With 97 percent of customers looking up local businesses online before trying, virtually every single customer you have at your local restaurant finds you online.

You know you’ll need a web presence, but what else will you need for effective restaurant marketing?

We’ve got the top five restaurant marketing strategies that will whet your palate for success!

1. Get Online Reviews

A half-of-a-star difference in your Yelp rating can swing your profits more than 20 percent. Don’t be a troglodyte – ask every one of your customers, employees, friends, and investors to write a review for your restaurant.

Encourage people to be honest, but make sure to solicit from your biggest fans. Do you have a signature dish? Ask a customer who’s raving on Saturday night to snap a picture and post a review.

Yelp is the granddaddy of all restaurant review sites, but reservation sites like OpenTable can also impact your business. Check your Google, OpenTable, Yelp, Seamless, and other ratings as often as possible.

And if you see a mistake or a poor rating, review it earnestly and respond accordingly.

2. Go Hyperlocal

While you need your online presence to be stellar, make sure you’re taking care of offline eyeballs as well. Delectable signage, newspaper ads, or cute sandwich boards can make a difference.

Attend events, offer discounts to certain groups such as students, seniors, or teachers during different events. Do something for the community around you, and you can go viral offline. 

There’s no right or wrong way how to market a restaurant, but you’ll want to be sure all your bases are covered. Check out the way these 10 London restaurants make themselves known to locals and tourists.

3. Utilize Instagram

Encourage customers at your restaurant to Instagram and share their meals. Have your servers ask if they can take pictures for you, and advertise on placemats or menus your preferred hashtag. It might seem a little silly at first, but when you start seeing your mentions light up, you will understand.

Don’t underestimate the millennial quotient – these young hipsters are driving trends and becoming tastemakers. Throw them a bone.

4. Spruce Up Your Page

Restaurant marketing requires consistent branding and an active online presence that goes beyond just Yelp and your patrons’ Instagram accounts.

Update your page often, and update your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media pages to match. New pictures of foods, food substitutes, events, or even industry quotes will go a long way to entice webs surfers to come to your restaurant and try out your fare.

If you don’t know how to do this yourself – or if you suffer from time constraints – hire a local branding or marketing firm to help. The more popular they are in your city, the better! Word of mouth can travel in the strangest ways.

5. Find a Strategic Partner

Whether you single out an influencer in your town or always host events for a political party or organization, find a way to make your place known for being a particular person’s or group’s hangout.

Let people do social media takeovers and find creative ways to show what happens behind the scenes. Perhaps partner with a regional farm or local supplier to increase your farm-to-table credibility. Promoting things like sustainability and environmentalism can also lead to great partnerships and increased business. 

Restaurant Marketing Is Necessary

One’s things for sure – restaurant marketing is absolutely necessary to keep your business afloat. In the world of low margins and disposable businesses, take care of your reputation so that it can take care of you! If you’d like to learn more about visual marketing strategies in the digital aged click here.