A Guide To Content Marketing For Restaurants

As the covid-19 pandemic is seemingly getting better, one important tool that many restaurants tend to look past is the importance of content marketing. Content marketing is one of the most effective methods available for restaurants to connect, engage and build trust with their customers.

Consumers are bombarded with an irrelevant amount of messages today in all channels, be it direct mail, email, or social media. It is important to differentiate your restaurant to make the business stand out.

Content marketing is how restaurants can separate themselves from their competitors effectively.

Content marketing is an important tool to use to not only increase your customer base but important if you want to be an established authority in a particular specialization such as gluten-free, keto, vegan, healthy eating or solidifying your restaurant as the staple for its specific culinary genre.

Content marketing has the potential to enhance the reputation of any restaurant in an effective manner.

However, you need to have a proper content marketing strategy in order to realize all those benefits.

 

Content Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

Recent studies have shown, more and more, people are sick of traditional marketing methods. While there is a case to be made for volume promotions and email blasts done correctly, most of these methods will inevitably push a potential customer away. This is because traditional marketing methods are not in a position to deliver the same open communication that content marketing can.

Content marketing can send out meaningful and helpful information to the consumers, resulting in a customer who wants to not only be fed marketing, but by your food too.

 

Content needs to be of value to all your customers

In our daily life we are constantly receiving a barrage of continual marketing and advertising attempts, therefore traditional marketing cannot send your information effectively to customers.

You need to seek the assistance of a reliable method to capture the attention and make sure your potential customers read and digest the information.

Content marketing is one of the best methods available for restaurants to build their brand. A new restaurant will find it’s a hard task to compete with the world-famous brands out there.

 

Restaurants can use content marketing to enhance brand visibility and credibility

Through careful aligning of the content marketing campaign according to the branding guidelines of the restaurant, trust is created among potential customers that will motivate them to choose your restaurant over other options.

Many people search online when they are looking for a new restaurant to dine in. If you can rank your website high on leading search engine result pages, you have a better chance of attracting new customers. When you browse google for information, how often do you click the next page? People tend to subconsciously assume the best to offer will always be on the first page, which is why you can use this to your advantage.

By taking the necessary measures and getting your website on the top search results you create organic traffic. This leads to more visibility and more business and can be achieved with the help of backlinks that are created with content marketing.

 

Content marketing helps drive organic traffic through search ranking and backlinks

You can include popular and low competition keywords inside the content of your website to boost rankings. Content marketing can also be considered as an excellent method available for a restaurant owner to create engagement. This will tempt your customers to come and experience the great food that you serve.

 

Content Marketing Strategy For Restaurants

The restaurant’s content marketing strategy consists of emails that you send out, all the posts you make through your social media channels and the articles published on your restaurant’s website.

Many restaurant owners find sitting down and spending their time writing articles or posting content via social media channels a difficult task.

Content marketing can assist you so your restaurant stands out from your competitors, demonstrates your abilities and showcases your service, food and skills.

As a result, you will be able to open up new opportunities for engagement with potential customers.

 

A Restaurant Content Marketing Plan

Now you know all the benefits that are associated with content marketing for restaurants. However, you need to be equipped with a proper content marketing plan in order to create content and send them to the customers. Here are the steps that you need to follow to do content marketing for the restaurant.

 

1. Content Calendar:

First of all, you need to create a proper plan for content creation. You need to deliver something new and useful to the customers on a regular basis. Posting on social media whenever you remember wont return the reward that a solidified content calendar will provide.  

 

2. Start a Restaurant Blog:

As the second step, you can start a blog within the official website of your restaurant. Visitors will be able to read the content and browse through your website to find out what type of food and services they can expect to experience. SEO optimization through distinct keywords in your blogs will also raise the searchability of your restaurant and bring in organic growth.

 

3. Create Quality Content:

Quality content plays a major role behind content marketing. Therefore, you need to invest accordingly. Consider hiring a professional writer that specializes in web content to create your content. 

 

Forms of Content

Content marketing can be done in many different methods. The most popular forms of content include:

 

(a) Food Images

Mouthwatering images attract the attention of customers. Use your own food images to tell the story of your cuisine and your restaurant. This is a great way of giving customers more information which will put you above the restaurants whose food remains a mystery. Posts on social media also allow for customers to engage directly with the restaurant. 

Read more on the importance of food photography for restaurant marketing.

(b) Videos

People love to see videos. It can deliver a strong message to the users in short time.

(c) Articles

Posting articles on topics related to food, cuisine and local community can be engaging with potential customers. They also contribute towards your search engine optimization efforts.

(d) Recipes

Creating and sharing recipes of your special items is a great form of content that can be shared with your customers.

(e) Local Events

Pictures and information articles from local events including community fundraisers is also a source of content that promotes engagement.

(f) Live Streaming

Social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube provide a channel to live stream from your kitchen.

It is better if you can create various forms of content and include in your content marketing plan.

 

4. Market the Content:

Once you have quality content, you can begin sharing it via social media networks to grab the attention of customers. It is better if you can get the help of a social share automation tool such as Hootsuite or Buffer.

Read more about multi-channel campaigns and how to effectively market your restaruant. 

5. Track and Measure:

Measure the progress of your content marketing plan to determine whether you are doing it right or wrong.

Our NGAZE multi-channel marketing platform helps busy restaurateurs run social, mobile and email campaigns that boost brand awareness and drive conversions. For more information on how NGAZE can gain more online orders and more bookings for your restaurant, speak to one of our consultants today.

6. Optimize to Improve:

If you need to improve the effectiveness of content marketing plan, you’ll need to optimize it. You can assign someone with experience to take care of this instead of working on your own. This will save you time, and let you focus on the important tasks behind running a restaurant.

 

What you should not do

All the restaurant owners who use content marketing should not blast consumers with emails. Your customers, like the rest of us, prefer not to receive spam mails or barrages of marketing email. In addition, you need to make operational issues your top priority while engaging with the content marketing plan.

 

Summary

Content marketing isn’t easy but it’s crucial for the success, growth, and longevity of a restaurant. If you need any professional assistance with content marketing for restaurants, consider contacting the team at The Digital Restaurant.

The team will help you to create an effective content marketing strategy that can be used to enhance your potential customer base in an effective manner. The time you spend on it will be an excellent investment done towards the future as well.

 

 

Now your turn:

Let us know what you have done towards content marketing for your restaurant. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.