CHECKLIST FOR ADVERTISING A NEW RESTAURANT TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ...... 3

Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant ...... 4

1. Digital Channels ...... 5

2. Coupons and Discounts ...... 7

3. Social Media ...... 8

4. Word of Mouth ...... 9

5. Strategic Partnerships ...... 11

6. Paid Online Advertisments ...... 12

7. Mobile Marketing & Email Marketing ...... 13

8. Traditional Advertising & Direct Mail ...... 15

Conclusion ...... 17

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 2 INTRODUCTION

It’s opening night at your It discusses eight popular new restaurant. The place is techniques and reviews the packed, and you have a night upsides and downsides of each. Ultimately, it illustrates how of reservations. coupons and promotions are You make your rounds in the a proven technique that drive dining room to interact with your traffic at a fraction of the price of local community—everyone from other methods. families to young couples—and find them eating and drinking, laughing and smiling. You are “MARKETING elated, and you know you’re driving a profit. So, how did AND you get here? By spreading ADVERTISING word of your restaurant well ENSURE THAT before opening day and reaching a targeted group of new PEOPLE HEAR customers. ABOUT YOUR RESTAURANT Looking for a successful opening day? Marketing and advertising AND ARE ensure that people hear about INSPIRED TO your restaurant and are inspired PAY IT A VISIT.” to pay it a visit. This guide provides restaurant owners with a comprehensive checklist for advertising a new restaurant.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 3 CHECKLIST FOR ADVERTISING A NEW RESTAURANT

Establish digital channels Build a website and make sure it’s optimized for local search results Claim your local listings

Google listing OpenTable listing Yelp listing Zagat listing Zomato listing Trip Advisor listing Create a mobile-friendly website Sign up for coupon and discount programs Advertise through your local supermarkets with register tape coupons Sign up for social media platforms Share updates on construction, menu-item testing, training, and anything that creates a buzz Build word of mouth with referral and influencer marketing Begin loyalty programs and advertise them out of the gate Host a social hour to test out menu items and build early relationships

Network with local media, area food bloggers, local businesses, etc. Build strategic partnerships Build relationships with associations and businesses that reflect your values Partner with local delivery services (Grubhub, Eat24, UberEATS) Launch paid online advertisements (AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Implement mobile marketing (Foursquare, Yelp, etc.) Sign up for email marketing Research traditional ads and direct mail advertising

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 4 1. DIGITAL CHANNELS

Build Your Voice

Before you open your doors, it’s • Do you want to emphasize important to create a website approachable, family-friendly to build your voice. Your website verbiage? is often the first interaction a • Or do you want to give off an lead has with your business, so edgy, modern vibe? it’s important to write content that embodies who you are as Investing in a well-designed, an organization. Publishing great updated website with high- content to a website or blog quality content is one of the best drives traffic, contributes to ways to build local awareness. your search engine rankings, and A good website converts people increases your visibility. Consider into making reservations. When how you want to be portrayed: your website provides value by giving your target audience the information it needs—menu items, address, and even your brand story—you generate more leads and build trust with local visitors.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 5 SEO, Mobile, and Local Listings

Even if you don’t sell online, you Be sure to claim the following must be discoverable by qualified local listings: local customers. Promoting your brand before you launch helps • Google reach a wide audience. Investing • Yelp in even the most basic search engine optimization (SEO) tools • Zomato or services ensures your website • OpenTable is optimized. SEO focuses on growing visibility in organic (or • Zagat non-paid) search engine results. • Trip Advisor From the content on your page to the way that other sites link to Many website platforms are your website, SEO can become either free or affordable but complicated. However, it’s all require maintenance. A website about making your site better for with little or outdated content your audience. is counterproductive to your

investment. Not responding to It’s also important to claim user comments on local listings your local listings, or the online can come back to haunt you, and directories, and create social a non-optimized site can get lost media and search engine listings in the digital ether. Regardless, that advertise your business investing in a web presence is on search engine results. When a long-term initiative that may creating and claiming business require outside assistance. listings, restaurants can submit business information, images, logos, hours, menus, and more. Optimizing these listings with updated information enables businesses to reach and interact with a wider audience.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 6 2. COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS

Looking to make an immediate The concept is simple: impact to fill seats? Coupon advertising not only compels • You pay to place coupons on consumers to visit your concept, the back of local grocery store but it impacts how much receipts. money they spend. Nearly 90 • Shoppers are handed a receipt percent of consumers said that every time they complete a promotions affect the amount purchase. of money they spend. Coupons also sway consumers from your You know that opening a competitors. Seventy-eight restaurant requires a lot of percent of consumers said that capital, which may not leave you coupons influenced them to with much cash for advertising. make a purchase of a brand Utilizing this proven marketing they wouldn’t typically consider method can help restaurant otherwise—a huge benefit in the owners increase restaurant sales. cutthroat food service industry. With a CPM as little as $6 per to reach 1,000 people, coupons Register Tape Advertising offer the kind of return boosts your bottom line during the first One of the best ways to advertise few critical months of your new a new restaurant is through restaurant—and well beyond. register tape advertising, a Finally, this form of advertising technique in which coupons are lands in the hands of 20,000 printed on the back of grocery shoppers each week. store receipts.

