Marketing for Restaurants and Cafes

Even the greatest restaurants and cafés – with the tastiest food and best customer service – can fall under if they don’t have enough customers. Some can rely on their location or word-of-mouth recommendations for their marketing. But most need to work hard to find enough customers for the business to grow.

Our list of 24 marketing tips for restaurants and cafés will give you ideas for gaining loyal customers so your business can reach success.

What exactly is Marketing? Why is it important to your restaurant business?

Marketing is the practise of communicating with potential customers to lead to sales for your business. Effective marketing allows you to:

specify who you are and what you do
know your target market (who you want to connect with)
use the right language to communicate with them
establish an effective communication style
know what makes you unique compared to your competition

Marketing will be more effective once you understand communication styles, have a defined target audience, know your brand, and have strong self-awareness.

Before you work through the marketing tips below, answer the following questions:

What is the purpose of my restaurant?
What makes it different from others?
Who is my ideal target market?
What is the message they want to hear?
What is the best way to communicate it to them?

In marketing, there are two main goals – brand awareness and lead generation. Great marketing will achieve both. In the earlier stages of business growth, lead generation is usually more important as you need clients to start booking in to cover outgoings. Once the business is established and you’re booking work steadily, you can shift to a brand awareness campaign to keep your business top-of-mind in the target market.

27 Tips for a Successful Restaurant or Cafe Business

1. Use SEO to rank high in Internet Search results

SEO is a great digital marketing strategy for restaurants in today’s business environment. Gone are the days when people reached for the yellow pages to search for a business. Now, most people use a digital device to type or speak into Google.

The Search Engine Journal says “93% of online experiences begin with a search engine”. It’s very important to incorporate Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) into your restaurant business marketing plan.

Ideally, your business will be #1 in Google searches for the keywords being used by your potential clients, or at least appear on the first page. This makes it easier for clients to find you and enables your business to be more profitable without huge advertising bills or stress. Most restaurants and cafes will get clients from their local area, so use a local SEO strategy to drive more business to your website. SEO can be done in-house, or you can hire a professional who specialises in the field.

If you want to keep your overheads down and have complete control over the SEO marketing for your restaurant or cafe business, a great place to start is SEO for Restaurants by Georgie Hope. The eBook focuses specifically on restaurants or cafes that want their business to be found by people in their local area. It is written in plain, easy-to-understand English and includes everything you need to do to rank a restaurant or cafe website in Google and other search engines.Or book a free 15min zoom or phone call with Georgie to discuss your website. Contact me if there are no times that suit you.

Book a Free 15min SEO Chat

2. Create a Google My Business page

When looking for a restaurant, most people search the internet to shortlist businesses that are close to their location. Google is the largest and most popular internet search engine.

Google My Business (GMB) should be a key online marketing tool for your business. GMB allows you to:

Add images to increase your visibility online and boost your brand identity
Encourage potential clients to contact you
Obtain more leads for your business by increasing your online exposure
Engage with potential clients
Attract more clients by creating special offers

Create your FREE Google Business page and ensure you complete all the details for your profile. Keep the business name, address and phone number consistent across all online listings and your website. Also, make sure you select the correct category for your business so you appear in relevant searches. Your business description will help you stand out from your competitors, so it is worth spending some time on this. Add relevant and enticing photos. Finally, ask previous and current clients to leave reviews.

Aim to get as many good reviews as possible. Two-thirds of people say they trust consumer opinions posted online. It is the third most trusted form of advertising [Nielson]. We’ll talk more about reviews in Tip #20.

Your restaurant marketing doesn’t need to cost a cent when you make use of SEO and Google My Business (GMB). It is amazing how much visibility your business will get by using these free marketing strategies!

3. Automate Social Media posts

Social Media marketing for restaurants and cafes

It is important to maintain an online presence where your target market is.

Social media is the perfect place for restaurants and cafes to show off their enticing meals and interact with potential customers. Research by Empathica shows that 72% of customers choose whether to visit a restaurant based on Facebook alone.

Social media is an ideal marketing platform. It’s FREE and can have a huge impact on getting you more clients. You need to research where your specific audience is online and focus on the platforms you’re best at using. Whichever platform you choose, make sure to show off the amazing food and drinks you offer, and feature your happy clients.

Use the following suggestions to make your social media presence a successful marketing tool for your painting company:

Post both professional and ‘behind the scenes’ photos of your meals and drinks; show the atmosphere of the restaurant
Repost content created by customers and work with influencers
Respond quickly to comments and messages
Interact with local businesses and potential customers
Always link back to your website from social media pages (these are called backlinks and help with SEO)
If you use Pinterest, Pin directly from your website to Pinterest – when somebody clicks on the Pin, it takes them to your website.

