There are few brick and mortar industries more competitive than the restaurant business. Every year, new hopefuls open their doors only to be met with the stark reality that turning a profit is a challenge.

Within five years, most restaurants have to close.

Why? Because while they're focusing on the food, the service and the decor, they're forgetting about one important thing.

Relevance.

Relevance is everything in the restaurant world. It's why customers visit in the first place; why they come back; why they leave a review; why they tell their friends.

And it's here that restaurant marketing is absolutely crucial. Not only will it help you win new customers, it'll keep people coming back for more.

What is the best marketing for restaurants?

Build a website

If you haven't already, you need to build a website.

A website tells your story and makes you look credible.

But perhaps more crucially, it gives you a chance to occupy a space on Google.

Google is like the Yellow Pages of old – but better. It's a directory, an advertising platform, and a customer relations portal all rolled into one.

  • With a website, people will instantly find you when searching for your restaurant name.
  • If you're a restaurant with a stunning view of the Burj Khalifa, you might appear when someone searches for “restaurant with a Burj Khalifa view,” for instance.

Google uses an algorithm to “read” all live websites on the entire web, and makes deductions about what it's seeing: what the website is called, what is being sold, and other granular information describing the site.

That's why, when we build websites for our restaurant clients, we try to make Google's life as easy as possible. We tell the search engine what you're selling in great detail. This gives you the best chance to appear for the widest number of search terms possible.

Claim your Google My Business Page

What is GMB? It's the panel at the side of Google that displays crucial information about your restaurant:

  • Opening hours
  • Closing hours
  • Map
  • Physical address
  • Type of cuisine
  • Phone number

Customers will also be able to make reservations online via the link at the bottom of the panel.

The Google My Business panel is a crucial driver of traffic to your restaurant, and we help set up and maintain this for you.

Top tip: One thing customers hate is when your opening hours change, and your GMB panel doesn't reflect this. That's why maintenance is crucial.

Create a social media calendar

As a restaurant marketing agency, we recommend that our clients have at least an Instagram and Facebook page, but perhaps TikTok too.

And for these platforms, you'll want a social media calendar. Here you plan Stories, photos, videos (alongside attention-grabbing captions) that go up daily.

No detail is too small. Your feed/page should look perfect. Colors, images, shapes in perfect balance.