How Mobile Marketing for Restaurants Will Help You Gain More Food Clients

In the past, desktop was king for all marketing because most people used their computers to search for everything, including new places to eat. But did you know that now, 89% of dining research is done on mobile before visiting a restaurant?

Therefore, if you want to attract more customers, you need to master mobile marketing for restaurants. In this article, we’ll share valuable tips on how to cater to people who use mobile devices and persuade them to order your delicious food.

What is mobile marketing for restaurants?

Mobile marketing is a multi-channel marketing approach focused on reaching customers via mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. For restaurants, this can entail creating a responsive website and branded app, offering a mobile-friendly online menu, and more.

What are the benefits of mobile marketing for restaurants?

Marketing is imperative for any restaurant because it helps get the word out about your business and convince people to give your food a try. Here are the advantages of mobile marketing for restaurants:

• Increased visibility on search engines: when you optimize your website for mobile, you increase your SEO score, thus increasing your ranking on search engines. The higher your website is, the bigger number of visitors you get;
• Attract more new clients: if you concentrate on advertising your business to mobile clients, results are bound to be seen. Especially if you throw in some attractive promotions that clients won’t be able to resist;
• Get more loyal customers: offer clients who are on mobile a seamless experience from the first click to the last and, if the food is great, they will surely come back time and time again.

How to ace mobile marketing for restaurants

We’ve compiled a simple guide you can follow to create an amazing experience for every customer using a mobile device. In time, these marketing strategies will lead to a significant rise in sales:

1. Get a mobile-friendly website

Creating a website exclusively for your restaurant services is important for growth. It is not only your online location where people can find important information about your business, but it can also be a money-making machine.

You will need a restaurant website that provides the following:

• Screen-adaptivity: a mobile screen is obviously different than a desktop and the information must be displayed in a simpler way to make it easy to browse;
• Responsiveness: each page should load immediately, nobody has time to wait, especially when they are hungry;
• Mobile-friendly menu: say goodbye to PDF menus that must be downloaded or image menus that take ages to load. Opt for a mobile-friendly menu that will tempt people to order;
• An online ordering system: don’t just keep your website as a display, put it to use by adding an online ordering system. This way, people will be able to place orders directly on your website, in just a few clicks. Check out our easy tutorial:

Do you want to enjoy all of the above in less than 10 minutes without all the effort of collaborating with agencies? Check out or intuitive restaurant website builder that will help you rank high in Google searches and attract more clients.

2. Create a persuasive social media presence

What do you usually do on your phone? Browse social media? So do your clients! For example, 72% of restaurant guests browse social media specifically to find new restaurants.

If you want your restaurant to be one of the chosen ones, you must create persuasive posts that not only entertain but also tempt people to try your food. Here are a couple of social media ideas:

• Run paid ads: especially if you are at the start, it can help build a following, gain attention, and get more clients;
• Post mouth-watering pictures of your menu items: nothing is as convincing as a good photo for a hungry potential customer;
• Get clients to tag your restaurant: when they post on their wall or in their story in exchange for a free shot / free drink / free dessert;
• Engage your target customers in fun quizzes, polls, or surveys: this way, you’ll get to know a lot about their preferences. Once you know what foods and services your customers demand, you can improve your restaurant accordingly. For example, you can prepare fun quizzes on different cuisines or menu items, with emojis to make it more fun. Whichever quiz/menu item gets more players, you’ll know that your food clients love that cuisine/menu item the most.

Read more: How to Attract More Customers to Your Restaurant Using Social Media

3. Increase customer experience with a branded app

Take the online ordering experience to a new level by allowing clients to order food using your restaurant-branded app. It will work like any other native app that people easily download on their phones and it will help you:

• Outshine the competition: On Grubhub or any other third-party food portal, your food clients can easily leave your restaurant’s profile page and simply go check out other restaurants. However, by using your own targeted mobile app, more customers will actually order from you;
• Increase customer experience: hungry customers want to order food fast with no unnecessary clicks. A branded app offers just that, a simple and efficient way to place an online food order;
• Get more orders: people who have your app on their phone will see it daily when they use their device. The next time they get hungry, they will subconsciously remember your restaurant’s name and be tempted to order.

