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Simple content ideas for marketing restaurants and cafes

The restaurant business is a tough market to crack. One minute you’re the proverbial dish of the day and the next, a new spot opens up the block and starts eating into your profits. Of course, that makes finding good ideas for marketing your restaurant all the more difficult too.

Every restaurant owner knows the importance of building a vibrant base of regular customers. Assuming you already deliver great food and great service aside, how can you keep them coming back for more once they know what’s on offer?

Imaginative content-led marketing offers a few solutions for effectively marketing your restaurant – here are some of our favorites:

Content-Led Marketing Ideas for Restaurants, Cafes and Anything Else Foodie

1. Publish some of your best recipes online: People always want to know the secret to your fabulous pasta sauce or just how you get your vegetables so crispy. Take a few of the house favorites and publish your recipes online. It’s not likely that too many people are going to prefer to do it themselves but the recipes will serve as a talking point and source of word-of-mouth for your restaurant or cafe.
   
   As with all these ideas you can also include a newsletter subscription option to help build your database. And if your recipes go down well? Why not turn them into a book (using a print on demand service like Lulu) and sell them through your site and in your restaurant – great for raising your profile, keeping your name in front of your customers and it could even become an added revenue stream.

2. Do live cooking demos: Try hosting a live cooking demonstration / class in your kitchen. You could charge a small fee but I’d encourage you to make it free and get the most from it as a restaurant marketing exercise by inviting the press to take pics. To ensure a full-house try planning it in association with a charity or other good cause. Every participant is a likely long-term customer but make sure to help things along by providing a few gift certificates for them to pass around.
3. Video it and add it to your restaurant’s website: For anyone who can’t come along make sure you video the demo and place the vid on your website for both keen locals and browsing future tourists – not to mention the class participants who’ll want a peek too.
4. Create an enhanced menu: It’s not just a matter of highlighting vegetarian options anymore. Diners in your restaurant increasingly want to know things like whether your produce is organic, where the beef comes from and if your chicken is free range? Write a short blurb about each menu item (2-3 lines would be enough) and post this enhanced menu online. Print a few copies out for use by your waiting staff when they get asked a question – staff knowledge is vital content too. On a similar note you might also …
5. Write a few short bios about your suppliers: Highlight the local suppliers you use in your restaurant with a short blurb on your site (or ask them to write a couple of lines themselves). This kind of info not only puts a human face to your business but also addresses potential customers questions over ethical sourcing, environmental issues and buying local.
6. Add a photo gallery to your website: Invite your restaurant or cafe guests to post their photos onto your photo gallery and encourage their friends to visit and comment. Every photo is like a visual testimonial.
7. Create a simple wine guide: If you have a wine list, add to it by creating plain-English descriptions and recommended menu options to suit each kind of wine. There’s a good chance your wine merchant will have this info already.

Of course there are plenty more ideas for marketing your restaurant along these lines. The best bet is to start with a review of who your customers are and what kind of information would interest them. Your aim should be to create content that engages with your existing customers and encourages potential new customers to give your restaurant or cafe a try.

We love working with restaurants, cafes and other food businesses. If you would like some help in developing any of these ideas or need someone to create them for you …

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Pic: missydizzytrolly