How To Market And Promote Your Food Business

Whether you’re running a full-scale restaurant or a home-based bakery, you need to market and promote your food business online. Foodservice, defined as any business that prepares and sells food for onsite consumption, delivery, and customer takeout, continues to be one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

In the United States alone, there were reportedly 749,404 registered restaurants in 2023. Compare that to 2021, when only 103,323 restaurants were operating in the US.

According to a report by the National Restaurant Association, the number of restaurants in the US will continue to grow in 2024 because nationwide sales are expected to hit US$1 Trillion – a first-ever in the industry!

How To Market And Promote Your Food Business Online

Flyers, posters, and streamers are things of the past.

The advances in digital technology the last 20 years have allowed businesses to market their products and services more efficiently and effectively online with Digital Marketing.

Launching a results-focused digital marketing strategy starts with the first item on our list – the website.

1. Secure Your Online Food Business With A Website

The website is the centerpiece of your digital marketing strategy. Think of it like the sun and the different online processes, tools, and techniques revolving around it.

Don’t be misled by others who say you don’t need a website; you can get the same results by promoting your food business via social media.

You won’t and you’ll be facing unnecessary risks by coursing sales only through social media channels.

Remember, you only have a business page on social media. It’s not your website. That means, what you post on your business page will be subject to the rules of the social media platform and its algorithm.

You might post a piece of content on the business page, only to find out a few hours later it was removed by the moderators because your content somehow violated a guideline.

It’s also possible someone complained about your post. Maybe your competitor!

The website is your “soapbox” on the Internet. It offers several benefits that can boost business profitability…

Another Stream of Income – You can run your delivery and takeout services through the website.

To build interest, offer special food items that can only be found and ordered via the website. The same goes for special promos, discounts, and merchandise.

Great for Brand Building – A 2019 survey by MGH Marketing Agency revealed that 77% of consumers visited a restaurant’s website before deciding to dine in or order delivery.

Consumers use the website to research the restaurant, find out its food prices, learn its location, and read customer reviews.

Having a website is great for building your business brand because it shows customers that you care about their interests and you’re updated with the times.

Widen Your Reach – A restaurant will usually attract consumers who are within 5 kilometers of their location.

With a well-designed website, you might attract other consumers who live farther out and who are intrigued by your restaurant’s offerings.

A Hedge Against Uncertainty – It won’t take another pandemic to shut down a restaurant’s operations.

For example, engineering issues inside the mall, inclement weather and other acts of Mother Nature, and social/political unrest are events that could keep your restaurant shuttered for an indefinite period.

Just like businesses with websites during the pandemic, you can keep cash registers ringing during improbable times.

Market and Promote Your Business 24/7 – You own the website… and you make the rules!

Post whatever you want on your web pages. Publish blogs on any topic you want.

The blogs that were canceled on social media? You can keep them up on the website and people can still find them – if the blogs are properly optimized.

2. Showcase Your Food With Amazing Images and Comprehensive Descriptions

As the saying goes, “People eat with their eyes first.”

People want to see the deeply etched grill marks on a steak, the bright-colored red sauce and contrasting colors of the vegetables on a spaghetti puttanesca, and the texture of fried chicken as if it were 3-D.

High-quality food photographs with excellent resolution are how you get consumers’ hunger pangs working. Comprehensive food descriptions will get consumers to reach into their wallets.

Food shots with the “wow” factor won’t be enough to do justice to your food. Let people know what they’re going to get for their hard-earned money…

“We have the best 2” thick, 16-oz, bone-in Angus Ribeye steaks from grass-fed cattle in Colorado.”
“Spaghetti made from hand-cut pasta that’s made fresh every morning inside the store.”
“Large, thick cuts of free-range chicken marinated in buttermilk and spices for 24 hours, battered in seasoned panko bread crumbs, and deep-fried in peanut oil.”

Don’t stop there! You can give more details.

For example, you can say that the ribeye steaks have been dry-aged for 35 days. The pasta sauces are made fresh daily inside the store using only organic vegetables. The chicken pieces are fried according to cut to make sure the cooking times are accurate.

The details will give your UVP – Unique Value Proposition – a boost and will help differentiate your food items from the competition.

The next item on this list will tell you how to make your menu descriptions and other forms of content more effective.

