Restaurant marketing in Denver is mostly won close to home. Many people choose where to eat on their phones, close to where they are, on the strength of a map listing, a handful of photos and the reviews. This page sets out where a restaurant’s marketing effort pays, and the rules that trip up restaurants most often.
Marketing Company Denver is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
Your Google listing comes first
For a restaurant, the Google Business Profile can be the first and only page a guest sees before they arrive. Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and popularity. Distance you cannot change: a restaurant on a corner in Highland is close to the people in Highland. Relevance and popularity you can work on.
- Relevance: the right category, chosen as specifically as possible. Google says “Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business” and “Do not use categories solely as keywords.”
- Your real name: as it appears on your sign and menu, without added words like “best tacos Denver”.
- Complete details: hours, including changes, menu link, photos of the food and the room, and what you offer.
- One profile per location: if you have two restaurants, each has its own.
Reviews: the rules restaurants break most
Restaurants live on reviews, and the temptation to nudge them is strong. Google’s Maps policy does not allow offering “incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services – in exchange for posting any review.” A free dessert for a review is exactly that. Nor may you ask only happy guests for reviews while steering unhappy ones away, which Google calls selectively soliciting positive reviews.
The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, in effect since October 21, 2024, bans fake reviews and offering anything in exchange for a review that expresses a particular sentiment. Owners and managers posting reviews of their own restaurant without clearly disclosing the relationship is also banned. The safe habit is simple: ask every guest for an honest review, offer nothing for it, and reply politely to the bad ones.
Want a plan for your restaurant’s listing, reviews and social? Send the form for a free proposal.
Social: show the food
Social media suits restaurants better than most businesses: food photographs well and people share it. A social plan for a Denver restaurant usually means regular posts and short video of dishes, specials and the room, and paid posts aimed at people nearby. If you invite creators to eat in exchange for posts, the FTC says the connection, including free food, must be disclosed clearly in the post. More on the rules on the social media marketing page.
Ads, when they make sense
Search ads can put a restaurant in front of people searching nearby, and you set the daily budget yourself. They tend to make most sense for catering, private dining and events, where one booking is worth a lot. Ask an agency to explain where it would spend and why before any money goes out. The advertising agency in Denver page covers how Google Ads works.
The website still matters
Guests want the menu, the hours, the address and a way to book or order, quickly, on a phone. A restaurant site that does those four things well beats a beautiful one that hides the menu in a file nobody can open. See web design in Denver.
Several locations, one brand
A restaurant group with places in different parts of Denver needs one Google Business Profile per location, each with its own hours, photos and reviews, and a page on the website for each. Google does not allow more than one profile for each location, and copying one location’s details onto another confuses guests. Ask an agency how it will keep each location’s listing accurate as menus and hours change.
Questions to ask a restaurant marketing agency
- Will my Google profile stay in my name?
- How will you get more honest reviews without offering anything for them?
- Who takes the food photos, and how often?
- How will creators’ posts be disclosed?
- What will you report each month?
Questions people ask
How do restaurants get found on Google Maps?
Through a complete, accurate Google Business Profile. Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking.
Can I offer a discount for a Google review?
No. Google’s Maps policy bans incentives such as discounts or free items in exchange for a review, and FTC rules ban paying for reviews that express a set opinion.
Do food influencers need to disclose a free meal?
Yes. The FTC treats free product as a material connection that must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
Is Marketing Company Denver a restaurant marketing agency?
No. Marketing Company Denver is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
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