A new social site making waves is TikTok, which is also worth trialling, even if you just share posts back to Instagram via Reels.

Posting regularly on your social platforms is time consuming, especially when you have many channels to post to. It’s worth utilising a website that lets you upload content to many sites with one click, and schedule posts for future dates and times. This will create a steady stream of fresh content on your social media, keeping your followers happy, and streamlining the amount of time it takes to create marketing content. Try Hootsuite or IFTTT.

Also, post at meal times to catch your audience’s attention when they’re more likely to be hungry!

4. Website Design and the importance of Speed

Your website design should display the food provided by your business and have your contact information clearly visible. Potential clients must feel a connection with your business when browsing through your website, as this makes them more likely to contact you and make a booking. Use your visual branding and brand voice across the website to cultivate a more inviting and memorable relationship with viewers.

Your website design should display the specific services provided by your business and have your contact information clearly visible. Ideally, the business website will also perform well with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), as we discussed in Tip #1.

Since clients have to have a certain amount of trust in the restaurants they choose to dine with, it’s important that your business website looks and feels extremely professional, and incites trust in the viewer. If your client thinks your website is outdated, uninviting, poorly designed, or has bad writing, they will be far less likely to trust you to successfully complete your job.

Here are some key marketing suggestions for a restaurant or café website:

Your website is the virtual storefront for your business – make sure the website design looks professional, as this reflects on your entire brand
Make sure you have a page for services/products offered
Include a photo portfolio
Make sure you have an easily navigatable menu page
Make it easy for potential clients to contact you – have a phone number, email and address visible, plus a contact form
Update the website regularly with fresh content
Always direct potential clients to your website from all other platforms (it’s the one platform you have complete control over)
Make sure your website is able to be viewed on mobile devices

Don’t underestimate the importance of speed, especially for a restaurant website. Potential clients don’t have the patience or time to wait as each page of your website loads. They’re hungry!

Your website needs to load fast if you want people to book. Here are some tips to increase speed and optimise your website:

Compress images to reduce bandwidth and space required (but don’t alter quality)
Convert raw image files to JPGs
Select the image size required (larger images will hinder website loading speed)
Embed YouTube videos
Use a content delivery network (CDN) to provide fast delivery of content (by using geographically distributed groups of servers)

5. Blog to your website regularly

Blogging is a brilliant way to express your brand’s personality. Your viewers get to know you as well as your business. You have the opportunity to engage with them honestly and intimately. Ideally, your blog content will also do well in Google searches and convert the blog audience into new clients.

The content of the blog is important. You can maximise your online presence by posting relevant content your potential clients might search for. Tweak the blog content to work towards higher Google rankings by adding keywords.

Here are some suggestions:

Share stories of exciting and interesting things that have happened at the restaurant or cafe (including some big challenges and how you overcame them)
Share location-specific blogs to boost local SEO
Recipes and information about the food you sell (i.e. where it comes from, the history of specific meals, etc.)
Dining out – why do it, why at your restaurant, etc?
Turn testimonials from customers into story-structured blog posts
Deliver content that your readers are interested in – write for the customer, not for the sale
Use your well-researched SEO keywords throughout blog posts to improve your organic Google search result rankings (as discussed in Tip #1)

6. Promotional giveaways

Giving away meals and drinks as promotions can be very effective to generate leads and create awareness of your business.

Use social media platforms to drive leads back to your website, where clients must enter their information to be in the draw for their chance to win. Posts are easily liked and shared on social media pages, and with enough momentum, your promotion could go viral and create thousands of leads for your business.

For an even bigger promotion, team up with other businesses in the same industry. For example, an upmarket restaurant could team up with a concert for a ‘night out’ giveaway, or a takeaway seafood shop by the beach might partner with a beach equipment hire shop.

7. Handouts

One of the best ways to get more customers is by spreading the word, person to person and face to face. Bring your brand with you everywhere you go and encourage people to tell their friends about your restaurant.

Don’t underestimate the power of a business card or menu. Hand out as many as you can. Give each customer a takeaway menu to take home (or a fridge magnet with your phone number). If they already have one, suggest they take a second one to give to friends.

A lot of future business will come from word of mouth, and this is much easier when all of your information can be easily accessed. Your business card, magnet or menu is the mini introduction of you and your business to potential clients.

