Why Content Marketing is Important for Your Restaurant

Content marketing offers the opportunity to build greater loyalty among your current restaurant customers, and catch the attention of potential customers who may not have otherwise known about your restaurant.
While you likely don’t have a ton of time for restaurant marketing, a simple content strategy can help take your revenue to the next level. We’ve pulled together an overview of several content types to get you started.
Email marketing
If you’re most interested in measuring the results of your content marketing program, content industry expert Joe Pulizzi recommends building in an opt-in email program as part of your loyalty efforts. Since customers who join your loyalty program are among your most engaged, sending them a monthly email newsletter or occasional menu update alerts will keep customers coming back for more.
Overall success can be measured by open rates and click throughs to your website. Such measurement can also help you better understand what types of content interest customers most. For example, maybe a menu update will see higher click rates than a staff spotlight.
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps ensure your restaurant is easy for local customers to find via Google and other search engines. If you own a Thai restaurant, for example, is your restaurant showing up in results when a customer searches “Thai delivery?” If not, there are a few simple ways to improve your search ranking – all of which might take some time up front but will keep your restaurant popping up in search results for the long haul.
These include, optimizing your website with keywords customers might search, creating a dedicated menu page and developing profiles in other places, such as Google+, TripAdvisor and MenuPages.
Blog
Creating a blog is another way to increase search-friendly content and drive potential customers to your website. While a blog might seem like a significant undertaking, much of your content can be repurposed from other marketing efforts and general restaurant updates. You can highlight topics including new menu items, customer testimonials and upcoming events.
Drive traffic to your blog by promoting on social media and through your email marketing efforts. Also consider adding an option for readers to subscribe to your blog, to help measure success and growth over time.

Source:http://get.grubhub.com/blog/why-content-marketing-is-important-for-your-restaurant.html​