Promoting your restaurant is just as important as preparing delicious meals and delivering excellent customer service. After all, if the general public doesn’t know about your business, you won’t have many customers through the door.

Your restaurant must develop a clever marketing strategy that makes the most of traditional media, social media, and local area promotion. This article will take a closer look at the role that media coverage can play in your marketing strategy. We’ll take a quick look at the benefits of media coverage then share the top 5 ways to gain media coverage for your restaurant.

The Benefits of Media Coverage

Getting your restaurant mentioned on television, radio, or in a high-profile newspaper can help your business in a number of ways:

  • Customer acquisition

    People who see your restaurant mentioned in the media are much more likely to try your food. Positive mentions on popular social media accounts are particularly useful for acquiring new customers.

  • Brand visibility

    Having the name of your restaurant mentioned in the media is a fantastic way to improve the visibility of your brand and attract new customers.

  • Recruitment

    Running a successful restaurant requires talented staff who enjoy working there. Having a well-known restaurant that is mentioned in the media will improve the quality of candidates who want to work for the business.

The 5 Best Ways to Gain Media Coverage

1 — Get Involved With Local Events

You can obtain media coverage by being involved in high-profile community events. For example, you might offer to donate some food for a high-profile charity event. Or you could participate in the local fair with a large stall. You could even run your own event, cooking a meal for local homeless people or the local police and firefighters. Look for events that are considered newsworthy to local television stations and newspapers. Once you have found a newsworthy local event to participate in, contact journalists directly to tell them of the story.

2 — Restaurant Social Media Marketing

It is fair to say that social media has taken the world by storm in the past decade. There are now over 1 billion people using Facebook and more than 300 million active users on Twitter. Other social media platforms like Instagram and Google+ are also immensely popular. Social media is now as important as traditional forms of media like print, television, and radio.

Restaurant social media marketing uses social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram to promote your business. Some simple ideas for using social media as a part of your restaurant’s marketing strategy include:

  • Foodie photos

    Millions of images of food are shared online each year via social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Food lovers share pictures of what they are eating and endorse the restaurants they have been to. You can get involved by starting your own Instagram account and posting images of the delicious dishes that your chef has created.

  • Posting special offers

    If you want to grow your social media presence quickly, start offering discount codes and free upgrades on your social media accounts. Twitter and Facebook are the perfect platforms for sharing these deals. You will have hundreds or thousands of followers before you know it and they will share details of your restaurant with their friends.

  • Interact with customers via social media

    If you find reviews or comments from customers on social media, don’t be afraid to engage with them. If you see a negative review, don’t be hostile towards it, take the information on board and attempt to repair the relationship if possible. Offer them a free meal or drink if they come back into the restaurant and say hello. When other users see how approachable and friendly your business is, they will be more likely to make a booking.

  • Share user generated content

    If you see users posting photos of your restaurant or your food products, share them on your social media stream.

  • Promote your employees on social media

    You can make your business appear more friendly and genuine by showcasing your talented staff. Regularly post staff photos to your social media profiles and introduce each of your staff members to your followers.

3 — Use Press Releases

Press releases are simple to write and quite effective. The biggest challenge is writing about an event that is newsworthy enough for a reporter to use. Look for an interesting angle that would make for a great story.

4 — Use Content Marketing

Content marketing is the creation of high-quality content that offers the reader some value. You can write articles that are published in the traditional print media, websites, or blogs. Your local newspaper would probably love a weekly foodie column or a weekly recipe column from your chef. If your columns or articles are well written, they will be shared and widely read — increasing the brand visibility for your restaurant.

5 — Target the right people

Once you have an interesting, newsworthy piece about your restaurant, give it directly to the people who report those kinds of stories. Many newspapers and television stations have journalists who specialise in pieces on restaurants or ‘feel good’ stories. They would be interested in hearing about your restaurant cooking free meals for veterans or policeman.

If you have a new menu featuring some interesting dishes, reach out to a journalist who specialises in restaurant reviews. They might be interested in writing about the changes to your menu. Pitching your story to the right media professional is essential.

Using media monitoring to ensure you get the most value Media monitoring is the process of analysing media content and looking for specific keywords or topics. You can hire a media monitoring firm to evaluate how often you are mentioned in the media or simply keep track of the mentions yourself. This will help you understand if your chosen marketing strategy is working effectively!

Thanks for reading 5 Ways to Gain Media Coverage for your Restaurant. If you have any questions about developing a marketing strategy for your restaurant, contact us today.