Ensure your handouts include:

Your name & business name
Logo
Brand colours
Contact details
Website
Social media links
Design that reflects your industry
A call to action

8. Create photo slideshows and professional videos

If the old saying is a photo is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a million.

90% of customers say a video will help them make buying decisions, and 64% say seeing a video will make them more likely to buy. [Forbes]

Slideshow videos are a great way to display your business. Pick 10-15 images and create a 30 second slideshow video which loops. This video should be saved to your website and shared to your social media platforms. Make sure to add an engaging caption that tells a story about your business. Some popular tools to create great images and slideshows are Lightroom, Adobe Spark and Animoto.

Video is another media form to utilise in marketing:

Create a video blog to give your viewers the chance to see, hear, and connect with you
Create a behind the scenes video of your kitchen, or a day-in-the-life of the staff
Create an educational video sharing your expertise on food

9. Create a YouTube channel

It’s definitely worth having a YouTube channel for your restaurant or cafe. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world after Google [Alexa Internet rankings].

Make sure you link back to your website from your YouTube channel so people can easily find and contact you. Share links to your YouTube videos on social media, and embed them on your website. You can also break your videos into smaller snippets for your other social media channels, and consider trialling newer mediums like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Post the videos you have already created for your website, but try to make some content specifically for YouTube, like vlogs and tutorials.

10. Build your email list and send newsletters regularly

Part of your restaurant business marketing strategy should be emailing past and potential clients regularly. You want them to be reminded of your business and come back as much as possible! You can build your email list on social media with free meal giveaways or coupons/discounts.

You put in a lot of effort to get contact information from potential clients, even if this is just a first name and email address. Don’t waste that information. When they first made contact with you, the potential client may not have quite been ready to make a booking. Keep your connection with them by communicating via email, and when they’re ready, your business will be one of the first to come to mind.

Services like Mailchimp make the process of email marketing easy and save time. You can even schedule emails and set up automations based on different types of customers.

Remember to keep your email list happy so they don’t unsubscribe. So they don’t lose interest, you might include:

Personalised anniversary emails – offer birthday discounts to loyal customers
Special occasion emails – send an Easter and Christmas email to everyone on your email list, updating them on any closures
Monthly Wrap-up email – send to all past, present, future and potential clients. Include a summary of the month – new meals, amazing people, testimonials, videos, etc.

11. Keep your menu and images updated

It’s very important to keep your online website up-to-date and current. You don’t want your restaurant or cafe to appear stale or outdated, and you also don’t want potential customers to get a nasty shock when they arrive at your restaurant to find it completely different to their expectations. That’s an easy way to get a bad review.

Keep your website fresh with these ideas:

Rotate photographs each month on your website pages, banners and page headers
Add new content to your online gallery regularly (at least monthly)
Create new slideshows of your latest menu items
Have a dedicated “Weekly Special” page, where you show off a special limited-time-only meal or drink

12. Ask happy customers to tell their friends

Marketing is continually evolving, but one constant always remains – just how powerful word of mouth referrals are! The most credible advertising comes straight from the people we know and trust.

83% of people say they completely or somewhat trust the recommendations of friends and family. [Nielson]

If you make sure your past clients had a great experience with you, and have stayed front-of-mind through marketing, they should recommend you. Turn your customers into marketers by asking them to spread the word.

Whether someone needs a place for a special anniversary dinner, a quick breakfast, or a big night out with friends, a recommendation from someone they trust will go a long way. You might even ask new customers if they were recommended by someone, and reward the loyal customer with a free drink!

13. Title images with relevant file names

Why does it matter what the photograph is named? It takes longer to rename photographs before uploading them to your website, but it is definitely worth that extra bit of effort.

Offline it may make sense to keep the digital image’s original file name as this is easy to reference. But online, photographs should be renamed to include subject, location and any other relevant information (e.g. Brisbane Indian Food, Miami Gold fried rice, Cakes and Biscuits vegan cafe Los Angeles, etc.).

This is because photograph names also appear in internet search results. If someone searches ‘Best Enchiladas Nambour’, your image could show on Google.

14. Invest in Facebook Ads

Although it’s great if you can get social media working for you organically, sometimes you need an extra push.

It’s widely accepted now that most social media platforms won’t show your posts unless you put money behind them (especially if you’re running a business page). This means you may have to spend some money to bring in the audience you’re looking for.

Facebook ads can take some time to test before you start seeing many conversions, but it’s worthwhile if you have the budget. The great thing about Facebook ads is they can be targeted so specifically you can reach the exact customer you want, just at the right time.

