How to promote a restaurant business with a mobile app

21-12-24Read Time: 11 min

Every restaurant needs quality advertising and effective promotion, even if the establishment is not new and already has a reputation and audience. In order to remain successful and competitive, it is important to regularly attract new customers, strengthen brand recognition and work on building an image on the Internet. Promotion will be more effective if the institution has its own mobile application for online ordering. At first glance, it is just a technical tool that provides users with convenient options. But no – in professional hands, the application becomes a powerful marketing tool that helps the business to grow and scale. What methods and technologies are used for this purpose – read in our material.

Promoting a restaurant with an app – how to do it

To promote restaurant services and attract new customers, standard methods are used – contextual and targeted advertising, launching a landing page, SMM promotion in social networks, integration with bloggers, offline methods. But there is a twist – existing advertising campaigns include mobile app download as one of the stages of the sales funnel. How it works:

• Contextual and targeted advertising is set up to encourage installation and interaction with the app;
• A link to the app is placed on the restaurant’s website to organically redirect some web traffic;
• SMM promotional tools drive users to the app download page;
• A link to the site in search or advertising drives mobile users directly to the app;
• A QR code is applied to the promotional print production to go to the application;
• ASO optimization of the application for organic promotion in Google Play and App Store search.

Installing the program on a user’s smartphone increases the conversion rate of advertising campaigns, promotes audience loyalty, and increases the effectiveness of remarketing to bring back past customers. Let’s take a closer look at how to promote a restaurant business with a mobile application.

Contextual advertising for restaurant apps in Google Ads

With Google Ads, you can run ad campaigns designed to interact with mobile applications. Users see ads across multiple popular resources at once:

• on Google Search;
• on partner sites in Google’s contextual media network;
• on the Google Play app store;
• on YouTube, Gmail;
• Google Recommendations;
• in other mobile applications.

Google Ads automatically creates ads, optimizes bids, adapts the format and creative for each platform, and gradually learns – analyzing the conversion rate of ads and promoting the most effective ones. When you launch an ad campaign, select the “App Advertising” goal and choose one of the targeting options:

• Installation – the main goal of the ad will be to go to the store and download the restaurant app to your smartphone;
• Interaction – Ads encourage users to interact with a previously installed application and take specific targeted actions.

Web to App Connect – linking the website to the restaurant’s mobile app

If a restaurant uses search engine SEO techniques to promote a website and runs ad campaigns with website conversions, Google recommends using a special Web to App Connect tool to link the website to the mobile app.

How it works: When a mobile user clicks on an ad, instead of going to the website, they are automatically taken to the relevant section of the app – for example, the restaurant menu. This is convenient for users and profitable for businesses because, according to Google statistics, the use of Web to App Connect technology doubles the conversion rate of ads. This increase is easy to explain: the app is more convenient and faster to use, so it brings more orders to the restaurant than the website.

If the app hasn’t been installed yet, the ads work as usual – they take you to the mobile version of the website. In the Web to App Connect settings, you can choose the target action you want visitors to perform when they go to the app – register, order, pay, etc. The system optimizes campaigns for a set of target actions, automatically assigns bids, and tracks conversions for each action – this information is used for analytics and to improve ad effectiveness.

Targeted promotion of the restaurant’s mobile app

One of the most effective ways to promote a restaurant is through targeted advertising. A special type of Facebook Install Apps mobile app targeting includes users of Facebook and Instagram social networks and optimizes ads for the specifics of mobile app promotion. The ads encourage the audience to download the mobile product – this is the main difference of such advertising campaigns. Clicking on the ad takes the user to an app or download page on Google Play or the App Store.

The audience is segmented by various characteristics – location, age, marital status, language, interests, financial capabilities, preferences, device type (iOS or Android). Meta Ads Manager’s algorithm analyzes users’ social network behavior, tracking their subscriptions, page visits, and publicity to deliver targeted ads. Ads are seen by relevant users – people who are potentially interested in visiting the restaurant. For example, if they have responded to similar ads in the past or frequent similar establishments.

Advertising campaigns in social networks can be started with a minimal budget and gradually scaled up. The system has the ability to learn – over time, advertising is optimized, ads become more effective, traffic and the percentage of target users increases. To achieve the best results, the targeting specialist experiments with creative, tests ad copy, adjusts audience settings and selects targets.

• App installs and increased user engagement are priority goals when promoting new apps that need more downloads.
• If the app is already a sure thing, the goal of targeted advertising can be traffic from existing users or selected conversions, such as ordering a delivery or taking another targeted action in the app.

If desired, you can set up to show targeted ads only to users who have already installed the restaurant’s app or, conversely, to users who are not yet using it. You can also show targeted ads to subscribers of the restaurant and its competitors on social networks. Precise targeting, automatic algorithm training and powerful analytics tools allow you to get stable results and predictable advertising efficiency. Using this type of advertising, you can independently influence the growth of conversion – attract more customers, scale advertising campaigns, get more orders through the application.

