I’ve helped multiple restaurants market their brand online, across many platforms, and through that experience I’ve distilled a guide for your to access that information for free. I’m not selling anything, there’s no course to sign up for — this will be a 10 part comprehensive guide to marketing for your restaurant. This is everything you need to know about digital marketing for restaurants, cafes, and businesses in the F&B industry.

1. The Digital Space: Everything You Need to Know
2. Website: Your Restaurant’s Digital Identity
3. Email Marketing: It’s Like Free Advertising
4. Social Media: Building Awareness
5. Photography: A Visual Feast for Customers
6. Branding & Identity: What Sets You Apart
7. Advertising: Free Money If Done Right
8. Reputation: What Others Think
9. Your Venue: Going Digital through Physical
10. Roadmap: Putting It All Together

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Preface

Especially if you have an existing database, email marketing is essentially free advertising. You have a list of people who’ve dined at your restaurant, experienced your service, and just need a little reminder to make another reservation. There are only two types of customers for your restaurant — new and repeat. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to capture repeat customers.

1. Constructing Persuasive Email Campaigns

1.1 Subject Line

The subject line is the single most critical piece of text on your email message. Experiment with different strategies, like cultivating intrigue, for instance: “Unveiling Our Chef’s Secret Recipe”, or perhaps something lighthearted and funny, like the one above. Experimentation is key with email marketing, try A/B testing different headers, sending variations of email headers, as well as different fonts, colours, and animations.

1.2 Personalization Strategies

If possible, try and personalize your emails. Personalization enhances customer connection. By addressing recipients by name and perhaps customizing content based on their preferences, you’ll give the customer the impression that you care for them, and have put in the effort to contact them. Most popular email marketing tools have customer segmentation, where you can classify customers perhaps by age group, and if you have different venues, location.

Here’s an intriguing guide on customer segmentation in email marketing.

2. Content

2.1 Seasonal Content

Above all, establishing a regular and consistent stream of content that customers can expect to see is important for constructing a loyal customer base. For example, if a restaurant consistently sends out an email promoting their Christmas deals in the December period, customers who see it are more likely to remember that when making a decision on where to dine. Email marketing serves as both a TOFU and BOFU strategy — you may be able to convert customers directly, or you can keep your brand fresh in their head with regular content.

2.2 New dishes

Introduce new dishes, drinks, or a menu refresh! Anything that’s new — promote it to your customers. It gives you a reason to reach out to them, and it gives them a reason to come back! If your restaurant has a regular update of its menu, that’s perfect for email marketing. Try including it every time you add new items to your menu. However, if it isn’t, you can still stick to promoting seasonal content — it’s what always works.

2.3 Offers

If promoting events and dishes aren’t bringing you any new customers, try creating special offers! Perhaps a one-for-one on your birthday month, 15% off your next meal, or a free desert, these are all ideas you can try implementing to see what works best. Remember, it’s all about experimentation.

3. Visual

3.1 Artful Imagery

That sounded like an AI generated headline, but I promise it was all I could come up with.

Visual appeal is crucial. Use high-quality, appetizing images that showcase your dishes in their best light. Consider incorporating professional photoshoots to capture the essence of your story, your food, and your staff. That’s what people want to see.

3.2 Graphics

Try and use graphics to add to the experience of your emails. If your restaurant is a lighthearted eatery, try using cartoonish figures and graphics to spruce up the blank space in your emails!

4. Timing

4.1 Scheduling

In the beginning, try sending emails at different times of the day, and recording their performance. From there, you can schedule emails at times where there are elevated levels of engagement, for example: Schedule lunch promotions in the morning and dinner specials in the late afternoon, ensuring your emails land in the inbox when patrons are planning their meals.

4.2 Frequency

How often you send your newsletters is also crucial. Customers don’t want to see 5 emails a day from your restaurant promoting different items individually — as a customer, you’d not want to receive more than 1 or 2 emails a week from a restaurant, any more and you’ll risk having larger numbers of people unsubscribing.

5. CTA

Try experimenting with different CTAs — for example, in one email you could have “Book Your Table Now”, and in another, you could have “Enjoy 30% Off”. As we’ve mentioned repeatedly throughout this guide, experiment with different offers and create a strategy that’s unique to you and performs well. Don’t have the time? We’ll help with that, just contact us.

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If you’re a restaurant or business owner looking for advice on your brand, we offer free consultations for any brand with under $1m/year in revenue. Feel free to book a call at https://ztkmedia.info/consultation.