Here are some tips for giving your ads the best chance:

Use enticing, relevant images that capture the audience’s attention
Select a specific target audience for each ad, and cater the ad directly to them
When creating an ad, Facebook will give you options for the outcome you want (leads, clicks, engagement, etc) – choose carefully based on what your goal is for the campaign, and curate the ad with the goal in mind
Focus on the client – what do they want, and what can you offer them so they can get it?
Finish with a call to action that leads them to click (i.e. book now!)
You can even choose to target ads to people who have already visited your website

15. Go above and beyond in customer service

Great service and a great atmosphere is the #1 way for any restaurant to gain loyal customers. People often don’t care so much about the food as the experience of dining out, so cultivating this experience is a great method to ensure customers keep coming back.

Here are some clever ways to increase customer service satisfaction:

Reward staff who are praised by customers, to encourage the team to always offer great customer service
Teach staff about your restaurant brand (as discussed below) – should their manner be friendly and fun, or formal?
Think of ways to speed up service, and if that isn’t possible, make it worth the wait. You can even give people things to do while waiting.
Offer free-wifi
Resolve issues quickly to avoid bad reviews
Cultivate a culture within your staff that reflects your values and shows outwardly to customers (i.e. passion for the food, and empathy to others)
Recognise and reward regulars

16. Enter dining contests and awards

Awards for ‘Best X Restaurant’ always look fantastic on a restaurant website, and add to the customers’ belief that you’re a great place to spend their time and money.

Look into awards and competitions on both large and small scales that may be relevant to you. (Whether that’s the stamp of approval by a local magazine, or a prestigious global award.) This is a great way to spread awareness of your restaurant, create credibility and trust with potential customers, and even help your SEO backlinks if the award is shared online.

17. List in directories

Online directories are designed to connect your business with clients looking for your services. There are thousands of business directories, so it’s important to find the right match for your business, location, and niche.

These directories will be different in every area, so do your research to find as many as you can to get your name in. Once you’re signed up, you need to fill out the information in clear detail:

Your address
All contact details (make it easy for people to contact you, with many options)
Your website (to create a backlink)
Your social media platforms
A short bio with a hook and call to action

If the directory also includes a section for reviews, ask customers to post reviews for you there to increase your business’s credibility.

18. Community involvement – how can you give back?

Any business that’s involved in its local community will win loyal customers, because you’re showing that you’re loyal, too.

Giving back can come in many forms. Just look at how Grill’d encourages its customers to get involved with their charity donations; giving customers a bottle cap to drop in a jar for a chosen charity, which Grill’d will then donate to. This doesn’t just look good for Grill’d – it brings in the customer and is something to make the customer feel good.

Here are some ideas:

Leverage a big community event by opening your doors to participators
Charity nights where a % of profits go to a community organisation
Cater a local event to give more people a taste of your food
Donate food when possible (especially that which would have been wasted)
Offer customers the option of paying a few dollars extra to give a free meal to someone less fortunate
Be responsible environmentally
Be responsible ethically in the treatment of staff, sourcing of products, etc.

Think of causes you’re passionate about, in your area, that you would like to become involved with personally. Even if you’re not volunteering as a restaurant, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people who could become customers.

19. Use your own Instagram hashtag and encourage sharing

By creating an Instagram community, you’re creating an exciting way for your customers to share. User-generated content is a fantastic tap of great community content to use – and it’s free!

First, you have to make sure your food and restaurant are ‘insta-worthy’ and aesthetic. People should be able to take amazing photos of your food to share online.

Use hashtags like #foodie #instafood and #foodstagram to get your posts more exposure in the right markets, then create a hashtag of your own (usually #’yourrestaurant’) for people to use when posting photos of your food.

To create your hashtag list, first sort through the generic hashtags, then keep an eye out for ones more specific to your niche. Specific hashtags are often better to use, since there’s less competition and the viewers will be more targeted.

Fans also love when you re-share their posts to your page. You should aim to like and comment on as many posts as possible that mention you (either with a tag or your hashtag) and share a few of the best each week. This encourages people to share more from you, in the hopes of a reward!

20. Start a loyalty program

Your loyalty program could take the form of anything from a ‘6 coffees get one free’ stamp card to a full phone app or email list automation.

Why create one? Because your loyal customers want to be rewarded for being loyal, and they should! So to get people to sign up for your loyalty prgoram, make sure there’s enough incentive.

Try:

Discounts and coupons
Birthday/anniversary gifts and freebies
A sign-up discount
VIP extras
Access to special blog posts and content (such as recipes)

21. Connect with food bloggers and influencers

There are so many ‘foodies’ out there now it would be almost impossible for your restaurant to miss them entirely!

