Food is a timeless topic.

Everyone is interested in it, regardless of the period or the trend. Because of this natural need for all things savory, marketers have an advantage and are constantly looking for creative restaurant marketing concepts. When it comes to advertising for our restaurants or food services, we have limitless creative potential and the guarantee that our content will remain timely and relatable.

With such limitless potential and a multitude of marketing options, it can be challenging to decide where to focus your attention and how to stand out in a competitive marketplace.

To help you realign, strengthen your drive, and give your marketing and advertising initiatives, we're breaking down the greatest restaurant advertising concepts.

1. Branding 

Remaining consistent with your restaurant branding is just as important as always serving great food and providing quality dining service. With every interaction your customers have with your business, you want to strengthen and emphasize your brand as you’re building a relationship with them.

When customers see your logo or brand name, they immediately feel more comfortable purchasing from you because they know that you are a trusted and legitimate company.

At EcoQuality, we specialize in customizable products that help businesses of all sizes build a strong brand presence. Having disposable coffee cups, custom cup sleeves, or custom printed labels and stickers of  company logo lets customers know that you take pride in your brand and care about representing it well - which is essential for long-term success in today's competitive market.

Your brand as a whole — your purpose, and signature look, along with good quality food and outstanding service — is what makes up a memorable experience and a great restaurant that attracts customers and keeps them coming back.

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2. Improve Online Presence

More than 75% of diners visit a restaurant’s website before deciding where to dine. They may search for the restaurant specifically, search for restaurants in their area or get there via shared links — but no matter how they arrive, the restaurant needs to leave a strong impression.

As a restaurant, your food does the talking, meaning that you may only need a simple one-page site to feature pictures of your meals and any necessary information. The user experience should make it easy for diners to navigate pages via mobile as well — specially to pages with revenue-driving features like direct online ordering and menu displaying.

Opening a Google My Business page is a key, free way to help your business appear in Google search results as well as on maps in local searches. Local SEO is a big element of getting seen by hungry customers. 

A Google My Business page, an actual Google-approved listing of your restaurant, not only supports your local SEO efforts but also gives you control over how your establishment appears in these searches. Don't forget about Yelp!

Once your Google My Business listing is up and generating leads, be sure to keep it updated for the benefit of both your customers and your own SEO. Take interesting images, and don't be afraid to display them frequently. The quantity of photos you publish and the frequency at which you do so are significant factors in this ranking element.

3. Organic Social Media

Nearly as important as the food itself is letting customers see the atmosphere of your establishment. It not only improves their perception of your restaurant as a whole, but it also makes it easier for customers to remember your establishment after viewing it from various perspectives and in various settings.

Share the love once you start producing eye-catching images and savory content. Post them on Instagram so that your followers can use them as visual invitations to dine with you. Here, hashtags are crucial because they can really aid users in finding your page when searching for you.

Key Points:

• Utilize promo videos to help you stand out from the competition, many of whom have probably already resorted to restaurant video marketing and implemented the most innovative restaurant marketing strategies. Video ads are far more effective than image ads.

• A great way to keep customers coming back to your business is to send out promotional emails on their birthdays and other upcoming special events.

• Pro-Tip: if a restaurant shares user-generated content (UGC) on social media, it can easily repurpose that content for its website or restaurants social platforms. UGC also cuts down on the time restaurants spend producing content internally because it is generated by customers. These small efficiencies add up as restaurants learn to operate with fewer staff members.

4. Engage with Customers

Responding to reviews isn't much fun, especially when they're bad. A solid review response approach, however, can stop a restaurant from losing clients before it even gets an opportunity to interact with them. This is due to the fact that if someone is looking for a restaurant on Google, Yelp, Facebook, or TripAdvisor, just one negative review may be enough to cast doubt.

What is the strategy in this case? Every day, yes, every day, set aside 10 minutes to reply to reviews, whether they are favorable, unfavorable, or mixed. By doing this, the restaurant demonstrates how dedicated it is to listen to its patrons' feedback and acting on it. Additionally, positive review comments can influence people's decisions after the fact.

5. Word-of-Mouth

Among all the best restaurant advertising ideas, word of mouth marketing still matters. Even with effective ads, amazing social media content, getting a trusted mention makes you stop and pay attention. It always will. Providing your customers with good food, service, and experience will go a long way in ensuring positive word of mouth marketing spreads.

Sometimes, a restaurant’s customers are its best marketing channel. After all, 86% of consumers trust word-of-mouth marketing.

Advertising your restaurant is one of the most important ways to ensure long-term success. From expanding your digital strategy to renovating your brand, there are many things you can do to reach a larger customer base.