Behind every successful restaurant is a strong marketing plan. There might be ten Mexican restaurants in a locale, but when it’s time to order, people will go for the most well-known one.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through the six essential steps to building a marketing plan for a restaurant to maximize your restaurant’s visibility, attract new customers, and drive repeat business.
Conduct an audience analysis
Start by analyzing your existing customer base: who they are and how they interact with your restaurant. Look at demographic characteristics such as age, income level, dining habits, and even social media activity. Are your customers more likely to discover new restaurants on Instagram, Google reviews, or word-of-mouth?
By identifying their preferences, you can craft targeted marketing messages that resonate with them. A restaurant that mainly caters to families should apply a different restaurant marketing strategy than one targeting college students.
Gathering audience insights doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use a mix of methods, from analyzing social media engagement to conducting short in-person or online surveys. Leverage tools like Google Analytics to track website visitors or insights from Facebook and Instagram to see which posts get the most traction. Additionally, pay attention to direct customer feedback, including online reviews, comment cards, or even casual conversations with diners.
Studying your competitors can also provide valuable clues. See who they are targeting and which of their strategies are working, then adapt and refine your approach to stand out.
Set SMART marketing goals
A restaurant marketing plan is only effective if it has clear, well-defined objectives. Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) ensures that your efforts are focused and trackable. This will also help you allocate your marketing budget more efficiently.
Instead of setting a vague goal like “increase sales,” a SMART goal would be to “increase weekday lunch sales by 20% within three months by running a social media ad campaign and offering a lunch combo deal.” This approach provides a clear direction and makes it easier to measure progress.
Once you establish your goals, break them down into actionable steps. For example, if you want to improve customer retention, you could implement a loyalty program where diners earn rewards for repeat visits or orders.
Choose the right marketing channels
Selecting the right marketing channels for your restaurant marketing plan is crucial to reaching your target audience effectively. Consider incorporating the following in your restaurant marketing plan:
Social media
According to a recent study, 55% of diners claimed that social media influenced their restaurant choices. This is your cue to elevate your restaurant’s social media game!
Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are great for showcasing visuals of your mouth-watering food, while Facebook can be used to connect with local communities through relevant groups (e.g., Foodies ‘R Us). The key is to focus on the platforms where your ideal customers are most active, ensuring maximum engagement with your marketing efforts.
Here’s a list of engaging content ideas for your restaurant’s social media:
- A virtual tour of your kitchen, showcasing the safety standards followed and glimpses of the process of making customers’ orders.
- A video where you ask customers to describe their experiences at your restaurant in one word.
- Tell the story of how the restaurant came into being and the vision of the owner(s).
- An interactive post asking your audience to suggest creative names for a new dish.
Designing social media graphics is easy with PosterMyWall. You can upload and edit your own images/videos, or customize the restaurant social media templates, to create posts for your socials. If you can’t think of a caption for your social content, use the AI Captions tool in the publishing flow to generate captions that pack a punch.
Website
A well-optimized website is essential. Your restaurant’s website should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly. It should include your menu, hours of operation, contact information, and online reservation options.
Additionally, implement local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by optimizing your website with location-based keywords (e.g., “Mexican restaurant in New York”) and encouraging online reviews. This way you can improve your chances of appearing in Google searches when people look for restaurants nearby.
Email marketing keeps customers engaged and informed at little-to-no cost. Research showed that every $1 spent on email marketing yields a return of $36; that’s a 3600% ROI!
Through an email newsletter, you can share menu additions, exclusive discounts, event invitations, and seasonal promotions with your customers in a personalized manner.
Using PosterMyWall, you can create impactful restaurant marketing email campaigns to stay connected with your audience. Customize the food and beverage email templates by adding your logo, images, and message. Plus, you can personalize your messages through email merge tags; for example, you can wish a customer on their birthday and give 10% off their next order.
SMS
SMS marketing ensures your promotions reach customers instantly, increasing the likelihood of immediate action. For instance, sending a limited-time offer via text, such as “Get 20% off your next order today!” can help drive traffic to your restaurant in just a few hours.