“COUPONS ALSO SWAY CONSUMERS FROM YOUR COMPETITORS.”

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 7 3. SOCIAL MEDIA

Building a social media identity is In other cases, restaurant owners an essential marketing technique can also benefit from sites like that should be started as soon as Pinterest, Reddit, and Tumblr. you’ve selected your business’s Regardless, making the most of name. Even though you aren’t your efforts goes beyond simply open, you can share updates signing up for a page, feed, or on construction, menu-item account. From sharing photos of testing, training, and anything specials and your hardworking that creates an initial buzz. staff to responding to comments While there’s no prescribed to offering exclusive offers, you list of social media sites that must consistently update your restaurant owners should utilize, accounts. It’s true that you are it’s important to see what works looking at a real investment to for you. Consider implementing set up your profiles, monitor at least a combination of the and respond to reviews, and following platforms: make the necessary changes to your restaurant when needed. • Facebook However, the effort is a great • Instagram complement to your other • Twitter marketing strategies. You just can’t become lazy.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 8 4. WORD OF MOUTH

Referral Marketing

Eighty-four percent of get people in your doors. From consumers say they trust menu tastings to happy hours, recommendations from family, community events can build friends, and colleagues most excitement and traffic. about products and services. These recommendations are the highest-ranked source for trustworthiness—so it only makes sense for restaurant owners to leverage word-of- mouth marketing. Word-of- mouth marketing first requires businesses to understand their brand, their competition, and their customers.

Loyalty programs and events win the trust and support of a city, town, or neighborhood. Loyalty “WORD- programs lead to increased OF-MOUTH visitors but also create repeat customers. In fact, according MARKETING to recent research, members FIRST of a restaurant loyalty program REQUIRES spend nearly 20 percent more, on average, when redeeming a BUSINESSES TO reward. Events are a great way to UNDERSTAND engage with your community and THEIR BRAND.”

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 9 Influencer Marketing

From radio and television Local media outlets ensure that personalities to food bloggers efforts are reaching the right and social media gurus, local audience. Ultimately, the more media is often overlooked by noise you generate before you small businesses. However, open, the better. Positive reviews leveraging their influence can will generate traffic as you open. help drive local customers. For However, it’s important to be example, restaurants can build selective about whom you’re camaraderie with food bloggers networking with. You want your to gain immediate local attention. influencing marketing to be Or they host an industry- effective—and working with exclusive, pre-opening event to positive, enthusiastic members gather key members of the media of local media validates these under the same roof. efforts.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 10 5. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Teaming up with local businesses Unless you own multiple related to your industry—but locations across a large market, not direct competitors—can there are diners who live too far increase awareness and reach from your restaurant to visit it a niche audience. Partnerships regularly. Partnering with delivery can manifest in events, one- services increases your reach and off dinners, or other special enables guests to eat your food, events. Building relationships regardless of work, weather, or with associations and businesses other factors. that reflect your values can draw in consumers you’d want in your doors in the first place. Partnering with complementary restaurants, breweries, or wineries for pairing nights can boost awareness of each other’s brands.

Partnering with local delivery services—Grubhub, Eat24, UberEATS, and local bicycle courier services—can also help you reach a new audience.

“BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH ASSOCIATIONS AND BUSINESSES THAT REFLECT YOUR VALUES CAN DRAW IN CONSUMERS YOU’D WANT IN YOUR DOORS IN THE FIRST PLACE.”

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 11 6. PAID ONLINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Did you know that 81 percent of It’s true that PPC provides brands shoppers conduct online research with relevant, hyperlocalonline before making a purchase? Pay- traffic at an affordable price. per-click (PPC) is a great way However, like other online for brands to target specific advertising strategies, PPC audiences and develop a strategy requires time, money, and effort. that drives the right leads. Luckily Unlike other online marketing for small-business owners, efforts, PPC also requires some Google AdWords, Facebook, technical know-how—which and Twitter have made it easy often means that brands will to advertise online. Ads are be outsourcing these efforts. created and shown on search It’s essential to establish engine results or social media objectives and outline a budget. platforms. Businesses then pay an It’s important to ensure your established fee each time their ad investments are worth it. is clicked on by an online user.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 12 7. MOBILE MARKETING & EMAIL MARKETING

Mobile Marketing

The prevalence of smartphones, reach hyperlocal consumers, and the impact they have on the generate positive conversion consumer-facing market, cannot rates, and produce a better be understated. As of June 2017, return on your dollar. And like 77 percent of U.S. adults owned browser-based paid search, a smartphone. Because nearly 60 these techniques target local percent of all consumer traffic to users looking for a place to eat. websites is from mobile devices, optimizing your websites around Email Marketing mobile devices is essential.

