Effective restaurant marketing depends on marketing trends that are constantly evolving. Hence, it is important to understand how marketing trends affect your marketing efforts. Today, 90% of people research a restaurant before dining or ordering food. This proves that restaurant marketing is not an option anymore. It is a necessity.
But where do we start? What are the strategies that we should include in our restaurant marketing campaign?
Here are some restaurant marketing tips that might just boost your restaurant marketing strategy!
1) Data Collection For Customer Behavior Tracking
Data on customer behavior can help you better analyze your marketing results. For restaurants and eateries, visitation behavior is extremely important. This is the data that tells us where and when the customers choose to eat. This information can help you strategize your marketing campaigns. Moreover, it will make you better equipped to face competition.
Furthermore, you can analyze data collected through open sources and social media interactions. You may also take the help of a software that can generate customer behavior data.
Additionally, you may consider employing various services that track and analyze customer interaction. You can track demographic, usage, and customer engagement statistics to identify marketing pain points. For example, a café that operates in many countries can benefit from data that tracks coffee consumption by country.
2) Interactive Content
An interactive social media strategy is imperative. It is not enough to simply be active on your various social media platforms. You must create a strategy that allows you to interact with your customers.
You may use interactive content types like quizzes, calculators, contests, etc. to entice customers. They can help you collect a lot of additional customer data and increase brand awareness. In fact, interactive content is known for increased customer engagement.
For instance, a quiz like this can be used by McDonald’s to promote new additions to their menu:
3) Limited Time Offers
Limited-time offers or LTOs are a great way of creating social media buzz. You can sell special or seasonal menu items for the same. You can also choose to sell customer favorites and best-sellers as limited-time offers.
An excellent example of a viral LTO is . Naturally, it prompted customers to share photos online. It became a legendary marketing strategy because it generated so much free advertising for Starbucks. In fact, it was so successful that it increased Starbucks ‘ stock value.
4) Customer engagement with UGC
You can promote your restaurant brand by re-purposing customer social media posts and reviews. This is called the strategy of UGC or user-generated content. It includes videos, testimonials, and photos generated about your restaurant.
Social media posts that utilize user-generated content enjoy 28% more engagement. They provide social proof that the claims you make in your ads are true.
You can find UGCs in review sites like Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, Foursquare, and Facebook. Moreover, they are available on social media platforms. Some companies include it in their blogs as well.
The Tuco and Blondie restaurant in Chicago has a very Instagrammable mural. It gathered a lot of user-generated content for the eatery through lively Instagram posts.
Pro Tip: Always ask the original user for permission before you re-purpose any content for marketing. Furthermore, to encourage UGC creation, you can conduct photo ops at your restaurant and ask customers to include your social media information and hashtags. You may offer freebies or discounts as incentives for these posts and reviews. Finally, you can also create photo contests and give prizes to winning entries.
5) Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs can help you engage with customers and gather behavior data. You can offer discounts and promotions to loyal customers. In turn, you can ask them for their contact information.
In fact, you can offer incentives on the spot to garner more sign-ups. This could be a free side dish, a drink, or a discount on their bill. After all, immediate gratification entices customers to join.
You can then use their contact details for an email or SMS marketing campaign. This can be used to invite them to events, promotions, and other VIP benefits.
The loyalty program offered by Starbucks is a great example of the same. It is convenient as it does not use the cumbersome membership cards. Moreover, it does not have any sign-in requirements. The Starbucks app made it easier for loyal customers to rack up points. Most importantly, it helped Starbucks to collect customer data and behavior for marketing purposes.
6) Right Personalization And Segmentation
Email segmentation is very effective in gaining loyal customers, building better relationships, and increasing profits.
Targeted and segmented emails account for roughly 58% of revenues. If you personalize your emails, you can drive more engagement. Moreover, segmented emails increase email open rates; receive 100.95% higher clicks, and encourage future engagement.
Once you have segmented your emails, you can create an exclusive list for loyal customers. After all, it is easier to sell to existing customers than new ones. Secondly, you can target your local community. Finally, you can offer discounts on targeted items that your customers love.
Your customers will love your personalization efforts because it proves to your customers that you care!
Restaurant marketing has often been deemed as ‘tricky’. We hope that this article armed you with just the right marketing information to turn those obstacles into treats!
Did we miss out on any major restaurant marketing tips? Let us know your thoughts on the same! We are always eager to learn! 🙂
