Growing your restaurant is about sales and so much more.
Are you ready to have your restaurant sales and brand explode? More engagement online? A fool proof growth strategy? If you’re interested in increasing your sales through an online ordering and marketing system, Local For You is the #1 Thai restaurant digital marketing and online ordering system. However, any online ordering system gives you control of your restaurant, your data to control your business, and easy ordering systems for customers to order direct. Follow these steps to ensure your online ordering system is set up to give you a profitable outcome. More profits, grow your direct customer base, and never pay commission on orders again. Maximum profits with minimum effort by following these 10 ways to grow your restaurant sales!
63% of consumers restaurant spending in 2020 was on take out or delivery
Source: Pymts and Paytronix delivering
on restaurant rewards report
Table of Contents:
10 Ways On How To Grow Your Restaurant
○ Smart Marketing Strategy
○ Happy Customers!
○ Affordable Digital Marketing
○ Direct Marketing
○ Location location location- use location to your advantage!
○ Pick the right Agency
○ Post on Social Media
○ Get Customer Feedback
○ Post on Social Media
○ Food Delivery
1. Smart Marketing Strategy
It’s time to stop depending on third party delivery apps! Big business aggregators are eating up Thai restaurant profits by charging high commissions. Local For You helps to gain back control of your business through owning your customer data and having them order direct. We’ve come up with a proven strategies that brings the customers to you. We first fix your digital footprint and connect your direct online ordering menu to your Google My Business Page, Facebook and social media links. When customers search, they find your menu. Your Google Page will drive them straight to a direct menu and our online ordering system takes care of the rest. The customer is able to check-out hassle free and you pay $0 commission.
Learn to do marketing yourself if you have time. We’ve got restaurant marketing specialists in place when business does not boom. Many of our clients prefer for our account managers to fully manage the marketing strategy, and that’s available! We make strategies that are proven with easy bundles that are used on restaurants around the world. Business does not always boom at first, but some restaurants have made over $90,000/month after launching our marketing campaigns.
Read more: Top 5 Reasons You Need Online Ordering
2. Happy Customers!
Get your customers to love ordering from you! Commission free. Keep them happy and feed them news while feeding their bellies! Keeping customers engaged on your social media platform is key to growing your business organically. Nobody can resist a bargain and its proven that when you give customers incentives to buy, they feel more compelled to buy with a special offer and also makes customers happy. A flawless direct online ordering system and an easy to navigate dine in QR ordering will leave the customer knowing they are helping the restaurant save by ordering direct. Educate your customers and let them know they are helping you save on commission from 3rd party aggregators.
What makes a customer happy? Easy ordering and delicious food! Interaction on social media and knowing they are saving fees on takeaway or delivery. Guarantee to your customers they are getting the best deal by ordering direct, and watch them in glee from supporting their favourite local restaurant.
3. Affordable Digital Marketing
It doesn’t matter what type of restaurant or business for that matter, you need to do digital marketing to have an online presence. Marketing is a must for any business in 2022. As the restaurant industry has diversified and the restaurant’s “norm” is ever changing, it is more prevalent than ever that marketing your business in the current climate business is a necessity.
75% of restaurants plan to offer contactless ordering and payment options.
Source: Square 2021 FUTURE of restaurants reports
Do you know marketing isn’t just paid Ads on Facebook or Google Ads? It’s fixing your digital footprint like having a top rated 5 star Google review. When people search for example, “Thai food near me” you want to be the top ranked restaurant in your area. Matched with google reviews and an easy to view menu and order button-it’s a flawless digital footprint where customers will want to return for the experience.
Google search engine market share is more than 90%
Source: Statcounter
4. Direct Marketing
The pandemic and global shift in consumption is forcing restaurants to change marketing investment priorities. Investment in SMS marketing is expected to increase by 50%, while spending on other channels is anticipated to decrease.
78% of every SMS is read within 10 minutes
(Source: CommerceNext)
Email marketing is also gaining a lot of importance in recent years. This type of direct customer marketing helps you to nurture a long-term relationship with your customers, which will enable you to increase restaurant sales by having them order more food and more often. Since messages have a word count limitation, which is not present in the email, you can use this marketing strategy to send longer messages. You can send periodical newsletters to all your customers to keep them hitched on all the new happenings at your restaurant. If this is scary, we have a full Direct Marketing Campaign package where everything is fully managed by an Account Manager. You approve the promos, and they do all the work! Find out how to do email marketing the right way for your restaurant by a demo with a marketing restaurant specialist. We’ve helped our restaurants increase their profits by over 300% through direct and social media marketing campaigns.
SMS mobile open rates are 94%.
5. Location location location- use location to your advantage!
Many restaurants can’t afford high streets and that’s ok. Using your location to your advantage will let customers find you and you will soon become the local’s favourite restaurant.
70% of people go online to check your restaurant before they order or visit.
Location-based marketing doesn’t demand the very frequent updates required by Twitter or Facebook. But customers do like variety, so make sure to change your offers regularly. For example, a restaurant can offer $12 lunch special for walk-ins if you are in a commercial area, or offer family packs if your restaurant is in a family friendly suburb.
It’s important to know why you’re using location-based marketing and the goal you want to achieve. For example, let’s say you are having slow weekday dinner sales, but other restaurants around you aren’t. Consider doing a dinner promotion for dine-in or takeaway only. Once in the restaurant, customers can view other specials and know what days to come back. Sending out flyers with your own branded marketing will attract customers to your restaurant with the incentive to save by ordering direct.
