Every restaurant owner and manager knows the impact that effective advertising can have—it’s essential for attracting new customers and keeping regular diners coming back for more.
But creating the right marketing strategy isn’t always easy, especially with the demands of daily operations taking up most of your time. That’s why we’ve put together this guide with seven top restaurant advertising tips and ideas to inspire your marketing creativity and help you stand out in a competitive field. Let’s get started on boosting your table bookings and your restaurant’s chances of success!
Advertising is an ever-evolving landscape. There are a number of different ways to break down the advertising for restaurants, including:
Digital advertising refers to marketing your business through digital channels. In the 21st Century, this is an area of advertising that hospitality businesses are particularly focussed on. You’re probably using it for your business right now.
Types of digital advertising include:
Traditional advertising refers to more old-school means of getting the word out about your business. This can include:
While digital advertising is a major focus for hospitality businesses, it’s important not to overlook traditional methods. It can enable you to appeal to different demographics who may be less inclined to look to technology to find restaurants.
You can even marry these campaign styles. For example, you could add a QR code leading to your booking page within a newspaper ad.
While traditional advertising still has its place, there’s no denying the accessibility and reach that digital solutions can offer. This makes it a great choice for hospitality venues of all shapes and sizes.
Another way to categorise advertising methods is the difference between paid and organic advertising. As the name implies, paid advertising incurs a direct cost to your business for exposure.
On the other hand, organic advertising involves earning exposure through various means, without directly paying for it. It's important to remember that "organic" rarely translates to "free". Earning organic coverage often requires investment in terms of time and money. The best form of organic advertising is of course, word-of-mouth recommendations from your adoring diners!
This distinction can apply within traditional advertising. Doing something newsworthy within your restaurant, like switching to a zero-waste menu, can result in local newspaper coverage you do not pay for. This is very different to purchasing advertising space in a newspaper.
These terms are often applied in digital marketing. Some examples of this divide in action are:
If you have the resources, a balanced approach to advertising can have great results. If your advertising budget is more limited, you may want to drill down into types of advertising you feel will have the best return on investment for you.
Not sure where to start in advertising your business? Here are seven of the top ways you can boost your online presence, take more table bookings, and increase the appeal for existing diners.
Google is a great option for advertising your business through both paid and organic means. With over 8.3 billion searches made every day, there's no denying the remarkable opportunity it can offer restaurants. “Restaurants near me” is Googled around 137,000 times a month in Australia and 285,000 times a month in the UK.
The process of making your business more visible in organic Google Search results is referred to as search engine optimisation (SEO). In short, you want Google's algorithm to think that your business is the best website to show for a set of given keywords you target.
Here are a few ways you can help your business perform better in Google Search:
When you improve your Google visibility, you can leverage the best results with ResDiary's Google integration. This integration allows you to place booking widgets directly into Google Search and Maps results. All customers need to do is click the Reserve button and they’ll be on their way to placing a reservation.
This vastly simplifies the process of acquiring bookings through organic search results. Customers don't even need to click onto your website to easily place their booking. It's the perfect way to get a reliable return on investment from search engine marketing.
For a more immediate impact on your restaurant's visibility, consider Google Ads. Google Ads offers a fairly intuitive system to set up your advertising campaign. You can follow this simple five-step process to get started:
Another online channel which can offer serious opportunities for your business is Facebook. With 55.9 million users in the UK and 19 million in Australia, successful campaigns on Facebook can have big returns.
For organic success on Facebook, you'll need to create a business page. Then, here are a few ways you can try to get greater visibility for your business page on Facebook:
Facebook Ads are run through Meta's Ads manager, which is also used to manage ads on Instagram. It offers an impressive number of features to help you get the most out of the service, including:
Once you've defined your budget and set your campaign parameters, operating your Facebook campaign through Meta Ads is a simple, user-friendly process.
Whether you're using organic or paid ads on Facebook, you can benefit greatly from ResDiary's Meta integration. With this tool, you can place an attractive, enticing booking widget directly onto your Facebook or Instagram profile.
This is the perfect way to turn your advertising campaign into direct results. Once a customer decides they are interested in your restaurant, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to convert into a paying diner. That's exactly what ResDiary's Meta integration empowers you to do.
As Instagram is owned by Meta, just like Facebook, it's straightforward to conduct simultaneous campaigns across these platforms. Of course, food venues and Instagram go hand-in-hand, and there's a good chance you're already engaged on the platform in some way.
You can use the Meta Business Suite tool to manage business activity and campaigns across both platforms.
