6 ways to promote your restaurant events and gain free exposure

Creative restaurant events, like unique promotions for Father’s Day, attract attention and drive traffic to your restaurant.

But are you doing everything you can to promote them? According to the National Retail Association:

Father’s Day spending expected to reach all-time high of $16 billion.

Fill your seats during a national holiday with a communications process that drives guests to your website.

• Create a hub to gather attendees.
• Use restaurant event promotions and PR to gain exposure.
• Collect emails via reservations and subscriptions.

1. Set up a place to collect RSVPs and book reservations.

Use free or low-cost restaurant event booking software to collect information from guests while directing them to your landing page and website.

For example, you can embed signups to Eventbrite or RSVPify on your WordPress site, whereas other platforms may require a widget instead.

Event landing page for Father’s Day at Russo’s On The Bay.

2. Develop a landing page for restaurant events.

Boost attendance at your restaurant event with an eye-catching yet simple landing page.

• Showcase a mouth-watering graphic.
• Highlight your event name and date.
• Create a tagline that shows why your promotion is novel, exciting, or relatable.
• Include a clear call-to-action (CTA) that gets viewers signed up.

3. Boost your PR outreach for restaurant events.

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Do you have your list of brand ambassadors and local media ready? Traditional word-of-mouth and public relations still have a place in the 21st century.

• Write a press release that promotes your restaurant event to your local community.
• Reach out to popular food bloggers who share food and event images on their websites and Instagram.
• Talk with local foodies, loyal fans, and social ambassadors. Give them a few photos, event details, and your signup link for social sharing.
• Send out individual invitations to food reporters in your area.

4. Use email to increase restaurant event signups.

A restaurant event presents an opportunity to increase your reach and grow your email list. Booking software, like Eventbrite, integrates with popular email programs such as Mailchimp.

However, you can also export your collected emails to a spreadsheet and use the data to promote future restaurant events.

• Devise an email series that intrigues your audience and promotes your restaurant event.
• Update your subscribers after launching your event menu.
• Use your email list to follow up with attendees after the event.

5. Boost your guest list via social media.

For each social platform, you’ll:

1. Create a variety of social media posts to promote your restaurant event.
2. Include a CTA that takes your followers to your event landing page.
3. Increase exposure by posting when your followers are most active online.
4. Maintain a consistent posting schedule tailored to the social platform.

Instagram. Build excitement for your restaurant event and sell tickets via Eventbrite’s Instagram integration.

• Change your business link to that of your landing page.
• Use the Instagram call-to-action button to increase signups.

Facebook. Get the most out of Facebook by updating your profile and creating an event on the network. If you use a booking service, then it’s possible to boost event ticket sales by up to 20% by adding the Eventbrite integration.

• Change your Facebook cover photo to an image promoting your restaurant event.
• Temporarily switch your Facebook action button to link to your event landing page.
• Post regularly on both your business page and also on your restaurant event page.

6. Write a Google My Business (GMB) post.

Top-of-page results for the Google search query, “Father’s Day restaurant events in Chicago.”

Turn your GMB listing into a communications tool with a time-sensitive post. Your Google event posts show up in your business listing and may earn you a top spot on the SERP.

Create a restaurant event post by including the event title, date, and time, plus other relevant information. After all, Moz calls GMB posts:

Almost like mini-ads or social media posts.

Then, add a link to your event landing page with a CTA directing viewers to reserve their spot now.

By taking a series of steps as part of an overall restaurant communications plan, you’ll draw your ideal crowd into your store.