The Coronavirus pandemic has seen a boost in food delivery services as restaurants are looking for new ways to do business. That means the competition has increased, so restaurant owners need to make their delivery service stand out if they hope to get new customers and keep the loyalty of old ones.

If you haven’t decided on how you want to deliver food, we recommend an in-house online ordering system as opposed to a third-party delivery app. With the former, you keep all the profits you make, have full control over the interaction, and access to precious customer data that will help you improve your service.

Once you’ve settled on an online ordering system, you will want to promote this new service. This is where the following food delivery marketing ideas come into play.

7 Food Delivery Marketing Ideas to Promote Your Takeaway Business

1. Advertise it on your website and social media

A basic tactic, but one that needs to be implemented no matter what. Did you already build a restaurant website where you can take deliveries? Good, because that’s the first place where you should advertise this service. Make sure the order button is one of the first things customers see when visiting your website. In our experience, they hate looking for it.

Next, create a unique post on every social media platform you use announcing your delivery service. Pin that post so that it always appears at the top of your page. Another must-do is adding a button redirecting users to the delivery page on your social media profiles. Here is an example on Facebook:

Pro tip: if you want to make your “we now deliver” posts more interactive, consider putting together a catchy video instead of just a photo.

2. Partner up with local influencers

One of the most efficient ways to spread the news about your delivery service in the local community is to partner with influencers in your area. They can talk up your food to their followers and encourage them to place an online order.

We recommend giving each influencer you collaborate with a unique code they can give out to their followers for a 10% discount on their first online order. That will motivate both them and their followers.

While some influencers who are just getting started and have a small follower base might accept dining with you for free in exchange for a post, more people in the business want to – and they should – be paid for their services, just like any other job. Beware of that when you contact them and understand that they deserve to be paid for their work.

3. Do local SEO

In order to be discovered by Google organically, you need to invest some time in search engine optimization (SEO). For this particular purpose, local SEO is what you should focus on, so you get discovered by people in your area.

The first type of local SEO is the on-page one you have to do on your website. This includes finding keywords that people use when searching for a delivery service, such as “food delivery” or “restaurants that deliver.” The next thing you need to do is focus on your location and cuisine.

So, if you are an Italian restaurant in Harlem, New York, here are some keywords you should add to your website:

• Food delivery in Harlem, New York
• Italian food delivery in Harlem, New York
• Restaurant that delivers in Harlem, New York
• Italian restaurants that deliver in Harmel, New York
• Takeaway food in Harlem, New York
• Italian takeaway food in Harlem, New York

The second type of local SEO is the off-page one, which includes creating and optimizing pages for your restaurant on Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and other local business listings. These profiles should contain the same information and be constantly updated so people know about changes in schedule, new menu items, and where they can order food from you online.

4. Consider paid advertising

If you want to speed up the process of showing up first in Google, you can try to invest some money in Google Ads. This works similarly to local SEO in that you will target location-specific keywords, such as “Italian food delivery in Harlem, New York.”

Keep in mind that restaurant keywords that include words like “delivery” will be pretty expensive because a lot of restaurants are bidding on them. That is why you have to get specific to pay less and make sure you target the right audience.

5. Print the info everywhere

If you don’t give people the chance to see that you’re delivering, they might not find out for a long time. That said, print that information everywhere:

• On takeaways packaging
• On fliers
• On your restaurant door
• At the register
• On tables in the restaurant
• At the bottom of the receipt

Here is the info that needs to be printed (the rest is up to you):

• “We deliver” notice
• Your website URL
• Delivery hours
• Phone number if you also take phone orders

Another neat trick is to tell your staff to mention that you also deliver when they see out a guest that seems satisfied with the experience at your restaurant.

6. Send emails with first-order promo

If you have a database of customer emails, you’re already halfway to your final goal, that of informing existing customers of your new food delivery service. Craft an enticing email announcing that they can now order from you online. Showcase your restaurant menu using mouth-watering photos.

To sweeten the deal, throw in a first-order promo code that they can use to get 15% off their first online order. That way, you show them you value their patronage and that they can expect deals and discounts from you online.

7. Spread the word around the neighborhood

A good old fashioned way of promoting your restaurant delivery service is to visit some other local businesses and institutions and ask if they would like to keep some of your flyers at reception or hand some to customers.

If your restaurant is located near an office building or a university campus, you need to be where your customers are. Talk to the administration and see if you can leave some flyers around. The same goes for hotels. Some people prefer to order in when traveling, especially for business, so the hotel will probably be looking for restaurants that deliver in the area.

Final Words

With these simple food delivery marketing ideas, you will ensure hungry customers find out about your online ordering service. If you’ve just released this feature, pull out all the stops and promote it on every online and offline channel you can think of. To generate even more excitement, don’t forget to offer promos and discounts that are exclusive to online ordering.