Restaurant and event marketing in Dubai

A diner choosing where to eat in Dubai can meet your restaurant in 4 places, and you control something different in each. On Google Maps it is your profile and the way you ask for reviews. In the delivery apps it is your offers and the placements you buy. On social media it is your own posts and the creators you contract. For the Dubai Calendar and DET's promotion channels it is the permit, because they open only to permitted events and promotions.

We plan the 4 together, since a diner who sees a creator's post may check your Maps profile next. The hours and the offer have to match. Paid search and social sit on top, run with the same performance marketing discipline as the rest of our digital marketing work. A group running several concepts must also decide which brand carries which name, covered in marketing several brands within a group.

Google puts its rule in a single sentence on its help page: "Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity." Distance is out of your hands, since no campaign can move your kitchen. The work goes into relevance, meaning how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for, and into the factor the same page calls prominence. Prominence "means how well-known a business is", and Google says it draws on how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have.

Google adds that "Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results", and that "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." So we keep your profile complete and correct, Ramadan hours included, and we earn links from local press and food guides, because links count towards prominence.

Reviews have their own rules. Google's Maps content policy bars merchants from offering incentives, such as payment or discounts, in exchange for a review, and from selectively soliciting positive reviews. Hence we ask every guest the same way, and we answer the poor reviews as carefully as the good ones.

The delivery aggregators sell visibility to restaurant partners. We plan only with what each partner page says is on offer:

• talabat: partners "invest in marketing" from their restaurant portal, and the partner app offers discounts and ad campaigns "to attract new customers". DineOut lists restaurants for diners who eat in and pay through talabat.
• Deliveroo: Marketer Adverts, which it calls "our native advertising solution", sit beside promotions from free delivery to Buy 1, Get 1 Free. It charges a commission on completed orders.
• Careem: 3 paid partner banners on the food page change every Monday and carry "strict brand criteria". Discounts and CPC activation go through partner support or your account manager.
• noon Food: discount campaigns, plus Search & Keyword Ads since June 2025, which "appear at the top of customer search results". Its noon Out feature targets walk-in customers.

Careem's partner FAQs add a pricing rule: a price higher than your own menu or another delivery platform "could lead to removal from the Careem platform". Hence we plan offers against a single price list.

None of these partner pages publishes a commission rate, so every plan starts from the rates in your own contracts. We set each app's discounts and placements against your margin per order, and report orders against spend through the tracking we set up first. Banner and menu imagery comes from our food photography and video production.

The National Media Authority's rule is plain: "An Advertiser Permit is required for individuals who engage in advertising activities on social media platforms, whether for financial compensation or not." Payment is not the test, and visitors need the permit too. Owners advertising a company they own from their personal accounts are exempt.

Hiring a creator brings duties of its own. The regulator's guide tells advertising entities to:

• Contract only with a permit holder listed in the public database.
• Avoid unauthorised visiting advertisers.
• Sign a written agreement with the advertiser.
• Provide a copy of that agreement to the regulator on request.

A visiting creator applies only through a licensed UAE advertising or talent management agency, and the visitor permit costs AED 500 for 3 months.

Food ads count as specialised ads, which need prior approval under the guide and under Article 33 of Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024, the Media Law's executive regulation. The same article requires every ad to be clearly identified as an ad, and the advertiser to disclose any material return from a commercial relationship. So each creator brief records the permit number and the disclosure wording, and nothing is posted before the approval is in place.

We run creator partnerships on those terms, alongside the social accounts we manage for you. Licensed venues face much stricter limits, set out in our compliance guide for nightlife and beach clubs.

Event marketing in Dubai runs on DET permits, which DET requires of "any venue or organiser who wishes to organise entertainment, sport, charity, religious or business events". The steps, with the timings DET itself states:

• e-Permits registration is open only to companies holding a Dubai trade licence, and is approved within 24 hours. The licence must be valid for at least 4 weeks before the event starts.
• An event permit, applied for on e-Permits, needs the organiser's passport copy and a venue NOC. DET issues it within 5 business days of approval and payment. Free zone companies can hold events only inside free zones.
• Recurring entertainment, such as a musician, a band, shows or a temporary play area, needs an activity permit. Apply at least 1 working day ahead, and it runs for up to 3 months.
• An event run on tickets, registrations, invitations or guest lists, free or paid, needs a Ticketed Event permit and then ticketing approval, processed within 24 hours. Filing within 24 hours of the event adds a fee.
• A promotion during a festival, including a raffle or a contest, needs a certificate of participation from Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), applied for on DET Connect. Restaurants holding a valid DET or free zone trade licence are eligible, and processing takes 3 to 5 business days, longer for some types.

The event permit and the DFRE certificate each open a marketing channel. A permitted event can be listed on the official Dubai Calendar, and DET says approved promotions are showcased "through DET's targeted marketing channels". We build both into the plan, because each comes with its permit.

Physical advertising needs its own permit under Dubai Decree No. 6 of 2020, whose advertising spaces reach as far as public beaches and boats. Arabic text must occupy at least 50% of the advertising medium. Websites and social media fall outside the decree and under the federal media rules.

Ramadan planning starts from what the government publishes. The UAE government portal says non-Muslims are not required to fast, and that some restaurants adjust their hours or close during the day but "open fully at Iftar". Visit Dubai, DET's own site, says restaurants operate as normal and those not fasting can eat and drink during the day. During Ramadan, UAE labour law cuts working hours by 2 hours a day.

The dates depend on the sighting of the moon, hence a Ramadan campaign keeps its start date open until the announcement. We plan iftar offers and the delivery calendar around the shorter working day, and update your Maps hours before the first evening.

The national media content standards apply to every advertisement in every month, including the rule that ads must not offend the prevailing values in society.