Local Marketing for Restaurant Websites

Restaurants have an odd position in the world of online commerce. While a website

reaches a worldwide audience, it’s necessary for restaurants to market themselves

locally because of the need to have actual foot traffic in the establishment. Because of

this, restaurants have to make sure that they have an effective local marketing strategy

in addition to great restaurant web design. Even though you’ll be trying to attract

customers into your physical space, you have to remember that seeing you online may

be the first time they have any knowledge of your restaurant, even if they’re located in

the same city as your establishment.

Print Media

Print media, to put it mildly, has lost much of its prominence as far as an advertising

venue. Newspaper advertising was never particularly renowned for its effectiveness

and magazine advertising is expensive. There are some local print publications where

you may want to consider advertising, however, and you’ll want to be sure to put your

website address in the ad. Consider the following venues:

Free presses

Dining sections of local newspapers

Travel publications for your state or city

Business organization pamphlets and fliers

Putting your website address in the advertisement allows you to cut down on costs.

Because the website address is provided, you don’t need to have a huge amount of

information on the print ad. The point is to get your name in front of local clientele or

visiting clientele from other cities. It also helps ensure that you get the most out of the

money that you spent on restaurant web design.

Sponsoring Events

Sponsoring local events is an easy way to get your name—and website—in front of

potential customers. Look for events that tend to attract people from out of town.

These are fine opportunities for you to get people to come into your restaurant. You

may want to consider incorporating your website address into the logo devised for

your restaurant web design. That way, you don’t have to have a separate line of text

below your logo to get your address listed. It’s also a great way to associate your

restaurant’s brand name with your website address.

Business Cards

If you have business cards at the front of your restaurant, be sure to get them remade

with your website address on them and to incorporate the best elements of your

restaurant web design on them. Business cards aren’t quite as important as they once

were, but they can still play a big part in making sure that people remember your

establishment. If customers can make reservations on your site, be sure you advertise

that fact on your business cards.

You may want to consider partnering with nearby businesses to advertise, as well. If

you’re in a particular district of town—such as an historical district—advertising your

site on materials that advertise for that part of the city would be useful, in many cases.

There are plenty of local marketing resources online, as well. Ask your customers to

give you a good reference on them if they liked their meal. Chances are, it will help

get people into your restaurant and may drive quite a bit of businesses to your

establishment from people visiting your city and checking online for things to do, as

well.