The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing for Restaurants
Table of Contents
Marketing Strategy
Website
Mobile
Content
Email
SMS
Social Media
Review Sites
Search Marketing
Deals & Loyalty Programs
Marketing Strategy
Whether you have a new restaurant and you're preparing for your soft opening and your grand opening, or you want keep up the momentum and promote your restaurant well after it opens its doors - you need marketing! Restaurant marketing is a big topic, but there are some general principles, strategies and tactics you can employ to develop marketing plans and campaigns that will work best for you.
Your marketing strategy is your long term game plan - how you’re going to reach out to people; how you’re going to turn those people into customers; how you’re going to create your marketing plans. It defines your market, message, and medium. To build a marketing strategy that is effective in the long term, you need discipline, time and focus.
Here’s how to formulate your marketing strategy.
Your Objectives
Your objectives could be one of three purposes:
branding
customer acquisition
customer retention
Your Business
Analyse these elements of your business:
brand
concept
location
menu
Target Market
Your target market is defined based on the demographics, psychographics, and behaviours of your customer segments. All marketing strategies and tactics you develop should speak to one or more segments of your target market.
Demographics refer to the “who”, and include these factors:
age
gender
location
income
Psychographics refer to the “why”, and include these factors:
hunger
experience
ambiance
For each customer segment, examine:
who are they?
what do they want?
what motivates them to buy?
For each customer segment, consider:
do they communicate on social media or review sites?
what do they do before choosing to dine at a restaurant?
do they prefer to dine in or take out?
what kind of events do they enjoy?
are they influenced by coupons or discounts?
Marketing Funnel
The marketing funnel is based on the simple principle that consumers engagement with a product occurs in stages: awareness, desire, interest, then action. It filters down to a smaller but much more engaged group through each stage.
This framework helps you to understand the customers mindset, and how you should develop campaigns for your customers journey for each stage.
Marketing Mix
Your marketing mix includes both traditional and digital marketing channels.
Traditional marketing channels include:
direct mail
events
contest
coupons
print advertising
local media
word-of-mouth
Digital marketing channels include:
website
mobile
content marketing
email
SMS
social media
review sites
search marketing
online advertising
online deals & loyalty programs
Website
Did you know that 86% of people look at restaurant menus online before going out to eat? Having a website of your restaurant isn’t an option - it’s a must.
You can outsource to a professional web designer and developer to create your website for you. But if it’s not in your budget, you can do-it-yourself using a website builder.
Prepare
First, seek out inspiration. Check out the websites of your favourite restaurants. Seek out simple design. Look at the content and layout. Keep top of mind what you set out to do: which is to present the information to people who are seeking out your restaurant on a website where they can access it easily. So keep it simple.
Then, gather your materials. Including:
basic information - location, hours, and contact information
menu
about
copy
links
other page information
Then, collect your design elements. Including:
logo
images
favicon
Finally, map out your sections. Make a wireframe of the core structure of your website. Including header, navigation, body, footer, home page, menu page, and other pages.
Create
Choose a website builder. Here are two options:
Squarespace
WIX
Next, choose a template. A template is the set of designs and layouts that fit around the structure of your website. Both Squarespace and Wix come with a variety of templates.
Next, input your information. Here are the sections that need your input:
navigation
menu
pages
footer
Keep in mind the three most important factors for your website to be effective: having prominent contact information, displaying up-to-date menu with pricing and photos, and having easy to find call-to-actions
Prominent contact information include:
hours of operation
address
directions
phone number
Call-to-actions include:
delivery
reservation
newsletter sign up
coupons and promotions
Social proof works by tapping into the parts of ourselves that want to fit in with the crowd. People tend not to trust you or your brand as much as they trust your customers, authority figures, or experts. Here are five types of social proof:
expert social proof
celebrity social proof
user social proof
wisdom of the crowds
wisdom of your friends
Here are some website tips.
optimise for mobile devices
optimise for local search
get your analytics right
Publish
Domain is an identifier or a unique name that specifically represents your website that users can access.
