You can work on perfecting your restaurant’s branding, your menu, your website, your culture, and a whole host of other things. But at some point, you just need to get customers in the door.

 

And that’s what marketing is for. It’s meant to build brand awareness and attract people to your place of business. If your marketing isn’t helping you get desired results, then there’s probably a disconnect between what needs to be done and what you’re presently doing to build your business.

In any business, some experimentation with marketing is generally required. Your first plan probably won’t be the perfect plan (though it’s always better to have a plan). But that’s why you must track results and determine your next course of action based on hard data.

Here are several strategies that can help you boost your restaurant’s profit.

Host A Launch Party and Other Special Events

If you just opened your restaurant, a launch party can cause great buzz around your business. You can ask family and friends to join you, as well as local business owners, offer a special deal, hire a band, and create a great experience attendees won’t soon forget – that will keep them coming back for more and help you earn referral business too.

If your restaurant has been open for a while, you can still host special events, even on a weekly or monthly basis, to attract customers. Whether it’s a live music night, Taco Tuesdays, customer appreciation day, or something else, host events that are suited to your place of business and the types of customers you appeal to.

 

Search Engine Optimize

Consumers today often first search online to find local restaurants that appeal to them.

Per IMPACT, average smartphone conversion rates are up 64% compared to the average desktop conversion rates. This is another great reason to be search engine optimized, and offer online ordering if you can.

If your restaurant is known for pizza, you want to try and rank for the top result in local searches, as hard as that might be. Creating long-tail or branded keywords, such as “the best pizza in town without meat”, could help you own a niche instead of trying to race against the glut of competition that’s out there.

With the help of an agency, your information can be spread across the web accurately. There are many moving parts to SEO that an agency can help you with, like ensuring your best content is on your own website and implementing a content marketing strategy to keep your website fresh.

Create A Loyalty Program For Your Customers

Loyalty programs have been proven to keep customers coming back. Whether it’s collecting points or earning a free meal, people love the idea of being rewarded for their ongoing patronage.

A key point here is to keep things simple. Reward cards are fine so long as they aren’t going to bend, break, or disintegrate in someone’s pocket. Which is funny to even mention, given the help of technology (such as FiveStars and Square), you can make it hassle-free for your customers to collect points and earn special deals with you. Take advantage.

Leverage Influencers

Influencer marketing has been growing fast in the virtual industry, and for good reason. It can be seriously effective if executed properly. 

Contact a marketing agency to find out your options for influencer marketing. It may seem like a game of best selfies, but influencer marketing is lucrative if you choose the right representative. Hosting media nights to invite local bloggers, podcasters, journalists, media people, social media mavens, and others can also help. But be sure to invite them for a special occasion and give them something to talk about.

Give influencers the opportunity to walk around and see your place of business and talk to your staff. Getting influencers to cover your story can help greatly with local exposure.

Final Thoughts

There is simply no shortage of methods you can use to promote your restaurant. What you need to do is hone in on the key strategies that are producing the best results. That way, you can reduce your marketing spend in other areas that aren’t helping, and pour more of your resources into channels that are boosting your business.