Instagram has 35 million users in the UK and around 14 million in Australia. No matter where your restaurant is in the world, you have the chance to connect with local diners on Instagram.
The great thing about Instagram is its use of the visual medium. It's the ideal place to share photos and videos of your restaurant's finest food or best moments of ambience.
You can strive for the most organic reach on Instagram by:
With Instagram Ads also being operated through Meta Ads, it's easy to run paid campaigns across Facebook and Instagram. It's also simple to use ResDiary's Meta integration across both platforms, ensuring that your viral posts convert into customers.
Booking platforms are widely-used systems where food lovers can find their next favourite dining spot. For example, ResDiary's booking platform Dish Cult (available in the UK only) has a user base of 9.7 million foodies.
The good news for ResDiary customers is that your Dish Cult listing comes free when you sign up for ResDiary. Plus, when customers place a booking on Dish Cult, there are no commission fees paid. It's an outstanding low-cost way to attract more customers to your business.
ResDiary also integrates with Quandoo for customers in Australia and New Zealand. Just like ResDiary's integration with Dish Cult, this means your booking system is automatically connected to the system and diner data is synchronised without any effort on your part.
This makes it easier for customers to place their bookings and for you to manage diner data, resulting in better service.
Booking platforms are somewhat similar to social media in that they require you to compete for attention with other restaurants. So, make sure your profile is optimised, highlighting your business' unique selling points. You should utilise professional photography to showcase your menu, and also take advantage of the opportunity to promote special events and offers that hungry diners simply can't refuse.
Email marketing is a vital channel for restaurants to use. When you accept a booking through ResDiary or another restaurant reservation system, you get the chance to store a customer's email for marketing purposes - so in essence, every new booking becomes an opportunity to grow your marketing database.
On your restaurant marketing journey, this database is a vital tool for maintaining relationships with your customers, as it offers you a direct route to communicating with them. When you send a targeted email, you know that it will appear in a customer's inbox and they have a good chance to open it.
This contrasts with channels like social media. Competition for attention is significantly more intense on these channels.
ResDiary allows you to create and send branded emails to your database. It's an easy and intuitive system for any restaurant owner or manager to use. This has many benefits for your business:
It's easy to become fixated on modern, digital methods of advertising your restaurant. However, more traditional methods of getting the word out in your local area could still have a place in your restaurant marketing plans.
Local newspapers and magazines can still be a high-value way to promote your business. As they are read almost exclusively by people living in the same area as you, so there's a good chance your restaurant can be seen by someone with a strong interest in dining with you.
You can get placed in local publications by purchasing advertising space, which is usually a straightforward process once you get in contact with the publisher. Another option is to "earn" coverage in these publications by doing something newsworthy in your venue and attracting press coverage - special events are a good example.
This could also include becoming well-known for a notable menu item, winning awards, or even charitable work giving back to your community. You can even reach out to these publications and let them know you'd be happy to provide an interview and imagery for coverage about your restaurant.
Another way to attract more local interest to your restaurant is by partnering with other local organisations. This could range from sponsoring a sports club to providing catering for an event at your local library.
This not only allows you to showcase your business on a local stage, but also allows you to create strong roots in your community. This is a great way to create a stronger reputation for your business.
Crafting a restaurant marketing strategy around the day-to-day operations of your business can be your bread and butter - pun fully intended. Also, hosting special events is an amazing way to attract different kinds of customers to your restaurant, while offering fresh material to include in your restaurant ads.
Some kinds of events you could consider hosting (and marketing) are:
ResDiary can be a major help for operating events in your venue and harnessing their advertising potential. In the UK, ResDiary integrates with Tonic, an easy-to-use ticketing platform to help manage your event.
Plus, when you use Tonic you get free exposure with a listing on the DesignMyNight platform. DesignMyNight has over 3.9 million monthly users, offering a great opportunity to draw more guests to your event.
ResDiary will also help market your event with branded emails. You can analyse your booking data to ensure you're fully prepared, and use our Stripe integration to easily collect deposits and prevent no-shows.
Need a little more help creating the best possible ads for your hospitality venue? Here are five more tips to help out:
ResDiary is an excellent tool to help market your restaurant online and beyond. From easy-to-create branded communications to a wide array of marketing integrations, you can use these tools to automate many of the most difficult parts of restaurant marketing.
Data is vital in the world of marketing, and ResDiary helps your business collect critical data about your customers. From email addresses and SMS details to add to your database to dining preferences and so much more, it's the perfect way to get to know your customers better.
Book a ResDiary demo today and find out how you can take your restaurant marketing up a notch.