Free Online Marketing Tools for Restaurants
There are several online marketing tools that a restaurant can take advantage of that are free, but will take time to implement.
Here is a small list of some free items a restaurant can take advantage of.
Local Directory Sites for Restaurants
Getting your restaurant listed in some of the top local directory sites with your correct Name, Address, and Phone (NAP), along with your website, hours, description and current pone is critical.
The more local directory listings you have that are accurate and up to date the more authority they will give your restaurant, helping it show up on Google.
Here are the top ones that we suggest that you set up, along with your Google My Business listing:
There are several other directory sites you should list your restaurant in, but these are some of the top ones. Once you are listed you definitely need to set up your Google My Business account. Your Google My Business Account is a critical part of your digital marketing. This will help your restaurant be found online, allow guests to submit reviews, show you data on your restaurant and more. Google My Business also allows you to add photos and videos and submit posts that can include offers.
Social Media for Restaurants
As a restaurant, it is critical that you set up your social media accounts. We suggest at a minimum that you set up Facebook and Instagram. Once you set them up it is important that you keep the information up to date and add fresh content on a regular basis.
You can also set up other social media sites that may include Twitter and YouTube.
The key is that your profiles are complete, accurate and you keep them up to date. If you are having trouble keeping your social media profiles up to date and with new and relevant content, we suggest you only commit to one or two platforms (Facebook and Instagram) and look at potentially hiring someone to manage your social media for you.
Google Analytics for Restaurants
We are making the assumption that you already have a website (If not Restaurant Outreach can help). Google Analytics is a tool that you add to your website with some code so that you can track your traffic and be able to see where they are coming from and what pages they are visiting.
There are a lot of other great tools that restaurants can use for their digital marketing but these are some of the free tools available out there.
