Marketing a Restaurant

[skank]

Anybody know any unique cool ways to market a restaurant online? I'm not talking about the usual things like Yelp, Grubhub, Eat24 etc. I'm looking for clever things people do whether it be with ads or with SEO. Like I was just informed of a geo-targeted ad system that will essentially serve ads to people who visit a competitor's restaurant

 

[Beach Affiliate]

Facebook ads were made for this. Get creative.

Some targeting suggestions: Target fans of restaurants that would have similar demographics, local TV, newspaper, and radio station pages, and local women 25+ that are active in community functions and charities (women are always the ones excited to try a new restaurant...men are like whatever).

Get the restaurant in the "local flavor" section of the Sunday paper. Contact the journalist(s) in charge of those sections and hit them up with a unique angle. This is way easier than most people make it out to be. The worst they can do is not return your call/email. The best, obviously, is coverage.

You can do the same with the local TV news as well. The news is always looking for local stories like that.

You (and the owner) may be tempted to run specials or coupons. I'm weary of those. You'll get a ton of immediate traffic...of freebie seekers/cheapskates. You don't want that shit unless it's truly a budget place to eat. (think one $ on the scale).

If it's $$ or more, focus on the unique dishes, atmosphere or anything else OTHER than trying to get people in the door on price alone. That's a slippery slope that will make razor thin restaurant margins even more thin...and run everyone (including you) ragged in the process.

 

[TeeBird]

The other thing is shop the restaurant a couple of times and make sure the service is great, not just good, but great.

I have seen too many restaurants drive traffic through their doors and piss people off because the service sucks...

When, and only when, the front of the house and the food are both in great shape, should you drive traffic. When people have a great experience they will become regulars, but they will tell the world how bad you are if you are not good enough.

 

[potentialeight]

How to Advertise on a Porn Website | Eat24 Blog

 

[PatrickStar]

Do something viral like this:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC9PsJb6S_s[/ame]



But seriously - engage local community in viral activity - like free voucher for $10 posted each day on one of the pages of the website, or scavenger hunt - weekly winner gets $50 in credit.

 

[scum bag]

 

[emp]

Being responsible for a few restaurants' websites.

Make it work
Make sure the site works.

Seriously. Technically restaurant websites are some of the worst I have seen.​

Give IMPORTANT information
Then make sure the most important information is actually on the site.
What do people need when looking at a restaurant?

1. Contact info (1 of 2)

This means TELEPHONE NUMBER on every page. The BRUNT of the business for restaurants comes from telephone, so I can't stress this enough.​

2. Where is it

Make sure a link to a good map and any routing information is in EVERY PAGE (small map in footer, links to page with full private and public transport information)
​

3. What do I get to eat? (Part 1 of 3)

No, I don't mean a full menu (yet), just a general outline of the cuisine.​

That's it. Seriously , anything after that is..

Bonus content
Bonus, but the way to shine.

1. Contact Info (Part 2 of 2)

Forms. General contact / inquiries, Bookings, Gift coupons.
Make em nice and easy. Normally, restaurants want to call people back to confirm (no one mans the email at all times) - Make sure the reaction time is clear "Someone will contact you within 24 hours".​

2. What do I get to eat? (Part 2 of 3)

This is where you get to put the menu on the site.​

3. What do I get to eat? (Part 3 of 3)

This is bonus bonus, as this means daily updated specials. Front and center.​

4. What does the restaurant look like?

Galleries, galleries, galleries.
If possible, get a good photographer to make pictures that are more emotion than info. (Yes, also food)
These examples are from actual restaurant sites (not mine)

Bad

Good

Then make sure it works well.

Technically sound, no flash, background music, text as image, etc..
You will have to fight non-techie, non internet people.
No gravestone intro page. Make sure index.html/php/jsp is filled with good content, not just a logo.
Then comes the full on-page SEO bible.
Include schema markup if possible.
Then optimization for speed.
​

Then snuggle up to Google and Social media

Google+ biz entry
Facebook business page
Tripadvisor page
Yelp...​

After this, you are ahead of 90% of local restaurants.
The proof is in the pudding - Restaurants I do freelancing for have more than 1K searches per month, with NO advertising anywhere.
(This is stats Google sends me on the biz account, they just say 999+ searches... hmpf)

The visitor numbers are way ahead of this, though.
(10k - 30k unique visitors / month)

Just looking at the email forms for reservations, I know they are making more off the site per month than the site cost them (and I am not cheap).
And yes, profit, not revenue

And that is just email, most business comes from the phone.

