How to Promote Your New Restaurant

All new businesses have to start somewhere. It’s tricky to compete against other restaurants, especially if they have been around for a long time. However, coming up with creative restaurant promotions can still give you an edge over them.

Take a look at these restaurant promotion ideas and strategies that can effectively promote your restaurant to new and existing customers:

Offline Marketing

Start with the basics by using offline marketing to promote your restaurant. Offline marketing materials, such as flyers, posters, and banners, though old-fashioned, is an effective way to reach new and existing customers, give relevant information, and increase sales. 

For Your Business

Feature the best dishes your restaurant offers in your restaurant advertisements to pique their interest and make choosing easier. Choose bright and colour photos with excellent composition to stimulate your customers’ appetites.

Social Media Channels

Having an online presence in social media is essential for promoting your restaurant, because it is an excellent way for you to engage and interact with your (potential) customers. Most restaurants sign up for Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts to establish their brand. And in recent years, accounts that post pictures of good looking food do extremely well for themselves.

You can simply post photos of your food and beverages, featured products, business updates, contests and promotions and anything else that could be interesting to your followers. 

For Your Business

Make sure to post curated content on social media. Curating your content will help you to consistently put out quality content people can trust, which is crucial for a new restaurant.

When managing your restaurant’s social media, make sure to plan the time and date of when you post your photos and restaurant advertisements. Choose the times where people are most likely to see your posts in time for lunch.

Don’t forget to measure the performance of your restaurant advertisements to determine the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Measuring their performance helps distinguish what practices to keep and to avoid next time around.

Official Website

Customers nowadays tend to search online about the restaurants they want to visit before going. Make sure the first impression is irresistible by building a website for your restaurant. Your website can be a really valuable asset for reinforcing your brand identity and advertising relevant information.

For Your Business

Your website should have a cohesive design that fits with the rest of your branding and marketing materials. Incorporate elements from your brand design, including fonts, colours, images, and style, to ensure easy recognition and consistency across all your marketing and branding tools.

Your website shouldn’t just contain your background story and menu. Include useful features like news about your specials, social media links, rewards for your loyalty program, a clean reservation tool and other important information.

Loyalty Programs

Keep customers coming back for more by establishing a loyalty program that rewards your loyal customers for continuously eating at your restaurant while simultaneously increasing customer retention.

Offer your customers loyalty cards upon their purchase. Every time they eat at your restaurant or buy certain items, they will earn a sticker, stamp, or punched hole on their cards. When customers accomplish their cards, reward them with exclusive prizes, deals, and discounts for their loyalty.

For Your Business

One of the best restaurant promotion ideas  using loyalty cards, is collecting cards in a box or fishbowl for a grand draw. At the end of the month, pick out one winner from the container and award him or her with an awesome prize.

Coupons and Vouchers

Coupons and vouchers offering savings are one of the best ways to keep customers coming back every single time. People love getting great deals, even when they’re going out to eat. These types of print products can help to develop loyal customers, encourage repeat purchases, and increase sales.

Branded Hospitality Printing

Certain simple products that every restaurant needs, can turn into essential marketing materials for your business when used right. Think of items such as printed placemats, menu cards, coasters, and branded napkins, which can help to create a more personal dining experience. They also reinforce your restaurant’s branding and liven up your establishment’s decor.

For Your Business

While your hospitality printing designs need to be cohesive and fit with the rest of your materials, don’t be afraid to experiment with their form and function. Tent cards, for example, can also act as table numbers, restaurant advertisements for featured food and drink items, or even menus.

Community Events

Another nice idea to get your restaurant’s name out there is by participating in local events in your area. Sponsoring or selling at events, including fairs, festivals, and sporting events, not only increases sales but also increases recognition and awareness of your restaurant to a broad audience in a short time.

For Your Business

Grab the opportunity to promote your restaurant as you sell your food to the event attendees. Put up signs, flags, and other outdoor restaurant advertisements to display your logo, menu, and contact details. Hand out flyers, brochures, or even business cards along with your customers’ orders as well.

Attracting customers to your new restaurant is as easy as pie once you’ve learned the ropes! The simplest marketing strategies with the right execution can steer your new business in the right direction.