Work with the people who can give you exposure and cultivate a relationship with them. These people may already have a big following of people who trust them and take their recommendations seriously. You want them on your side.

Find some influencers in your area and invite them to dine with you. Offer discounts or free meals in exchange for a review. Make sure the food you give them is immaculately presented for photos, and put them in a well-lit area. You can even give them a discount code to share for their followers to use when they visit you.

To find local food influencers:

Do a Google search for bloggers in your area
Search through foodie hashtags + your area (#brisbanefoodie)
Look through tags of similar restaurants to yours (near you) and look for posts with a high number of comments and likes)
Look in your direct messages and emails – some may have already reached out

22. Offer discounts and coupons

Outside of your loyalty program, you can also offer coupons to people who may not have known about or visited your restaurant otherwise.

Here are some ideas for distributing coupons:

Use ad space in local magazines, newsletters and newspapers
Use ad space in travel magazines to encourage tourists to visit
The word ‘FREE’ grabs attention more than other words will (try buy 1 get 1 free rather than 50% off)
Put coupons on your website to target people googling keywords for discounts for food in your area
Where possible, collect the coupon user’s contact information so you can continue sending them offers and stay front of mind
Use coupons as a promotion for new menu items
Post coupons on your social media platforms to reward loyal followers

23. Google Ads

Google is the first search engine most people will use to find anything. When they’re looking for the perfect painter to meet their needs, you need to make sure you show up. Organic SEO can work well for this, but Google Ads give you an extra push to make sure you show up for the right keywords in customer searches.

Here are some tips to get your Google ads performing at their best:

Evaluate your website: is it easy to navigate and does it load quickly? If not, you’ll be wasting money sending traffic to a website that doesn’t convert
Use Google Keyword Planner to select the best keywords for your ads and get in front of the right audience
Place different keywords under different ad groups (for ads that cover two offerings)
Consider the value you offer to potential customers and use this to motivate them to take action (click). What do they need that you can give them?
Use Google Analytics to see how your audience interacts with your ads, and use this information to improve future campaigns

24. Work on your restaurant brand

You probably have a great idea of what food you’re selling, but what is the look and feel of your restaurant? What is your brand as a dining option?

Are you a healthy, bright and green café? A dark pub that smells like beer and meat? A cute café that sells cupcakes and artsy coffee? A cat cafe? You need this brand to not just be evident in your restaurant, but across all marketing channels.

Pick 3 specific colours to use in all marketing materials (including your website)
Get a logo that encapsulates your restaurant’s feel and offering
Craft a mission statement and make sure all staff understand it
Define the demographics of your ideal customers, as well as who they are as people/their values
Look at what your competitors are doing – what can you do differently to stand out?
Avoid following trends and instead create a timeless brand that people won’t tire of

25. Work with the press

Make it not only easy, but valuable, for journalists to share news about your painting company. You may have some very interesting painting stories to tell, so leverage these in your marketing strategy.

Use these tips to start connecting with press:

Post regular press releases on your website
Connect with local journalists
Re-share any news stories about you to your website and social media (rewarding the media site with a backlink/share)
Create news by doing interesting things in your community and business

26. Get an App

An app is a great way to pull all your restaurant’s offerings together for a great customer experience. You can hire a professional to create an app that looks great, functions well, and is very easy to use. It should make dining with you extremely easy – people should want to keep coming back for more.

Here are some tips for using an app as a marketing tool:

Offer discounts for downloading and using the app, as an incentive
Promote the app on your website and social media (make it clear it’s the best way to order from you via the customers’ phone)
Use app notifications to send promotions and updates directly to the user’s phone (but don’t spam)
Make it the hub of your loyalty program, where customers can see their points, offers, update their account, etc.
Have it available on all app stores so anyone with a smartphone can access it

27. Gift Giving

Sending gifts to clients is a unique strategy that has a great impact. It’s all about making an emotional connection and telling a story. And with a 100% open rate, it’s certainly worth trying.

Gifts could be an incentive, reward, thank you, etc. They show the client that you care about them and know them well, which will help build brand loyalty. When giving gifts, make sure you consider the client and the message. What is something they would actually like? What are you trying to tell them? Avoid sending random gifts without purpose.

For a more in-depth explanation of this marketing strategy, plus ideas for gifts and messages, check out the book ‘27 Direct Mail Marketing Ideas: To Make Your Message Stick‘ by Oksana Koriakova.

There it is!

For a detailed plan on using SEO to drive traffic to your website, don’t miss our new book ‘SEO for Restaurants’, available on Amazon.