3. Optimize All Marketing Content

“Best“, “angus ribeye”, “grass-fed cattle”, “Colorado”, “hand-cut pasta”, “fresh”, “free-range chicken”, “buttermilk”, “battered”, “panko bread crumbs”, and “peanut oil” are examples of search keywords.

Keywords are the words and phrases used by consumers to find the food products they are looking for on the Internet.

For example, a person who’s craving for a steak might launch the following search query:

“Best angus ribeye grass fed beef near me”

Go back to your product description on the angus ribeye steak. You have all of these keywords in your description.

“Huh? What about ‘near me’?”

Good question! “Near me” is a geo-keyword.

In your description, you added a geo-keyword “Colorado”. If the user is from Colorado, the algorithm will determine “near me” as within Colorado.

Without these keywords, search engines will have difficulty tracking, finding, and indexing your content for their results page.

Thus, by including these high-volume search keywords in your content, you’re optimizing content or making it visible to the search engines.

Keywords should be added to all forms of content – blogs, images, videos, and social media posts including lead-in text, newsletters, and product descriptions. Keywords are also used to optimize your website by including them in the image, title, description, and meta tags.

4. Choose Your Social Media Channels Wisely

Social media is an excellent medium for distributing content because these digital platforms attract 62% of the world’s population or 5.04 billion users as of this writing.

However, there are so many social media networks on the Internet, too many platforms even for search engines to gather accurate data.

When it comes to social media marketing, more networks aren’t better. Just like the food products you’re selling, success in social media marketing comes down to the quality and fit of the network.

Choose the social media channel that best fits the food business. Not all social media channels are ideal for a restaurant.

For example, you can use the business networking site, LinkedIn, to post about your company but sharing food shots on this channel won’t yield the same results as Facebook, Instagram, X, Snapchat, YouTube, or Pinterest.

Food is a visual product. The best social media networks to use are the ones that have built a strong reputation for visual content such as the ones previously mentioned.

As popular as Facebook, Instagram, X, Snapchat, YouTube, and Pinterest are for food businesses, it’s not a good idea to use all of them.

For one, it will be a challenge to manage all of these platforms. Second, not all of these platforms will deliver the desired results. If you have a limited budget for marketing, choose no more than 2-3 of these social media networks.

Your choice of social media network will depend on your marketing goals. We’ll discuss this in great length in the next section.

5. Stay Active on Social Media… Here’s How

Facebook and YouTube are great networks for building your brand. You can share stories about your company; the how and why you got started in the food business.

Publish blogs or vlogs about the advantages of the way you prepare food. Make a list of the wine pairings. Give tips on how to grill steaks like a pro at home.

You can upload videos on how signature items are prepared or perhaps a Behind-the-Scenes (BTS) look at a day working at your restaurant. In the beginning, post twice a day from Monday to Friday.

Engage your followers. For example, create a post that says:

“It’s the weekend! How do you unwind after a long workweek?”

Instagram, X, Snapchat, and Pinterest are ideal for making a quick sale.

For example, you can market and promote a limited-time-only promo, special discounts on a few menu items, or a “no delivery charge” promo during non-peak hours, or certain occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.

A good idea would be to start with Facebook and X.

Facebook is the largest social media network on the Internet with 3.04 billion monthly active users. You can use Facebook to create awareness about your food business.

Also, Facebook owns Instagram. If you have a Facebook business page, you get an Instagram account. Facebook has a feature that allows you to upload content to Instagram right away.

X, formerly Twitter, is a short messaging platform. This is an effective channel for promoting special discounts and new menu items in your restaurant.

It might not always be a pleasant experience, but find time to read the comments section. Chances are most of the comments will be positive. However, you’ll surely run into negative comments.

It might not be because your food and service are bad. It’s the harsh truth that as hard as you try, you can’t please everybody. Someone will always have something unfavorable to say.

If you encounter a negative comment, don’t stress out. Take a deep breath and respectfully respond or simply message the person directly. Before you do, respond with:

“We appreciate you reaching out to us. DM sent. Let’s chat if you have the time. Thanks!”

Check your analytics. When your business gains more traction and followers, you can scale down your posting schedule to 2 to 3 times a week. The best days for posting content on Facebook are Wednesday and Thursday.

6. Implement Local SEO

If you have a brick-and-mortar version of your business, implementing local SEO practices will greatly help enhance the online presence of your location.

