Marketing
You do not need an ad budget. You need to show up on Google, have happy customers and ask them to spread the word.
The most important things are free: a complete Google Business Profile with photos, correct opening hours and replies to every review. Add clear signs, a good offer the first week and your own ordering channel – then you have more marketing than most pizzerias.
Google is your most important sign
When someone is hungry they search "pizza" on their phone. The pizzeria that shows up with good photos and good ratings wins. Set up the profile before you open – it takes one evening.
- Create a Google Business Profile – free
- Fill in everything: opening hours, phone, menu, photos
- Upload real photos of your pizzas, taken in daylight
- Link to your ordering page so people can order right away
- Wrong opening hours are the worst mistake – showing closed on Google = lost customers
Reviews – your new reputation
Reply to every review, kind ones and angry ones. Short and friendly. A good reply to an angry review impresses more than ten five-star ratings.
- Ask happy customers for a review – a sign by the till with a QR code is enough
- Reply within a day or so
- A problem someone points out: fix it and say it is fixed
- Never buy reviews. It shows, and Google punishes it.
Own your customers – turn them into regulars
The apps take a fee every time the same customer orders. Better: get customers to order directly from you. Your own ordering page, through Lumit for example, makes the regulars yours, not the app's. Put a note in every box: "Order directly from us next time".
- Stamp card: every tenth pizza free – simple and loved
- A note in the box with a QR code to your own ordering page
- Remember the regulars' names. It beats all advertising.
The tools that are enough
Three things to set up, in this order:
Google Företagsprofil
Most importantYour free sign on Google and Google Maps. The single most important piece of marketing a pizzeria has.
Visit sitePhotograph pizzas straight out of the oven and post them. Tag your town. Two posts a week is enough.
Visit siteCanva
DesignMake flyers, signs and posts yourself with ready-made templates. Free for most things.
Visit siteCommon questions
Should I pay for ads on Google or Facebook?
Not at the start. The free basics give you more: a complete Google profile, good photos and reviews. Ads can be worth it later, once you know everything else works.
How do I get more reviews?
Ask! Most happy customers are glad to write one, they just need a reminder. A small sign with a QR code by the till and a line on the receipt goes a long way.
Does the pizzeria need its own website?
You need one place online with the menu, opening hours and ordering. Your own ordering page, for example through Lumit, solves that. The most important thing is that the Google profile points to the right place.
Visible on Google? Open up for orders.
Foodora, Wolt, Uber Eats – and your own channel. How to choose right.