Advertising for restaurants is essential in today’s world.
Whether your restaurant is part of a franchise chain, or an independent, advertising for restaurants is important.
We do advise that working with an advertising agency that knows the restaurant industry is wise, essential actually.
You need to talk with agencies that know about restaurant marketing campaigns.
We can get you 3-4 quotes from local advertising agencies to compare.
In the UK, there are tens of thousands of restaurants, of varying kinds; all (without exception) facing the same problems. With the UK recession, less people are going out to eat, meaning marketing and promotion is needed.
Since COVID, the government has been seen to support the hospitality industry.
Competition from other restaurants, meal deals from Weatherspoons, Deliveroo and Dine in offers from M&S.
Advertising for restaurants is almost essential for all restaurants in one form or another. Depending on the kind of food that is offered, would dictate the kind of marketing that would be most effective.
There are various marketing mediums that are available for you to make use of throughout the year:
Here are 7 local marketing tips that may be helpful.
Television is possibly one of the most expensive forms of advertising for restaurants., But does have the most impact. Larger chair firms (such as McDonalds) find that TV advertising works well. For independent restaurants (such as high end fine dining or smaller high street Indian diners) TV promotion would not really be practical in terms of returns.
Radio is very popular, as it can be done locally, nationally and seasonally. Radio advertising is a lot cheaper than going on TV, but can capture a very broad audience. Many restaurants use the radio to promote openings, special events, seasonal events and wedding functions alongside general promotion.
Visual promotion would include billboard advertising, posters, digital, and this tends to be used more for brand awareness purposes rather than targeted marketing.
Fast food eateries find that visual adverts work well (on bus stop shelters, visual banners on houses, digital displays on the tube etc.) for them in terms of raising the profile of the shop.
Visual campaigns work best for larger chains rather than independent establishments.
Many businesses do use sponsorship to promote their brand and raise awareness, but like TV & visual campaigns, this tends to work best for larger chains (such as fast food companies like Subway) rather than pubs, high street cafes etc.
The internet is a medium that is used, but not as much as more traditional advertising. Websites play an important area (for bookings, delivery etc.), PPC advertising for local promotion. Social media marketing is a big area for restaurants, low cost and targeted it works well.
The UK has tens of thousands of restaurants and each one is different, but each can be broken down to the various different types of eatery:
Different kinds of promotion will work for each kind of restaurants, so talking to a marketing agency is wise to find out which form will work best. If you want to be modern in your advertising, or classical, it needs to reflect your brand.
The problem exists on which agency to use, there are hundreds around to choose from, how do you find the right one that will produce profitable results?
The best thing to do is to chat to a few (giving you different ideas and opinions to weigh up and compare) before deciding on which one to work with. The most important thing is talking to a few that know about marketing for restaurants.
If the advertising agency has restaurant marketing experience and have worked with the industry in the past, they will be much more likely to know how to promote you effectively.
By looking over their portfolio should give you a feel for the kind of businesses the company has historically worked with. Meeting them will give you a much better idea of what they can offer.
By meeting their team, chatting to them about their experience should give you either warning bells or piece of mind. If you are unsure, you can always ask to talk to some of their current clients; as how their campaign is going, is it fruitful, is it producing results, is it worth the money invested?
Since meetings are tricky these days due to COVID, a ZOOM meeting is a safer option.
When considering advertising agencies to work with, one thing to bear in mind is that they are all private companies, all in business to make profit and all seeking to grow their agencies from the profits they make. Advertising prices of any sort do vary, so it is wise to compare quotes.
Paying a high price for a campaign will not guarantee results, only that the agency is getting more money (for a new holiday, house extension etc.). By taking time in researching a few agencies that know and understand the food market, should ensure the best chances of success.
Certainly if you are investing a lot into an campaign you need to ensure that you choose the agency with the best chances of success.
Advertising for restaurants is a specialist area of marketing. As a price comparison website, we aim to help you get the best advertising agency, for the lowest price.