By this we don’t mean people standing in the streets drumming up business wearing sandwich boards. We are talking about marketing strategies that ensure potential customers who are physically nearby having the highest possible chance of dining at your restaurant.
Over 80% of purchases have prior online research, of which over half is conducted on a mobile phone. At a time when mobile has become essential for all of us consumers, our location can have a significant impact on the content we see. Online marketing of your restaurant should now give greater consideration to a consumers location and utilise location services particularly when trying to attract the local market.
Get prominent visibility for your restaurant on Google My Business
Most restaurant owners will have worked out by now that having a ‘Google My Business’ listing is probably a smart thing to do. If you’re not yet listed on Google My Business, you could be missing out on prominent visibility on page 1 of Google. Google created Google My Business (formerly Google Places) to make their search results more location relevant. This gives local businesses a better chance of appearing on page 1 of Google for location-based searches e.g. ‘restaurants in Oxford’.
If you’re running a restaurant, bistro, cafe or coffee shop, sign up with a Google Account and join Google My Business. This means that when a website visitor carries out a local search i.e. they include a location within the search, those businesses registered with ‘Google My Business’ will usually be displayed near the top of the page. Website visitors will see your contact details, a selection of your photographs, Google reviews and most importantly a link through to your website.
Local business listings increase the inbound links and online visibility of your restaurant
But consumers source dining suggestions from a wide range of platforms, and to maximise your search engine ranking, you want to make sure your restaurant has a local business listing on as many of them as you can. Consider Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, even Yellow Pages. A leading local directory for Oxfordshire is oxfordcity.co.uk where the Food & Drink category is an ideal opportunity to get prominent visibility. This is where high-quality food and decor pictures are a big plus when you have mobile consumers swiping through from option to option, and increases perception of your restaurant as trustworthy and reliable. Direct links through to your website booking pages are also included.
Click here for further details about getting a priority listing on oxfordcity.co.uk
Facebook Ads and Offers can create local awareness for your restaurant
Facebook has introduced Local Awareness presets into its Facebook ads giving advertisers a greater chance of getting their content in front of the local market. What these Local Awareness Ads enable is a customised advertisement that takes into account user location and time in order to convert them to customers. Beyond local awareness ads, Facebook also enables ‘Offer Ads’ where discounts or special deals at your restaurant are advertised to nearby online consumers.
If you need help marketing to your local audience, contact us at Oxfinder at info@oxfinder.co.uk
