Your lights are on, your grill is fired up, and your staff is ready. Your restaurant is positioned in what you thought was the perfect location, yet day in and day out you find your tables standing empty as they beg for customers to put them to use.
You’re not alone.
With so many restaurants competing for business in the Portland area, it’s easy to get lost in the mix. Thankfully, there are a variety of effective restaurant marketing strategies that can help you stand out from the crowd and generate business at your restaurant.
Social Media
With so many potential customers already active on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, social media for restaurants is a must. Social media sites offer restaurants an endless list of benefits, including the ability to:
- Sponsor your latest restaurant promotion
- Engage with new and existing customers
- Promote your daily menu and specials
- Showcase your meal options
Make sure to research which social platforms your target customers are most active on before creating accounts for your restaurant.
Offer A Virtual Tour of Your Restaurant
Google’s virtual tours allow potential customers to explore the fine details of your restaurant, while at the same time providing them with important information like business hours, directions, phone numbers, and menu options. Virtual tours also help increase the time visitors stay on your website; an important aspect of website optimization sure to help you climb to the top of Google’s search list results. Incredibly, search engine listings with photos and a virtual tour are twice as likely to generate interest and drive customers to your location.
Sponsor A Local Sports Team
Sponsoring a local sports team is a great way to promote your restaurant to the surrounding community. Unlike typical ad settings, a team sponsorship enables you to position your brand in a setting where the audience has actually paid to watch. From signs around the field and mid-game announcements, to custom uniforms sporting your restaurant’s name and logo. By sponsoring a local sports team, your brand is repeatedly delivered to fans who appreciate your role in supporting the local community.
Offer A Loyalty Program
Did you know that loyal customers spend on average 67 percent more than new ones? Whether you use a custom app or a traditional punch card, customer loyalty programs can help your restaurant identify, reward, and retain your best customers. In fact, the National Restaurant Association found that 57 percent of adult consumers are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers some type of loyalty program.
Restaurant Menu Design
Your restaurant’s menu is so much more than a simple list of products and prices. Your menu is free advertisement at its finest. Along with reinforcing your restaurant’s overall theme, your menu is the perfect place to provide customers with additional information about your restaurant, such as:
- Weekly specials
- Upcoming events
- Social media information
Bring in the Pros
If you’re still a bit uncertain about the best ways to market your restaurant, McDonald Wholesale can help. Whether you require a full menu overhaul or would like to pursue one of the other previously mentioned restaurant marketing strategies, contact us today. Our dedicated staff has years of experience helping restaurants throughout Oregon generate new business and can develop custom solutions that tailor to your specific needs.
To learn more about how partnering with McDonald Wholesale can help grow your business, call us today at (877) 722-5503.