Restaurant Spotlight — Free Program

Get your restaurant in front of 50,000 Marylanders.

Promote your specials, get a free listing, and have your video posted to our 50K following every month — all for one short clip from your phone.

  • Free listing + your specials promoted
  • A monthly Collab post on our 50K feed
  • Live within 48 hours — no fee, no contract
Claim your free spot
50K+
Social followers
across Maryland
500+
Local businesses
in the network
23
Counties covered
statewide
10M+
Views delivered
in Q1 2026
Here's the deal

A fair trade, not a sales pitch

We grow by featuring great Maryland restaurants. You grow by being featured. Simple.

You get

A free listing & real exposure

  • Live directory listing — found by customers across all 23 Maryland counties
  • Showcase your specials — your daily deals posted to the Maryland Specials feed people check to pick where to eat tonight
  • Monthly Collab post — your video posts to your account and our 50K feed at once
  • Member window decal — a "Local Business Member" sticker for your door
The Collab post is the big one. Your content reaches our whole following — you don't have to grow your own account first.
⇄
You give

One short video a month

  • A 15–60 second clip at your restaurant — the food, a special, your team, the vibe
  • Shot on your phone is perfect — no crew, no editing, no polish needed
  • Send it over — we write the caption, add hashtags, and post it for you
Send your video each month and your listing stays live and free. Miss a month, and your listing comes down until your next clip arrives.
What you get

This is your listing

A clean, mobile-ready page that shows up when Marylanders search. Here's a real one from our directory.

marylandlocalbusinesses.com/product/seacrets
Seacrets listing on Maryland Local Businesses

A real listing on our directory — see it live

How it works

Three steps. Live in 48 hours.

1

Sign up free

Fill out the short form below. We build your listing and switch on your specials slot — no payment, no contract.

2

Send a video

Each month, shoot a quick clip on your phone and send it over. We caption it, tag you, and post it on both feeds.

3

Get discovered

Your video reaches 50K+ locals, your listing pulls in nearby diners, and your specials land right where people decide where to eat tonight.

See the reach

What a few videos a month adds up to

1
video per month
12345678
12
Collab posts on our feed per year
~10K
Estimated accounts reached each month
~120K
Estimated reach over a full year

Estimated reach per Collab post (actual varies with content, timing, and season). On the Boosted plan, paid ad spend pushes each post even further.

Claim your free spot
Two ways to ride

Start free. Upgrade only if you want more.

Free gets real exposure for the cost of your time. Boosted puts our ad budget behind you.

Always free
Free Spotlight
$0 / month — rent is one video
  • Live listing in the Maryland directory
  • Your specials posted to the Maryland Specials feed
  • One Instagram Collab post a month, on both feeds
  • "Local Business Member" window decal
  • Edit your listing and specials anytime
The deal: send one short video each month for your Collab post. Keep it up and your listing stays free, for good.
Boosted
$297 / month — includes $100 in ad spend
  • Featured on the MLB homepage
  • $100/mo in paid ad spend behind your posts
  • 12 promos a year to our 50K+ following
  • 10K–20K estimated reach per boosted post
  • 3 Google Review NFC cards for your tables
  • 30-minute onboarding strategy call
  • Everything in Free Spotlight, included
No pressure to upgrade. Most start free, see the organic reach firsthand, then add Boosted when they're ready to scale.
Start free
"But what do I film?"

A good clip is easier than you think

No crew, no editing. Here's the kind of thing that works — then tap each one you could film this week.

Plate a signature dish
Show off your space
Talk to the camera
A signature dish being plated
Today's special, up close
A drink being poured or shaken
Your team doing their thing
The dining room or patio vibe
You saying what's good today
Tap the ones you could film
Good questions

The honest answers

Yes — no fee and no contract for the listing. The only thing we ask in return is one short video each month for your Collab post. That's the "rent." If you'd rather pay for more reach, the Boosted upgrade is there, but it's optional.
The video is what keeps your listing free, so it's a real requirement: if a month goes by with no clip, your listing comes down until you send your next one — then it goes right back up. We'll always remind you before that happens. Most owners find one short video a month is easy once it's part of the routine.
We do. You send the raw clip; we handle the caption, hashtags, tagging, and scheduling as an Instagram Collab so it posts to your account and ours at the same time. You just approve the Collab request on your end.
Nope — that's the point. Because it's a Collab post, your video reaches our 50K+ following no matter how many followers you have. Plenty of members started with a few hundred and used the Collab reach to grow.
Free gets you organic reach — the Collab post, your listing, your specials. Boosted is $297/mo and adds $100 in monthly ad spend behind your posts (an estimated 10K–20K reach each), a feature on our homepage, 3 Google Review NFC cards, and a 30-minute strategy call. Simply put: free uses our time, Boosted adds our money.
Genuinely none beyond the monthly video. We grow our audience by featuring great local spots, so your content helps us as much as it helps you — which is exactly why the listing can be free.
Claim your free spot