4 Tips for Refreshing Your Restaurant Marketing Efforts

If you're having trouble filling seats in your restaurant, maybe your marketing campaign needs a refresh. Changing up your marketing campaign and pursuing new methods of reaching potential customers can drastically improve your results.

Step Outside the Box

Not the take-out box, of course, but the marketing box.

Depending on where you run your restaurant, you might have dozens of nearby competitors. In big cities, you can find a restaurant every few yards.

How do you compete against all that noise? You must develop a marketing strategy that helps you stand out from the crowd.

Let's start with some raw numbers, though. According to a recent National Restaurant Association report, restaurant sales grew by 5 percent in 2016 alone. That's a tremendous gain for restaurateurs who take advantage of marketing opportunities. Total sales for the restaurant reached nearly $800 billion.

So how do you get a piece of that pie?

Reach Your Customers Quickly and Effectively

People don't check their email as much as they used to. Some consumers even ignore social media activity.

However, 77 percent of Americans have smartphones. They're carrying around these devices all day long, just waiting to receive correspondence from you.

Essentially, you're sending targeted messages to people who provide their phone numbers. It's a form of permission marketing that can drive sales quickly and cost-effectively.

SMS marketing works well for two important reasons:

1. The customer expects to receive promotions and other correspondence from your brand; and
2. You can encourage people to patronize your restaurant right when they're looking for somewhere to eat.

Think about it: When do people look for restaurants?

Some consumers might eat on non-traditional schedules, but most people start looking for food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time.

If you time your text message marketing to correspond with those times, in your time zone, you stand to gain considerable sales.

Add a Few Ingredients to the Mix

How well do SMS marketing campaigns work? It depends. You need a strategy that will appeal to your target demographic and encourage people to reserve tables at your restaurant or pull up to the window at your drive-thru.

• Offer irresistible temptation. Just like your food, you want your text messages to become impossible to ignore. Try coupons and other promotions that bring people in.
• Build brand signals. People get lots of text messages. Help yours stand out by branding them with signature imagery, logos, taglines, and copy.
• Encourage sharing. Anyone can forward a text message to anyone else. Ask your subscriber base to let their friends know about your SMS marketing program.
• Move offline. You can promote your SMS marketing campaign on your website, social media, and other digital assets. But don't forget about your physical assets. Advertise the campaign signage in your restaurant to encourage sign-ups when people stop for a bite.

Refreshing your restaurant marketing campaign doesn't have to involve a social media overhaul or a website redesign. Instead, think about ways to branch out from traditional marketing channels. EZ Texting offers the world's most effective SMS marketing tool — and it's super affordable. Don't believe us? Sign up for free.