Web hosting is a type of internet service that allows websites to be available by storing and serving pages that comprise a website.
Mobile
Mobile use is on the rise. Over 20% of Google searches are performed on a mobile device. More than half of local searches for local venues were performed on a mobile device. In the US, 25% of Internet users only access the Internet on a mobile device. 61% of people have a better opinion of brands when they offer a good mobile experience. 25.85% of all emails are opened on mobile phones, and 10.16% are opened on tablets. Your presence on mobile is crucial nowadays.
Mobile Website
Responsive website design means your website is instantly adapted when your users are viewing mobile devices. Responsive sites adjusts to any screen size and resolution. They are easy to read and navigate on all devices, with limited scrolling, panning and re-sizing.
The benefit of having a responsive website is that there’s only a single website to maintain and there’s no need to create a mobile app.
When your website isn’t responsive:
you lose website visitors
customers can’t view your menu
customers can’t quickly find your address
for online orders, users become impatient and leave your site
Mobile users want:
phone, location, menu, and info are easily accessible
click and call phone number
intuitive display and navigation
Mobile users don’t want:
mobile site different than desktop site
site looks bad on a smartphone
text too small to read
navigation doesn’t work well
can’t find your hours
can’t see your address
can’t click to call phone number
It’s important to consider mobile experience for search and social, because search engines and social networks will send traffic, and potential customers, to the door.
mobile users are social media users
Google supports mobile-friendly websites
mobile is good, but you need speed
Mobile App
Here are some pros and cons when you’re considering a mobile website versus mobile app. Mobile apps come with functionality that’s only available on your mobile device - such as notifications, or location-based marketing. However, mobile apps require download, whereas mobile websites provide instant access. And mobile apps are expensive, while mobile websites are cheaper. Generally, we’d recommend mobile websites over mobile apps for most restaurants.
Wi-Fi Marketing
Wi-fi marketing allows you to do much more than simply offer free wireless internet. It’s an easy way for you to collect emails, phone number, and followers; and build a customer database in exchange for the free wi-fi that you provide for guests.
Instead of singing in to your wi-fi with a password, guests sign-in with their email, or phone number, or Facebook or Twitter account. Once they successfully sign in, they get the free wi-fi that they’re looking for, and you get their contact information.
Wi-fi marketing allows you to collect contacts and build your customer database, via:
email
phone
Facebook account
Twitter account
The process for you and your customers is as follows:
Once you have a mechanism in place to collect your customer’s contact information, it’s time look at how to use that information with email & SMS marketing.
You can implement you wi-fi solution with Yelp Wifi, as well as several other solution providers.
Content
Content marketing is one of the most effective methods for restaurants to connect, engage and build trust with their customers. Content marketing is especially important if you want to be an established authority in a particular subject, such as gluten-free, vegan, or healthy eating.
Content marketing strategy consists of your blog posts or the articles you post on your website, the emails you send, and your posts on social media channels.
Recent studies say that people are sick of traditional marketing methods, by means of pushing out promotions. Content marketing, however, provides a way to engage your consumers and pull them in with information that capture their interests.
Content marketing has these benefits:
be of value to all your customers
enhance brand visibility and credibility
boost search engine rankings
Create a content strategy, including these elements:
goals
audience
voice and style
Create a content calendar, and stick to a schedule for posting.
There are a variety of the forms of content you can produce, including:
food images
videos
articles
recipes
local events
live streaming
First, you’ll need to build an email list. To do so, you could:
advertise on your website
link from social media
implement wi-fi marketing
Next, choose an email marketing provider. Here are several options:
MailChimp
Constant Contact
Get Response
Next, choose an email template. Make sure it’s responsive and viewable on both desktop and mobile.
