
Digital Marketing Strategy For A Restaurant
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by Abacus Digital
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Source Jeff Marini
A functional restaurant does not equal to a successful restaurant. Even if the basics are done right, that is, provide quality food and service at a reasonable price, a restaurant still cannot depend just on word of mouth to keep it busy. Competition is very stiff, and there is a need to do the right marketing for the restaurant, be it offline marketing or online marketing. Offline marketing strategies include things like radio mentions, the newspaper adds, hosting events, etc. Online marketing for restaurants popularly known as digital marketing for restaurants includes creating a brand presence of the restaurant through digital channels like Facebook, Twitter, website, Instagram .
Digital marketing is essential because target customers use the internet to look for restaurants. Building a strong presence on the internet not only increases the brand visibility but also enhances brand image. This directly impacts sales and helps in making digital marketing for restaurants an easy process. Companies offering Digital Marketing Services for Restaurants provide a variety of online advertising and marketing services so that companies may have the opportunity to reach out to thousands of customers.
Reasons Why Restaurants Need A Digital Marketing Plan
The digital marketing plan guides you in setting up the right goals and measuring results of what you have been achieving. Every business needs a direction. When it is about the restaurant business, this business is heavily reliant on literal footfall. So, with a digital marketing plan in place, you will have a clear idea of what you want, how you want it, and what you will do to get it. There is no doubt that online promotion has become necessary for every business.
Another reason why restaurants nowadays need a digital marketing plan is that a good digital marketing plan will help you in setting up realistic quarterly and annual goals for your restaurant business and promoting them on digital channels.
Being a part of the hospitality business, the firm has the extra load of keeping customers thrilled at every point of interaction that they have with your business.The digital marketing plan will assist in achieving just that. Mainly because it will act as a clear directive of what one is meant to do, how one is supposed to represent, and what kind of personality will one be showcasing across all digital channels for the restaurant
SWOT analysis
Source Victor
With a restaurant competitor SWOT, you can get actionable insights into what your competition is strong at and where you could do better.
Strength : Questions like why do people dine at this restaurant instead of others in the city? It could be because they crave the authentic taste of its meals, and they love being entertained.You know better than anyone which restaurants people like to visit. Why not read a couple of reviews on TripAdvisor to find out why patrons love visiting a specific restaurant? https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/
Weaknesses:Questions like where does this restaurant struggle in comparison to others? It might be that its menu has just one option for vegetarians. Or perhaps it is failing to engage millennial diners with a badly-executed digital marketing campaign.Again, social media analysis and customer feedback are great resources to help you identify competitors’ weaknesses
Opportunities: Questions like what measures do you think this restaurant can undertake to enhance its branding, widen its target market, and/or enhance its operations? Maybe it just needs to redo its menu to include a few more appetizers.Whatever opportunities uncovered through a competitor SWOT can be incorporated into the restaurant digital marketing strategy to enhance its strengths in relation to its competitors.
Threats: These refer to the external factors that are beyond the control of the company competitor and could place their profitability and turnover at risk.Threats are important to keep tabs on because what’s threatening the company’s competitor business could very well threaten the company as well.
Objectives
Online marketing is a vital tool for restaurants looking to grow their businesses. Your restaurant depends on customers, and the internet is the best way to reach them.A restaurant digital marketing plan comprises strategies to promote your restaurant online. The goal is to ensure that your restaurant appears in search results and drives more customer traffic to your restaurant or online ordering site.
Source Restro Gyaan
Restaurants should including the following strategies in their digital marketing plan:
Social media marketing: At the most basic level, social media management for restaurants is key to developing and growing your customer base. Social Media has affected the way we interact with one another, and it’s changed the way companies in every industry conduct business and connect with their customers. This is especially true for restaurants, which is why having a social media presence is no longer an option: It’s a necessity. It’s critical to define an online presence and identity that stands out.
- Provides information and opens communication with customer
- Gives your restaurant the opportunity to be found online
- Allows you to share your food and recipes visually online
- Adds professionalism and legitimacy to your restaurant
Paid social media ads
But it’s not just the free social media options that could mean big things for your business taking advantage of paid advertising can be just as important. But being aware of the most effective ways to promote your restaurant online and knowing how to use those tools to their utmost potential could be the difference between drawing in customers or not.
Email marketing
you might have heard that email marketing is a thing of the past. The reality is that this type of marketing is still alive and thriving. It can help you increase your restaurant sales easier and with less effort than other marketing tactics.
If you’re looking for more reasons why you need restaurant email marketing, here are the benefits:
- Helps you forge meaningful relationships with your customers.
- Won’t break your budget.
- Relatively easy to set up, test, and distribute.
- Will help you increase sales.
Google My Business listing
Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool that allows companies to promote their business online through Google. With Google My Business, a firm can create a Business Profile for its restaurant, and it helps to connect with customers on Google Search and Maps.
Customers and Traffic
Events can be a great way for restaurants to attract customers as they bring an extra element to the experience of eating out. They are also a great way to get people to come to the restaurant on quiet days
Competition
Competitor analysis serves many purposes. By understanding the business competitors, the company positions itself to truly understand its market and create value propositions, differentiators, and a marketing strategy that goes above and beyond the competition. What better way to create an appealing business plan built to attract investors?
STRATEGY
A clearly defined strategy is critical to the success of a business. Without a strategy, the company may fail or stall.4C’S FRAMEWORK, 4’s of marketing communication model this strategy seeks to build an online value proposition in order to set restaurants apart from the increased myriad of ethical and sustainable restaurants The strategy will seek to position restaurants , not as a leader in providing quality meals of which there are many, but rather a leader in customer-centric sustainable business practices whereby business can be a force for good. This idea, as a digital strategy, has to align with the company’s higher vision and mission.
Positioning message.
In order for restaurants’ messages to resonate with its intended online audiences it has to be clear, consistent, credible and have a competitive edge. The message needs to impact both B2B and B2C audiences.
Online Value Proposition
An online value proposition is closely linked to restaurant brand positioning which responds to the questions: who we are? What do we offer? Which markets do we serve? What makes us different? With the proposed value proposition message, we can strategically position and differentiate the company apart from all the other restaurants. This strategy, therefore, is about notifying and motivating B2C customers and B2B customers. In addition to the positioning statement restaurants need a tactical campaign which tells the customer in more detail why they should prefer your restaurant helping to drive click throughs, new site visits, conversions and online engagement
TACTICS
Summary of existing and new targeting approaches we will use to boost acquisition and retention
- Optimize and build landing pages for SEO/PPC that are high speed and high performance
- Setup Google Analytics goals ecommerce tracking
- Create KPI dashboards
CONTROL
In order to measure the effectiveness of this plan the following tools will be used:
- Google Analytics including e-commerce tracking `
- Sales figures from the company’s accounting system `
- SEM Rush – a robust data insights tool for digital marketing
Source Jeff Marini A functional restaurant does not equal to a successful restaurant. Even if the basics are done right, that is, provide quality food and service at a reasonable price, a restaurant still cannot depend just on word of mouth to keep it busy. Competition is very stiff, and there is a need to…
Source Jeff Marini A functional restaurant does not equal to a successful restaurant. Even if the basics are done right, that is, provide quality food and service at a reasonable price, a restaurant still cannot depend just on word of mouth to keep it busy. Competition is very stiff, and there is a need to…