The restaurant industry is a notoriously competitive place. In fact, about 60% of restaurants fail within a year, and 80% close within five years. While those numbers are certainly daunting, the restaurant industry is not going anywhere.
If you are determined to ensure the long-term success of your restaurant, you need to have a marketing strategy in place. With all the competition, however, you can’t necessarily rely on traditional marketing techniques. It may be time to start thinking outside the box and incorporate SMS marketing into your business strategy.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS Marketing allows your customers to opt-in to receive promotions, offers and business news via text message. You will be able to build your list and communicate back and forth with customers by investing in a business texting service.
Not only is SMS marketing a direct line of communication, but this form of business texting also boasts some of the highest open and engagement rates of any marketing tool. In fact, the engagement rates of SMS marketing are six to eight times higher than that of email marketing.
That probably brings us to your next question:
How can my restaurant use SMS marketing?
- Send business updates, such as new menu items.
Business texting is a great way to keep customers up to date on what’s going on with your business. Restaurants can take advantage of this in a lot of different ways!
For example, you could inform your customers of a new menu item that they just have to try. About 30-35% of customers will be motivated to visit your restaurant just to try new menu items.
You could incentivize them to come visit you around holidays, as well. Mother’s Day, for instance, is notoriously wild for restaurants. Encourage your customers to come eat at your restaurant, and not your competitors’, by keeping them in-the-loop of anything special you are doing for that day.
You could even utilize SMS marketing to inform customers of your weekly specials, especially if those items are meals that you do not usually offer. Use this message to remind them of your business hours or encourage them to visit your website, as well.
As you have probably already figured out, your options for use of SMS marketing are pretty unlimited with a little creativity. It is important to remember, however, to not spam your customers with messages. Pick one or two updates to regularly send your customers and be sure to send them at appropriate times of day. After all, your customers likely aren’t coming to dine in the middle of the night anyway.
- Send exclusive coupons and limited time offers.
After your customers hand over their valued phone number, you can start sending them exclusive offers and coupons. It’s important, however, that you are not offering these things to everyone. Otherwise, what’s the customer’s motivation to continue receiving texts from your restaurant?
SMS marketing is also a great way to send limited time offers. After all, consumers are more likely to open texts before any other form of mobile communication. These types of offers will undoubtedly drive orders to your restaurant. In fact, out of store, on-demand coupons have redemption rates of 30-50%.
- Start a loyalty program.
Loyalty programs are great ways to not only reward customers for their patronage, but also to keep them coming back for more time and again! The old-school version of this would be signing customers up and giving them a punch-card to present each time they dine at your restaurant. Once they’ve racked up ten visits, for example, they receive their free offer.
Nowadays, you can utilize business texting in much the same way. Start tracking participating customers’ visits through their phone number using a points system, and reward them after reaching the specified amount of points. You can encourage customers to join your loyalty program when they visit your restaurant or website.
Loyalty programs are a great way to utilize business texting, as well as increase customer retention and build brand loyalty.
- Answer frequently asked questions.
Many business texting services allow you to set up automated responses to frequently asked questions. Even if you have only been running your restaurant for a short amount of time, you can probably rattle off five commonly asked questions off the top of your head.
Repeatedly answering the same questions over and over while also performing other tasks can be frustrating to your staff, as well. Picture this: it’s a busy Saturday night in your restaurant. Your host is constantly answering the phone while also running the cash register, seating incoming guests and handing out to-go orders. No one is getting the customer service they expect because your staff members are just too busy. Some level of this is expected, by staff and diners alike, especially when things are getting hectic, but there may be a better way.
If you had business texting set up, for example, the customers who may normally call to ask questions could text you instead. If they have simple inquiries, such as hours of operation or how to make a reservation, you can set up your system to send automated replies. Your customers’ experience will be more satisfactory, and your staff will be less stressed. Well… at least a little bit less.
- Staff communication.
Implementing a business texting service is also a great way to streamline communication within your restaurant.
Anyone who runs a restaurant knows all too well the frequency with which they find themselves needing to cover shifts. If you need to cover a last-minute shift, you can use texts to quickly contact all your employees at once. You can even segment your lists between front and back of house. Or between bartenders and servers. You can get as specific as your business needs!
You can also use this type of bulk messaging to send general schedule updates, such as time-off approvals or denials and new schedule releases. A lot of restaurant employees are also required to perform periodic trainings, such as sexual harassment or TIPS training. You can keep them updated on their training requirements through text.
Again, the options are limitless and so are the benefits! This streamlined communication can keep all your employees on the same page and your restaurant running smoothly. Ready to get started with an SMS marketing platform that will streamline communication and increase revenue for your restaurant? Start our free SMS marketing trial today!
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