Leverage strategic partnerships
Partnerships can significantly enhance your restaurant’s reach and reputation, allowing you to attract new customers and increase sales.
Food delivery apps
Collaborate with food delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, or local delivery services to ensure your customers can enjoy your delicious food from the comfort of their home (or office!). These platforms also market your restaurant through placements (you’re placed on top if you have a high number of good reviews) and promotions.
Offering exclusive deals or limited-time discounts through these apps can encourage potential customers to try your restaurant. With the combination of your high-quality food and packaging and the platform’s prompt delivery service, you’ll be able to collect positive reviews on food delivery apps. This will put your restaurant among the top options available on the app, encouraging more people to order from your restaurant.
Influencers and food bloggers
Social media influencers can create engaging content, such as restaurant reviews, live tasting sessions, or behind-the-scenes kitchen tours, helping you reach and build credibility with their followers.
A single viral post showcasing your signature dish or a unique dining experience can drive a surge in reservations. This will, in turn, encourage user-generated content from real customers, such as Instagram stories or TikTok videos, which will further amplify your restaurant’s visibility and customer trust.
Local businesses
Cross-promotions with nearby businesses can also help attract new customers. For instance, if your restaurant is located near a hotel, you can offer guests a special discount.
Hosting pop-up events, participating in food festivals, setting up stalls in other community gatherings (e.g., school events, if possible) are additional ways to establish your brand presence in the local food scene.
Plan seasonal promotions and special offers
Align your restaurant’s promotions with seasonal trends and holidays to capitalize on customer demand. Some restaurant promotion ideas you can try include:
- Bundle deals or packages for occasions celebrated with loved ones, e.g. a Valentine’s Day romantic dinner package or a Ramadan Iftar buffet.
- Limited-time menu items, such as pumpkin spice desserts in the fall or refreshing cocktails in the summer.
- Holiday gift cards and coupons of at least three tiers.
- Giveaways and social media contests. Offer a free meal or gift card to a randomly selected winner.
Utilize PosterMyWall’s Content Planner to keep track of important seasons and holidays. The calendar helps you plan, organize, and schedule promotional social media content and emails in advance, ensuring that your customers are informed about and able to enjoy your exciting seasonal or holiday promotions and special offers.
Beyond traditional holidays, consider hosting themed nights or events to make your restaurant stand out. For example, you can host live music nights; they’ll be memorable experiences that customers will want to share with friends and family.
Monitor and optimize
Continuously tracking and optimizing your efforts ensures long-term success; you’ll know what’s working and what needs improvement.
Regularly monitor your:
- Social media metrics – follows, likes, comments, shares, and saves.
- Email metrics, including unsubscribes, open and click-through rates.
- Website traffic (through Google Analytics).
This data will indicate the content, messaging, and offerings that resonate with your online audience. For example, if a social media ad campaign isn’t generating the expected results, experiment with different visuals, captions, or targeting strategies.
Additionally, practice active social listening, which involves keeping a track of online conversations about your restaurant and industry to learn more about your audience. Websites like Google Reviews and Yelp can give insight into what customers love about your restaurant and where improvements are needed. If customers frequently praise a specific dish, you might consider promoting it more. On the other hand, if there are complaints like slow service, addressing these issues can improve customer satisfaction.
Running occasional short surveys, both online and in-person, can also help gauge customer preferences and sentiments.
Creating a winning restaurant marketing plan
Creating an effective restaurant marketing plan requires a thorough understanding of your target market’s interests, consumption patterns, pain points and social media activity. Once you have a clear idea about this, aim to reach out to customers where they are and make it appealing and convenient for them to choose your restaurant over others.
This goal will influence how you create social media, email, and influencer marketing campaigns, run promotional offers, and partner with local businesses and food delivery apps.
Whether you’re creating a marketing plan for a new restaurant or optimizing an existing one, the six steps discussed in this blog are equally important. Implementing them will enable you to boost your restaurant’s visibility, sales, and customer loyalty.