Next, begin planning your email marketing campaigns. Your campaigns could be one of two types:
regular newsletters - perhaps on a monthly basis
ad-hoc emails - that present specific deals and specials or events
There are three components to you email campaign content:
subject line
content
call to action
The subject line is the first thing your readers see. Even if they don’t open your email, it still has a lot of effect as it gets your brand in front of your customers. Here are 3 quick tips for a great subject line:
generate curiosity
use contextual data
link emails in series together
As for the content, you need to keep in mind two principles - trust and context. The best way to engage and convert customers is to build trust by sending emails that matter to them as individuals. Always ask yourself ‘Would I like to receive this email?’. Focusing on trust and context will make writing your emails a lot simpler.
The call-to-action is probably the most important element to ensure you get conversions. Follow the principle ‘don’t make me think’. The best calls-to-action don’t make people think ‘now what?’. Instead they naturally guide visitors to the next obvious step. Here’s a guide to calls-to-action that get results. Make sure they are:
colourful
relevant
actionable
forceful
targeted
SMS
Here are the reasons you should text:
texts are popular
texts are a guaranteed read
texts are instant
texts are intimate
texts are mobile and don’t get lost
texts are affordable
Here’s a list of key features of SMS marketing campaigns:
Keywords - This is a word or phrase customers can text to your number to sign up for messages.
Campaigns - A campaign is a text sent to a group of people. This could be a small group, such as the customers in your loyalty program, or a larger group like your entire customer base.
MMS - MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service. This feature is included with many SMS marketing plans and allows you to include photos and videos in your messages.
Autoresponders - This is a message that automatically goes out after a set period of time when your customers join your list. You can set the delay to minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months.
Segments - A segment is a group of subscribers that have something in common. You can use the data from your customer database to create segments within your list and send relevant and targeted messages to each one.
Disclaimers - Your disclaimer would read “message and data rates may apply”. Also include a notice of frequency.
Here are the various campaign types you could implement:
mobile coupons
limited-time offers
weekly specials
events
sweepstakes
polls
Here are the steps to get started.
First, reserve your keyword. A keyword is your exclusive code that people will use to opt in to receive your messages. Your customers will opt in by texting your keyword to a short code or existing 10-digit number. Your keyword should be easy to remember and should represent your restaurant and your brand. So keep it short and sweet.
Next, import existing contacts. You can import contacts if you have a database of customer contacts. You can upload them into your account. Contacts that you import must have given express consent to be contacted. Texting any numbers that you have not collected organically is against anti-spam policy.
Next, incentivise customers to sign up. You should give your customers some reason to opt in to your texts. Some of your guests will opt in simply because they love your restaurant and want to hear from you. Some guests will be hesitant to share their phone numbers - for these guests, incentives go a long way. Such as:
on-the-spot discounts
free gifts
sweepstakes and giveaways
Next, advertise your next text loyalty program. No matter how enticing your incentive is, no one will subscribe to your text campaign if they don’t know about it. Which brings us to an essential point: you have to advertise your text campaign. Get the word out!
Advertise your keyword and short code in as many places as possible. Add your keyword and short code to:
menus
receipts
table tents
placemats
window signs
cash register
website
For more ways to opt in, use the personal touch of your service staff, and collect business cards and numbers in a fishbowl by your register.
Here are the DO’s and DON’Ts to keep in mind.
DO
say who you are
include an opt-out option
test and check spelling
include a call-to-action
DON'T
overload your message
send without permission
use slang
use the same offer
Social Media
Here’s the process to create a profile.
create a page - choose 'local business or place’
add a profile picture
add a cover photo
add a short description
create a username
add a call-to-action button
choose your page tabs
set up roles - including:
admin
editor
moderator
advertiser
analyst
live contributor
verify your page
Posting content is the core of Facebook marketing. Post types include:
images
links
video
Facebook Live
Here’s a guide to strategy on Facebook.
identify your audience
location
age
gender
income
interests
evaluate your competitors
visual quality
post frequency
content mix
engagement on posts (likes, comments, shares)
response time and quality
create a content calendar
scheduling posts
best frequency and timing
get likes and fans
generating leads
creating events
Facebook advertising is highly effective. According to studies, 96% of social media marketers consider Facebook the most effective social media advertising platform. You can start with just a hundred dollars. Each click on your ad could be just $0.10-$0.30, to get a new lead. It’s simple to set up and gets fast results. You can reach your perfect audience with highly detailed targeting, based on their interest, demographics, location, and behaviour.
