The Guide to Hyper Local Marketing Tips for Atlanta Restaurants – A Fractional CMO’s Perspective

From the mouth-watering smokehouses in Atlanta’s most famous BBQs to formal Southern-French restaurants, Atlanta’s dining scene is thriving. Our state has a restaurant option for everyone.

If you’re a restaurant owner and want to level the playing field, you need the right marketing strategy. You can achieve this by enlisting the help of an Atlanta fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).

This guide offers some hyper-local marketing tips for Atlanta restaurants that can help your restaurant stand out from the crowd.

How can an FCMO help your restaurant? Find out more about what fractional chief marketing officers in Atlanta can do with this video!

What is a Fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a part-time C-level executive who leads the marketing efforts of various companies. They play an integral role in developing and executing various marketing campaigns and increasing their clients’ visibility and growth. 

These marketing professionals typically specialize in:

• Branding and identity 
• Marketing consultation
• Consumer research
• Campaign planning and execution
• Progress tracking and data analytics

Additionally, fractional CMOs have an extensive network of resources and industry contacts that can provide support and additional guidance as needed. They lay the groundwork for successful marketing campaigns and effective team management with the goal of driving long-term positive results for their clients.

Unlike full-time CMOs or other C-level executives, fractional CMOs only work on a part-time or project basis. You only pay for a fraction of their time—hence the name. Depending on your company's needs, you can hire an FCMO for six months or even a set number of hours per week. The fractional CMO’s hourly rate may vary depending on who you hire.

4 Tips from a Fractional CMO to Help Your Atlanta Restaurant

The restaurant industry is one of the most competitive in the world. According to a report by the National Restaurant Association, the food industry in the United States is projected to reach a massive $1 trillion in sales by the end of 2024.

In the city of Atlanta, there’s a restaurant on every corner, each competing to be the number one dining destination for locals and tourists alike. FCMOs offer their marketing guidance and expertise to help restaurants in Atlanta increase sales and gain a wider customer base.

Listed below are four helpful marketing tips for Atlanta restaurants from a fractional CMO’s perspective:

1. Implement Local SEO Strategies

When a customer searches the internet for “best restaurants in Atlanta,” you want your establishment’s name to show up first. This is where local search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play.

Local SEO is how you can get customers to easily find your restaurant when they search for a place to eat in your area. This process involves identifying the most relevant keywords and incorporating them naturally into your website’s content. Examples could include “fine dining in Atlanta” or “Southern-style food near me.” 

Use keywords sparingly (but efficiently) to avoid being penalized for keyword stuffing. The key is to integrate them into a sentence in a way that sounds natural to readers. SEO often takes the form of landing pages and blogs and is part of content strategies. Content marketing helps keep customers engaged and regularly updated on different deals, announcements, or promos.

It’s also important to keep your website fully operational. You want your customers to have an easy time navigating through your site to have a seamless experience. All images, links, appointment booking options, and so on must be functional. For example, it shouldn’t take very many clicks for users to find your restaurant menu.

Listing your contact information is also crucial in showing your legitimacy as a business. Ensure your restaurant’s name, phone number, and email address are easy to find and consistent across all platforms. It also helps to include a Google Maps feature so customers can easily find you.

Lastly, you’ll want to optimize your site for Google My Business (GMB). Doing so makes the user’s search for your business much easier and more convenient. When creating your business profile, be sure to include:

• Your restaurant’s name and address
• Contact number
• Hours of operation
• Link to your website (if any)
• Google Maps listing
• Reviews
• Pictures (if any)

2. Utilize Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a big part of the fractional CMO scope of work and represents one of the most under-utilized marketing channels for many restaurants. With millions of people on social media, it’s easy to see how it can effectively help drive new customers toward your restaurant.

Platforms like Instagram are great places to showcase your restaurant and its food to increase your brand’s awareness. You can communicate and interact with customers and respond to their questions and concerns through these platforms. This helps create a rapport with your customers and improves their overall experience with your brand. 

Your restaurant can also partner with local influencers and food bloggers to help promote your name to a wider audience. Social media platforms are also perfect for creating and sharing promotional content with the local Atlanta audience. 

3. Geo-Targeted Advertising

Geo-targeted advertising means promoting a product or service to a specific city or region. In this case, you’ll want to geo-target people in Atlanta and cater your restaurant marketing efforts to their needs. Geo-targeting speaks to the people within the target area on a more personal level. Directing your ads toward Atlanta locals can have a direct, positive influence on bringing in foot traffic and increasing customer count and sales.

Local ads aren’t only traditional ones like billboards and posters. Local advertising also applies to the digital space via Google (Google Ads) or Facebook ads (Facebook Ad Manager) as well as your online content. These channels help Atlanta restaurants boost their visibility on search results and maximize conversions.

4. Online Review Management

Many factors go into a customer’s decision on where to eat. Apart from your menu, you can help influence their decision by showcasing reviews or testimonials from previous customers. Reviews and testimonials give customers insight into what your restaurant is like before even going there. The more positive reviews there are, the more likely customers will flock to your restaurant.

However, remember that some negative feedback is also inevitable. Take proactive steps to address negative reviews promptly and professionally. The sooner you address such issues, the more trustworthy and credible you come across. After all, customers prefer a business that resolves issues quickly before they escalate. When you respond to negative reviews with compassion in a prompt manner, it shows you care about feedback and are committed to improvement.

Encourage restaurant goers to leave reviews and ask for feedback on how to improve your services, as well. Reviews and feedback can help you identify common issues that arise that you may not have noticed otherwise.

Call Today for More Marketing Tips for Atlanta Restaurants

All restaurants strive to achieve success in a highly competitive market, and one of the ways to do that is to hire a fractional CMO. Seeking help from an Atlanta digital marketing agency can benefit any business seeking growth and increased customer satisfaction.

Here at Digital Authority Partners, our fractional CMOs are some of the best in the business. With years of experience and successful case studies to back us up, you can rely on our tried-and-true marketing tips for Atlanta restaurants.

Contact us today to set up a free consultation with an FCMO in your area.