3 Strategies To Increase Restaurant Sales

So how did we stumble upon the best restaurant marketing strategy that we’ve ever seen? In mid June of 2018, one of our clients asked us to run an “aggressive marketing campaign.”   Little did we know that this would become the most profitable (restaurant) campaign we’ve created to date.

We grew River Drifters’ Facebook™ page organically from 400 likes to 2010 likes in just three weeks.  Not only did the River Drifters’ Facebook™ page have amazing growth but the restaurant was swamped with customers…and is staying consistently busy from this campaign! 

 

Here is what Charlie Eich had to say about the campaign: www.riverdrifterschatt.com

Strategy Number One… Get A Customer Relationship Management (CRM)!

A CRM is just a platform that allows a business to collect email address and other contact information.  Then the system allows the business owner to send automated broadcasts to the contact list.  Most large chain restaurants use email marketing strategies to get customers back in the doors. However, smaller restaurants that do not have marketing departments depend on “word of mouth” to increase customer frequency.  Maybe its because most smaller restaurant owners are completely swamped with other tasks such as payroll, taxes, food supply orders, complaints, and staff management.

What if there were some simple tools that allowed smaller restaurants to perform email marketing like a pro? Fortunately there are several email marketing platforms that are affordable, sometime free, and easy to use.

Most businesses start with the least expensive CRM they can find and then upgrade as they need it.  Different CRMs have different capabilities.  Some CRMs include the ability to create landing pages and some include to ability to create complete sales funnels.  These programs can range from $0-$300 per month depending on your marketing needs.

I use two different CRMs for different reasons.  For most of my restaurant Clients I use Aweber .  However, for clients that offer other products and services such as catering, T-shirts, parties, and nightclubs, we use an very robust CRM called Kartra.

No matter what CRM you choose, make sure that you take the time to set up an automated email sequence for your customers.

Try AWeber free for 30 days! – AWeber Communications

Try AWeber free for 30 days! – AWeber Communications

Here is How To Increase Restaurant Sales Without Advertising…

Online marketing for restaurants can be easy when the right tools are used.  I used a social media management platform called FPTraffic and one of the most popular email CRMs,  Aweber.   FPtraffic has the ability to run giveaway drawings from Facebook™.  What makes FPtraffic worth every penny of the $10 per month cost, is that in order for someone to enter into the drawing, they have to click a button which shares the giveaway posts and then asks them to sign up for an offer.

This feature allows businesses to grow their local following organically while increasing customer frequency. You might be asking… Derek this sounds great but how does this increase customer frequency?  Well… FPtraffic links with Aweber and if you set up your email sequences correctly, restaurants can really connect with their local audience and exponentially increase visits from a local audience.   This is why we think its best restaurant marketing strategy that we’ve seen. 

Using FPTraffic With Aweber

As mentioned, FPTraffic  is capable of collecting email addresses from Facebook™  and linking them to an Aweber email campaign. This is the only platform that we know of that allows businesses to  collect a Facebook™ associated email address from a user just by clicking a button.  This is significant because almost all other optin forms require a user to input their name and email address.  FPtraffic only requires a push of a button. This is because FPtraffic is linked to Facebook™.  So…your fans don’t have to be annoyed by your attempt to collect information because all they have to do is click a button to sign up for your giveaway…Then they are automatically placed into an Email Autoresponder. The ability to collect email addresses just from pushing a button also makes this the best restaurant marketing strategy that we’ve ever seen.

All in all this is one of the best marketing ideas for restaurants.  This is also a very affordable marketing strategy that works great when executed properly!!!

 

The Best Restaurant Marketing Funnel Looks Like This…

1. Create an FPtraffic giveaway (A free entree works great) 
2. Share the giveaway link on your social media accounts
3. Link your FPtraffic giveaway to an Aweber email sequence campaign
4. One week from the giveaway launch,  create a live video announcing the winner of your giveaway…. (before you create this video should create a second giveaway with FPtraffic.) After announcing the winner of the giveaway, post the link to the new giveaway at the top of your live video and let your audience know where they can enter into the new drawing.
5. Create a Facebook video view ad with post that you just created (see step number 4)
6. Run your ad for one week. At the end of the week repeat steps 1-6.  

So here is how its done…

 

Try AWeber free for 30 days! – AWeber Communications

First , sign up for a free Aweber trial here

 

Second,  create a list to hold all of your subscribers.  Name your list something that you will remember. Naming your lists something that you remember will make life much easier when you start creating multiple lists.

Third, create an email sequence campaign in your new Aweber account.

 

Much like your list, the email campaign will need a unique name to help you quickly navigate Aweber in the future…Include about FIVE emails in your Aweber campaign email sequence.  These emails should not be salesy or pushy. These emails should tell people about you (the owner/manager) and the explain why your restaurant is unique.  

Aweber has several preloaded templates for emails that you can use or you can just use the regular email feature.  Once your email sequence is complete….

Its time to move over to FPtraffic…

This campaign might be a little tough to set up for a beginner. However, after the first time it smooth sailing.

 

This giveaway strategy has kept River Drifters extremely busy since they opened.  We found that this campaign is a very cost effective strategy to get new customers into a restaurant, increase upsells, and increase customer frequency. 

Get a FREE Aweber trial here: http://bit.ly/aweberemailtrial

Get a FPtraffic Account here:http://bit.ly/fptrafficgiveaway

Please leave us a comment if you have any questions…Yes we answer every question!!!

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