Big chain restaurants dominate the mass market when it comes to advertising – a fact of life that can sometimes make it difficult for smaller independent operations to be heard among all the songs about baby back ribs. Launching a restaurant marketing campaign for an independent means less money to spend and more to lose if the campaign doesn’t drive more business.


More and more independents have found success by marketing themselves with an edgy campaign that grabs as much free attention in the press as possible and gets people talking. Being a little controversial has the added benefit of grabbing the attention of younger customers, who are capable of spreading the word very quickly through word-of-mouth and social media.

Of course, one billboard on a busy street isn’t much of a marketing campaign these days. Independent restaurants are forced to devote bigger and bigger budgets to their marketing campaigns in an age when advertisements are everywhere. That can be a scary proposition for a small or medium restaurant, but the payoff can also be huge if your campaign catches on.

One key to that success is hitting multiple channels with your message. If you’re going to spend the money and the time to develop a marketing campaign you hope will take your town by storm, then don’t sell it short by sticking to “old media” – newspapers, radio, TV, etc. There are many more channels out there that can be very effective, especially online. Don’t ignore email, social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and websites, particularly your own.

A successful campaign will bring a lot of new business into your restaurant, which is exactly what you want. On the other hand, you don’t want all those new customers coming in and finding something different than the image your marketing campaign portrayed. The trick is to create a message that really stands out but that doesn’t change the fundamental culture of your business.