In this guide, we’ll walk you through creating an effective restaurant marketing plan, explaining its importance and how to make it work for your business in the restaurant industry.
We’ll cover the different marketing practices and provide a step-by-step action plan to help you achieve the best results.
Additionally, we’ll share creative restaurant marketing ideas to help your restaurant stand out.
Key Takeaways
- Restaurant Marketing Plan: A restaurant marketing plan will help you increase the visibility of a restaurant by promoting your brand, products, and services.
- Target Audience: A marketing plan can help you pinpoint your restaurant’s target audience and improve customer experience by providing targeted promotions, events, and other offerings that cater to their needs and preferences.
- Resource Allocation: By setting a budget and monitoring the results of your marketing campaigns, a marketing plan will help you better allocate your resources.
- Online Presence: A well-defined restaurant’s marketing plan can greatly improve your online presence, including restaurant review sites, search engines, and social media platforms.
- Campaign Evaluation: You gain a better understanding of why you should or should not carry out different marketing campaigns.
- ROI Tracking: You can track the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing efforts, which can help you optimize your marketing strategies and maximize results.
What Is a Restaurant Marketing Plan?
A restaurant marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines the steps you need to take to effectively promote your restaurant business, attract new customers, and retain the existing ones.
A restaurant marketing plan should include a detailed analysis of the target market, competitors, unique selling points, marketing channels, budget, and goals.
As a restaurant owner, a well-defined marketing plan helps you identify your ideal customer, develop a tailored strategy, and allocate resources effectively.
It allows you to measure success, make informed decisions, and stay competitive. Without it, you risk falling behind other restaurant owners.
Don’t have time for planning marketing? Check out our restaurant marketing agency services!
How Can a Restaurant Marketing Plan Benefit My Business?
Think of your restaurant business as you would think of a perfectly productive day. If you have organized and planned your day earlier, by preparing a list of tasks the day before, you would be far more likely to have a successful day.
On the other hand, if you went to sleep late at night and woke up confused and lacking a clear perspective on what you are looking to do, you’ll be far less likely to accomplish your tasks.
A well-defined restaurant marketing plan will help you organize your everyday tasks and stay on course. Without it, your restaurant business will likely be all over the place, lacking a clear aim.
- Stay Focused: A restaurant marketing plan keeps you focused on restaurant goals, stays within budget, and avoids ineffective campaigns.
- Save Time and Money: With a clear restaurant marketing strategy, you’ll know which channels to prioritize, how much to spend, and what results to expect, avoiding costly mistakes.
- Gain a Competitive Edge: A strong marketing plan helps differentiate your restaurant, communicate your unique value, and build customer loyalty.
Step 1: Conduct a Market Research
Building a complete restaurant marketing plan can be surprisingly straightforward. After all, it’s all logical; the greatest difficulty is usually sticking with it until the end.
In this part, you’re going to learn who your ideal customer is and what are the strengths and weaknesses of your restaurant business. Then, you’re going to set your restaurant budget so that you know where you stand money-wise.
Define Your Target Market
To define your target market, identify your ideal customer’s preferences and behaviors. Focus on a specific customer profile to avoid wasting resources on those unlikely to be interested in your restaurant.
Narrowing your marketing scope saves time and money by attracting the right audience.
- Conduct market research and gather information about your ideal customer: You want all the relevant information, such as age, gender, income level, education, interests, and buying habits. You can use surveys, focus groups, or online tools, such as a restaurant CRM to collect this data. You can start by learning more about your most loyal customers by asking them to fill out questionnaires and by checking out their social media.
- Analyze the data: Once you have gathered data on about 10-15 people, analyze it to identify patterns and trends. Look for common characteristics among your potential customers that can help you create a customer persona or profile. Pay attention to the language they use, the problems they face (and what you can do to resolve them), as well as their likes and dislikes.
- Evaluate the competition: Analyze your competition to identify gaps in the market or unmet customer needs. This can help you identify areas where you can differentiate your restaurant and attract your target market. This is where you can adjust your marketing tactics and build your USPs (Unique Selling Propositions).