The campaign structure consists of:
campaign
ad set
ad
Here are the steps to set up campaigns:
step 1: select your campaign objective
step 2: give your ad campaign a name
step 3: set up your audience targeting
step 4: set up your ad placement
step 5: set up your campaign budget and bidding
step 6: set up your Facebook ads
Ad types include:
traffic and leads to your website
sales and leads for your product or service
likes and engagement of your page
visitors to your venue or event
Determine the audience and targeting. Targeting options include:
location-based targeting
country
state/region
counties
DMA (Designated Market Area)
city
postal code
specific address radius
demographics-based targeting
age
gender
language
interest-based targeting
behaviour-based targeting
Determine ad settings.
budget
daily budget
lifetime budget
schedule
run continuously
set a start and end date
Here’s the process to create a profile.
add your bio / description
add your profile picture
add your link
Determine content themes. Content themes could include:
behind the scenes content
user generated content
product demo / showcase
educational
culture focused
fun / lighthearted
customer stories
get to know the team
Create a content plan. A content plan includes these elements:
style guide
composition
color palette
fonts
filters
captions
hashtags
Here’s a guide to strategy on Instagram.
key elements
clear vision and strategy
consistent frequency
familiarity with your audience
clear visual style
choose main goals
showcase your products or services
build your community
increase awareness of your brand
showcase your company culture and values
advertise to potential customers
increase brand loyalty
share news and updates
research the demographics
age
gender
location
education
income
best frequency and timing
Instagram advertising offer a seamless experience for users, and Instagram ads appear in a bold linear format for visual inspiration. It’s a great way to drive awareness, increase customers, and share your story amongst a highly engaged audience.
Here are the steps to set up campaigns via the Facebook Ads Manager:
create a business page and profile
set up your ad
placement
feed
stories
determine your budget
publish
You can also set up campaigns via the Instagram app.
Ad formats include:
photo ads
video ads
carousel ads
collection ads
stories ads
Determine the audience and targeting. Targeting options include:
location
demographics
interests
behaviours
Review Sites
World of mouth is nothing new. You provide customers with an experience, they talk to their friends about that experience, then those people either choose to visit your restaurant or stay away. Restaurant review sites are just like world of mouth through a big megaphone. Most restaurant-goers regularly look at online reviews to help them make decisions about where to eat. 68% of people said they tried a new restaurant based on positive online reviews. 45% off people check online reviews before deciding on a new restaurant. 67% of millennial restaurant-goers look at reviews before deciding on a new restaurant.
The reasons to claim your business on review sites include:
be found
boost search rankings
build relationships with customers
improve your business
There are various review sites, including:
Zagat
Trip Advisor
Google
Yelp
Facebook
Zomato
Foursquare
Open Table
Here are the best practices when it comes to responding to reviews.
When responding to positive reviews, don’t get overly confident. Rather than basking in the glory of a positive feedback, here’s your opportunity to show you’re a humble, hard-working restaurant operator who appreciates customer loyalty. Thank your reviewer for visiting your business and sharing their experience. Invite that person to come back again and encourage them to bring some friends. When responding to Yelp reviews, you want to come off as grateful and genuine. The key is to keep it short, sweet, and simple. By responding to a positive review, you’re thanking your reviewer for taking the time to do something nice of your business. And if other users see that, they may be inclined to do the same. You response might go something like this:
“Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed our pasta special; it’s one of my favourites. We hope to see you again soon.”