Websites that are designed for a Think that email is dead? mobile experience automatically Think again. The technique reformat and populate large creates loyalty and reaches navigation buttons and optimized local customers. In fact, a images. These websites enable survey found that 59 percent users to locate information, no of marketers consider email to matter the device. be the most effective channel

in generating revenue. Email We’ve discussed social media marketing is targeted, increases platforms at length—but have brand awareness, is measureable you ever considered mobile and shareable, and is cost- marketing platforms such as effective. By leveraging analytics, Foursquare and Yelp? These restaurant owners can track their platforms draw in tech-savvy efforts with precise metrics and users and encourage social insights about their consumers. sharing in the same fashion as Facebook and Twitter. Like PPC, geo-targeted mobile ads can

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 13 It should be noted that it takes work to build email lists— “THINK THAT especially before you open. Brands must be able to convert EMAIL IS DEAD? website traffic into interested THINK AGAIN. consumers. It’s important to THE TECHNIQUE know how to strike a balance with email marketing as well. CREATES Like social media, it’s important LOYALTY AND to remain consistent. However, REACHES you don’t want to bombard your audience with an endless stream LOCAL of emails. To get the most from CUSTOMERS.” their efforts, brands must often outsource their email marketing needs.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 14 8. TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING & DIRECT MAIL

Traditional Advertising Direct Mail Advertising

For many years, traditional Another example of traditional advertising was the de facto marketing is direct mail technique for well-established advertising, in which restaurants restaurants. Traditional send their menus, coupons, advertising is what most and other marketing material people think of when talking directly to doorsteps. Valpak about advertising or marketing, local coupons and other direct including “conventional” venues mail advertising have been for media placement, such as around for decades—however, newspaper, radio, broadcast these techniques leave business television, cable television, and owners in the dark as to whether outdoor billboards. residents actually receive the delivered coupons and While some of the world’s take action. biggest brands have capitalized on catchy songs and innovative TV advertising, the landscape has changed quite a bit. These campaigns undoubtedly drove results, but there are other traditional avenues that drive a better ROI for restaurants of all sizes. For example, brands can put in the footwork and advertise their grand opening in local retail stores and apartment and condo complexes. Or they can invest in affordable small radio spots to reach a targeted audience.

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 15 Effective advertising requires takes on a “spray and pray” repetition, exposure, and approach. While businesses can targeting. To ensure that direct target consumers in broad ZIP mail campaigns are seen, codes, they may be reaching businesses must pay for multiple consumers 30 miles from their campaigns. This type of mail business, meaning that they may is often thrown away without not even choose your restaurant hesitation (there’s a reason it’s over a closer competitor. called “junk mail” in the first place). Ultimately, this technique

“TO ENSURE THAT DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGNS ARE SEEN, BUSINESSES MUST PAY FOR MULTIPLE CAMPAIGNS.”

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 16 CONCLUSION

So, what’s the best way to eat out, compared to reviews, advertise your new restaurant? which influence just 14 percent. Your budget is likely limited, so What’s more, coupons can expensive print and broadcast serve as a tiebreaker for diners channels might not be feasible. deciding between two or more While effective, online efforts restaurants. require upkeep and, sometimes, technical knowledge. You want It’s easy to make marketing to create a buzz before the mistakes in the restaurant restaurant opens and then industry. However, by dedicating attract customers after launch the necessary time and who, you hope, will turn into resources, listening to your repeat customers. customers, and utilizing coupon advertising (register tape), it’s As we’ve reviewed, online possible to fill your seats and marketing and social media sites boost your bottom line—so that such as Yelp, OpenTable, and you can focus on the excitement Facebook are influencers when of opening night. it comes to restaurant selection. However, deals and special offers still drive more than one-third of diners’ decisions on where to

IndoorMedia - Checklist for Advertising a New Restaurant 17 HOW TO GET STARTED

Whether you are interested in register tape advertising, cartvertising, or SPS, working with IndoorMedia is simple, efficient, and stress-free. Our marketing consultants are experts on your local community and can advise you on what solutions will work best and what information you should include on your ad or coupon. Our in-house graphics team can help design your ad, and we handle the rest: printing, placement on receipts, and delivery of register tapes and cartvertising ads to grocery stores. The entire process is that easy.

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