5 Useful Local Restaurant Marketing Tips for 2018

While the restaurant industry is pretty profitable, with annual sales reaching around $799 billion, it’s also highly competitive – given that there are approximately over 1 million restaurants in the US alone.

Well, to get ahead on the market, here are some handy local restaurant marketing pointers

Get Involved with Local Events

If there are any local events in your area (music festivals, workshops, food festivals), you should sponsor them and/or have a stand present at the event.

Don’t forget – 66% of restaurants say that community, event, and charity sponsorship is a common, successful method of advertising. Plus, it shows people you care about the community.

Street food festivalsare something you should particularly strive to be a part of, given how popular they are with modern consumers.

Plus, according to research, around 84% of street food festival goers will post pictures on social media of the food they get, and 99% of Millennials will recommend the food they try out to other people. That pretty much means you’ll be getting tons of free marketing off of such an event.

  • How Can GQE Help You With That?
  • Our platform lets you easily create and publish upfront Promo Coupons tailored for any local events you’re involved in. Also, you can use social media platforms to get them across to many existing and potential customers..

Offer Catering

Just like local events, offering catering to special events (like weddings, engagements, company and NGO parties, and so on) can offer your brand tons of exposure, networking opportunities, and sales opportunities.

Also, catering isn’t only for those special events – you can offer these services to businesses too. Especially since, nowadays, it’s quite common for employees to enjoy this kind of thing at work.

So, be sure to advertise your catering services online, and get in touch with local businesses and even organizers to let them know about this.

  • How Can GQE Help You With That?
  • Our app can help you make catering a much more appealing option by letting you set up and promote discounts for any catering services you offer.

Show Up in Local Directories

Setting up accounts on online local directories doesn’t just give you decent backlinks. It also makes it easier for your patrons and potential customers to find your restaurant on the Internet.

The directories you should focus on are:

  • Yelp
  • TripAdvisor
  • Google Accounts

Example of When Buying Bigger is Cheaper:

  • Without Coupon
  • 33.9 oz, $8.58 or $0.25 per oz
  • 11.3 oz, $4.58 or $0.41 per oz.
  • After a $2 off coupon
  • 33.9 oz, $6.58 or $0.19 per oz
  • 11.3 oz, $2.58 or $0.23 per oz.

Positive Yelp reviews will help you get more customers, seeing as how around 90% of Yelp users say that affects their purchases.

A Google Account for your business will help Google display its Knowledge Graph – the table containing relevant info regarding a search result on the left. This way, when someone looks up your restaurant on Google, they immediately see your opening/closing hours, your phone number, your menu, and the reviews people left.

As for a TripAdvisor account, that would help you get the interest of tourists on top of people who use TripAdvisor to find local restaurants.

  • How Can GQE Help You With That?
  • Our own platform actually acts as a local directory, and you can help relevant users quickly find you by using location search-based deals.

Get a Food Truck

First, let’s get this out of the way – yes, food trucks can be an expensive investment. You have to pay for the truck itself, for maintenance and inventory, and for the insurance and permits.

However, food trucks have a high ROI potential too. According to people who run their own food truck business, a food truck that goes through at least 5 lunch sessions each week will earn around $240,000 in annual revenue.

Besides that, food trucks are really popular with today’s consumers – mostly because they fit in well with the whole “street food festival” vibe that people like nowadays. Millennials seem to be the biggest fans, with approximately 47% of them eating at food trucks.

Now, you can argue that food truck sales can be covered by online ordering and catering, but think of the following: People who are at work can’t always take advantage of that. Maybe they aren’t allowed to order food at work. Or, maybe you can’t provide their workspace with catering as there are too few people who would order.

With a food truck, you can monetize this consumer segment by giving them the opportunity to order from you easily and quickly when they’re on their break or right when they get off work.

  • How Can GQE Help You With That?
  • Our platform comes equipped with Virtual Location Food Truck Orders. Basically, your customers can use our app to place an order, and then just pick up their food/drink(s) from your food truck on their way to work, school, or anywhere else. They get to skip waiting in line to place the order, meaning they’ll be more satisfied with their purchase.

Use Coupons

Coupons are a great way to attract customers – not to mention coupon users spend 24% more than regular patrons , and 1 in 3 people look for deals before dining out.

Coupons are an excellent way to attract new customers too. 80% of restaurant goers are willing to try a new place if they can get a discount or a promotion.

And besides attracting more patrons, coupons can help you drive more foot traffic or orders on days that are usually slower. Just check which hours or days of the week see less business, and make the coupons redeemable during those periods.

Looking for a Quick Way to Offer Coupon Deals?

Sure, you could hand out printed coupons to people walking by your restaurant, or patrons coming in, but that’s not very efficient.

A member or two of your staff will have to handle that, which means less manpower at the checkout or in the kitchen. Plus, you’ve got no guarantee that people walking by will want to receive a coupon – some of them might be in a rush, and could easily get annoyed.

That’s why you should offer digital coupons instead. They’re more convenient – both for you and your customers. And consumers love them! Approximately 60% of them want to receive digital coupons.

Don’t worry – getting started with digital coupons isn’t difficult. With our platform, it’s extremely easy. Postb real-time coupons, daily specials, and flash deals with a few clicks, and watch as the orders and reservations start rolling in!

You’ll be able to fill empty tables during off-peak times, and our platform’s dashboard will keep track of all orders with real-time analytics. You’ll also get to learn who exactly are your top spenders, frequent visitors, and even lost customers.

Plus, you won’t have to worry about wasting any time on publishing coupon deals – it only takes a few seconds! Not to mention setting up the program is very straightforward and only takes a few minutes. Best of all – no setup, contracts, or minimum fees are necessary!

And no, you won’t have to worry about any hidden fees or commissions. With GrabQpons, you enjoy a pay-for-performance model, with a flat $2 fee per customer booking that comes in from our platform.

If you’ll be among the first 100 restaurants who sign up for our service, you’ll get to enjoy a 6-month fee waiver offer too.