A negative review is no reason to panic. When you get a negative review, your first move should always be to respond to your reviewer privately, as opposed to publicly. If you want to turn that negative review into a more positive tone, bite your tongue and take your response offline. Before you craft your response, do your research. Read the review carefully and investigate the incident the reviewer alludes to. The last thing you want to do is make excuses or get defensive. Rather your goals should be to: apologise for the customer’s negative experience, and ask the customer for a chance to make things right. Don’t explain lengthy personal details to do with your chef or staff. None of that matters. You need to make it clear that what your viewer experienced was an unfortunate exception, not the rule, and that you’re confident you can do better. If a private response doesn’t yield any results (meaning your reviewer ignores you, responds rudely, or leaves his review unchanged), then consider responding publicly. Here you want to be polite and to the point. The more level headed and respectful you come off, the ore users might start to question the reviewer, as opposed to your restaurant. Your response to a negative review might go something like:
“I’m sorry you felt your steak was overcooked and under-seasoned. Usually our customers rave about that particular dish, so I apologise if our kitchen had an off night. We’d love for you to come back and try some of our other mains.”
Yelp
Approximately 142 million visitors turn to Yelp each month to read up on local businesses. Yelp is now home to about 100 million reviews. It’s no wonder people turn to yelp in choosing restaurants.
To create a profile, you need to either claim your business, or create your listing. The basics include:
your business name
address and contact info
your restaurant’s hours
the category (e.g. diner, pizzeria, etc.)
Then, verify your business, and delete duplicates.
To optimise your page, add photos, and detailed business info, including:
have gluten-free menu options
provide wi-fi
accept mobile payments
provide bicycle parking
provide customer parking
Yelp encourages restaurant owners to invest in their advertising program. Users are more likely to convert into customers with a gentle push from targeted ads and an upgraded business profile. You have a choice between:
branded profile - includes photo slideshow, video, and a call to action feature
enhanced profile - includes all the features of a branded profile, including the removal of competitor ads
Trip Advisor
With 4.9 million restaurants and counting, Trip Advisor sees millions of travellers every month research and plan their trip. But did you know that Trip Advisor is used by locals, too? Over 200 million people on average search for restaurants on Trip Advisor each month. And apparently, 86% of users have opted to dine at a restaurant as a result of a Trip Advisor ranking, review, rating or award.
To create a profile, you need to either claim your business, or create your listing.
To optimise your profile, add photos, and detailed business info, including:
contact information
hours
cuisines
meals served
meal price range
amenities
You can further optimise your profile, by:
get your listing on the map
add your menu
integrate reservation links
allow users to order delivery
show your stickers and honours
add a widget to your site
You can pay for advertising with Trip Advisor Premium and Trip Advisor Ads.
You can gain a competitive advantage with Trip Advisor Premium for restaurants. Upgrading to Trip Advisor Premium allows restaurant owners to effectively curate their brand on the platform, so that you can enhance and differentiate your restaurant’s page. Features include:
Storyboard
Top 3 Reasons to Eat Here
Favourite Review
Search Marketing
There are three major search engines:
Google
Bing
Yahoo
There are three types of search queries users can perform:
‘do' - transactional
‘know’ - informational
‘go’ - navigational
Search queries end up with two types of search results:
organic search results - we use SEO and local SEO marketing methods to raise your rankings
paid search results - we use PPC marketing methods to establish your presence
SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to the means of raising your rankings on organic search results. There are two major components: on-site optimisation; and off-site optimisation.
On-site optimization includes these elements:
content & keywords
HTML
site architecture
Off-site optimisation includes these elements:
trust - in terms of domain authority & page authority
links
social
Keywords
Keywords are fundamental to the search process. They are the building blocks of language and search engines. Search engines store and structure web pages centred on a particular keyword term or phrase.
So, for example, if you want your page to have a chance of ranking in the search results for “organic food”, you should make sure the word “organic food” is prevalent on that web page.
