Boosting Restaurant Marketing with Virtual Tours

Have you ever considered using virtual tours for restaurant marketing? Well, if you’re looking for creative ways to market your restaurant effectively, then virtual tours should be at the top of your list. In a world immersed in visual marketing, virtual tours are becoming a go-to resource. Realtors have been using it and seeing great success, as well as many other industries. It only makes sense for restaurants to be using virtual tours as well.

Your restaurant may have great food and incredible service, but getting people in the door and coming back is a challenge all in itself. If you are looking for an edge in your restaurant marketing, then you should be using virtual tours. Here’s why:

1. Help People Experience the Atmosphere

When it comes to restaurant marketing, one of the most important aspects of your restaurant is the atmosphere. Yes, people are usually drawn to a restaurant for the food, but what turns them into loyal, raving customers is the experience. The ambiance is just as attractive as good food. Virtual tours allow people to get a glimpse of your restaurant’s ambiance and experience what it would fell and look like when they are there. This will help people feel more comfortable and even excited about visiting your restaurant. Plus, after they have a great overall experience and they tell their friends, they can point them to the virtual tour to seal the deal.

2. Boost SEO

Google My Business and SEO in general can significantly help your restaurant succeed. People often begin their search for restaurants online, usually through Google. When your restaurant shows up in the search rankings, it’s your chance to sell your place over the competition. Using a virtual tour on your Google My Business page will make your restaurant stand out. Google will recognize that you have additional content to display and include it in your search results. You’ll rank higher, and as a result, be in front of more hungry people. You can also use the virtual tour photos in Google Street view to capture even more people through search.

3. Build the Restaurant Brand

Any business with long-term sustained success will tell you, brand is everything. The same holds true when it comes to restaurant marketing. The way people associate with your brand, along with the feelings, emotions and social status that come with it, will determine whether or not your restaurant will be around in a few years. As your business begins to grow, virtual tours act as a catalyst for your brand. People will come to your restaurant and experience the food, atmosphere, and service, then tell their friends. A virtual tour then allows people to peek at your brand, and associate themselves with their friends helping them share the experience. Their friends will then want to experience it for themselves, and then share the experience. This is, in essence, how a brand grows.

4. Use Video and Photos for Marketing Everywhere

Having a virtual tour available on your website and Google are only two parts of the overall marketing equations. Virtual tours are an amazing source for content marketing on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Social media is already the go-to source for marketing a restaurant well. Whenever you introduce new menu items, redesign your restaurant, or hold cool events, you need to be sharing it on social media. Virtual tours are a perfect social media content solution because they not only show off what’s great about your restaurant, they help people experience it.

5. Pair Reviews with a Virtual Tour

This tip is short and sweet. Any successful restaurant owner know how important reviews are to the success of the restaurant. Restaurant marketing and reviews can’t be separated. Too many bad reviews and your business suffers. Lots of great reviews and your business grows. So, here’s a great way to use virtual tours in tandem with reviews. Take a few of your best reviews that mention the décor or food and post them directly on your website. Then partner those reviews with a link to your virtual tour so people can associate a positive message with a visual representation of your restaurant.

Are there any other ways you think of to use virtual tours to market your restaurant?

If you own a restaurant and want to see how a virtual tour can dramatically improve your marketing, then contact us today. We’ll help you put your best foot forward and grow a loyal following using virtual tours.