Using the Internet to Market Your Restaurant or Pub

Using the Internet to Market Your Restaurant/Bar/Pub

Over the years, I've talked to many restaurant/bar/pub owners who have been looking to improve online exposure to their business. Despite their desire to improve, they offset these desires with doubts: unless they can see how working on their online strategy will directly improve revenue, they're hesitant to invest. Granted, marketing a restaurant or pub online requires a non-traditional approach, different from typical SEO and online marketing efforts.

The reason why a traditional online marketing approach is not as effective when it comes to these types of businesses is because of saturation. In contrast to many other industries where a small city may only see a handful of competition (eg. bicycle repair shops), restaurants and bars dot every block. Though the presence of this much competition would appear to be tough to succeed at, the main issue is not try and blow away the competition but understand the minds of the restaurant patron. When you're looking to try a new restaurant and see what's around, you're first instinct is not to jump on Google and search "restaurants in [your city]". Instead, you want to know what people have said about a restaurant so you can make a decision accordingly.

This is where online restaurant directories can be extremely useful. Do some research and see what directories are consistently showing up at the top of the search engines when doing restaurant/pub-related searches, and make a note of these. Start listing your business in these directories, and make sure to put your best foot forward (which goes without saying). The reasons why these directories are so popular is because they are visitor-powered - restaurant patrons review and comment on restaurant listings which can make or break your business. On your listing, be sure to include as much relevant information as possible (for example, daily specials) to make it convenient for your customers. Don't be afraid to attach a comment card with the bill at the end of your customers' meal that directs them to review their experience at various online directories - try to take advantage of this as much as possible.

Asides from directories, social media marketing is king when it comes to online based marketing for restaurants. Much as directories and review sites rely on customers to make their opinions heard, social media marketing relies on customers to spread the word about your restaurant. As an example, let's look at Facebook. In this massive social media site, businesses are permitted to create "Pages", or independent commercial presences for themselves where individuals can become "Fans" of the business and upload/comment/post information about the business. Ask yourself, "What is the most important form of advertising for my restaurant business?" and you will answer "Word of mouth advertising". So, knowing this, why not create a venue to perpetuate the word of mouth advertising for your restaurant - and this is exactly what social media marketing will do for you. It's viral word-of-mouth marketing.

The last approach I recommend concerns SEO (search engine optimization) for your website, and yes, you definitely want a spiderable (search engine readable) website even though you'll focus much of your efforts on directories and social media sites. Though most businesses can initiate an SEO campaign for the most logical keywords, restaurants and bars have to think of niche markets to be effective with SEO. Think of what makes your restaurant different from other restaurants out there - stuff like location/neighbourhood, type of food, price range, music, etc. Instead of competing for a search term like "restaurant in vancouver", which is so broad that it's unlikely to yield much quality traffic, try something like "greek food yaletown" or "cheap wings north vancouver". The traffic count may not be through the roof, but the traffic you do get will be very high quality.

This 3-pronged approach will help ensure you make the most out of your online efforts for your restaurant/bar/pub business.

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