Local Marketing In 2023 To Promote Your Restaurant To Locals

It’s not magic that makes locals flock to one eatery over another. But it may look like it.

Ever wondered why some restaurants are filled with customers while others have a great chef/menu/architectural features/street position, yet they are only half full? If this describes your business, then this is for you and welcome to local search marketing 2023!

Tip #1 on getting locals to choose your restaurant

Friends are off for dinner, and they’ve all had a few drinks. Your suburb or town is loaded with cool restaurants and the group must choose a place to eat dinner. Not an easy choice for one person to make and friends can be quite vocal about making a recommendation. So, what happens is someone pulls out a mobile phone and types in ‘restaurants’ and Google helpfully supplies the predictive add-on of ‘nearby’ and then the helpful person is reading out the top four or five restaurants that pop up in the local directory. Everyone accepts this, after all it is not a personal choice, it is Google’s choice and who is going to argue with Google?

In another scenario, two work colleagues are in town and it’s time to eat, they are going to do the same thing and will pick from the results Google gives them, even if this means walking past your restaurant.

An aside commentary about human behaviour, in our opinion this is the equivalent of a parent saying to child to tell their friends ‘my mother made me do it’ as a way of explaining their actions and deflecting responsibility.

Note rules of group survival here, 1) don’t argue with mothers and 2) what Google says rules. So how do you get Google to show your restaurant when local people are doing a local search? The answer is in two parts. Firstly, you need to invest in hyperlocal search engine marketing so that your business ranks in local search results, including Local Pack / Map Pack, Local Finder, Google Maps, localised organic results and Knowledge Panel.

Secondly, you need to continue investing in the traditional search engine optimisation method of using keywords in your website’s meta information. More on this in tip #2 below.

Tip #2 to promote the bar part of your restaurant

All hotels have bars but not all bars have hotels. This is because traditionally the hotel bar was a great ‘add on’, the “would you like chips with this” sales method made famous by McDonalds fast food restaurant. If you are reading this, then it is probably part of your job description to promote your bar, possibly hidden in the depths of your hotel, because people staying at the hotel are having their pre-dinner drinks elsewhere.

A key part of digital marketing for restaurants, bars, spas, and hotels is to make the most of Google searches being done by people who are on the spot. As a bar owner or manager, these are the people wanting a drink right now.

Our job is to find out what these people are typing into their mobile phones, and research shows thirsty things are typing in ‘wine’ with search engine Google helpfully providing elective text such as ‘right now’ or ‘near me’ and if your pub doesn’t show up in the search results then those thirsty things are walking right past your bar and out into the street to find the bar that came up on a local search directory such as Map Pack.

Research shows that 64% of consumers say they check online reviews before going into a shop, hotel, or restaurant, and these are the type of local search marketing keywords your business needs. See if any of the examples below relate to your business.

‘Bar restaurant nearby’, ‘Pub near me’, ‘Pubs in Sydney’ (if searching in Sydney), ‘Sydney CBD bar’ (if searching inside Sydney CBD).

‘Bar restaurant nearby’, ‘Pub near me’, ‘Pubs in Sydney’ (if searching in Sydney), ‘Sydney CBD bar’ (if searching inside Sydney CBD).

Partner with an experienced digital marketing agency

Make sure you choose an expert digital marketing agency to do your hyper local marketing. Be sure to cover off other important items such as being mobile first, and website rankings for speed and links.

There’s no magic involved in being a winner. It’s more like thinking of your restaurant as a competitor in the Olympic games. What you need is a great coach to medal and that’s where we come in. It’s all in the preparation, forming great habits, putting in the training and then after a great build up you are ready. Not for one time, but day upon day

Does your restaurant or bar have a marketing strategy in place that has locals flowing through the door? No?

Then It’s time to book a demo using the calendar or contact our Partnerships Director Nick Hollows nick@omnihyper.com and find out how HyperZone® can generate additional revenue for your hospitality business.