::emp::

 

[qibrandmgmt]

Wow, great info emp. You should write a book on restaurant marketing. Google+ should definitely be a focus..maybe the only thing Google+ is good for.

 

[Member8200]

Now Im gonna build my own restaurant

Thanks Emp PDF created, copywriters working on it to make it a 20 page PDF. Will sell this in Warrior at $27 each

 

[Human]

Now Im gonna build my own restaurant

Thanks Emp PDF created, copywriters working on it to make it a 20 page PDF. Will sell this in Warrior at $27 each

Clearly you're joking, but this is the kind of generic shit response that causes people to not contribute to the forum.

 

[insectlife]

Depending on the type of restaurant a food challenge can potentially net you decent word of mouth, and both offline/online PR.

Perhaps the effect may be slightly diminished if you're in America where they're more common place but if you're in the UK it's not the worst short term tactic out following the popularity of Man vs Food and obesity in general.

The REALLY big breakfast: 6,000 calorie fry-up is slammed by health campaigners... but a hit with diners | Daily Mail Online

All depends how you carry it and what your STP is.

 

[avatar33]

Very simple suggestion that worked for a client of mine: it's hard to resist a beautiful HD photo of a delicious meal. I would fb/tweet a photo of a different meal daily, slightly before lunch time (or dinner) and promote it to target your fans + all people in the area that fit typical target audience.

 

[qibrandmgmt]

A Facebook page called something like Philadelphia Foodies or whatever major city your restaurant is located in. Get people to share their favorite local dish at the popular local eateries. Then place the photo àvatar33 suggested throughout the day. Suddenly your restaurants food is appearing right next to everyone else in the area's favorite meals on a daily basis.

 

[StackCash]

I have a local restaurant client I'm working with now. We just finished up their website this past fall and are now working on hyper-local and broader local rankings in Google. Got them hooked up with the "big 3" review sites - Yelp, TripAdvisor, & Urbanspoon. Also had DirectoryBug create about 50 more business listings.

Going to let those new links sit and stew for a bit while we implement some on-site seo changes and increase the volume and velocity of social media signals and reviews on third party sites.

From there, we plan on creating landing pages for popular food-related events in the area and getting ranked for those keywords.

 

[youknowwho]

Being responsible for a few restaurants' websites.

Make it work
Make sure the site works.

Seriously. Technically restaurant websites are some of the worst I have seen.​

Give IMPORTANT information
Then make sure the most important information is actually on the site.
What do people need when looking at a restaurant?

1. Contact info (1 of 2)

This means TELEPHONE NUMBER on every page. The BRUNT of the business for restaurants comes from telephone, so I can't stress this enough.​

2. Where is it

Make sure a link to a good map and any routing information is in EVERY PAGE (small map in footer, links to page with full private and public transport information)
​

3. What do I get to eat? (Part 1 of 3)

No, I don't mean a full menu (yet), just a general outline of the cuisine.​

That's it. Seriously , anything after that is..

Bonus content
Bonus, but the way to shine.

1. Contact Info (Part 2 of 2)

Forms. General contact / inquiries, Bookings, Gift coupons.
Make em nice and easy. Normally, restaurants want to call people back to confirm (no one mans the email at all times) - Make sure the reaction time is clear "Someone will contact you within 24 hours".​

2. What do I get to eat? (Part 2 of 3)

This is where you get to put the menu on the site.​

3. What do I get to eat? (Part 3 of 3)

This is bonus bonus, as this means daily updated specials. Front and center.​

4. What does the restaurant look like?

Galleries, galleries, galleries.
If possible, get a good photographer to make pictures that are more emotion than info. (Yes, also food)
These examples are from actual restaurant sites (not mine)

Bad

Good

Then make sure it works well.

Technically sound, no flash, background music, text as image, etc..
You will have to fight non-techie, non internet people.
No gravestone intro page. Make sure index.html/php/jsp is filled with good content, not just a logo.
Then comes the full on-page SEO bible.
Include schema markup if possible.
Then optimization for speed.
​

Then snuggle up to Google and Social media

Google+ biz entry
Facebook business page
Tripadvisor page
Yelp...​

After this, you are ahead of 90% of local restaurants.
The proof is in the pudding - Restaurants I do freelancing for have more than 1K searches per month, with NO advertising anywhere.
(This is stats Google sends me on the biz account, they just say 999+ searches... hmpf)

The visitor numbers are way ahead of this, though.
(10k - 30k unique visitors / month)

Just looking at the email forms for reservations, I know they are making more off the site per month than the site cost them (and I am not cheap).
And yes, profit, not revenue

And that is just email, most business comes from the phone.

