The jungle of online marketing tools for restaurants is hard to navigate. As a restaurateur, you have two additional constraints: the solutions you choose must be both effective and easy to learn! There's no question of breaking the bank, or spending hours on training. With this in mind, we've put together a list of 5 marketing tools that we consider to be among the best: they'll help you establish your restaurant's online presence and boost sales, while optimizing the time you spend on it.
The first marketing tool is also the most durable: local SEO! It increases your visibility on Google, which is essential when someone is looking for a restaurant in your town or neighborhood. If you want to appear on the results pages of your favorite search engine, whether on computer or mobile, the essential tool is Google My Business(click here to take possession of your restaurant's page).
This free, official Google module will enable you to optimize the listing of your premises with up-to-date information. It's essential for managing positive and negative reviews (very important for becoming the number one restaurant in your town).
Social networks are the essential link in your digital marketing chain (see our guide to which ones to activate here ). While they may seem time-consuming, you can save precious time by choosing the right tools. Here are two of our favorites: Hootsuite or Bufferyour choice. Both are very handy for centralizing all your accounts in a single window and scheduling a large number of posts as soon as you have a moment's slack, so that your account is always active.
Between Hootsuite and Buffer, it's above all a question of affinity with the interface, Buffer being a hair more direct and intuitive. Both are multi-accounts : you'll be able to manage all your restaurant's social network accounts, from Instagram to Pinterest, and possibly Facebook, Twitter and so on. A word of advice: take a few minutes to try out their free versions, and choose the one that suits you best!
How can you manage your online orders without giving up your independence to delivery platforms? With Livepepperit's possible, even if you don't have a website. From €59 ex. VAT per month, this module manages your orders and offers a professional website as an option. It has everything you need to open up a parallel sales channel while retaining control: Livepepper works commission-free, with an attractive fixed monthly price to boost your sales.
Often overlooked, the newsletter remains a powerful marketing channel for restaurants, once you have a customer database (we explain here why it's necessary). E-mail is a privileged space for addressing loyal customers, presenting news and new products. Don't know how to create a newsletter for your restaurant? There are a number of easy-to-use tools, such as Constant Contact. The main alternative to Mailchimp, it offers a basic package at €18/month: this already enables you to segment your customer base, present your emails in professional templates, include social networks, and many other features.
Loyalty is the last essential marketing lever for your restaurant, especially if you don't have a lot of time. The loyalty programs are designed to keep customers coming back for more, through personalized bonuses (gifts, promotions, little extras, etc.). In this category, we obviously advise you to call on Pongo : as specialists, we've developed an unbeatable tool to put your customers in the best possible conditions. Loyalty is optimized through SMS marketing, which offers maximum efficiency thanks to customer base segmentation and contextual messages - all with minimum effort, as most of the background work is automated.
These 5 online marketing tools for restaurants have one thing in common: they require little investment of time and money, yet are devilishly effective. They'll let you focus on what you do best - running a restaurant and a kitchen - while putting powerful solutions at the service of your online presence!
