Restaurant Marketing 101: Creating A Holistic Strategy

Restaurant Marketing actually isn’t easy. A lot of restaurant owners think it’s just about posting on social media or telling people about it and people will come. And that’s fine—if you want to keep burning a hole in your pocket.

Before you even launch a new restaurant, ensure that you have a dedicated budget to marketing, even if you don’t want to hire an agency and prefer to do everything in-house. Very few successes can be achieved through organic marketing alone.

If you’re thinking of contacting a marketing agency, make sure that you also have a sizable go-to-market budget and start vetting agencies AT LEAST three months prior to opening. This will give the agency enough time for brand immersion, create a holistic marketing plan, build media relationships on your behalf, create buzz for the restaurant in the local community, and get the first few photoshoots for social and press content.

A foundational Restaurant Marketing strategy looks like this.

STEP I: COMPETITIVE RESEARCH & USP
First step: market research and finding your unique selling proposition (USP). For example, if you’re a new pizza spot, what are other similar restaurants doing in your area and what sets you apart from them? Finding your USP is incredibly important and will lead every decision you make moving forward from this point. The restaurant industry is becoming increasingly saturated and competitive, so creating a unique experience for your future guests is paramount.

STEP II: BRAND STORYTELLING
Sit down and ask yourself: the “why.” If you can’t cohesively tell yourself why you’re doing this, you might as well give up. And I’m not coming at you with a defeatist attitude—you need to realize that in order to survive in this industry, you need more than just grit and patience. You need excellence, consistency, and a good reason as to why you’re doing this. Otherwise, you’ll get buried in the shuffle of new places popping up everywhere that may have a better USP, better marketing budget, better food, better story, etc.

Once you’ve determined your “why,” then it’s time to craft your story. It’s as simple as writing this down on your website and physically having your statement posted on your restaurant.

As a marketing agency, we prefer to skillfully weave this story into every aspect of the marketing plan. This ethos / story paired with your USP will lead our holistic strategy and be top of mind so that you stay “on-brand.” Branding, creative direction / art direction, photography, videography, website design, email campaigns, tone / voice, copywriting, taglines, marketing strategies, and overall “aesthetic” will be determined by the ethos & USP.

STEP III: BRAND IDENTITY
Determine a brand identity that resonates with your ethos & USP. It’s incredibly important that your branding speaks to your target audience. You need to have a brand identity that translates across all channels, from digital platforms to your physical brick and mortar. Is it print-worthy for my menus? Does it work as a restaurant sign outside? Do I need different iterations for social media profile pictures?

Your brand identity should be unique enough to leave an impact on your target audience, but also readable enough to be understood and digested.

A complete brand identity package includes: logos, primary and secondary colors, header and body fonts, taglines, symbols and patterns, digital vs. physical applications of your branding, and tone of voice.

Use this brand identity kit to create menus, business cards, curate the overall feel of your restaurant, signage, website, socials, creative direction for photography and videography, etc.

STEP IV: WEBSITE
After the brand identity step, you’ve basically laid the foundation to get out there and actively market your restaurant. A lot of people like to start with the digital aspects, and that’s a good start.

Website creation should ALWAYS come first. You can use platforms like Squarespace (our favorite platform), Wix, or Wordpress to create your restaurant’s website. Ensure that it is also mobile-friendly because more people browse on their phones than on a desktop / laptop. Build in capabilities like sign ups for email newsletters (super important for customer retention), booking reservations (usually a third-party integration like OpenTable), e-commerce or cart functions (if you’re letting people buy food off the website for pick-up / delivery or linking third parties like Uber Eats or DoorDash), and add a gallery so people can get a feel for your food and space. People are becoming increasingly visual creatures, so move with the times.

Ensure that your website is also SEO-optimized so you rank higher in Google searches. There’s a lot of different tips and tricks for raising your rankings in organic searches, but that’s for another blog post.

This is the digital representation of your business so make sure that your website is easy to use, easy to read, clean, and unique.

STEP V: THIRD PARTY SITES
First, build your Google Business profile and verify the business. Be sure to optimize your descriptions and fill out all the necessary information on your restaurant offerings. Remember, the more information you input into your Google Business profile, the better discoverability you’ll receive. Add photos of your food, space, and menus.

Next, set up a Yelp account and duplicate the same information from your Google Business profile. Add as many photos of your food, space, and menus as you can. Manually input your menu in Yelp. This may seem tedious, but it’ll pay off. This is better than just posting a photo of your men on Yelp because it’s actual readable information that Yelp pulls from in searches.

Third, set up your reservation software and link this on your website, Google Business, and Yelp. Highly recommend OpenTable for its marketing visibility. If you’re a fast casual spot that doesn’t do reservations, highly recommend looking into third party delivery apps if you don’t have the bandwidth to deliver orders in-house.

STEP VI: SOCIAL MEDIA
Before you waste your time and sign up for every social media platform under the sun, figure out which platform your target audience spends the most time.

Most restaurants only need to have two accounts: Instagram and Facebook. If you’re a fast casual brand, explore TikTok and YouTube Shorts in conjunction with Instagram. If you’re a fine dining spot, stick to Instagram and Facebook and have a sizable budget for paid Meta and Google Ads.

Start creating buzz for the opening by posting tasteful sneak peeks and connecting with industry tastemakers and influencers in your area.

STEP VII: MARKETING PLAN
Once you’ve set up all the pieces, sit down and create a plan for how you’re going to execute on each platform. Create cohesive plan for each channel that complements each other.

Are you kick off email campaigns and how many emails do you plan to send per month? Create a cadence with themes like new promos will get sent at the top of every month, menu highlight features will get sent mid-month, and brand building / storytelling pieces will get sent at the end of every month.

What does your social media plan look like? How many times do you plan on posting per week and on which platforms? What will your social media look like? Will it look more polished and branded or are you going to follow trends to increase organic visibility?

What does your paid ad strategy look like? Are you advertising on Google Ads to increase traffic to your website or local visibility for your restaurant? Are you also pushing Meta Ads for brand awareness and to increase visibility to your pages?

Are you advertising on Yelp or OpenTable to get pinned at the top?

Are you going to invest in print ads, billboards, and other out-of-home channels?

Are you going to create a commercial and advertise on Hulu and other streaming platforms locally?

There’s a lot to consider between paid and organic marketing. It’s so much more than just posting on social media. Remember to think about your target audience every step of the way. How will they interact with your brand and business if they see your ad or content?

STEP VIII: MEDIA OUTREACH
Start reaching out to your local media at least one month out from opening. Ensure that you have a comprehensive press release telling people about your ethos, USP, offerings, address, website, social links, and opening schedule. This press release should be comprehensive yet digestible.

STEP IX: PREPARE TO OPEN
This foundation just scratches the surface of everything our agency does to prepare for a restaurant opening. This is BARE MINIMUM. But this formula works, especially if you’re planning on tackling all of your marketing on your own.

Hope this helped you! If you have any questions or want to connect, feel free to reach out and email me at danielle@goldenhourcodigital.com.