Conduct a SWOT Analysis
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The role of SWOT analysis is to help you understand your current position in the market in regard to benchmarks and competition.
Having previously done a target market analysis, you should already have a good chunk of information about your biggest strengths and weaknesses concerning your ideal customer.
When carrying out a restaurant SWOT analysis, simply use the previously gathered information and build on it.
- List your strengths: Identify the core strengths of your restaurant. These may include a unique menu, great customer reviews, or an exceptionally decorated interior.
- List your weaknesses: Identify the weaknesses of your restaurant. These may include poor online presence, particular dishes that bring you bad restaurant reviews, or a lack of proper communication.
- Identify your opportunities: Identify the external factors that can help your business grow. To a large extent, this simply means improving on your weaknesses. Conversely, there are things over which you may not have power, such as changes in consumer behavior, emerging trends (including restaurant social media campaigns, rise in popularity of plant-based foods), or new marketing channels. You have to keep your finger on the pulse so that you can remain on top of things in the changing market.
- Identify your threats: Identify the external factors that can negatively impact your business. These may include things like new competitors, economic downturns, or changes in trends and regulations.
Step 2: Set Restaurant Marketing Budget
Think of marketing as an investment. It’s going to cost you a little to get it running, but if done properly, it’s going to boost your business to an entirely new level.
Budgeting is a highly individual matter. Depending on the results of your market research, you’re going to have to decide whether you’re looking to spend 3, 6, or 18 percent of your restaurant marketing budget.
You’ll have to make choices about whether you want to spend time or money trying out different marketing channels, or aim at the ones you have identified as the most likely to nail your target customers.
Set clear investment boundaries to avoid straining your restaurant’s budget. Focus on the most efficient marketing campaigns and treat marketing as an ongoing process.
Use restaurant analytics software to track results and adjust your budget and strategies for optimal performance.
- Define your marketing goals: The first step is using the SMART framework (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) to define your marketing goals. For example, you may be looking to increase sales by 20% in the next quarter or increase website traffic by 50% in the next six months.
- Use the ideal customer data: Use target audience data, including demographics, behaviors, and needs, to determine the most effective marketing channels and tactics.
- Use the SWOT data: Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to differentiate from competitors.
- Determine your marketing tactics: Choose cost-effective channels like social media, email, restaurant SEO, or PPC.
- Allocate your budget: The fifth step is to allocate your budget based on your business goals and financial resources. Typically, 5-10% of total revenue is recommended, though this can vary by industry and company size.
Step 3: Create a Restaurant Identity and Menu
Based on your research so far, you can start developing your brand identity.
A good brand identity should include visual and written messaging that will help communicate your brand’s unique personality, values, and benefits to your target audience.
Define Your Brand
Based on your collected data, you can further define your brand’s personality and values to address your ideal customer as precisely as possible.
For example, if your ideal client is an environmentally-savvy vegan, your brand values may include sustainability, health, and animal welfare, and your target audience may be health-conscious consumers who are interested in plant-based eating.
Develop a Brand Name and Tagline
If you are starting a new restaurant business, you should spend some time considering a brand name that matches your target audience.
For example, if your restaurant sells quick and healthy vegan meals, you could name your brand ‘Green & Go,’ suggesting environment-friendly food that you can get on the move. Your tagline could then be ‘Healthy, Vegan, Fast.’
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these restaurant name ideas. You can also use a restaurant name generator.
Choose Brand Colors and Typography
Your brand colors and typography should be consistent across all of your brand materials, including your website, social media channels, and packaging. You want your style to reflect your restaurant’s brand values.
For ‘Green & Go,’ for example, you might use different shades of green, brown, and teal.
Create a Restaurant Logo
Your logo should be simple, recognizable, and representative of your brand. It should incorporate your brand colors and typography and convey your brand personality and values.
In the case of the above example, “Green & Go,” your logo could include elements of movement and healthy, environmentally friendly living.
