Just like it is for any other business, restaurant marketing can make the difference between your restaurant being a success or not. Unfortunately, restaurant advertising can be expensive and this can eat into your already tight budget.

Does this mean that you need to give up on restaurant marketing completely? Not at all. All you need to do is take a slightly different approach to restaurant marketing ideas, and come up with some approaches that are not only effective but don’t cost you a penny.

Instagram that food

It is no secret that social media is a powerful tool. Especially when it comes to restaurant marketing. Being able to share mouth-watering images of your expertly created food is a sure-fire way to have customers flocking to you. You will need to make sure that the pictures that you take are beautifully shot and really show off all the colours and textures of the food that you have created.

Send out a tempting email

Some businesses use their email newsletters to offer weekly updates on the goings on. But this may not always be suitable for a restaurant. A great way to bring in some customers is to create an email newsletter that highlights a new dish, or perhaps containing an extra special discount, and send it out to all of those lovely contacts on your CRM.

Share your staff on Facebook

Keeping customers happy is one of the main parts of running a successful restaurant, and this is all down to your staff. If you are proud of your employees, why not tell your Facebook followers all about them? Think your chef is top notch? Let everyone know. Want to thank your waiting staff for a job well done? Give them some public thanks.

If your Facebook followers see how much you value your staff, then they may want to come and see just how awesome they are for themselves.

Get some food bloggers on board

Having a blog is great for your business, it allows you to include plenty of keywords in your content which will drive traffic to your site. However, it isn’t only your own blog that is useful, but also utilising the blogs of others too. Food bloggers often have a really great following, and getting them on side with your restaurant is a key part to promoting and advertising it.

Get in touch with some of the local food bloggers and see if they would come and eat at your restaurant. You can offer them a discount or a free appetizer in order to tempt them into stopping by. Just make sure that you treat them to a nice meal.

Design an online menu

It isn’t only takeaways or food delivery services that can benefit from having a menu online. Simply uploading the dishes that you serve onto your website is a great way to encourage people to come and pay you a visit. After all, seeing all those delicious choices for themselves will have their mouth watering!

There are ways that you can promote and advertise your restaurant without having to spend out too much money. All you need to do is try to find which is the right approach for you, and you will soon see the rewards come in.