DIGITAL MARKETING FOR RESTAURANTS IN DHAKA

Sadique Uddin
Posted On: Jan 26, 2016

Restaurant businesses are buzzing in Dhaka right now and every day there is a new one opening just round the corner. A restaurant located in a good location usually gets a good number of walk-ins at the early stage of opening but retaining those clients is a different ball game all together.

As a restaurant owner, One of the first steps of your marketing activity should be figuring out your unique selling point (Eg. Specific Cuisine / Ambiance / Competitive Price Etc. ) and your target group. There are hundreds of restaurants in the area, so think about your customers and why they should visit you on a regular basis.

Build a website where people can get acquainted with your menu, style, interior and services. Moreover an online website also means that you can receive orders online as well as reservations for those interested to check out your restaurant. The website is a necessary attribute to any modern business. Here are some tips on what to consider when you are building a website for your restaurant.

1. Purchase a .bd extension domain from BTCL. It will also help you rank better with the search engines.
2. Design keeping in mind your target customer.
3. Keep it simple and don’t put information that are not necessary to your customers.
4. Be consistent with your color scheme.
5. A simple get in touch form, clearly displaying your location map. If needed customize the google map so that your customer clearly understands your location.
6. Regularly update your website.
7. Use high quality image.

List you restaurant with all the local business directory services so that people can discover you from other websites too. Moreover, It helps you with your SEO ranking as well.

There are a number of online press with high PR value for SEO ranking. Organize a PR event to invite journalist and food critics to write about your restaurant.

Adding social media to your marketing activities can hugely increase awareness about your restaurant, generate motivated engagement with your food and get more customers through the door.

Facebook offers an amazing opportunity for business establishments to showcase their products and services. Here are some tips on how to setup you Facebook page for optimum results.

1. Display a stunning cover photo to market your business for free. Your cover photo can be one of your dish or people hanging out in your restaurant or whatever you feel is your restaurant’s USP( Unique selling point). Make sure to write a description of the picture as well.
2. Organize your Facebook tab so that people can access information easily. Restaurant’s menu, location and review should be highlighted as these are basic information your customer would be seeking when visiting your page.
3. Share photos at least twice or three times a week of food and ambiance of the restaurant. The most shared post on Facebook are images. Don’t just take photos using your cellphone. Hire a professional photographer or ask a photographer friend to help you with it. Presentation is the key in this business.
4. Run social contest on your Facebook page. These social contests add excitement and a great reason to get your customers coming back to both your Facebook Page and your restaurant.
5. Facebook allows you to boost your post to a specific target group which is ideal for Restaurant owners. You can now target your ads to be seen only by people in a specific geographic location and based on their interest.
6. Videos are pretty cool when incorporated directly into an status update or in a tab. If you have videos about how your food is made or an interview with your chef / food suppliers/ happy customers- show them.

Instagram is slowly gaining popularity in the city as a photo sharing platform. You can use Instagram in conjunction with Facebook. Hashtags are very popular in Instagram. Use trendy hashtags and post a scrumptious photo dishes you are looking to highlight.

You should also keep an eye of what people are saying about on the social media so that you can take those feed backs and improve upon it. Follow popular Facebook groups such as Foodbank / Foodbloggers. You can also use Google Alert to monitor the entire web, if your restaurant gets mentioned anywhere.