Sure, who doesn’t love to see the dancing hamburger on the street corner vying for your attention? But does the dancing hamburger really entice you to pull in or better yet, turn you into a repeat customer? Most likely the answer is no. In today’s fast-paced world restaurateurs have to work smarter and market harder to earn your business the first time and more importantly keep you coming back. So how do they do it? Many business owners hand out coupons at office parks, offer a drawing for a free lunch, and of course place that wacky hamburger on the street corner. But is there a better, more efficient way to reach out to customers today? In this high tech, fast paced world, email and cell phones are king. For restaurateurs, it is priceless to be able to text high value marketing messages to their customer base that puts the information in the customer’s hand at the point of decision.
Here are some helpful tips when considering a text based marketing program for your restaurant:
- Push relevant messages to your customers
- Be sure your information is inline with your overall marketing strategy and goals.
- Don’t over text your customers
- Not everyone has an unlimited text plan… One text message per week should be the max you’re sending out. You can strategically send out more around the holiday season, grand openings or a special promotion, but keep it to the exception rather than the rule.
- Text to Opt-ins only
- Make sure you are texting to customers who want to receive your messages. Also, make it easy for customers to opt-out as well.
- Add coupons and deals to your messages
- To gauge a response try adding an incentive to your text such as “Free Appetizer” or “Free large drink with combo purchase.” This way you can see how many customers are not only reading but responding to your new marketing efforts.
There are so many new marketing techniques out there today. And as the push to “Go Green” becomes more popular, traditional paper coupons will become a thing of the past.
What new marketing techniques are you trying in your restaurant and are you seeing a bigger response to these efforts than your previous more traditional marketing efforts?
Great article! I think another idea for restaurant owners/managers is to create relationships with business owners/companies/schools/churches around their establishment, and setup some form of affinity program to entice those employees/members/faculty to become repeat customers. If I knew the restaurant across the street offered me some sort of “deal” because I worked for “such-n-such” company/school/church, I would probably frequent that establishment more. It would make me feel important. (Also, many companies lock down their Internet these days, so it would be great if that restaurants URL showed up on the companies Intranet to discuss the incentive!)
As a restaurant customer, I value the loyalty cards and frequent customer cards that eventually lead to a free meal. These are especially effective on me at lunch spots because there are very few convenient quick lunch restaurants around the office. The frequent customer cards will help make my lunch decision for me!