ASO optimization of a mobile restaurant application

You can promote a restaurant app not only on Google and social networks, but also directly in the App Store and Google Play stores. For this purpose, a series of App Store Optimization (ASO) works are performed, which will help to improve the ranking and visibility of the program, gradually reach the top of the search results in the App Stores and be on the first positions among competitors. The main tools of this method are optimization of the application page, selection of relevant keywords and work with audience feedback.

Thanks to high-quality ASO optimization, you can get free organic traffic from App Store and Google Play search results. But this is not the only benefit – a well-designed page with a detailed description and attractive graphics increases the conversion rate of advertising, as it makes the application more interesting for users. That is why it is important to perform ASO optimization in the first stage before promotion and launch of advertising campaigns.

Competitor analysis. For proper ASO optimization it is important to know your competitors – collect their semantics, see the advantages and disadvantages of page design, analyze user feedback. The right way is to focus on the applications of other restaurants, but to do it more efficiently and qualitatively.

Text optimization. On the application page a text description of the program is placed – its functions, opportunities for the audience, features of use, availability of paid options. Metadata is created – a concise title and short description with keywords by which users will find the restaurant application in search.

Graphics optimization. A unique design of graphic elements is created – an icon with the restaurant’s logo and screenshots that demonstrate the interface and familiarize the user with the main features of the program. To make the presentation more attractive, a short dynamic promo video of the app preview is placed on the page, which visually reproduces the main features, in particular, the ability to select dishes in the restaurant and order online delivery.

Customization. When placing in the store it is important to correctly define the category of the application, choose geolocation according to the geography of the restaurant delivery, set up automatic translation or upload texts in selected languages.

Work with ratings and reviews. Mobile apps with high ratings come to the TOP, so it is important to work with user feedback, offer customers to rate after successful orders, fix bugs, respond to complaints, provide answers and explanations. Ranking will improve if the app regularly releases updates, has a low removal rate, and has high user engagement.

App indexing. App indexing allows an app to appear in Google search results for selected keywords and drive traffic outside of Google Play and the App Store. Deep links technology ensures that the user is directed to the correct section of the mobile app based on their search query. For example, a user searches for food delivery, clicks a link in the search engine, and goes directly to the restaurant’s menu (if the app was previously installed).

Drive targeted traffic to a lending site

A restaurant’s mobile application can be promoted through a landing page – a one-page website that provides concise information about the restaurant’s services and a link to the application download page in the App Store and Google Play stores. The landing page is promoted using Google Ads contextual advertising, which places ads in the search engine and on partner sites in the contextual media network.

The ads are seen by users who are searching for services using relevant keywords and are interested in restaurants in the selected location. The user goes to the landing page, can download the application, familiarize himself with the menu and immediately place an order by paying online. The goal of the advertising campaign is to get the user to download the mobile application: the installed application stays on the user’s smartphone and periodically sends push notifications to remind the user. This approach increases the chances that the customer will return to the app and possibly become a regular customer of the restaurant.

SMM Technologies for Transportation

Social networks Facebook and Instagram offer a wide range of opportunities to promote businesses and services. And it is not just advertising to expand the audience and attract new customers – it is an opportunity to build an image, make the brand recognizable, communicate with the audience, strengthen the trust and loyalty of users. When promoting a mobile application, standard SMM methods are used, but the main target action is downloading the application in the App Store or Google Play. The focus is on promoting the restaurant’s services, and the mobile application serves as an auxiliary tool for more effective retention of the audience that comes from social networks.

How to effectively use social media to promote a restaurant app? If the institution is not yet represented in social networks or the existing pages are inactive, you need to start or restore the maintenance of profiles – publish unique and interesting content, organize sweepstakes and other activities for users, attract partners for cross-promotion, establish cooperation with bloggers to expand the audience and popularize the restaurant. A link to download the app is added to the profile header. Calls to install the app are placed in reels, promotional creatives and organic posts.

Offline methods to promote a restaurant app

A QR code with a link to the mobile application page is applied to the offline promotional material. Examples of placements:

• Brochures, flyers, posters, business cards and other printed materials;
• Banners, stickers on doors and windows of the establishment;
• paper menus of the establishment;
• Light boxes, billboards and other types of outdoor advertising;
• Advertising in printed publications.

Order restaurant promotions with a mobile application

Whether you are new to promoting a restaurant business or you are already a marketing guru and know how to promote a restaurant – regardless of your needs and experience, you will find new opportunities and perspectives in cooperation with KitApp. We have created a special product for restaurants – RestUp app with a unique design and functionality tailored to your business. This convenient tool will help your customers to get more comfortable and faster services – view the current menu, choose dishes on their smartphone, order delivery and pay online.

Incorporating a branded mobile application into the concept of advertising and PR campaigns to promote your restaurant business is a profitable and effective solution that will help you achieve better results in attracting and retaining customers, increasing brand awareness, and strengthening audience loyalty. Please contact us using the form on the website – we will advise you on the possibilities of our mobile products for restaurants.