What is a digital marketing strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a business will use digital channels, such as search engines, social media, email, and websites, to reach and engage with their target audience. It involves setting goals, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), and creating tactics and campaigns to achieve those goals.

What are some examples of digital marketing strategies?

Some examples of digital marketing strategies include search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, pay-per-click advertising (PPC), influencer marketing, and mobile marketing.

Does Oddle help restaurants with digital marketing?

Yes. As part of our zero-cost Managed Marketing Services, our team of in-house marketing specialists will strategise and execute your digital campaigns. We provide expertise in social media, email, and search engine marketing, helping you with both the text and design to drive your growth and brand awareness.

Best Digital Marketing Strategy For Restaurants

Q: Why is a digital marketing strategy important?

A digital marketing strategy is important because it allows a business to compete in today's digital landscape, where consumers spend more and more time online. With a clear strategy in place, a business can effectively reach and engage with their target audience, build brand awareness, and drive conversions.

Having a strong digital marketing strategy is a necessity in today’s highly-competitive restaurant industry. In this article, we’ll explain how to best utilise social media and related channels to attract a growing base of digital-savvy consumers.

Why is a Digital Marketing Strategy Important?

Some people may well ask what value a digital marketing strategy holds for restaurants. Among other things, it can boost your brand recognition and help increase interest in your services.

Improve brand awareness

The rapid onset of digitalisation, exacerbated by the global pandemic and changing mindsets, means consumers are more likely to adopt hybrid working arrangements in today’s world. Most of their interactions with restaurants therefore happen online.

As such, digital marketing for restaurants has become a need rather than a luxury. One of the many benefits of marketing on online channels is the lack of geographical and physical boundaries. You’ll be able to reach your customers, wherever they are on the island, and even outside of traditional working hours, as your online ads and social media posts are ‘always on’. Furthermore, online ads on social media sites like Meta (Facebook & Instagram) can be run continuously, driving awareness and interest.

This gives you the potential of a much wider reach, allowing you to interact with more customers than ever before.

An Essential Checklist for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

1. Social media marketing

Social media spaces are some of the best venues for restaurant marketing. Think of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and so on.

Most restaurants use social media for customer engagement. They invite customers to interact with them and react to their post to increase the number of impressions.

Video marketing is especially good for restaurants, as it offers opportunities for showing off the visual appeal of dishes.

2. Creating a ‘Google My Business’ listing

Listing your restaurant on Google is a must for restaurants. As the largest search engine in the world, Google is one of the best ways to guarantee visibility when someone looks for restaurants in their area.

Getting a GMB listing also allows you to collect Google Reviews from your customers. Encouraging them to do this gives potential customers the impetus to make their purchase or visit, and comes at no cost to you!

3. Email marketing

Email marketing is yet another digital marketing strategy you can try in the restaurant business. Commonly known as an Electronic Direct Mail (EDM), they’re sent out to customers who have signed up to be on your digital mailing list. You can share the latest news about your business, generate interest for new or seasonal dishes, and encourage sales with promos you’re running.

EDMs are particularly effective when sent regularly as they help keep your brand top-of-mind when it comes to products associated with your brand.

It’s also a useful way to re-engage customers that might have lost interest. You can offer these lapsed customers bigger discounts as a ‘hook’ to encourage them to visit your store or purchase from you again.

4. Creating a business website

Having an online presence in the form of a website is arguably the first step most restaurants take in digital marketing. It’s also the core of search engine marketing (SEM).

This means that when people search for your restaurant with a search engine like Google, you’ll be able to engage them immediately with information about your restaurant, encourage them to make reservations, explore your restaurant menu, and more.

5. Boosting traffic with SEO

One of the most important steps in a digital marketing strategy for restaurants is to use search engine optimisation (SEO).

With this, you can increase the chances of your key online assets (website, social media accounts, e-Shop etc.) showing up on the first page of major search engines. It also makes your brand more likely to appear in search results of relevant searches, e.g. if consumers search up “good Chinese food in Singapore”, your Chinese restaurant is more likely to pop up if your websites and online assets are SEO-optimised.

Some ways to increase SEO include making your website mobile-friendly and to focus on digital content creation. As far as the latter goes, you can create content on your site about seasonal dishes, publish relevant blog posts, share recipes, etc.

We regularly publish how-to guides and insights into the food delivery industry in Singapore. Read more about the Common Problems & Fixes for Food Delivery Businesses, or learn about How to Use Data Analytics for Restaurant Sales!