Our account managers are here to set up location based promotions that can be set up and turned on/off anytime. We fully manage restaurant marketing that noticeably see a difference in traffic and sales. If your goal is clear, it’s easy to test whether your location-based marketing is working and people are ordering more.
75% of consumers prefer to order direct from restaurants, not third party services.
6. Pick the right Agency
How much are you spending on advertising? Do you know how effective your marketing efforts are? Are you targeting the right people? Are you working with an agency that specialises in Online ordering and marketing systems for takeaways and Thai restaurants?
You hopefully know the answers to all these questions, and if any of them aren’t positive, it may be time to readdress your marketing efforts.
There are plenty of on hand “do-it-yourself” you can implement for your restaurant, but we focus on your local customer base and offering an “order more and more often” strategy. If you’re paying for digital ads, you want to trust experts. We are up to date with all the latest software and strategies that produce the best and lowest cost result. It doesn’t make sense to be paying for ads that reach people that aren’t your targeted local customer because the likelihood they will ever actually visit your restaurant is incredibly low.
In both your traditional and digital advertising, focus on promoting your business locally. Geographically target an area that’s within a certain distance of your restaurant. As you grow, you can look to slowly expand your reach but to get the most out of your ad dollars, start with those closest to you.
7. Get customer feedback
Companies like Yelp and Zomato focus on customer reviews, Google My Business also invites reviews, and Facebook has a ‘like’ button that users can click to endorse a particular business page. This feedback is so invaluable to you as a business owner!
Local For You will help you to manage your reviews. How you respond to your reviews can make a huge difference… even turning a hurtful review by an upset customer into an opportunity to impress potential new customers!
Customers are 2.7x more likely to order with a complete Google My Business account
8. Reward your customers
We are all about more orders more often from the same customers and new customers. That is how sustainable growth in restaurants is made. And how do we achieve that? Through our promotions Get your customers to come back after initial purchase with a customer loyalty program.
Potential customers want to see your restaurant menu after checking Google or Facebook, giving them an offer gives them more incentive to click and order. Once they’re in your data base you can treat them to customer loyalty programs. Once they see the benefits of ordering direct and you have your own online ordering system to save money for customers when they order direct
Run coupon and discount campaigns. Don’t know how? We can do it for you on your own online ordering system or we can set you up with an Account Manager. Free, First order 10% offer or buy two and get entree free offer to get people coming through the door.
9. Post on Social Media
Nowadays, everyone is available on social media platforms, be it Facebook, Instagram, , or any other. Hence, the best way to increase your restaurant sales is by harnessing this force and making your presence felt on these platforms. It would help if you created a Facebook page and had your Google My Business page set up correctly. We have account managers that can do this for your restaurant. And even advertise on social media. They update these pages regularly by uploading pictures and posts about upcoming events that your restaurant will be promoting and specials. You can also use these pages for notifying your customers regarding things like changes in the timings of the restaurant or changes in the menu. Social media is especially beneficial when you have to make announcements regarding special offers or discounts.
Imagines and creating the restaurant’s digital brand is what your customers want they visit your socials.
Facebook has more than 2.89 billion monthly active users
Make sure that you reach out to your customers through these pages and even communicate with them in the comments. Also, remember that you must never ignore a bad review. Always acknowledge bad reviews and apologise for the inconvenience. Do you know we can omit some bad reviews through the Google Reviews Reputation Management? This product not only helps in the retention of disgruntled customers, but it will also create new ones and will bolster the overall restaurant sales.
Google users are 4.38 billion worldwide
Be active and have fun. Also, try to add value to your services. Lastly, do not be afraid to ask if they know anyone who needs your services, and make the referral process super easy through online ordering and menu links.
It doesn’t have to be professional, develop your style of communicating on socials and connect with the customer. The more authentic, the better the engagement. You will slowly see a pattern in they way you film, take pictures, the favourite spot in the restaurant, or best lighting. Have fun and post away! The more native, meaning the aesthetic matches the aesthetic of the platform, the more organic you will grow.
Offering different promotions to your customers is great and won’t need to be changed regularly. Unlike other platforms, an online ordering system with an online menu can have promotions running on repeat, giving the customer their favourite day of the week to decide what they want. Choose which you want to post and change the promotion posts frequently, especially with updates. Customers love to see the daily specials and give them access to the direct online ordering menu with promotion built in.
10. Food Delivery
One of the best means to attract already existing and new customers to your restaurant is offering delivery. With our own online ordering system and delivery integration…this is now easier than ever! It’s no denying everyone loves to “Netflix and chill” and order delivery. So why not write that into your strategy? Such a strategy will under all circumstances increase your restaurant sales through delivery drivers. Many people nowadays prefer to order food home, rather than going out and indulging in a sit down meal. Offering online food delivery would help you increase your audience base and enable you to reach out to potential customers. If you have a limited seating space, or are short on servers, but have ample kitchen staff, you can leverage online ordering to process more orders and increase the restaurant sales.
”Your restaurant will not only benefit overall in their digital footprint but grow the brand online, attract new customers, and have a seamless direct ordering experience that customers will love. If you’re interested in paying $0 commission on a direct system that can also provide marketing, talk to our digital marketing specialist team today!
You might also like: The Importance of Online Reviews for Restaurants & How to Get More