So, if you don’t have one already, you can create such a custom app for your restaurant. And if you don’t have time to do so, then you can also get your branded restaurant app from us.

Once your app hits the Google and App stores, the next step is promoting your app with the help of your social media accounts. This will help you gain enormous fame among tech-savvy food lovers. If you’d like to know more about how to promote your app, then feel free to read the article below.

Related: How to promote your restaurant mobile app for free [& get users to download your app]

4. Start marketing your restaurant locally

Realistically, your clients are people who live in your area. You may get the occasional tourists, but your revenue is directly proportional to the number of local clients.

Therefore, if you want your mobile marketing for restaurants to achieve the desired results, you should target the local crowd. Here’s how:

• Add local keywords on your website: such as “type of cuisine + location”, “type of cuisine + known landmark”, “popular dish + location” and “restaurant name + location”. If you insert these keywords naturally on your website, you will rank high in local Google searches;
• Claim your Google Business Profile: and complete the account with all important information such as address, link to your website, working hours, and many pictures. This way, when people search on Google or Google Maps for places to eat near them, they will notice your business;
• Utilize Geofencing for ads: if you have the budget for paid ads, always target the geographical location around your restaurant. Most phone users have their GPS on and they will see your ad.

Read more: How to Use Restaurant Geofencing to Attract More Customers

5. Try email marketing campaigns

Mobile marketing for restaurants encompasses a variety of ways to reach potential customers and tempt them to order from your restaurant, including email marketing.

As you are a busy restaurant owner, you may not have time to always come up with new ideas for campaigns and send the messages to your database. But don’t worry, we have a simple solution: the Autopilot module from GloriaFood.

Autopilot is an email marketing tool that allows you to set up the campaign once and then it runs, as the name suggests, on autopilot. It will help you:

• Encourage second orders: by offering a limited-time offer to persuade clients to order from your restaurant again;
• Re-engage clients: loyal customers are the key to a healthy business and you want to do your best to win them over;
• Prevent cart abandonment: maybe a client got distracted and forgot about their order. Give them a gentle remember and you may gain one more food order.

Read more: Restaurant Email Marketing Done Right: 12 Ideas to Woo Customers

6. Offer a QR code restaurant menu

Sometimes, mobile marketing for restaurants isn’t just about promoting your products to potential customers. It is also about offering mobile users a better experience that will persuade them to become loyal clients.

You can make it easier for dine-in customers to order, by using a QR code restaurant menu. You just print out the code on a flyer and stick it on the table.

It will be especially helpful when you have a busy day because people don’t have to wait around for a server, they can just browse the menu and order from their phones.

Read more: How to Set up a QR Code Ordering System for Your Restaurant Menu

7. Get more positive reviews

Online marketing must accomplish two goals: to please the search engines and persuade customers to give your restaurant a chance. And while online reviews are not strictly a Google ranking factor, over 61% percent of people read online reviews before visiting a restaurant.

The more positive reviews you have, the bigger the chance that people will trust you and pick your place over your competitors. Here is how to get more positive reviews:

• Train employees to ask for reviews: at the end of the meal, in a suggestive, yet not imposing manner;
• Leave a QR code leading to your preferred review platform on the table: so clients don’t have to put in a lot of effort to add a positive review, just scan and rate;
• Offer an incentive: such as a free dessert for proof of a good review.

Read more: The Importance of Online Reviews for Restaurants & How to Get More

Conclusion

The above tips will help you master mobile marketing for restaurants and attract more mobile users to your restaurants. But, if you want to win them over as loyal clients, don’t forget to pair the marketing with good quality food and excellent service.

This article is a guest post.

Bio

Thomas Glare started in the world of online marketing when he was hired as a copywriter for a small agency in Leeds. He rapidly wanted to learn more about marketing strategies, so he started to experiment on his blog until he figured out he has a natural knack for this. Since then, he collaborates with various publications, sharing tips on how to improve digital marketing strategies.