20 Unique Restaurant Promotion Ideas to Attract Customers

Creating unique restaurant promotion ideas is important for the survival of the food business industry. They should be included in your restaurant business plan. Along with the promotional ideas, it is essential to maintain the quality of food and beverages in a restaurant, which is equally crucial. 

Strong restaurant promotion ideas help create a separate identity or spread appropriate brand awareness to the target customer. Otherwise, all the effort and hard work you put into building a restaurant will be in vain. 

Making the best marketing plan may take time and money. But the result you may get will reach you the profitable destination anyone dreams of whenever they think of starting a business. 

Here are some exciting, creative, and unique restaurant promotion ideas that a restaurant owner may apply to create a craze quickly.

20 Unique Restaurant Promotion Ideas that Work

Restaurant promotion has become mandatory because it is the most demandable and highly competitive business. It is much harder to sustain in the restaurant business without a proper marketing strategy. 

In that case, using the most unique restaurant promotion ideas can help to become more famous. Moreover, it will drive more customers and make more profits. So, as a restaurant business entrepreneur, you must know marketing promotion ideas for restaurants and apply the promotional ideas. 

Remember, as technology is improving, we must use advanced technology properly. It will help to keep you updated with the trends. 

So, stay with us, acquire restaurant specials and promotional ideas, and apply them to your business.

1. Social Media Marketing

Social media is now one of the great platforms for reaching an audience. You will find many different social sites with millions of users. Social media marketing is using social media to market your products and brands. 

It works to connect with the audience and make the brand popular. So, you can use social media as a unique restaurant promotion idea. In that case, you must choose the social media with the maximum audience base and create a profile. 

You can use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other popular social media to market your restaurants. More than 60% of businesses use social platforms for advertising. So, it is a good strategy for reaching a higher audience. 

When using social media as a restaurant promotion idea, several terms should be focused on. 

• Post on your social sites on a regular basis.
• Use very high quality images while posting on social media. 
• Use location tags and always look for free advertising.
• Always use unique hashtags to connect with a wide range of customers. 

2. Happy Hour Specials

Happy hour meals are a great way to attract customers and boost sales during off-peak hours. The happy hour concept is regarding the slower time of day to provide special discounts or atmosphere to drive customers. 

In that case, restaurants choose a specific time for happy hour promotion ideas for restaurants. After that, the restaurant looks at the menu and provides special offers and discounts. 

In different instances, restaurants give a percentage of discounts on entire menus. Many restaurants offer some drinks or appetizers for happy hours. So, it is a fantastic way to promote your restaurant. 

3. Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are the best marketing ideas for restaurants. The success rate of a loyalty program is very high. Regarding loyalty programs, restaurants offer their customers different types of customized rewards. 

But remember, while providing loyalty rewards, do it properly. Otherwise, it will not have any effect on your restaurants. Some restaurants offer a point system, where customers collect points for every visit and get special rewards based on the points. 

Loyalty programs help your customers continue coming into your restaurant regularly, and customer engagement increases your restaurant's sales. When sales increase, it will boost your sales.

4. Family Takeout Meal

Family takeout meals are another fantastic way to promote your restaurant business. It is an idea where the customers take food and eat at home or somewhere else with a family member. 

However, these family takeout meals are generally in large amounts. It helps to sell more foods with more profits. Regarding family take-out meals, restaurants can offer pickup or delivery systems to provide food.  

Note: while providing family takeout meals, restaurants should monitor food packaging, quality, and hygiene. 

5. Video Marketing

Unlike some general and prominent advertising, people always try to seek something exciting or unique in this modern era. Video content is the fastest way to spread attraction through audio, video, and emotional and psychological processes.

Indeed, video marketing is considered the most compelling marketing method. It is now the most effective way to reach their target customers. Video marketing can easily engage with the customer at an unprecedented level and stimulate interaction with the leads. 

The young generation gives equal importance to the interior and food quality. Using video, a restaurant owner can advertise its entire interior to the customers. The restaurant owner can decorate a selected side or full restaurant aesthetically. 

As a result, encouraging the public to visit the restaurant or book for a party. 

• 3D video marketing

Glimpses of the cooking process in 3rd-dimensional visualization will attract the customer. Customers will be fascinated by the cooking process and how the food is presented on the plate. The 3D visualization video forced any customer's tongue to become watery.

• GIF marketing  

You can show a short and extraordinary glimpse of the restaurant's attire through a GIF video. These videos can also be shared and promoted through different social media.

Moreover, you can also make a slow-motion gif video of the popular dessert. This dessert gift will cause a strange cognitive reaction in visitors' psychology. Therefore, many desert lovers may only visit this unique desert. 

These short videos can also be shared on social media platforms to create a buzz among the young generation for instance, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and many more desert lover blog pages.

6. Food Blogging

Every business follows the trends. It will help to hold the existing customers and attract new customers also. In that case, restaurants must follow the trends and keep up with the technology and strategy. 

So, following the trends is a good way to sustain the restaurant business. Food blogging is now a fantastic way to promote restaurant specials ideas and foods. People are now more conscious and follow different food bloggers' types to taste different food items. 