::emp::

I was on my way to meet up with a restaurant owner. You have no idea how much this helps me

 

[DexterMorgan]

Great post emp! I still come across restaurant/bar websites that don't have a clear phone number or their hours of operation listed on a regular basis. If any of you want to explore more restaurant Local SEO + Direct Lead Generation opportunities, you can always try these kind of websites too:

Restaurants

Restaurants | Best | Italian | Top | 5 Star | Guide | Specials | Coupons
Restaurant Menus: Pizza, Chinese Food, Sushi menus - Order online for fast food delivery or pickup! - Allmenus.com
BooRah - Select your City to see restaurant reviews, menus, pictures, and more! (restaurants)
https://www.delivery.com/merchant/index.php
Restaurant Reviews, Restaurant Ratings and Online Menus - Dine.com
http://www.dinehere.us
http://www.dinesite.com
http://www.dineview.com
http://eat24hours.com/join
http://www.eatstreet.com (click ‘Restaurant Signup’ on bottom of the page)
http://www.foodie.com/ (suggest restaurant)
http://foodjunky.com/about/restaurants
http://www.foodler.com/join (most cities)
http://foodspotting.uservoice.com/k...-can-restaurants-use-foodspotting-can-i-claim
https://forkly.com/restaurants (restaurants and bars)
http://get.grubhub.com/sales/
http://www.localchineserestaurants.net
http://www.localeats.com/add-a-restaurant/ (most cities/they will not consider chain restaurants for inclusion)
http://www.localitalian.net
http://www.localmexicanrestaurants.net
http://www.localpizzashops.net
http://www.localseafoodrestaurant.com
http://www.localsushibar.com
http://www.localthairestaurants.com
http://www.menuism.com
http://www.menupages.com (NY, SF, LA, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, DC, South Florida)
http://www.opentable.com
http://www.pickarestaurant.com
http://www.pizzadelivery.org
http://www.qmato.com
https://reserve.com/for-restaurants (NYC, LA, Boston, SF)
http://partners.restaurant.com/
http://www.restaurantica.com
http://www.restaurantpage.com
http://www.restaurantratingz.com
http://www.restaurants.com
http://www.roadfood.com
http://www.seamless.com/restaurant-partners/
http://www.urbanspoon.com

 

[emp]

Here is the dirty secret:

Take that list and apply it to ANY small business.
Plumbers, electricians, etc...


A lot of them have atrocious websites.
If you think I was joking when I said "text as image" you won't believe how many websites are image only.

And then they wonder why they are not listed on the Googles.

All of them need small, but clean, and informative websites.

If you are good talking to non-techy people - Go get 'em.

::emp::

 

[emp]

I was on my way to meet up with a restaurant owner. You have no idea how much this helps me

Glad it does.

Yes, I do know how useful it is. :cool2:
Simply because this list is made from 100% (sometimes painful) experience.

::emp::

 

[emp]

My thoughts on coupons, rebates, etc...

Restaurant profit margins fall between 1% and 4% of revenue.

Well, THIS source (The Average Profit Margin for a Restaurant | Business & Entrepreneurship - azcentral.com) says 2-6% , and I am too lazy to re-trace my former research. Just google [restaurant profit margins] or somesuch.


A very interesting report is here:
http://www.globalmna.com/announcements/2013RestaurantIndustryReport.pdf

They put the profits for casual restaurants at a staggering 6.9% in their summary, but FAIL to provide the numbers in depth. The report is also US centric and focuses on major restaurant companies... profit margins for individual restaurants are much lower (the above cited 2-6%, optimistically)

What does this make coupons?
It makes them a bad idea.

If you give one of those popular collector coupons (eat 10 times, 1 time free), you are giving away 10% of revenue.

Why do these work?
Because most people forget about them or lose their coupons or whatever.

However, the new format for those (and any other coupons) is often digital - no losing, no forgetting.

And if your restaurant revenue slips by ten percent... fuck it.. if it slips by 3% you are gonna have a bad time.

So don't.

Actually, a good rule for any business:
Never compete on price.

Try competing on quality, unique value, etc... not on price.

::emp::

 

[skank]

My thoughts on coupons, rebates, etc...

Restaurant profit margins fall between 1% and 4% of revenue.

My restaurant is falling closer to the 30% net profit margin, so I have some room to work with haha, Even with that, I think I'll stay clear of the Groupon type marketing

Thanks a lot for all this information you laid out. I'm going to use it in depth with all my marketing efforts. I really like your idea of a free $10 voucher each day. I'd like to be known on facebook for the place that gives away a free meal a day at random times. It would keep people interacting with the FB page