To Try Throughout 2022
Whether your shop is small and family-run, or large, and maybe one of several locations, it’s crucial to have a solid marketing strategy to catch the attention of potential customers. With today’s technology and tools, there are several avenues you can take to better your shop’s marketing, reputation, customer loyalty, and revenue. In this quick blog, we’ll go through 5 of them – and how you can use them for your shop.
1. Social Media Engagement
Not on social platforms? Now’s the time to get on them. In today’s culture, you simply can’t afford to be off the grid – and if you’re not on social, you may as well be. On Instagram alone, there are more than 200 million posts tagged as “food” and around 23 million food and drink related hashtags. And, over the past 12 months, the number of active social media users increased by more than 400 million, an addition of 9.9%, for a new total of 4.55 billion users. On any social platform, you can not only share your products and offerings, but can interact with customers, answer questions, pose questions, get feedback, and build a community.
The key with social media isn’t the number of accounts you make of the various platforms, but about how you then manage those accounts. It’s much better to just use Instagram if you use it thoroughly and effectively, instead of having profiles on all platforms, but never use them. To learn more on how to manage your social profiles, check out some key tools, here.
2. Content
Market to your audience not just by giving them generic content – but the content they didn’t know they needed. Try to enhance your website, flyers, and other marketing pieces with content that’s relevant to or may spark interest in your customers. That could be anything from your shop’s history, beliefs and values, new dishes, updates, or new technological advancements (for instance, ordering enhancements or delivery changes) that customers can use. Content marketing can boost your shop’s organic search, and be a great way to send brand messages to your target audience without explicitly contacting them.
3. Promotions & Discounts
A big differentiator for your shop among competitors could be your offers and discounts. Customers love to feel involved, important, and treated in a “special” way, and promotional offers, especially personalized ones, do just that. They’re a great way to both attract new customers and bring back past ones.
So, when are some good times to offer promotions? You can offer them anytime, really, but if you want to make a customer feel seen and special, try sending out promotional offers on holidays, birthdays, or anniversaries of any kind. And, try incorporating their favorite menu items, favorite days to come in, or new dishes they’d be excited to try.
In a National Restaurant Association (NRA) study, 42% of millennials said they’d be willing to pay to take part in a loyalty program that guaranteed online reservations on busy days, discounts on specific items, or skip-the-line privileges. Try sending offers like this through direct mail, on social media, or in-store. To learn more on best practices for implementing offers and coupons, click here.
4. In-Person & Online Menu Design
According to OpenTable, 93% of people view menus online prior to dining out. Optimizing your menu is one of the most important ways you can market to your audience, because, you definitely don’t want to scare away or disinterest customer before they even set foot into your shop.
A good menu (with quality messaging, photography, and design) allows your business to provide customers with one of the most important pieces of information – what they can eat at your restaurant. Furthermore, a good digital restaurant menu gives your customers visibility of your offerings from anywhere, at any time, and can be used on several different marketing channels, if not all of them.
But – if you do have an online menu, make sure your menu’s accurate and always kept up-to-date. There’s nothing worse than seeing a dish you love on the online menu only to find that it’s no longer offered. Additionally, make sure your digital menu is easily accessible, because if not, your potential customer will likely get frustrated, lose interest, and order from a competitor.
So, how can you make sure your digital menu is used on every marketing piece and platform? URLs, PURLs (Personalized URLs), and QR codes. QR codes are specifically a great way to share your menu efficiently and quickly. To learn more about different ways to incorporate QR codes that are eye-catching and effective, check out our blog, here.
5. Delivery Service Partnerships
It’s no secret that a lot of online orders these days are made on and delivered by services like Uber Eats, Door Dash, Postmates, GrubHub, and others. If you choose to partner with these services, they can give your shop a much larger opportunity to gain customers. Offering your services on a widely used platform puts your shop at an advantage among competitors.
Not to mention, especially since the pandemic, people enjoy and sometimes prefer ordering in, so much so that in a recent study, 56% of consumers reported having restaurant food delivered so that they don’t have to leave their home. Plus, 87% of Americans who use third-party food delivery services agree that they make their lives easier.
How can you showcase these services? Again, with QR codes or URLs, or PURLs.
Next time you’re considering trying some new marketing tools and techniques, think about using one, two, or maybe even all five of these. The key to effective, ROI-producing marketing is knowing your shop’s weaknesses and goals, and basing your tactics around them. Ready to explore different pizza shop marketing opportunities? Reach out to our experts, today!
