Thursday, 11 October 2012

Effective Text Marketing for Restaurants

In the Restaurant business, the main objective by implementing Text Marketing strategies is to bring in new business, and keep current customers coming back. The right marketing technique will keep a dining room full, with chattering patrons. A restaurant is a social environment after all - therefore marketing efforts should reflect this. There are a few Restaurant Text Marketing ideas to focus on in particular.

Experience. As a restaurant owner, you may not think “building your brand” applies to you, as you don’t have a specific product you are trying to sell – however this is not the case. You are selling a dining experience. People pay a lot of money for this, on a regular basis. They celebrate occasions, conduct business meetings, or simply catch up with friends. The reason someone will return to your restaurant is because they enjoyed their experience. This experience is made up of a few different aspects – service, ambiance, and of course, food! Remaining consistent with these factors, will set you up for marketing success from the start.

More and more restaurants are using social media platforms to get their name out there. Social media is all about creating hype, or a buzz – people communicate with their friends using this method on a regular basis, therefore why not connect with the establishments they frequent? For a business to set up a Facebook or Twitter account is a good step toward creating a “face” for the restaurant. Having brand images go over well, especially since you can directly interact with customers, and receive some valuable insight about what people “like” and don’t like. Feedback is always useful, a restaurant needs to make a point to evolve, and stay fresh. Change the menu, update the drink list, add a few desserts, switch around seating arrangements, experiment with lighting or music . . . etc. Every industry is different, however restaurants are good fit for social media interaction.

To compliment this media, Text Marketing plays a major role. Text message marketing is current, yet common enough where everyone knows how it works, and everyone has a phone capable of sending and receiving text messages. There are so many different types of text campaigns that encourage interaction between the business and their customers. The most effective are contests, and promotions. People see so much advertising out there, in all sorts of mediums. Running a contest feels like a sneaky way to advertise, because you are increasing awareness and publicity for your business, while involving people at the same time – and then rewarding them for their patronage. It’s a win-win situation here! Very few advertising techniques offer instant or direct benefits for customers, and this is why Text Marketing is so effective for Restaurants.

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