How to Use Public Relations to Gain Exposure for Your Restaurant

How to Use Public Relations to Gain Exposure for Your Restaurant

As a Franchise PublicRelations Agency, we know how much companies large and small want to increase their exposure.  Our Chicago Public Relations Agency has some advise as to how you can best utilize a PR Agency to gain expose for your restaurant.  Gaining new expose for your restaurant is crucial whether you are trying to maintain a current image, mend a false or negative image, or create a new positive image for your freshly opened restaurant. 

First things first, if you are a new restaurant, you should contact all of the local newspaper companies, radio stations, and/or magazines to notify them of the restaurant opening.  Be sure to send along a menu or better yet, offer a free meal or coupon for guests.  Also, request that the individual makes a review about the food and service.  The more publications or radio stations that get the word out about the restaurant, the more opportunity you have for business.  Our Chicago Franchise PR suggests that you utilize the radio for advertising purposes like having people call in to try to win a free dinner for two.  Contests help gain the attention of the audience and force them to listen in to learn what the benefits are to the prize.

In Franchise Industry PR, we also highly advise that you write a press release or have a press release written for your restaurant by our Chicago PR firm.  Although there is no guarantee that you press release will be published, it does help to legitimize your restaurant.  You may be wondering what the importance of a press release is, well, we will explain to you why.  A press release is a great way to educate the public about your new restaurant.  It is also a fantastic way to inform the public of any changes your restaurant has undergone. 

For instance, Outback Steakhouse restaurants recently have undergone remodeling within the company.  After the internal remodel was complete at each location, coupons were directly mailed to local households to give incentive to their potential guests to dine at the restaurant, enjoy good food at a discounted price, as well as enjoy their new look.  Another important aspect of the direct mail Outback Steakhouse utilized was that they incorporated a photo of the new interior design into the direct mail.  Our Chicago PR firm knows that people want to see what they are going to get before they get it.  So if you are going to use direct mail or a press release to get the word out about your restaurant, be sure to include a photo.  Also, please do not use any photo that could be taken from your smartphone, we advise that you have a professional take the picture.  A professional photographer has the ability to take a quality photograph that will translate well into a black and white press release or article. 

Lastly, make sure your restaurant gets listed online to help validate your restaurant.  Listing your restaurant on Google Places, Yelp!, GrubHub, etc are great ways to authenticate your business.  Also, having a Chicago social media presence is key as well to any PR campaign.  After all, these are all places to allow your customers or guests at the restaurant to leave compliments or suggestions to your restaurant.  It’s important to know what your restaurant excels at or what you could improve on as well.