8 Amazing Strategies To Advertising A New Restaurant
It’s the first month of the new year and you’ve just opened your dream restaurant. Take note, your dream restaurant. So as much as possible you want everything to work out smoothly, from the in-house operations to advertising. I can help you on the latter.
There are a few essential steps you can take, as a restaurant owner, when advertising a restaurant for the first time. Here are some tips.
1. Google is your best friend
Proceed to www.google.com and search for restaurant review websites in your city. Click on some of the hits at the top and write a short review of your restaurant, including operation hours and what you have to offer. This helps get the word out about your restaurant on the Internet, also known as online restaurant marketing.
A restaurant consultant will tell you that online marketing is your best bet if you really want to advertise.
2. Take-home menus
Most restaurant owners take this for granted, and this is where you come in. Take-home menus help customers decide who to call between your restaurant and Restaurant X for lunch-time delivery.
Assign one of your employees to distribute take-home menus at the door as customers leave the establishment. Include all your menu items and their prices, as well as your contact information.
3. Spread them around town
Invest on a small budget to have your take-home menus placed strategically in convenient stores, in break rooms at local offices, and in schools around town. It’s the most effective way to inform the townspeople what your restaurant has to offer.
4. Advertise on the local newspaper
Ask the local paper to write a short introductory article or, if possible, a review of your restaurant. Since your restaurant is new, I bet they’d be interested to cover. Prepare a small budget for this one, too.
5. Advertise on the local radio
It doesn’t hurt to ask the local radio stations if they would appreciate you bringing them a free complimentary breakfast or lunch as a way to welcome your new business into the neighborhood. They might just plug your restaurant for free.
6. Promos, promos
Start a coupon promo to encourage both casual customers and patrons to keep coming back. For example, they get free coffee for accumulating 10 chef salad coupons.
7. Networking
If Google is your best friend, then word-of-mouth is the wife you’re destined to love forever. Talk to your friends about exciting things happening in your restaurant to get them talking to their friends. Maybe even offer them a free dessert for bringing a new customer to your restaurant.
8. Show your presence
Participate in local events. As a local restaurant owner, offer to serve free food and drinks in exchange for advertisement. For example, serve simple sandwiches wrapped in personalized tissues that reads, “Catering provided by [your restaurant name and contact number].”
These tips are great for new restaurants since you don’t really need to set aside a large budget just to get them started—unlike building and maintaining a restaurant website. Anyway, a combination of these restaurant marketing strategies should give your business some decent exposure, enough to fuel your next big marketing campaign.