Develop Brand Messaging
You’ve already done much of the work during customer persona research. Now, it’s time to create messaging that reflects your brand’s personality, values, and benefits.
A skilled copywriter can help, but if you’re doing it yourself, develop key messaging for all your brand materials, including your website, social media, and ads.
Use client reviews and restaurant feedback to address pain points, understand their interests and frustrations, and craft messaging that resonates with your audience.
Create Brand Materials
Once you have developed your brand elements, you can create a set of brand materials to help promote and reinforce your brand identity. This might include a website, social media channels, business cards, creative food packaging, and gadgets.
Make sure all of your brand materials are consistent with your brand identity, and use your brand elements consistently across all channels.
Create a Restaurant Menu That Matches Your Research
It goes without saying that if you’re opening a vegan restaurant, you’ll need to skip the greasy bacon burgers. Many owners cast their nets too wide, alienating core customers—most vegans won’t dine at a restaurant that serves meat for ethical reasons.
- Create a menu that reflects your brand: Your menu should reflect your brand personality and values and be consistent with the brand logo, typography, visuals, and values. If your restaurant is known for its farm-to-table cuisine, it would be a good idea to flaunt locally sourced ingredients in your menu.
- The menu layout: The layout of your menu should be easy to read and navigate. It should make sense and not be confusing. For example, you might want to separate it into categories, such as beef-based, pork-based, or plant-based dishes. Consider using icons or symbols to indicate dietary information or allergens. Learn more about creating a restaurant menu.
- Price strategically: Price your menu items strategically to appeal to your target audience. With insights from your ideal customer research, including median income, you’ll have the necessary information to set effective menu pricing.
- Test and adjust: Test your menu with a small group of customers before launching it. Collect feedback and make adjustments as needed. Use this feedback to continuously refine and improve your menu. This includes both plates and their prices.
When building a menu, you want to make sure that it’s as user-friendly and tech-ready as possible. You want to be able to change it at will by adding discounts and special offers, so you’re going to need a platform that makes it as simple as possible. The best way to do this is by using menu management software.
Step 4: Build a Restaurant Website
A website can serve as a virtual storefront for your business, allowing customers to learn more about your menu, location, hours, and contact information.
Owning a restaurant website will make it easier for search engines to find you. For example, customers looking for a restaurant on Google Maps can be redirected to your website and order directly from you.
As you will soon learn, owning a restaurant website can also improve your visibility through paid advertising and organic SEO content.
Find the Right Restaurant Website Builder
This step can make or break you. While platforms like WordPress, Wix, and Webflow are great, if you don’t want to spend weeks building a site and ordering system, consider using a dedicated restaurant website builder. For the best results, check out the best restaurant website builders.
Using a system dedicated to restaurant owners will get you going much quicker and save you a good deal of money and nerves. There are many other tasks ahead, so make sure not to dwell too long on this.
In the end, using a restaurant website builder is probably the most straightforward way to get things running.
Direct Traffic to Your Website Through Online Adverts
Ads are one of the quickest ways to drive traffic to your website and restaurant. Before you advertise on Google, Facebook, or Instagram, make sure to determine where you’re most likely to find new potential customers.
Importantly, remember to write ads with your ideal customer in mind. As you become better accustomed with online advertising, make sure to note which ads performed best, and which underperformed. This data will prove invaluable for improving your online ad performance.
Consider SEO Content
Search engine optimization is one of those things that can make your business prosper without requiring you to constantly spend money on ads.
In some cases, a single piece of excellent SEO content can bring new customers for years. That said, it takes time to learn and understand SEO, so consider this as a bonus option.
Alternatively, you might have to consider hiring an SEO specialist to help you out.
Step 5: Build Your Online Presence – Restaurant Social Media Marketing
Social media is a huge part of the overall marketing strategy for all small businesses.
Owning a website and active social media profiles are probably the quickest ways you can reach your audience and find new restaurant customers. See what you can do to get started.