Food blogging is one kind of food journalism containing food writing, images, videos, and review sections. So, you may start your food blogging using the easiest blogging platform. It works like magic. 

You must follow some essential tricks while doing food blogging in a restaurant.

• Identify your targeted audience
• Provide very high-quality content
• Use the best SEO strategy
• Take attractive photos and videos
• Promote your food blogging on different social media

7. Social Media Contests

Restaurant contests are now one of the most popular and unique restaurant promotion ideas. It is a marketing strategy where the restaurant offers different contests, and customers can participate. 

The person who joins the contest and wins can have a free meal or win some prizes. So, you can use this marketing technique in your restaurant's business. 

Remember: Social media contests are an effective strategy to show love and support to your customers. 

There are some practical restaurant contest ideas that every restaurant can apply.

• Gift card giveaway
• Photo contest
• Tag to win
• Hashtag contest
• Share to win
• Video contest
• Caption competition
• Leave a review to win
• Customer of the week

8. Create Seasonal Menus

The seasonal menu is important to catch more customers. If you can provide a good menu on a seasonal basis, it will positively impact your restaurant. So, it is a good technique to apply for great restaurant promotions. 

However, you must focus on several terms while creating a seasonal menu. First, you must research the seasonal ingredients and then make a menu by balancing the demand and supply. 

Moreover, you must add new dishes to your menus to attract more customers. Then, you must share your seasonal menus with the audience through social media or another marketing channel.

9. Do Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most common and widely used marketing strategies. It is a marketing technique that is always on the trend. Email marketing involves restaurant activity through email. 

It includes offers, discounts, news, updates, special events, recipes, menus, customer reviews, exciting stories, blog posts, videos, and more. Email marketing is one kind of investment that can return the maximum output. 

However, getting started with email marketing is one of the most straightforward ways to promote your restaurant.

10. Provide Holidays Offers

The holiday is a good opportunity to visit restaurants and try different tastes. Most people go outside with their family or loved ones for outings and enjoy delicious holiday food. 

Using the holidays to attract more customers could be a good strategy. In that case, the restaurant can provide different holiday offers. You may offer a percentage of discounts, or you may offer to buy one, gate one free, discounts on online orders, gift card coupons, lunch special ideas for restaurants and so on. 

However, when planning for holiday offers, create a festival environment. For instance, decorate your restaurant with extra light or flowers, arrange for music or live singing, add new menus, and offer free drinks. Those are great ways to make your customers happy. 

11. Partner With Third-Party Apps

Nowadays, partnering with third-party apps is one of the good marketing ideas for restaurants. Most people use different popular apps to order their food. These apps are integrated with famous restaurants to deliver food. 

However, third-party apps allow restaurants to place food orders and deliver to customers without using their infrastructure. Customers can visit the restaurant website, browse the online menus, and place an order using third-party apps. 

When the order is placed, it is directly sent to the restaurant and delivered to the customers. So, it is a good technique and works like magic. Many popular third-party apps have millions of users. 

You may integrate with third-party apps and increase your restaurant visibility. 

There are some popular third-party apps for restaurants. 

• DoorDash
• Grubhub
• Uber Eats
• Eat app
• Caviar
• Feedly and others. 

12. Create Events and Special Offers

Restaurant or cafe owners can also develop exciting promotional tools such as free drinks or dessert coupon facilities. Participants can collect these coupons through contests on Facebook or Instagram, where customers can participate in the game and win the voucher. 

Or they can beat the competition by tagging their friend. Only the first ten lucky people will win the competition along with their tagged friends. So, these promotional events for restaurants help to generate considerable leads.

• Buy one, get one offer, and combo offer 

The most common promotional strategy any restaurant owner uses is buy one, get one offer, and combo offer. When they want to boost their sales within a short period, this strategy is usually used to create excitement among people. 

They can complete their lunch with a full stomach at a low price and have the opportunity to share lunch with you plus one with the cost of one dish. 

• Specific bank cardholders are allotted discounts

This incredible promotional strategy encourages customers to engage with the bank. It also creates a chance to enjoy a meal in an expensive restaurant at half price. This creative promotional idea works as “it kills two birds with one stone.” 

• Restaurant partnership with any clothing brand

Some famous clothing brands use this strategy to create a unique engagement with the customer. Therefore, it works like whenever a customer buys clothes from a specific brand and after payment. 

At the end of a payment slip, carry a voucher for a free drink or cookie from a particular restaurant. “ Congratulations; you treat yourself as a free drink.”

13. Restaurant Website

In the digital world, people are more into the online system. So, this is the same for the restaurant business also. Nowadays, people search on Google and look for restaurants. 

Moreover, they look for menus and pricing on the restaurant website when they find a restaurant. So, you must build a website for your restaurant. However, just building a website is not only a task; you must be updated with the website. 

Additionally, you should keep updating your website with the trends, food, price, photos, and blog posts to attract and attach to the restaurants. 

While making a website for a restaurant, you should focus on several factors. 

Let's find those facts. 

