Adelaide restaurants, cafes and pubs all rely on online marketing to attract new customers, making it essential to the success of your Adelaide restaurant. Without an effective marketing strategy, your restaurant may be missing out on more consistent happy customers.

Luckily, any restaurateur can start promoting their business online. Here are six of the most effective restaurant marketing techniques to help keep your Adelaide restaurant filled through the new Covid world we find ourselves in. You may want to print this.

1. Claim and Optimize Your Google My Business (GMB) Listing

One of the first marketing steps for any restaurant owner is claiming your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Verifying ownership of an establishment allows you to edit the details of the page, including your business phone number, location, hours of operations, and links to your website and menu.

After verifying that you own a business, ensure that your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are updated and consistent across all platforms, including social media profiles and websites. Consistent NAP information is an important part of search engine optimization (SEO).

Optimizing your GMB page also helps with local discovery. Google uses the information on your GMB page to populate your listing on Google Maps. When people search for Adelaide restaurants on Google, the top five entries from Google Maps appear in the search results. 

Check out our GMB Optimization checklist here for step-by-step instructions on how you can optimize yours for the best results.

2. Integrate a Reservation System with Your GMB Listing

Adding an online reservation system to your website is an effective way to fill more tables. You can streamline the management of orders and reservations while delivering superior customer service. You also have the option of integrating a reservation system with your GMB page.

Including a link to your reservation platform on your GMB page allows users to book a table in just seconds, therefore improving the customer experience. It also saves time for the front-of-the-house staff, as they need to field fewer calls for reservations.

Offering the ability to book online also gives you a competitive advantage. If you are one of the few restaurants on the block to offer online booking, you are more likely to gain a larger share of online business.

On the other hand, if you don’t wish to add a 3rd party integration service, you can add your reservation link and your website. The key is to allow your customers to make a booking or inquiry in as few clicks as possible.

3. Grow Awareness with Social Media Marketing 

Social media is a top source for online marketing, as it offers direct access to your target audience. About 80% of Australians have social media accounts. 

The average social media user spends 1.75 hours per day on popular platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Unfortunately, you need to compete for attention with other Adelaide restaurants.

You can make your business stand out by sharing mouth-watering photos of your dishes. Restaurant patrons seem to love Instagramming their meals.  Keep a good quality camera/camera phone on standby!

Give them a sampling of what they can expect with professionally shot images of each item on your menu. Make sure that the photos are carefully composed with great lighting to bring out every detail of the dish. 

Along with sharing the photos on Facebook or Instagram, add them to your website and Google My Business page. Many Internet users may base their decision on whether to visit your restaurant solely on the content of your GMB page. High-quality photos create a better first impression, helping you fill even more tables.

Location marketing is key as you’ll need to be attracting and engaging with local people who have the ability to walk into your business. Here’s one of our Instagram posts explaining how this can be done without being spammy and annoying – here. For example, only engage on things that you can relate to or bring value to. Everyone is tired of fake engagement.

We’ve consulted a host of restaurants and cafes to enable them to handle their social media in-house, without having to outsource. More importantly, it pays to learn how to do this effectively and can save you thousands in the long term. So many businesses have the intention and plan to  effectively implement, but somewhere along the line, that plan gets eroded and disappears. As a result, it leads to a drop in reach, awareness and engagement. No business wants that.

4. Boost Repeat Business with Email Marketing

Email marketing helps you retain customers, which is a key ingredient for running a successful business. Yet, you first need to get customers to sign up to an email list.

Use incentives, vouchers or loyalty programs to incentivize customers to sign up. For example, you could offer customers a discount on their next meal if they join your email list. 

You can also promote offers through social media posts. Include a link to your email sign-up form in the post to grow your list and build a more loyal customer base.

After attracting email subscribers, use personalized emails to keep customers updated on the latest events, specials, and new menu items. However, avoid bombarding your customers with emails. 

One or two emails per week/fortnight are enough to keep your audience engaged without coming across as another spammer. If you need help with setting this up, get in touch with us. Alternatively, check out our blog highlighting the benefits of a subscriber/email list here. With the increasing cost of ads and reach through social media, it pays to own and grow your own audience that you can contact for FREE.