Setting Social Media Goals
As a restaurant owner, you’ll need to keep customers updated on menu changes, holiday hours, and showcase food photos. Social media pages make this easier, but without clear goals and a schedule, it can be hard to manage.
Study your competition and use your target audience and SWOT analysis to set effective social media goals.
Choosing the right social media platforms
Do your customers use Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or other social media platforms? Determine which platforms will help you reach your audience most effectively and start from there.
If you ever need to expand your social media reach, simply add to it. At first, however, make sure to start with the core set of social media platforms.
Automating your social media operations
There are plenty of tools like Hootsuite and Facebook Business to automate your social media campaigns. They might require some getting used to at first, but they’ll save you light years in the long run.
Make sure to keep your digital marketing efforts to a minimum so that you can focus on big-picture stuff.
Hiring professionals
If you’re too busy running the business, hiring a talented social media manager can help your restaurant stand out. If you can afford it, go for it—it’s a great opportunity to learn valuable marketing tactics you might not have considered.
- Setting social media goals: Set achievable and realistic goals that aim to maximize your reach. Your main concern should be efficiency.
- Choose the right social media platforms: Pick the ones that allow you to reach the biggest chunk of your customer base with minimal effort.
- Automate your operations: Be smart about your social media operations. Use automation tools to schedule your social media activity.
- Hire professionals: Evaluate the time you might have to spend on promoting your brand online. The goal isn’t for you to become a full-time social media specialist. If you can afford it, it might be a good idea to hire one.
Step 6: Launch Restaurant Email and SMS Marketing
Another way to reach your audience is through email and SMS marketing. It’s a sure way to get increased customer engagement, improve customer retention by providing them with special offers, promotions, and discounts, and increase traffic and sales.
Benefits of restaurant SMS marketing:
- High open rates: SMS messages have an open rate of over 90%, making it an effective way to reach customers.
- Personalization: You can personalize messages by addressing customers by their names and making them feel valued.
- Immediate impact: SMS messages are typically read within minutes of receipt, making it an effective way to promote daily specials or limited-time offers.
- Easy opt-in and opt-out: Your customers can easily opt-in or out of SMS messages, making it convenient to stay in touch with customers who want to receive your messages.
- Cost-effective: SMS marketing can be a cost-effective way to reach your customers compared to other forms of advertising.
Benefits of restaurant email marketing:
- Wider reach: Email marketing allows you to reach a larger audience compared to SMS marketing.
- Personalization: Similar to SMS marketing, you can personalize emails by addressing customers by their names.
- Targeted campaigns: Restaurants can segment their email list based on customer preferences or demographics, allowing them to create targeted campaigns that are more likely to be relevant and effective.
- Super-cheap: Email marketing is one of the cheapest ways to reach customers compared to other forms of advertising.
- Measurable: Restaurants can track the effectiveness of their email campaigns by analyzing metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Step 7: Leverage Online Review Sites
If you’re not on Google, you’re not in business. For customers to find you, you must first put yourself out there. Review sites like Google Reviews and Yelp are some of the best ways to put yourself on the map.
- Connecting your website to your business on Google: To have your restaurant pop up in Google search, you first have to create a Google Business Profile and claim it. It’s a very simple process you can complete within minutes, but skipping it is going to cost you a lot of money.
- Using Different Review Sites to Your Advantage: There are several popular restaurant review sites that customers often use to research and review restaurants. Here are some of the best restaurant review sites:
- Yelp: Yelp is a widely-used restaurant review site that allows customers to search for restaurants, read reviews, and leave their own ratings and reviews.
- TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor is another popular review site that offers customer reviews, ratings, and photos of restaurants around the world.
- Google Maps: Google Maps is not just a navigation app; it also allows customers to search for restaurants, view ratings, read reviews, and even make reservations.
You obviously want to have a wide online presence. However, make sure that your services are up to the challenge, as there are a lot of picky customers on the internet!
- Your Business Works While You Sleep: Your website, social media profiles, and review site listings continue to work for you 24/7. Your customers can schedule next-day deliveries, review your restaurant, and appreciate your Instagram posts anytime.
