How some Towson restaurants are using a local news site to stay busy this year

^{About the Author:
Chris Forhan is publisher of the Towson Torch, an online local news site created in 2024 as a result of a lack of positive news coverage in the Towson area. The Towson Torch has become a trusted source of great information, businesses and events taking place in Towson and across Baltimore County.}

With students home for the summer and local residents away for vacations, the Summer can be a challenging time for some restaurants in Towson and Baltimore County.

Yet many restaurant owners will spend the summer doing what they've always done: boosting social posts, running digital ads, and hoping more impressions or views somehow translate into more customers.

The problem?

Most consumers have become remarkably good at ignoring advertisements.

If your marketing looks like advertising, there's a good chance it gets treated like advertising.

That's why some of the most successful Towson area restaurants this summer will shift their budgets away from traditional promotion and toward something customers still actively engage with: local news content.

For years, restaurant marketing has focused on interruption.

An ad appears in a social feed.
A banner appears on a website.
A promotional offer appears before a video

The challenge is that consumers have trained themselves to tune those messages out.

As a result, restaurant owners often end up measuring vanity metrics such as:

But those metrics don't necessarily translate into:

The businesses winning today aren't simply getting seen.

They're becoming part of conversations people are already having.

People don't seek out advertisements.

They seek out information.

They want answers to questions like:

When restaurants help answer those questions through trusted local media, they stop competing for attention and start earning it.

That's where local news becomes a powerful marketing channel.

Instead of pushing a sales message, local news content positions your restaurant as the solution to a problem readers are already trying to solve.

In a recent Pew Research survey 67% of US Adults say they trust content from local news sites, while only 15% of US Adults trust what they see on Social Media.

Summer creates countless opportunities for restaurants.

Graduation celebrations.
Sports banquets.
Family gatherings.
Tourists exploring Towson
Families visiting Towson University and Goucher
Professionals looking for networking venues.
Parents searching for activities during school break.

Each of these audiences is actively looking for recommendations.

The restaurants that show up with helpful, locally relevant content have a significant advantage over those relying solely on ads.

This may sound counterintuitive, but the highest-performing content rarely focuses on the restaurant itself.

Instead, it focuses on a customer problem.

For example:

People assume parking in Towson is difficult.

Believe It or Not, It's Actually Easy to Park at Bread & Circuses in Towson

Baltimore County residents think they need to drive downtown for great Chinese food,
and they are avoiding the City.

You Don't Have to Go Into Baltimore to Find Baltimore's Best Chinese Food

The way people discover restaurants is changing.

Instead of simply searching "restaurants near me," consumers are asking more specific questions through Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI-powered search tools.

Search engines increasingly reward:

This creates a major opportunity for restaurants.

A sponsored article published through a trusted local news source (like the Towson Torch) often has a much longer lifespan than a traditional ad campaign.

While an advertisement stops working the moment the budget ends, an article can continue generating traffic and customers for months or even years.

The best restaurant marketing today isn't just promotional.

It's searchable.

One challenge many coaches and team parents face each summer is planning end-of-season celebrations.

Managing large groups, entertaining kids, and coordinating food can quickly become stressful.

Rather than create a traditional advertisement, The Towson Torch partnered with CVP Towson to publish an article focused on solving that problem.

The article highlighted why teams were choosing CVP and explained how the venue eliminated many of the headaches associated with organizing group events.

The result was more than ten new team parties booked during July and August, generating over $5,000 in revenue directly attributable to the article.

More importantly, the content continues generating visibility long after publication.

That's the difference between renting attention and owning content.

As pictured below, CVP Towson was able to capitlalize on very specific searches coming from AI and Search Engines, that benefit their business.

The most successful restaurant marketing campaigns this summer will follow a simple formula:

What misconception, frustration, or question do potential customers have?
(we will help you discover a problem that if solved will generate business)

Develop a useful article that provides genuine value.
(we will help you do this)

Leverage the credibility and audience trust that local media has already built.
(locals trust the Towson Torch, visitors trust the third party validation we bring)

Newsletter placement.
Social media.
Website features.
Restaurant guides.
Search engines.
AI search tools.

Unlike an advertisement, great content keeps attracting customers long after it's published.

This summer, restaurants have a choice.

They can continue competing for attention with advertisements that consumers increasingly ignore.

Or they can become part of the local conversations people are already having.

The restaurants that win won't necessarily have the largest advertising budgets.

They'll be the ones providing the most useful answers.

And increasingly, local news is where those answers are being found.

Total Monthly Reach = 20,000 - 25,000 people will see your content each month.

Campaign Length: 3 months (although the article lives online forever)

Total value: $2,450

Summer Restaurant Promotion Package Price: $1,500 total 

Investment Just $500/mo

Contact us now to get a free, no obligation strategy call where we can discover what problem your restaurant can solve to bring in the customers this summer.

Offer expires June 15, 2026

Take a look in the mirror

You, yourself are the proof it works.

If you are considering hitting the button above to book a free strategy call it means that the very approach we are recommending is working on you.

You found this ARTICLE, (yes sponsored article just like we propose you use)

The article is focused on solving a specific problem that resonates with you:
(slow summer months/outdated ways to advertise)

You learned something perhaps a new way to solve the problem by taking a different approach and implementing a unique strategy.

You have nothing to lose by taking the free strategy call,
perhaps you walk away with the missing comibination you’ve needed all these years.

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Chris Forhan has lived in the Towson for the last 25 years, originally in the Pinehurst neighborhood, and now lives and works in the heart of “uptown”. Chris is a multifaceted professional and entrepreneur with an extensive track record of leadership and success in digital marketing, sales, and business development.

Prior to launching to launching the Towson Torch, Chris helped build a multi-million enewsletter business at the Baltimore Banner. He saw the opportunity to build something similar in Towson and left to go all in on the Torch! Prior to the Banner Chris built and sold his own digital marketing services businesses called TripleDouble Digital in 2021.

Some of the local restaurants Chris has worked with in his career:

Little Havana
Clark Burger
Pizza Trust
Pooles Island Brewing
Fogo De Chao
Red Pepper Bistro
Pono Taco
Sassy Skillet
Bread & Circuses
Lib’s Grill
CVP Towson