You should compile a list of keywords that you want to rank for, relevant to for your restaurant, as the starting point of your SEO strategy. You can compile your keyword list by brainstorming themes relevant to your restaurant concept.
A few keywords to include in your keyword list could be:
restaurants in <your city>
happy hour
brunch
lunch
dinner
private dining
catering
You can also use the Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool to suggest more keywords to you. And research your chosen keywords further by finding the estimated search volume.
When it comes to keyword research, you should consider the keyword demand and keyword difficulty. Broad terms get a lot of results. Whereas specific terms get considerably fewer results for the specific result. But broad terms come with a high level or competition. As you make your keywords more specific, you narrow the competition for search results, and improve your chances of achieving a higher ranking.
Website
Your website and its underlying HTML is another major factor of SEO. HTML refers to the tags within the code of your website. The main elements include:
title tag - The title tag on pages of your website tells search engines what the page is about. It should be 70 characters or less and include your business or brand name and keywords that relate to that specific page only.
meta description - The meta description on pages your website gives search engines a little more insight into what your page is about. You want to write your meta description with your audience in mind with a short description that includes the page’s main keywords, as the meta description does show up in search results.
url
The title tag, meta description, and url show up in the search results.
More elements of HTML include:
header tag - Different levels of HTML header tags help break the content into sections as well as let search engines know more about what each section of content is about. Use h1 header tags around the post title, and h2 and h3 header tags around subheadings on the page. Using header tags helps both readers and search engines break up your content into digestible sections.
image name & alt tag - If you use images on your website, you should think of good keywords for both the image name and the alt tag. This helps search engines find good images for their image search based on the keywords specified.
internal links - You can help search engines learn more about your website by internally linking to other pages on your website within your content. Good links should be based around a descriptive keyword.
Content
Content is great for both your website visitors and search engines. The more content you have, the more likely your visitors will stick around on your website. And the more content you have, the more likely search engines will be to put more of your website’s pages in the search index. The key to pleasing both search engines and visitors is to have quality content on your website. Quality content can include a variety of things, including, but not limited to the following:
blog posts
infographics
videos
podcasts
Structure your content strategy around your chosen keyword list, by planning topics that match each keyword you want to target, and writing a piece for that particular keyword.
Links
Organic links are links you don’t have to ask for, and they are the best kind. If you get them on sites with high authority, such as major news outlets and other well-recognised websites, it will greatly boost your search rankings.
There are two types of links:
whitehat - Whitehat basically means good, quality link building; the kind you should strive for.
blackhat - Blackhat means spammy, low quality link building; the kind you should avoid.
Most websites will have a hard time generating enough organic links to raise their rankings in search engines. This is why link building is a major activity as a part of your SEO program. You can get started on building quality links by doing some of the following:
submit guest blog posts to your popular blogs
reach out to related businesses
crate local search profiles and social media profiles
submit your website to relevant directories
create link worthy content and allow others to use your content on their website
Local SEO
Why is local SEO so important?
125 million US consumers with smartphones
7 billion monthly local searches
78% of local searches on mobile and 61% of local searches on laptop result in offline purchases
#1 category of all local searches is for restaurants
Why should you optimise for local? Because you want to have a presence on:
local organic results
local 3-pack results
local map pins
local knowledge panel
What is typically searched for locally?
to locate an address
to search for a business with certain product or service
to find a phone number
to discover hours of operation
to get driving directions
to find coupons and special offers
to read ratings and reviews
Google My Business
The first step is to sign up with Google My Business to generate your business listing and business profile on Google.
Citations
The most important step in any local SEO strategy is getting citations in local directories. A local citation is a mention of your business on any webpage other than your own.
