It’s likely that they will access your website through mobile devices. So, make sure that it is optimized for cellphones.
2. Focus On Local SEO
A restaurant’s search engine optimization is a key step in digital marketing. This is exactly how the right customer will find you in a crowd of restaurants. SEO will help you rank higher in Google Searches. Here is a quick question! How many times have you googled for something, went through the first page of the Google search results, and then clicked on the second page? Yup! That’s true. Rarely!
So, now imagine that other restaurants in the area have perfected their SEO and used all of the highly searched keywords. Your website is likely to be pushed down or to the second page. In worst cases, further down the search list.
To keep yourself at the top of the rankings, make sure you use local SEO. So, for instance, when someone types in “Italian restaurants near me,” your restaurant will pop up. Let’s not forget the psychological effect. Most of us assume that whatever business is at the top is the best business.
Here are some suggestions that can boost your SEO:
– Create a blog that engages the visitor
– Ensure that each page of your website utilizes the local keywords
– Use internal and external links
– Update your Google My Business account
– Include your address and contact information multiple times
3. Capture The Social Media
Always team up your SEO strategies with your website and then align these with your social media plans. Currently, about 70 percent of American adults use Facebook on a daily basis. Imagine the following you can build and the number of foodies you can attract to your restaurant.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and now, most importantly, TikTok gives you the opportunity of both free and paid advertising campaigns. You can use the strategy of co-creation, where you can ask the audience to build unique content that you can then use on your social media and give something in return.
Social media accessibility and increased use as a marketing tool give you a competitive edge. You can check what the competitors put up on their walls, stories, and ads. Then, you can re-strategize to capture the audience that might be engaged with the other business. You can also use social media listening tools to track the audience’s sentiments and use that to tailor your campaign.
Alternatively, paid advertising allows you to expose your business message to a large segment. You can monitor your campaign and alter the demographics to make it more effective. Who said that analytics belong to technical business only. Use data-driven insights to really optimize your effort to reach the right customer and induce the desired action.
Contact Be Eminent Today!
There are over one million restaurants in the united states. Standing out in such a competitive crowd and maintaining customer loyalty is quite a task. You will need effective digital marketing strategies and campaigns to stay ahead of the competition.
At Be Eminent, we know what it takes to maintain a strong digital presence. The team strives to increase brand recognition and ultimately helps the business gain more customers. Whether it’s local SEO or the task of upgrading your website, we know how to align all of the components to deliver a unified message. Contact us today!