Why should you care about local SEO? Let the numbers speak for the power of local SEO:

46% of search launches on Google are about local businesses.
72% of searchers visited a physical location that’s within a proximity of 5 miles.
18% of these store visits resulted in a purchase.

With local SEO you are targeting potential customers within the vicinity of your brick-and-mortar location. Google’s local search algorithm uses 3 ranking factors to find the best results for a search query:

Relevance – How closely related are the results to the query?
Proximity – Where is the searcher located and what is his proximity to the results?
Prominence – How popular is the result in the industry?

How will your business qualify for these local SEO ranking factors?

First, register your business in an online directory such as Google Business Profile, Bing Places, or Yelp:

Upload high-quality images of your restaurant and food items.
Write a comprehensive description of the restaurant and its offerings.
Provide updated information about your restaurant (address, business hours, contact details)

Second, actively promote your business on social media:

Post frequently on your social media pages.
Invite your customers to post reviews on the online directory and social media pages.
Prominently feature good reviews, 5-star ratings, and industry accolades on your website, online directory page, and social media.

Make sure your images, product descriptions, blogs, posts, and other types of content are optimized with the right keywords.

7. Get Into Cross-Promotion Arrangements

If your food business sells homemade donuts, why not set up a cross-promotion arrangement with a flower shop, a gasoline station, or a cable TV company?

Cross-promotion can help you generate more sales by introducing your brand to an entirely new audience and capitalizing on the business partner’s market size.

How will cross-promotion work with the examples above?

“Get a box of half-dozen glazed donuts for every 1 dozen red roses you order for Valentine’s Day.”
“Fill ‘er up full tank every Friday and get a half-dozen assorted filled donuts for free!”
“Upgrade your cable subscription to Premium Plus and we’ll send you a free half-dozen glazed donuts.”

These cross-promotional arrangements should run on the social media pages of both businesses. For promos that are good on specific days, post the ads the day before. Facebook, X, and Instagram are ideal platforms for cross-promotion.

Keep in mind to enter into cross-promotional arrangements with non-competing brands.

8. Highlight the Positive Reviews and 5-Star Ratings

We touched on this briefly in “Implement Local SEO” but it’s worth mentioning again the importance of highlighting positive reviews and 5-star ratings.

These are accolades that are examples of social proof of your brand. Social proof validates the quality and excellence of your products and services. Customers willingly share their opinions on social media. For the most part, these opinions are honest, sincere, and genuine.

In this day and age of social media, consumers love to take photos of their food before they eat it. If they love the food, they will post photos of the menu item and include a heartfelt review of the experience.

When you come across these types of reviews and ratings, reach out to the customers who posted their opinions. Ask permission if you can use their content on your website and social media pages.

This isn’t bragging. It’s being proud of the effort you put in assuring customers of having the best meals of its kind in the market.

9. Sign Up an Influencer

According to a study by Tomoson, the ROI on influencer marketing is US$6.50 for every US$1.00 spent. In some cases, the ROI reached US$20 per US$1 spent.

An influencer is a social media personality who’s become an Internet celebrity because of his gigantic base of followers that are in the millions.

Signing up an influencer isn’t cheap. Don’t be shocked if the cost of hiring an influencer eats up more than 50% of your budget.

If your budget is tight, you might want to consider going for micro-influencers who comprise 47.3% of the influencer industry.

A micro-influencer doesn’t have as large a following as a mega-influencer – around 10,000 to 100,000 followers. However, he is popularly perceived as more honest, sincere, and loyal because he engages with his fanbase more frequently than the mega-influencer.

If you decide to sign up an influencer, make sure your agreement is air-tight, crystal clear, and covered by legal contracts. Both parties must be aware of their duties, obligations, and deliverables.

10. Review Your Business Analytics

Your food business website and social media pages collect valuable data that will help you track business performance and understand your customers.

At least once a month, retrieve your business analytics and review them carefully. Analytics keep you from doing guesswork. You have empirical evidence of how business is performing and if your digital marketing strategies are working.

Conclusion

While it’s good to know that the food business has growth prospects, it also means competition for the consumer’s dollar will be much tighter. You won’t only be competing against established brands but you’ll also have to stay ahead of new players in the industry.

Thus, marketing is a must for any business but especially for the food business where competition is growing by leaps and bounds. The good news is that digital marketing has made it easier for you to market and promote your food business online.

Convinced? Give us a call and consult with us for free! We can build a mobile responsive and optimized website for your business and run its digital marketing campaign.

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