5. Learn How to Manage Your Online Reputation 

People tend to view customer reviews when searching for a new place to eat. If your business has a lot of negative reviews, Internet users may choose the next restaurant on the list. A negative online reputation also limits the effectiveness of your online marketing.

To manage your online reputation, reply to all Google reviews and social media comments, including the good and the bad. Thank customers for leaving positive responses, and make an attempt to resolve negative comments.

For example, if a customer had a bad experience, offer them a free or discounted meal during their next visit. You may change their opinion of your restaurant, which may lead them to change their online review.

Google has confirmed that it helps boost your GMB performance by responding to reviews and updating your information so post updates, add photos. 

You may want to do a quick Google of your business and see which sites you appear on, as some of them may rank higher than your website. If that’s the case, ensure you optimize those listings too. Some of them you may have forgotten about, so ensure you update the information, pics, menus etc.

6. Use QR Codes to Enhance Your Marketing Efforts

A QR code is a type of barcode that people can scan with their mobile devices. Businesses often use QR codes to link to URLs, allowing customers to easily view a web page without typing in a long address.

The simplicity of QR codes makes them perfect for online marketing. You can link the QR code to any URL. 

After linking a QR code to a URL, you can print it on in-store items, such as paper menus, coasters, or receipts. You could also print displays for the tables or doors to ensure that customers see the codes. 

Customers simply need to scan the code with their smartphone or tablet to visit the connected web page. You can use the QR code to encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews or join your email list. 

A QR code can also be linked to an online menu, allowing customers to view the latest items and daily specials. Here’s a simple QR Code Generator.

7. Bonus Tip 1 – Deal Sites

Use sites like Scoopon and Groupon to attract more customers but you then need to find ways to lure them onto your email list as these types of customers are only usually after an offer…..and who doesn’t like a discount? The key is to turn these customers from ‘deal site’ fans to fans of your business. This is not an easy task but at least if some of your deals contain offers that at least match the ones you place on deal sites, you’ll get to keep 100% of the revenue.
These deal sites don’t have to be a necessary evil for your business. You just need to know how to convert them into direct customers.
If you need help implementing this, get in touch! 

8. Bonus Tip 2 – Your Website

This isn’t something you update once a year and forget about because no critical information has changed. This should be where you want 100% of interest to arrive at, so they can book, make an inquiry, order, view menus, etc. 

For instance, if you’re having to rely on other sites to fulfill some of these actions, you could be potentially throwing away big profits. In a lot of cases, it pays to use the likes of Uber Eats and Menulog, however, if you’re using a 3rd party platform to take bookings, then we need to have a chat…..urgently!

A highly optimized website can put you ahead of the competition, as well as save you money, so don’t underestimate this one. 

9. Bonus Tip 3 – Get Featured

Find out how you can get your venue featured in all local publications and entertainment guides. Sites such as Glam Adelaide, Southaustralia.com and Broadsheet are a great place to start as they have a huge local following and send out regular emails about what’s happening in Adelaide and South Australia.

Every so often just head to Google and type in ‘Adelaide Restaurants’ or ‘(your suburb) Restaurants’, i.e. ‘Glenelg Restaurants’, and see which sites show up high up on the list. If they’re sites such as the ones above, you need to have your restaurant added to increase visibility and traffic to your site.

Summary

In conclusion, marketing is an important part of running a successful local restaurant, as I’m sure you know. 

Firstly, start with your Google My Business (GMB) page, ensuring that your business information is consistent across all platforms. 

Secondly, make sure your website is in tiptop shape so customers can do everything from one place.

Create some good incentives to build your audience and email list.

Invest the time in social media. The free reach won’t last forever and it’s on the decline.

Don’t bow down to the deal sites. Rival them whilst still using them.

Get your site added to the most popular local restaurant listings.

If you/your team need 1:1 help with your marketing efforts, consider working with professional Adelaide Restaurant marketers. We’ve worked with many local restaurants, cafes and pubs. We understand what it takes to get noticed online without a massive budget.

WithEric’sHelp can help you strengthen your restaurant marketing plan to attract and retain customers. Contact us today for a chat to see if we’re a good fit, or schedule a call here.