If I could sum up how to market your restaurant online in 3 easy steps, here is what they would be….
Step 1: Create Content – Build a regular and mobile website
Step 2: Connect and Capture – Go where your customers are. Connect with your prospects online via social media and get their contact information for future marketing opportunities
Step 3: Convert prospects into Customers: Communicate with yourprospects via email or text messages automatically and convert them into paying customers
Now, let’s discuss those 3 steps in further more detail…
Step 1: Create Content -
Build a regular and mobile website with useful information so that your restaurant can be found online when prospective customers are searching via mobile or desktop
First step is to create a search engine friendly website – regular and mobile with great contents. It should be informative and valuable enough for it to appear on the first page of Google and other search engines like Bing and Yahoo. Don’t be misguided that just because the site has cool animation and is designed by a website designer, it will rank high on Google. To make the website work it has to be designed with marketing on mind so it will attract search engines first and thus your prospective customers. If search engine can’t find your website, then your customers can’t find it either because there is no way search engines can bring up your restaurant listing on the search results.
Second thing to do is to get your restaurant listed in Google properties like Google Places and other popular online directories which will help your restaurant get better rankings.
This isn’t a “set and forget” strategy. Once your restaurant establishes itself in these online locations, it needs to ensure its information “stays fresh.”
The internet search engines, directories and social media are similar to perishible products in your restaurant. There’s a “use by” date on everything you use to prepare your food, which means it expires over time. If your restaurant doesn’t deliver new or updated content on a regular basis, it will get “knocked off the shelf” by another restaurant that does, and it becomes irrelevant as it gets buried in cyberspace for no one to be able to find.
Step 2: Connect and Capture – Go where your customers are.
Connect with your prospects online via social media and get their contact
information for future marketing opportunities
Once your restaurant’s search engine friendly website is published, you need to make sure you also have a proper lead capture system that will automatically capture leads and manage your email and mobile text marketing campaigns. Without the system it’s going to be hard to attract and retain new customers.
The idea is to make sure that you entice those online visitors to sign up for your email club or VIP mobile club. You can accomplish this by offering them a free appetizer or glass of wine or some thing else that you think is appropriate. Remember you’ve only 3 seconds to convince him or her to sign up and take your offer other wise they are gone faster than you can think. You must have an email coupon sign up form. Along with that make sure you also offer a special deal that they can get exclusively via text message. This will help you to not only attract this new prospective customers but also communicate with them for future marketing promotions. Literally you have a power to fill up empty seats of your restaurant in a matter of 2-3 hours.
Now the question is, where should you find these prospects that could become your paying customers? There is a saying: “go where customers are.” You should reach out to prospects and customers where they spend most of their time online. So it makes sense to go to social media like Facebook to attract people. You can do this by placing some Facebook Ads if your marketing budget permits. Since most of these users are always on mobile phones, make sure you are reaching them via mobile marketing too.They tend to more receptive to sign up via text message and deals.
3.Convert into Customers-
Communicate with your prospects via email or text messages automatically and convert them into paying customers
Once your restaurant establishes relationships with prospective customers online, you need to continue to provide valuable information and make offers because it is proven that it’s six to seven times easier to get an existing customer to buy from you again than it is to get a new customer to buy from you the first time. However, you should still continue attracting new customers; just be sure you are converting them to paying customers and funneling them into your customers database.
Most restaurants miss opportunities to incrementally increase their revenue because they don’t follow up with their customers.
One of relatively easy and affordable ways to follow up with prospects is through text messages. It also provides a simple entry into mobile marketing for your restaurant business.
Text messages are effective because 97% are read and 90% are read within the first hour of receipt. A business like your restaurant can text a follow-up offer for a two-for-one special on a slow Tuesday night, and you can be assured that it will generate a near-instant response.
Furthermore, mobile coupon open rates are as high as 95% and the redemption rates are exceptional ― between 5% and 20% ― compared to traditional print coupon redemption rates, which average below 2%.
So now let’s recap how you can market your restaurant on the internet effectively at an affordable cost without spending tons of money on traditional advertising that doesn’t work any more.
Step 1: Create Content – Build a regular and mobile website
Step 2: Connect and Capture - Go where your customers are.
Connect with your prospects online via social media and get their contact
information for future marketing opportunities
Step 3: Convert into Customers – Communicate with your prospects via email
or text messages automatically and convert them into paying customers
I hope you’ll implement these three steps formula to market your restaurant online and get results in increased sales and profits.