NAP is the common acronym used when talking about citations. It’s important that your NAP needs to be listed exactly the same everywhere. Consistency is important! NAP consists of:
name
address
phone number
categorisation
Where you should be listed:
local search engines
Google Places
Bing Places
Yahoo Local
Yelp
Yellow Pages
Foursquare
social media sites
Facebook
Twitter
Google+Instagram
local blogs
local directories and newspapers
Optimise Pages
After you have listed your citations and submitted to local directories, what you should do next is optimise your website pages. This includes three elements:
keyword title tags
NAP in HTML
local website content
As mentioned before, keywords are very important. Expand your keyword list to optimise for local SEO, by deciding your #1 keyword based on your restaurant concept and then add your location. For example, Organic Food and Cafe in New York.
As we said before, having a consistent NAP (name, address, and phone number) is vital. Make sure that this information is included in the HTML of your website. Make sure this information is not in image format, which Google and Bing don’t recognise. It should be in text format.
Having site content that is specialised to your city is a great way to boost your local search rankings.
Paid Search
With paid search, advertisers bid on keywords, which a search engine matches to user search queries, and then display ads. It is also called PPC, or pay-per-click, because advertisers accrue costs when users click on their ads.
PPC is all about relevance. Users are searching for specific products, services, and information at any given time. Advertisers have the ability to show a targeted ad at the exact moment this search is happening. For example, if a user searches for “organic food takeaway”, you can show an ad speaking specifically to “organic food takeaway” for your restaurant. If organic SEO proves too difficult or time consuming, paid search, or PPC could be a great alternative for marketing your restaurant on search engines.
The main platforms are Google Adwords and Bing Ads.
The account structure is as follows
campaigns - Advertisers begin by creating individual campaigns around themes. For example, you might create a campaign with the theme “healthy food”.
ad groups - Within this campaign are themed subcategories, called ad groups. These ad groups may include: organic food; vegan food; healthy food; healthy drinks.
keywords - Each ad group then contains a list of keyword variations. For example the “organic food” ad group may contain these keywords: organic food for breakfast, organic food brunch, organic food lunch, organic food dinner, best organic food, organic food nearby.
There are two campaigns types:
search campaigns - on the Search Network
display campaigns - on the Display Network
The Search Network is the most common targeting option. The Search Network consists of google.com and Google’s Search Partners, such as aol.com, amazon.com, and many more. The Search Network is the primary keyword based advertising. In other words, searchers type in queries for which ads are shown.
The primary ad type for search campaigns is text ads, which includes these elements:
headline (up to 25 characters)
description line 1 (up to 35 characters)
description line 2 (up to 35 characters)
display URL (up to 35 characters)
The Display Network consists of millions of sites that agree to show Google text, image, and video ads. These ads are shown within the site’s content and don’t utilise traditional keyword based targeting, but rather audiences and demographics. For example, a user may visit a blog that talks about the history of coffee tables. Even though the user isn’t necessarily in a buying mode, the content is relevant to coffee tables. The user may or may not click the ad, but is ultimately now aware of the brand. Google estimate that their display network provides coverage to over 90% of all Internet users. It is the largest contextual advertising network available on the Internet.
There are a variety of ad types for display campaigns, including:
text ads
image ads
rich media ads
video ads
There are a variety of ad sizes for image ads and rich media ads, in the following categories:
square and rectangle
skyscraper
leaderboard
mobile
Each site that signs up to carry Google ads choose the ad blocks that best first their website layout, and they vary across all the sites that are part of the display network. So if you want your ads to be able to show on a variety of websites, then it is best practice to create display ads in a variety of sizes. If you don’t create ads to fit all the different ad blocks listed, you will limit your reach on the display network. If you don’t have the time or effort to create image ads, then you could use Google’s Display Ad Builder. Be sure to include a clear call-to-action or branding message within each of your ads, and use a design that is consistent with the look and feel of your website.
