How much do restaurants (really) earn from digital marketing?

Communication and marketing have always been key to a restaurant's reputation. With the arrival of digital technology, these strategies have been taken to the next level. SEO, social media, e-reputation... A host of tools are now available to help you improve your online visibility. 

But here's the thing: it's hard to estimate how much these strategies will really earn for your restaurant. So if you've justopened a restaurant, or if you'd like to review your strategy, it's hard to plan ahead.

In this exclusive article, we summarize a Malou survey of over 300 restaurants for :

• Understand how digital marketing brings value(revenue, customers) to a restaurant;
• Estimate the impact of these digital strategies on restaurant sales .  

Why is digital marketing important for restaurants?

💡Digitalmarketing refers to all the techniques used to improve an establishment's online presence.

Today, 8 out of 10 people choose a restaurant on the Internet.

"Even when we're standing in front of a restaurant's door, we have this reflex to look for it first online to check ratings and reviews", explainsexplains Louiza, co-founder of Malou.

There's no doubt about it: for restaurateurs, attracting and convincing customers is an online challenge. So how do you go about it?

How does digital marketing boost restaurant revenues?

👉 There are several strategies for increasing restaurant revenues: 

• Review its pricing ;
• Improve margins ;
• Diversify your offering;
• Optimize profitability of dishes (menu engineering) ... 

These techniques often involve raising prices, increasing sales or optimizing costs. 

💡Digital marketing, on the other hand, is more about increasing sales by attracting and capturing customers through visibility.

"What's interesting about digital marketing is that it allows you to attract customersbut more importantly, to regain control over this customer acquisition flow", explains Sarah explains Sarah, restaurant journalist at Malou. "A restaurateur who can attract customers by activating his digital tools is less subject to the vagaries of the trade such as bad seasonsbad seasons eventsevents unforeseen..."

As we'll also see in the last part of this article, this increase in customers becomes exponential over time.

The most effective techniques are as follows:

👉 S earch Engine Optimization (SEO), which increases a restaurant's visibility, and therefore maximizes your chances of being spotted by customers.

By being listed on the most important platforms and applications, you can : 

• Attract a national target throughout France (thanks to TheFork, Tripadvisor, Les Pages Jaunes, Mapstr; etc.);
• Attract international tourists (thanks to Yelp for Americans and Yandex for Russians). 

👉 Local SEOallows you to appear at the top of search engines, in a top 2 position. You can : 

• Attract anyone and everyone to your establishment;
• Target customers by need using your keywords ("Indian restaurant Paris 9", but also "restaurant with terrace, WiFi, accessible to people with reduced mobility," etc.).

In fact, among 18/24 year-olds, the choice of a restaurant often begins with a desire for a specific type of cuisine. 

👉 Finally, thanks to your Googlebusiness listing, you can turn users into customers with two high-converting buttons: "call" and "directions".

Collecting and responding to notices 

👉 Responding to customer reviews is crucial to your strategy. Even negative reviews! This is what we at Malou call e-reputation.

This e-reputation allows you to be legitimate and convince people to come to you. f

And yes: 

• 85% of Internet users are more likely to visit a restaurant that responds to reviews;
• 81% of consumers believe that a company has good customer reviews when they receive 4 out of 5 stars.

To achieve this, we recommend opinion-gathering campaigns using tools such as QR codes or magic totems. 

👉 Last bit of good news: e-reputation is a virtuous circle! the more customers you attract, the more reviews you collect, the more you'll improve your average rating on Google, the more customers you attract, the more reviews you collect...

• social media (community management)

With 28 million users on Facebook in France and 22 million on Instagram, all obsessed with the hashtag "food", social media havebecome a must-have for restaurateurs .

👉 social media increase your income by :

• Target web users interested in food;
• Attract new customers (by publishing regular posts, using clever formats)
• Build loyalty and keep customers coming back over the long term by creating a strong brand and community. 

Case in point: Big Mamma's network communications and our top 20 most inspiring accounts. 

Study: the quantified impact of digital marketing on restaurant revenues

For over 6 months, data Malou's experts have been investigating.

We have taken a sample of over 300 restaurants that apply all the tools mentioned above. 

Restaurants that work on their digital marketing get on average : 

• more than €4,500 in additional income per month ;
• more than 174 additional customers per month;
• an average 4.7% increase in sales. sales.

And that's not all!

We also noticed that 3 types of restaurantstood out from the rest thanks to their performance...

Want to find out more? Download the study now! 👇