• The website is responsive across every website.
• Make sure all the necessary information is included on the website.
• Create an eye-catching restaurant website with a colorful UX and UI design.
• Make sure your website loads very fast.
• Ensure your website has an accurate and high-resolution image of the front and back of the house and menus. 

14. Google My Business Optimization

Google My Business is a free service. It helps to increase your business interaction online. Google My Business Optimization provides your business information through Google Search and Maps. 

It helps to rank quickly in the search engine and build a better online reputation. In Google My Business, restaurants or other businesses can add descriptions, URLs, photos, videos, telephone numbers, and information. 

So, regarding the restaurant business, you must set, verify and complete your restaurant's information. However, snippets from Google Maps, street view or photos can help to draw more customers. 

So, if you want to follow the trends and boost your restaurant's success, Google My Business Optimization is important. 

Information should include promoting your restaurant on Google My Business. 

• Restaurant name and address
• Phone number
• Restaurant category
• Restaurant website URL
• Hours of operation
• Photos and videos
• Customer reviews and ratings
• Q&A section
• Posts and updates
• Services and products offered

15. Limited Time Offers

Want to promote your restaurant very fast? In that case, a limited-time offer is a good strategy. It is a strategy where restaurants provide different types of offers for a limited time. 

However, limited-time offers can easily catch the customer's attention. For example, you may give special discounts on special menus, free service for online food orders, special gifts, restaurant dinner special ideas, etc. 

As the offer time is limited, customers try to get the offers as early as possible. But, remember, restaurant owners should promote them effectively through their different channels.

16. Online Order 

An online ordering system is a great technique to make your restaurant popular. When we talk about restaurant automation, the online ordering system comes first. An effective online ordering system makes significant changes in your restaurants. 

Restaurants use the online system to operate the food order and delivery system smoothly. However, online orders can also help with table reservations. 

So, to promote your restaurants through online ordering, you must follow some steps. Let's discuss the steps that you should follow.

First, you have to optimize an effective online ordering platform. Then, you must make a digital menu containing the full description, price and ingredients. You must focus on providing a high-quality food image to attract customers' attention.

Here is the guide to promote your restaurant through online ordering.

• Free delivery service is available on restaurant weekly specials.
• Very first order discount to increase sales.
• Provide exclusive online coupons.
• Customer loyalty points for online orders. 

17. Free Taste and Review

When you get free food, its taste will automatically increase because it's free. However, the secret is that free food contains no extra flavor; it is all about the customer's psychology. 

Therefore, many restaurant owners can utilize this opportunity to create this kind of free taste and give us review offers. These offers can be used with both new restaurants or any existing restaurant. 

It works like when there is a new launch of a restaurant. People will go to that restaurant, and after tasting the food, they will give an insightful view or suggestions for improvisation.

Using different media, they can do an open invitation to taste all their food at zero cost. These promotional tools promote their restaurant uniquely and gather many insights about their food. 

The existing restaurant can use these promotional tools to launch their new item to their new or existing customers. 

18. Eating Challenge

The eating challenge has recently become a unique and powerful restaurant promotion strategy. It helps attract the regular audience and people who love to eat. An eating challenge can make your restaurant viral within a very short time. 

However, in that case, you must effectively design your challenge strategy. You may design your eating challenge in different ways. You can offer a giant burger-eating challenge within a fixed amount of time, eat 40 hot wings in 20 minutes, a giant pizza challenge, and so on. 

These challenges help boost your restaurant's brand awareness. 

Special note: Ensure your eating challenge has reached your target audience.

19. Brand Promotion

Brand promotion is a practical restaurant promotion idea. It helps create awareness for your brands. Moreover, brand promotion helps your audience understand your restaurant's details and guides them in making decisions. 

Through brand promotion, a business can understand its customer's needs, and it makes a positive impression and customer loyalty. In terms of brand promotion, you can hire a brand influencer to promote your brand. 

It helps to reach your audience very fast. 

There are multiple ways a restaurant brand can be promoted. 

• Social media marketing
• Traditional advertising
• Local partnership
• Website optimization 
• Theme night and events
• Branded merchandise and more

20. Yearly Food Festival

Every year a big industry arranges a huge food festival. Where small, medium, and large restaurants participate and provide unique items to catch the audience. 

It is how a restaurant exhibits its best dish and offers to sell. Moreover, People enjoy these types of food festivals because they not only taste different foods but also taste different cultures. 

This kind of food festival helps many small or unpopular restaurants to gain popularity within a short time. Boost up the sale. So, you can apply this technique to promote your restaurants.

Conclusion 

Many different marketing strategies and tactics are improvised and invented as years pass. A promotion plan is much needed whenever and whatever a business is. Without a creative marketing plan, a business cannot be completed and resulting in failure in the market. 

Creative and unique restaurant promotion ideas help generate a need, want, and demand among people about that product. People are now always seeking and trying to invent unique and twisted promotional strategies that will immediately grab customers' minds. 

The above article analyzes every kind of unique restaurant promotion idea that can easily be implemented and may be applied to any kind of restaurant, food, and beverage business.