You can target audiences on the display network to narrow your reach to people most likely to be interested in your offer. Here’s the range of targeting methods:
placement targeting - Placement targeting refers to the option of choosing which websites you want to appear on.
contextual targeting - Contextual targeting utilises the keywords related to your business and your concept.
topic targeting - Topic targeting allows you to choose from an existing list of page topics, meaning that your ads will only display on pages about that topic.
interest targeting - The list of interest categories available to advertises is similar to the list of topics, but this targeting method is different to targeting by topic. The difference is that while topic targeting target the page content of the sites, interest targeting targets the users.
There are a variety of campaign settings to configure, including:
device targeting - Ads can be shown across all devices, including:
desktop / laptops
tablets
mobile devices
location targeting - PPC targeting is very granular, going to to the post code or zip code level. Advertisers have many options to ensure that their ads show only in desired locations. You could show an ad specifically to your suburb or town, and limit your ads to audiences in your area.
ad scheduling - Advertisers have the ability to run ads only at desired times. You may choose to only show ads during your restaurant’s opening hours.
budget - Each individual campaign is allowed a daily budget. Budgets should be created with your allowed advertising spend, goals, and ROI expectations in mind.
Deals & Loyalty Programs
Deals and loyalty programs are great tactics for promotional marketing. More than just generating awareness, these tactics also have a strong effect on the bottom of the marketing funnel, by encouraging consumers to take action. Daily deals can bring in new customers, and loyalty program can keep returning customers coming back.
Daily deals websites are a type of group buying or ‘daily deals’ where local merchants, including small and medium-sized restaurants partner with an ecommerce company to offer consumers products and services at reduced prices. According to a survey of restaurant owners, 30% of respondents have used daily deals as a promotional method.
The most popular daily deals providers are Groupon, and Living Social. When it comes to the success of an individual daily deals campaign, Groupon rates reasonably higher than the others.
The benefits of daily deals are:
new customers
return customers
overspend/upsell
Daily deals also come with risks. In the press, articles have sometimes highlighted an individual daily deal that may have been less than successful. The question is: how prevalent are these failures really? and should restaurants be wary of these new tools? Reports from restaurant owners say that daily deals are successful twice as often as they are unsuccessful. The key is to be cautious when using daily deals, and understand the best practices and implement the tactics involved to run a successful daily deals campaign.
Daily deals best practices involve:
prepare your staff
schedule the deal around business needs and seasonality
estimate deal profitability ahead of time
monitor the deals results
use daily deals as bait, hooks are still required
Groupon
Provide Your Business Info
Get started by picking your deal type - there are four to choose from: local deals, getaways, live, and goods and retail. For restaurants, choose the local deals option. Then, create an account, and provide your business information.
Create Your Campaign
You can start to create your own offer with the Groupon Deal Builder, or a Groupon representative may contact you directly to work on your offer with you. Follow these steps:
select your deal type
enter your deal price & discount
select or upload a deal image
write a summary about your business
select your fine print details
set redemption location & launch date
sign agreement & wait for deal review
Optimise Your Campaign
There are three types of campaigns:
Groupon Local Deal - local marketing campaigns
Groupon+ - cashback program
Groupon Pages - customisable business listings
Prepare Your Business and Staff
Once your Groupon campaign is set up, here are some tips to make sure you’re prepared to run your deal in your restaurant.
input Groupon codes
track overspend
enter tips
collect customer info
Prepare your deal by double-checking the fine print and cancellation policy.
For technical details, set up your POS system to accept Groupon codes.
Redeem Customer Coupons
When customers start coming in, redeem customer coupons and track your customers’ bill totals using the below:
Groupon Merchant Center
iOS app
Android app
Loyalty Programs
Loyalty card wallet apps includes:
Apple wallet
Key Ring
Stocard
Mobile Pocket
Loyalty apps examples include:
Boost Juice
Oporto
San Churro
Digibites is a digital agency for Bars, Cafes, and Restaurants. We specialise in digital marketing and creative solutions that will get new customers to your door and keep customers coming back.
Our services include: consulting, online marketing, website design, branding & graphic design. We also provide an online course.
