Setting up the online ordering and running robust online food ordering campaigns for the restaurant has become an integral step in setting up a restaurant business. Just registering your restaurant on Online Food Ordering Portals such as Swiggy, Foodpanda, Zomato, etc. is not enough, especially for small QSRs and Cloud Kitchens, whose primary revenue model is through delivery and takeaways.
With the staggering amount of competition, owing to the low barriers of entry, it is very much possible that your restaurant gets lost in the sea of discounts offered by other food outlets. However, offering discounts is not just the only way to boost your online orders. Here comes the importance of running a successful restaurant online food ordering campaign. You can use digital marketing to your advantage and run smart campaigns to increase sales. Read on to find out how!
How To Run a Profitable Online Food Ordering Campaign for your Restaurant
With so many restaurants in the F&B space, who are all striving hard to make their presence felt, if you follow your routine, you will be left behind. Hence, push your bars further and try these useful tips to increase your online orders and make your online food ordering campaign a success!
1. Social Media Marketing
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have become the buzzwords of social media marketing. Ask anyone how to promote your business on social media, and they’ll instantly quip out words like Facebook Page, Sponsored Posts, and encourage check-ins. While these are indeed some of the essentials of social media marketing, you need to come up with a smart strategy to attract customers.
- Making the most of the cover photos- Creating GIFs/pictures that directly points at a call-to-action and focuses on propagating the online food delivery for your food chain.
- Facebook posts, Tweets, and Instagram pictures all explicitly advocating about your online food ordering facility with an active link to your website or mobile app that redirects to the online food ordering landing page.
- With Facebook limiting the reach of posts, you can leverage Food Groups to reach out to your target audience.
2. Email Marketing
Email marketing has an ROI of around a whopping 4,300%, which makes it one of the strongest contenders for online marketing. Promotional emails advocating your online food ordering services with apt subjects and relevant call-to-action can work wonders.
Make ample use of the CRM database for running targeted marketing campaigns and send customized emails to customers to order more online. Publicize your restaurant deals through emails. Add exclusive customer-centric discounts or offers like- ‘A special 20% discount just for you on your first online order’ or ‘Get a free coke on your first online order’ that make your customers feel loved because a “happy customer is a loyal customer.”
Try this ultimate guide to Restaurant Email Marketing
3. Promotion On The Website and App
Of course, your official SEO optimized website is an extremely resourceful channel to promote your online food ordering facility. To the point, catchy GIFs on your landing page that share the news about your hottest new venture can surely be an excellent idea.
- Make sure that the widget for Online Ordering is clearly displayed on your website.
- Include clear Call-to-Actions, especially on your menu page and gallery page to ensure that your customers don’t lose interest.
- If you have your Online Ordering App, you can send push notifications to your customers. Remind them now and then that their favorite meal is just a click away!
4. Paid Advertising
A little investment for long-term profit has never been a disappointment. Here are some ways you shell out a few pennies to see the pennies manifold.
a) Display advertising is that one friend who refuses to leave your side even if you ask them to. Through Digital advertising, customers will get to see images featuring your online food ordering advertisement even when they are not actively searching for your restaurant or even food for that matter. Display advertisements are PPC (Pay-per-click), which means you have to pay for the advertisement only if the customer clicks on the picture to be redirected to your online food ordering landing page.
b) Print Media, Television, and Radio can be excellent resources if you have some extra rupees. You can connect with a media/PR agency that helps you come up with grand plans to reach out to your target audience.
c) Outdoor Advertising such as Billboards advertisements is again a viable but heavy-on-the-pocket way to reach out to people.
d) Digital Printing and Flyers advertising can be used for in-store advertising as well as be used to reach out to masses via newspapers. You can contact newspaper vendors and become friends with benefits with them, ensuring your flyers are successfully getting attached to the newspapers being sent out.
Considering that online sales are bringing a significant portion of the restaurant’s profit, it makes it all the more imperative for restaurants to craft stellar online food ordering campaigns. Hence keep the above-mentioned marketing tips in mind and implement them diligently to see how it increases your overall sales. Happy Campaigning!