This is a fast-paced digital age now, for any business to succeed, effective digital marketing strategies are crucial, and restaurants & food services are no exception. 

Whether it’s McDonald’s, Starbucks, or KFC, digital marketing has played a big role in their growth. And if you also want your restaurant to become a brand, then digital marketing is the way.

This is exactly why we’ve come up with a proven guideline on digital marketing for restaurants. 

Here you will learn how to get into the digital landscape, how to build an impeccable social presence, and how to attract customers in Dubai. So, without any further ado, let’s get right into it. 

7 Digital Marketing Ideas for Restaurants

When you’re in search of some digital marketing tactics, you’ll come across many, but not all of them are going to work in your favor. Here, we’ve listed down 7 strategies specifically for restaurants that’ll help you grow pretty fast. 

Create a Solid Branding with a Proper Website

The first digital marketing strategy for restaurants or any other business should be creating an error-free website and social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.). 

A restaurant’s website or social media accounts are its digital storefront. Hence, it should be designed in a way that customers would like to have your brand remarks. Let’s start with the website. 

The website should be responsive. It should function well on mobile, laptop, and other devices. If the website takes more than 3 seconds to load properly, then that can hurt the user experience. 

It should be visually appealing and fun to browse. If the website looks boring or unorganized, visitors will leave, and you’ll miss out on potential customers. 

The website should be designed in a way that reflects the restaurant’s ambiance and branding. 

Make sure it is very easy to navigate on the website and everything is understandable. Add high-quality images of different foods and restaurant decor. 

Keep the option for online food ordering and reservations.

Properly mention the restaurant’s locations, so people living in Dubai can locate it easily. Add numbers, emails, and social handles, that’ll allow customers to interact, and it will also increase the restaurant’s credibility. 

That’s not all, you must regularly update the website too. 

Optimizing the Website for Search Engine

Imagine your potential customers searching for your presence online, and nothing relevant shows up on the result page. This can lead to a wrong perception of your business in the customer’s mind.

This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in and takes your business to a whole new level.  No one’s going to find the website unless you optimize it for search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. 

When people search for something on any search engine, they visit websites that are on the first page, and barely 5% of users go to the second page. And if you want people to visit your website, you’ve to make your way to that first page. 

To make the website discoverable to people, you’ll have to optimize it with some keywords, for example, the best Italian restaurant in Jumeirah, the best burgers in Downtown Dubai, the restaurant near me, etc. 

Like these, there are many keywords people use to search for restaurants or foods, and you can optimize for those keywords. 

As a digital marketing content plan for restaurants, you have to use keyword research tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to find appropriate keywords and target them creating content, be it texts, photos, or videos.

Unless you don’t have extensive knowledge of SEO, you’ll have to hire a professional to do the job for you. 

Create Social Media Accounts

Social media is another strong suit that you can use to increase your restaurant’s customers and become a brand. 

Almost every person now checks out the social accounts of a restaurant before going in there. And according to research, 45% of people visit a restaurant for the first time after knowing about it from social media. 

As you’ve already guessed, social media can change the game for you if you use it right. 

So, as said earlier, the first step is to set up accounts. Find out on which platform your audience hangs out the most, whether it is Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. 

But it would be good if your restaurant’s account is available on all of the popular social platforms. 

Organize Social Accounts that Attracts People 

Almost all of the restaurants have social media accounts, but are all of them popular? Nope! Creating social media accounts is just the beginning of the dive.

To stand out from hundreds of other competitors in Dubai City, you need to come up with something that really hooks the visitors. And there are a thousand ways to increase engagement and followers on social media platforms. 

You can start off by putting jaw-dropping high-quality food images. The images should be visually appealing so that people start craving that food. Put photos of the restaurant’s decor, and make sure it’s outstanding. 

Make reels of exotic food preparations, chef’s cutting, chopping, and flipping skills. Ensure these videos or reels are edited to maximize the appeal. 

Announce giveaways, organize contests, and share user feedback on restaurant accounts so that everyone can see it. This will boost sharing and engagement potential. 

Respond to customers’ queries, if there is negative feedback, take it like a man, apologize, and do something to make up for that. For example, you can offer a discount on their next order.

Influencer Marketing 

If you want to grow big within no time, then you should consider doing influencer marketing. What you need to do here is approach social influencers with big numbers of followers to promote your restaurant or food, in return, you’d offer them a price. 

The bigger the influencer, the more followers your account will gain and the more visitors your restaurant will get. This is a costly way, but if done right, it’s completely worth it. 

Running Ad Campaign 

This is another way to grow your business. Different social media platforms, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest, all offer advertisement services. 

To put it simply, you pay them, and they’ll advertise your restaurant to their users. Though a bit costly, but could be a great investment. 

Get Listed on Google My Business

GMB (Google My Business) is another great way to make your restaurant discoverable. Google provides a listing service that allows users to find everything about a business (location, website, number, email, reviews) in one place.

What makes GMB now more popular is the new “Reserve” button. The button is embedded into the profile, and anyone can reserve tables at the restaurant using that. 

So, don’t forget to provide all the details about your restaurant to GMB and get listed. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion 

With the right strategy, it’s not very hard to increase the brand’s presence on digital platforms. This guide tries to give a proven roadmap of digital marketing for restaurants, if followed properly, your restaurant business will grow. 

That being said, make sure your restaurant’s food quality and the environment are up to the notch. Otherwise, there is no point in spending on marketing. It’s not going to work at all.