Local Restaurants Capture Menu Shoppers with Text Messaging

Now that summer is upon us, people are more apt to wander around any local town, browsing restaurant menus in the windows until they find something that strikes their fancy. More often that not however, the group cannot decide on where to go or what to eat so they often end up entering the restaurant that happens to be the last doorway they come to out of sheer frustration.

Well, if you’re that last doorway that’s great news. However, menu browsers often visit 3-6 doorways before sitting down to a meal. What’s a good way to entice those sidewalk wanderers? It’s simple really. Make it a no-brainer for them to come in.

Today, it’s easy to use text messaging to lure customers into your restaurant. You can do this boldly as this burger restaurant has done, or you can add it to your window or menu so that people deciding on a place to dine will see it and interact.

Hungry potential diners will text special keyword, such as BURGER to a specific number. This automated system will then reply back to them with your unique offer. There are lots of offers you can make, of course the better the offer, the more people will participate and be seated as your paying guest. Make sure the perceived value is strong and watch customers walk through your doors.

Even if they wander off to the next doorway, odds are that text message with your strong offer will bring them back to fill your dining room.

Want to explore using text messaging for your restaurant?

Drop us a line or give us a call at 443.458.5465.

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Don’t Recreate the Wheel

Do you wish you had a form to more efficiently handle common tasks? Forms and templates can be used for marketing, human resources, operations, sales, planning, approvals, etc. It can be time consuming to build a form, but they can save many hours and expedite completion of many tasks you and your team perform on a daily basis.

A great place to start is Google Docs. Here you’ll find all kinds different templates; everything from presentations to requests for time off to calendars and checklists. Odds are you’ll want to do some customization to these tools to make them work for your business, however starting with something is generally always easier than starting with a blank computer screen.

9 Changes You Need to Know About Facebook Timeline

Do you use Facebook? In just a matter of days, March 30th to be exact, your profile or business page will be automatically switched to the new Timeline format. Is your profile or business page ready?

9 Changes You Need to Be Aware of Right Away When Your Facebook Page Changes to Timeline:

Facebook is giving you more real estate with a Cover Image that you can put front and center. The dimensions of this are 851×315 pixels (the image you use for this must be at least 399 pixels wide) One thing to note, you cannot use a call to action (Like, Order, Call, etc) in this image.
Default Landing Tabs are out.
You can pin a post to stay at the top of your wall for up to 7 days.
You can highlight posts by spreading them across both columns of the page.
You can go back in time and add milestones to your Timeline on the assigned date. The new addition will also go out into your fans’ news feeds.
You can now use Interest Lists to encourage your fans to join. This will help deliver the content people are most interested in to their news feeds.
Tabs are now Apps or Views and there are a maximum of 12.
You can still use fan-gating with third party apps and drive Facebook or outside traffic to that specific URL.
The Like button turns to Liked when you click it on someone’s page. (This is also where you sign up for Interest Lists.)

Check out our Timeline page – we’re updating and adding to it all the time. Like Us and we’ll keep sharing our tips.

Tags: facebook timeline changes

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What the Heck is a QR Code?

Okay, I know you’ve seen them. Those squarish, black and white, pixelated looking things. They seem to be popping up everywhere – in ads, on products, on billboards, on the sides of cards, on business cards. But what the heck are they?

QR is short for “Quick Response”. A QR Code is a 2-D barcode containing data that can be read by a smartphone’s camera. They were invented in 1994 by Denso, a Toyota subsidiary, to track cars as they were manufactured.

Today, they are being used for marketing and educational purposes in addition to their inventory roots.

In order to scan a QR code, you’ll need a reader on your phone. You can go to your apps market and search for code reader. We personally use Neo Reader – but anyone will do to get you started. You can always switch later. Once you’ve installed a reader, all you do is open that app and essentially take a picture of the QR Code. Some apps automatically register the code, for others you’ll need to depress the shutter as if you’re taking a photo.

From there, your phone will take you to a specific destination. Want to test it out? Give these a try and start thinking about how you can use them in your marketing. Need some ideas? Not sure how to implement it all? Scan below and let’s chat.

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