7 Restaurant Marketing Ideas To Grow Profit, Worth Reading
Summarise this blog
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Restaurant marketing is the set of activities that bring diners to a restaurant’s tables and delivery queues, from promotions and social media to search visibility.
- Delivery apps extend a restaurant’s reach beyond its neighbourhood, and the app’s own search and recommendations work as marketing.
- Promotions, social media content and word of mouth cost little or nothing and suit a restaurant of any size.
- Social listening and influencer reviews show what diners want and bring the credibility of a third-party voice.
- SEO puts the restaurant on Google’s first page when people search for food nearby, and an agency can run it while the owner runs the kitchen.
The pandemic hit many kinds of brands hard, and restaurants hardest of all, as most consumers switched to buying products and services online rather than offline, for convenience, speed and to avoid going out. Small restaurants that had not moved onto online platforms saw their orders fall sharply, and many closed for good.
Now that conditions have long since recovered, restaurant owners have a golden opportunity to rebuild and thrive again, and this article sets out seven restaurant marketing strategies that are easy to follow, work in practice, and build revenue that holds.
Reach More Customers And Expand Selling Opportunities With Delivery
As noted above, most consumers now use online platforms, and food delivery apps make ordering easier still. A restaurant on those apps reaches customers across far more areas, because even without a shopfront, people order delivery every day. Beyond adding a selling channel, this is restaurant marketing in its own right, because the app’s category search and recommendations put the restaurant in front of people who did not know it existed.
Run Promotions That Lift Orders
One restaurant marketing approach that differs little from any other brand is “the promotion”, because whatever the product or service, a promotion is what customers look for. For a restaurant whose orders are usually slow, this is the technique to try, because a promotion draws customers’ attention and lifts orders. A restaurant promotion can take many forms:
- Buy one, get one free
- Discounted dishes
- Time-limited promotions to drive a rush
- Samples to taste (suited to selling in person)
- Value set menus
- Upsized portions at a special price
- Loyalty stamp cards
These work for restaurants of every type, large or small, cafes included, and especially for restaurants on delivery apps, because the app promotes restaurants running promotions to more of their audience. Consumers, meanwhile, are always looking for a restaurant with a promotion, because it feels better value than paying full price.
Restaurant Marketing On Social Media Matters Too
For anyone new to running a restaurant who is unsure where to start, the first recommendation is social media marketing, because today everyone has at least one social media account. Which channel to sell on depends on knowing who the audience is and which platform they use most, then promoting the restaurant there.
Social media marketing can be done without spending a baht, which suits a restaurant on a tight budget. Create content that draws users in, whether beautiful photos of dishes that make people want to visit or order, posts about a promotion customers should not miss, or events and news customers should know, and the engagement from the audience follows.
For faster results, most social platforms let you buy advertising space, known as running ads, through Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads or LINE Ads, to lift visibility, make the restaurant known and drive more orders.
Social media is also a convenient channel for customers who want to ask about the restaurant, get directions, book a table or order ahead.
Use Word-Of-Mouth Restaurant Marketing
The restaurant marketing most likely to make a customer decide to buy or visit is word of mouth: customers who have eaten with you telling others how good the restaurant is and why they should go. It works because consumers generally trust reviews from friends, family or third parties more than a restaurant’s own advertising. It is the oldest form of food business marketing there is.
Word of mouth is highly effective and costs nothing, though it is a little harder to achieve, because the restaurant has to become something customers talk about, which is a form of branding. It can start with these steps.
- Impress customers, whether through service or food so good they have to tell someone, and take care never to do anything that disappoints them.
- Stand out with your own identity, perhaps the decor or a signature dish found nowhere else, which draws attention and brings customers back.
- Build a bond with customers, because when customers feel attached to the restaurant, the owner or even the staff, brand loyalty tends to follow: they talk about the restaurant often, recommend it, and check in on social media.
Learn To Listen To Customers With Social Listening
No restaurant marketing article can skip social listening, listening to what customers want and how they feel about the restaurant, then using it to improve. The most important thing in running a brand is understanding what consumers want. You may be sure your food is good, but if it misses what the audience wants, that is no use. Listening to customers and collecting that data to plan the restaurant’s marketing is how orders grow.
Do Not Miss Influencer Marketing, The Approach With Real Pull
Influencer marketing uses people with influence online, “influencers”, to persuade or create demand among consumers through food reviews and video clips on platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram or YouTube.
DataReportal’s Digital 2026: Thailand report puts the average Thai social media user at 2 hours 35 minutes a day on social platforms, which is why so many owners turn to influencers to build the restaurant’s credibility, lift orders and make it known more widely.
Make The Restaurant Easier To Find With SEO
Whatever the brand, being on Google’s first page always matters, because beyond bringing more people who search for you, it gives the restaurant a presence that stands out from competitors. A good position in the results is not easy, though, because every brand competes for that space.
What you can do, and the most effective option, is SEO (search engine optimisation): refining the website and its content, and adding the keywords users search, so they find you. If you have tried it and are unsure of the results, or unsure how to do it effectively, a digital SEO agency can take it on, so the owner can stop worrying about that part and focus on the rest of the work, and the brand runs more smoothly. That is how to market a restaurant in search without learning the trade yourself.
Summary
Every restaurant owner can put these restaurant marketing techniques to work at once, because they are basics that a small or large restaurant can do, and in a digital age when consumers buy through online platforms, social media marketing for a restaurant is no longer hard. It also opens new selling channels at almost no cost. Follow these restaurant marketing ideas and the customers, and the orders, follow.
Frequently Asked Questions About Restaurant Marketing (FAQs)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What are the best marketing strategies for a small restaurant? | Start with the ones that cost nothing: a listing on the delivery apps your area uses, a social media page with good photos and current promotions, and service worth talking about. Add social listening to learn what diners want, then influencer reviews and SEO once there is a budget for them. |
| How do I promote a restaurant on social media without a budget? | Post appetising photos of dishes, announce promotions and events, reply to every comment and message, and encourage diners to tag the restaurant. Pick the one or two platforms your customers use most rather than every platform. Paid ads can come later to speed things up. |
| Does a restaurant need SEO? | Yes, if people search for food in your area, and they do. SEO puts the restaurant on Google’s first page and in map results when someone searches for your cuisine or “restaurant near me”, which brings diners who have never heard of you. It takes months to build, so it pays to start early. |
| Are food influencers worth the cost for a restaurant? | Often, yes, because a review from a trusted third party carries more weight than the restaurant’s own advertising. Choose influencers whose followers match your customers and whose style fits the restaurant, agree what they will show, and track orders or bookings in the week after the post. |
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