Today, people looking for culinary experiences have a dizzying array of choices. The digital sphere has become a new haven for foodies, allowing them to look for new dining opportunities, check menus, find discounts, and browse through websites to find their perfect match.
This means that restaurants not only have to stick out from competition within their local area but on the internet as well.
The following four powerful tips for digital restaurant marketing will help you grow your visibility in the digital restaurant space and create new revenue streams.
1. Start with Branding Your Restaurant Online
Let’s start with the fundamentals for your online presence: Design. Creating a brand identity for your restaurant will give your customers a point of differentiation from other establishments. Furthermore, a brand identity provides insights into the experience clients will receive ordering food or dining in at your restaurant.
A strong brand identity combines your menu and values with your brand’s aesthetics. Therefore, it is important to have your logo, tone, company name, and fonts defined and aligned. Also, choose your website’s colors wisely – utilizing a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80 percent.
Let’s check an example from the food industry: Green Acres shine out from other competitors with their strong branding. Selling wholesome foods such as fruit and vegetables, their logo and design aligns with their values. Promoting green, yellow, and red as their base colors, they are visually encouraging a healthy lifestyle throughout their entire online services.
2. Build an Ecommerce Application for Food Delivery
A well-designed website is a must, but unfortunately, it’s just half the battle. In the US, revenue from food delivery apps reached $26.5 billion in 2020, fueled by the pandemic forcing people to dine at home. With these sales numbers, it’s clear that an eCommerce app for food delivery is also key for restaurants.
When you are designing your food delivery app, make sure your application is user-friendly. Features of great user experience show both top-selling products and personalized recommendations, making it simple for the user to fill up their online cart.
Restaurants can add promotions and show selected products to build additional incentives for users to order from their menu. If you are looking for inspiration, visit Berkeley Bowls. Offering ‘Today’s Deals’ and special menu packages in their app – available on iOS and Android – they make sure their customers come back.
Apps can also help you to optimize your business processes and offer a seamless customer experience. To do so, your app should facilitate easy inventory management. Having a full product database allows you to keep it updated in real time when inventory changes happen.
Do you want to learn more about the requirements for building applications? Make sure you check this blog article.
3. Develop an Email Newsletter Strategy
Who thinks emails are dead? Worldwide, 4.1 billion users are estimated to use email by the end of 2021, making it one of the most valuable communication channels.
By building biweekly newsletter email campaigns, you can raise customer awareness and drive attention towards your restaurant. With newsletters, you can regularly remind your customers that it’s time for a new order, invite them to download your app or highlight news on the local restaurant scene.
Newsletters should alternate between discounts and promotions, as well as regular non-promotional news, to keep your subscribers interested and engaged.
4. Drive Unique Customer Loyalty Programs
To date, 62% of consumers share deals with their friends. This is a stepping stone to word-of-mouth marketing that can increase an establishment’s visibility immensely.
Loyalty programs have such strong marketing power for three reasons. First, because they motivate us to get engaged, second because they speak to people’s reward systems, and third, they inspire long-term commitment.
Customer loyalty programs can be facilitated with POS systems. Assessing what products your customers have acquired, your POS can automatically assign points to their accounts. Getting your customers’ data analyzed also allows you to identify their favorite dishes, preferred payment methods, or special food diets. This in return can come in handy for sending personalized messages to your most loyal clients.
Are you ready to improve your marketing strategy, attract foodies, and boost your revenue?
Then it’s high time for you to leverage Local Express, an end-to-end eCommerce platform for the food industry.