12 Step Plan To Grow Your Restaurant's Sales Through Digital Marketing

Here is a complete plan to grow your Digital Presence and directly impact your delivery and dine-in sales:

1. Use the Power of Social Media

2. Maintain Aggregator Page Hygiene

3. Whatsapp Blast Marketing

4. Merge Online x Offline Marketing

5. In restaurant & Delivery Branding

6. Generate Website Orders

7. Optimize your Google Listing

8. Creating Google Ads

9. Building Local SEO

10. Partner with Nearby Businesses

11. Get Press Coverage

12. Be Consistent!

Step 1: Use the Power of Social Media

Social Media remains at the forefront of any brand's Digital Marketing. As a restaurant, these are 10 actions that must be taken to improve your Social Media Presence:

• Build a Timeline

• Generate Bookings using Ads Manager

• Delicious Photographs

• Hold a Campaign

• Create Reels

• Publish Stories

• Involve your Customers

• Create Highlights

• Mouth Water Videos

• Hire Influencers

Step 1a - Build a Beautiful Timeline

Why invest your time & money in this?

When a customer visits your page on Instagram they immediately create an image of your brand in their mind. that image should be a perfect digital representation of you and nothing less.

Step 1a - Social Media - Build a Beautiful Timeline

Step 1b - Generate Bookings using Ads Manager

Why invest your time & money in this?

Marketing efforts are of no use if they don't convert to sales. Use Facebook and Instagram Ads to target your customer base and generate bookings

Step 1b - Social Media - Generate Bookings using Ads Manager

Step 1c - Click Delicious Photographs

Why invest your time & money in this?

Customers should be eating of their phones. Mouthwatering photographs are key to representing the magic your chefs create in the kitchen

Step 1c - Social Media - Click Delicious Photographs

Step 1d - Hold a Campaign

Why invest your time & money in this?

Every occasion is an opportunity to create awareness of your brand. Be it an offer for holi or supporting the women of India. campaigns are your chance to speak to your audience.

Step 1d - Social Media - Hold a Campaign

Step 1e - Create Reels

Why invest your time & money in this?

Instagram reels is a new way to create engaging video content. It’s a more dynamic and creative opportunity to showcase your brand, which gives you more traction and drives people to your page which even Instagram stories can't do.

Step 1e - Social Media - Create Reels

Step 1f - Publish Stories

Why invest your time & money in this?

Instagram Stories is a way to elevate your visual content strategy; it allows you to create polls, drive engagement and understand your audience.

Step 1f - Social Media - Publish Stories

Step 1g - Involve your Customers

Why invest your time & money in this?

Get your customers to do your marketing for you. Let them check in to your restaurant, tag you in their photos, mark your location and give you a shoutout

Step 1g - Social Media - Involve Your Customers

Step 1h - Create Highlights

Why invest your time & money in this?

Instagram Stories Highlights are extremely valuable because they allow your brand to easily curate and showcase the content which you want users to see first. You can think of them as a movie trailer for your Instagram feed.

Step 1h - Social Media - Create Highlights

Step 1i - Mouth Watering Videos

Why invest your time & money in this?

Videos are a massive opportunity to attract new audiences, engage more viewers, nurture more followers, and delight more customers by posting a video on your feed.

Step 1i - Social Media - Mouth Watering Videos

Step 1j - Hire Influencers

Why invest your time & money in this?

Influencers drive today's trends. Engage them and get them to endorse your brand to become a part of today's trend.

Step 1j - Social Media - Hire Influencers

Step 2: Maintain Aggregator Page Hygiene

Online ordering applications are where your customers see you more often than your social media. make sure your pages are up to date and packed with beautiful pictures.

Step 2 - Maintain Aggregator Page Hygiene

Step 3: WhatsApp Blast Marketing

WhatsApp is the fastest and most effective way to communicate today. send out WhatsApp blasts to your customer base within seconds.

Step 3 - WhatsApp Blast Marketing

Step 4: Merge Online x Offline Marketing

Let your online actions synergize with your offline experience. Customers should be able to see offers online that they can redeem offline at your restaurant.

Step 4 - Merge Online x Offline Marketing

Step 5: In restaurant & Delivery Branding

Make sure your branding visually represents your brand. Your logo, colors, and fonts should always be maintained in all digital communication. Create tent cards, standees, and takeaway menus to cross-sell and upsell!

Step 5 - In Restaurant & Delivery Branding

Step 6: Generate Website Orders

Why pay exorbitant COMMISSIONS when you can simply build your own website ordering system, loyalty programs, and online offer campaigns.

Step 6 - Generate website Orders

Step 7: Optimize your Google Listing

Optimizing your Google Business Profile sends these signals to Google to rank you higher in local results And a higher ranking leads to more visibility and engagement with your business.

Step 7 - Optimize Your Google Listing

Step 8: Creating Google Ads

People are always searching for you online, make sure you show up in relevant searches by creating targetted, location-specific google ads.

Step 8 - Creating Google Ads

Step 9: Building Local SEO

Get featured by local blogs, websites, and media houses to make sure you feature high in google searches.

Step 9 - Building Local SEO

Step 10: Partner with Nearby Businesses

Partner with nearby salons, Kirana stores, gyms, etc. to give your coupon or simply have a standee in exchange for having their business promoted at your restaurant.

Step 10 - Partner with Nearby Businesses

Step 11: Get Press Coverage

People who see your restaurant mentioned in the media are much more likely to try your food. Positive mentions on popular publications are particularly useful for acquiring new customers.

Step 11 - Get Press Coverage

Step 12: Be Consistent!

In digital marketing, consistency is key. Your brand should be visible consistently across all digital channels to ensure that your customers can easily find and fall in love with your business.

Step 12 - Be Consistent

Why Digital Marketing is Important for Your Restaurant?

The internet has brought in a whole new scope of the market in the form of digital marketing. Over the period of time, it has become a vital organ for success. It mainly brings in a lot of opportunities for restaurant promotions and gradual growth. It eventually leads to exposure and more sales.

The modern marketer is an experimenter, a lover of data, a content creator, a justifier of ROI. – Kim Walsh

About the Author:

Manan Mehta started his journey as a restauranteur, founding "The American Joint" with his friends, right out of college. Growing it from 1 outlet to a multi chain brand across 2 cities in 3 years. After which, he founded CuisineCrew, a Hospitality Consultancy & MarketinCrew, a 360° Digital Marketing Agency. Learning from his mistakes along the way, he always finds himself chasing new experiences and challenges in work and other aspects of life.