- Unlimited Marketing Potential: If you’re not online, you’re not in business. The easier it is for people to find you, the better the chance your restaurant will succeed.
- Miles Ahead of Competition: A high-quality online presence will make your restaurant far more popular than you might have ever imagined.
Step 8: Maximize Your Restaurant Marketing Plan – Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
Having an online presence is a necessity, but there are also some old-school ways you can attract new customers.
Establishing a connection with your customers and other local businesses can bring you a lot of new customers through word of mouth marketing.
Host Restaurant Events
Hosting restaurant events can be a powerful marketing tool for restaurant owners looking to increase visibility, build their brand, engage with customers, generate restaurant revenue, and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Plan events like wine tastings, live music, or cooking classes to attract new customers and keep existing ones engaged.
Some advantages of hosting restaurant events:
- Increased Visibility: Hosting offline events can help increase your restaurant’s visibility and attract new customers who may not have visited otherwise.
- Restaurant Branding: Events can strengthen your restaurant’s brand by showcasing its personality and style, leaving a lasting impression and establishing it as a top dining and entertainment destination.
- Customer Engagement: Events allow you to engage personally with customers, building stronger relationships and loyalty by addressing their needs and preferences.
- Revenue Generation: Hosting events can be a great way to generate revenue for your restaurant. Ticket sales, sponsorships, and special promotions can contribute to the bottom line and help increase profitability.
- Differentiation: Hosting events can help differentiate your restaurant from competitors by offering unique experiences that customers cannot find elsewhere.
Partner With Local Businesses
Collaborating with other businesses can be a great way for you to increase visibility, reach new customers, and build relationships within your community.
Here are some restaurant marketing strategies and event ideas you can use to collaborate with other businesses:
- Cross-Promotion: You can partner with other local businesses to cross-promote each other’s products and services. For example, you can offer a discount to customers who show proof of purchase from a partner business and vice versa.
- Event Sponsorship: You can sponsor events hosted by other local businesses, such as charity events, festivals, or concerts. This can allow you to showcase your brand and products to a new audience.
- Joint Marketing Campaigns: You can collaborate with other businesses to create joint marketing campaigns promoting both brands. This can be done through social media, email marketing, or other advertising channels.
- Product Collaborations: You can also cooperate with other businesses to create new products or menu items. For example, you can team up with a local brewery to create a special beer and food pairing menu.
- Community Outreach: Another way you can collaborate with other businesses is by joining forces to support local causes or charities. This can help to build goodwill within the community and generate positive publicity for the restaurant.
When approaching other businesses for collaboration, it’s important to be clear about your objectives and the benefits of working together.
Collaboration should be a win-win situation for both businesses involved, so it’s important to consider how the partnership can benefit both parties.
Learn to Measure the Success of Your Restaurant Marketing Plan
In the end, you want to know which marketing campaigns brought you the most returns so that you can adjust your budget to focus on what matters in the future.
Restaurant analytics software helps track ROI, improve customer targeting, and build brand awareness, enabling informed decisions for better marketing outcomes and business success.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are the 7Ps of marketing for a restaurant?
The 7Ps of marketing for a restaurant are:
- Product: Menu items, food, drinks, and dining experiences.
- Price: Pricing strategy based on target market and competition.
- Place: Restaurant location, influencing accessibility and ambiance.
- Promotion: Marketing tactics like advertising, social media, and events.
- People: Staff interactions that impact customer experience.
- Process: Systems for service delivery, such as ordering and food prep.
- Physical Evidence: Tangible elements like décor, ambiance, and website that shape customer perception.
How long does it take to create a restaurant marketing plan?
Creating a restaurant marketing plan can take anywhere from eight weeks to six months, depending on the plan’s complexity and available resources.
If you’re a solo business owner, expect a couple of months to develop a solid plan. Hiring a restaurant marketing agency typically reduces this to eight weeks. You can check the list of restaurant marketing agencies here.
