Having a robust marketing plan in place is essential for any business, and restaurants are no different. While the actual business operations inside the restaurant premises might require considerable human interactions like asking staff about the menu and bringing food online, much of the marketing to bring patrons to the restaurant can be achieved via automated systems.
Restaurant guests today are far more tech-savvy than ever before, and you can reach them faster through automated marketing plans.
Here is why you need them.
- Better Communication
Communication is the key to any business, and you can communicate with your patrons much before they have even reached your restaurant premises. You can set up an automated system to communicate via mobile apps, SMS, and email campaigns. You can make use of targeted content by using point of sale technology. It can be used to monitor customer behavior efficiently.
Automated systems answer your client’s queries or help them with troubleshooting options about questions related to your restaurant, even when you are not physically available to answer those questions. This prevents your customers from moving over to your rivals.
- Saves Times
With automated marketing plans, you would end up saving a lot of time, and in the process, money. You will spend less time answering every single email or posting updates with the system taking care of these tasks. Nor will you have to hire additional help to do it for you.
These systems use standardized procedures once you have fed information about what you need for your restaurant business. You can also keep making necessary changes to the system as your business grows.
- Reporting and Use of Analytics Tools
Not only should you invest in automated marketing plans, but you should also invest in tools that let you measure the result that you are achieving from these campaigns. You will be able to track whether your customer queries have increased in number, whether you have more bookings and if your restaurant blog posts are achieving enough views. All of these contribute to spreading the word about your restaurant, which can translate into greater revenues.
What Do You Achieve With Automated Marketing Plans for Your Restaurant?
With automated marketing in place, you are likely to achieve the following results.
- Consistent Customer Engagement
With an automated system, you can connect with your customers across multiple channels but in a more seamless manner. Once you start engaging with a customer consistently, you get to know more about their food preferences, décor choices and learn from their consumer feedback.
About 75% of patrons would come back to a restaurant where they feel the food is made just the way they like it, the menu incorporates consumer likes and dislikes, and includes loyalty programs for long-standing patrons. All of these aspects can be tracked through automated systems by way of monitoring customer online behavior.
- Reducing Error
Automated marketing plans reduce manual labor, and subsequently, manual errors. You can automate many marketing functions, which will significantly reduce errors like sending wrong over wrong menus to a particular client, answering someone else’s customer feedback, or causing delays in online communication.
Such errors can cost you revenue, and you also end up paying more people on the payroll. With automated systems, you can create a roadmap for your restaurant by sifting through tons of data in very little time.
- Customized Applications
You can create a more holistic and customized marketing plan for your restaurant through automated systems, one that is specially designed for your business. They can be designed to fit your in-store requirement and can merge both your online and offline activities.
You will be able to reach your customers at every point, and the technology can help you coordinate with everyone related to your business, breaking barriers between employer, employees, and patrons for a more inclusive environment.
For example, suppose you are sourcing your ingredients from organic producers. In that case, you can make them a part of your automated campaigns where the patrons will also get to experience the novelty of the idea and come to know all about fresh and chemical-free produce.
If you are planning to make your restaurant completely eco-friendly and want to promote sustainability, you can make your patrons aware of the recycling process with the automated system sending them timely updates about how and when they can become a part of the campaign.
With restaurant guests being far more open to experimentation, you can use automated marketing plans to reach out to them to promote your restaurant and acquire feedback. It will also ultimately contribute to the growth of your business.
Photo by Nick Karvounis on Unsplash