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MARKETING This is an approach which has delivered real results for my client The Brentwood Kitchen, whose Sunday Spa promotional partnership with TOWIE star Amy Childs’ salon has helped to generate increased custom on quieter Sunday afternoons.
Custom loyalty schemes Customer loyalty schemes are an incredibly effective way to keep improving your customer-retention levels and helping the bottom line. It’s far less expensive to retain an existing customer, than it is to bring in a new one…and that’s why customer experience and retention should be a huge part of your marketing plan. In fact, I would always argue that investment (time or money) in social media is a waste of time if it takes your focus away from customer experience & retention. A simple stamp collection scheme will work well for your regulars, and gives you the flexibility to create a scheme that rewards your average customers spending habits. But don’t get stuck in a formal rut. Nothing beats an adhoc ‘it’s on me’ freebie for a regular when it comes to saying an authentic thank you and creating a feel good vibe across the business. Give this ‘adhoc’ scheme some structure, decide on a monthly budget for freebies and perhaps decide to give away a set percentage per week. Don’t hide your light under a bushel either – tweet the lucky recipient ‘@JoeBloggs so lovely treating you today thanks again for your loyalty, it means the world to us!’ It doesn’t pay to be modest, as long as your tone is always sincere and authentic you won’t go wrong! Direct marketing Your customer data is one of your most valuable marketing resources. As well as holding information on your customers and target customers, it also holds the key to improving customer satisfaction and increasing your sales.
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CAFÉ CULTURE
So, get organised and set aside some serious time to organise your spreadsheets. Think about the information you want to store. Beyond name, address, email, telephone and website, consider documenting basic buying habit, and or lifestyle data such as gender, age and income so you can target your marketing messages at specific demographic groups. Once you’re organised, and have a process in place to keep your data up to date, you can start to put this little goldmine to great use. A regular eMailer is an excellent first step. Perhaps you could begin with a monthly newsletter for your local business contacts, an audience who may frequently request business lunch catering. Make sure your content is an engaging mix of news and sales, and pepper with enough ‘calls to action’ to deliver new/repeat sales. Only very recently this quote popped into my LinkedIn feed from the British entrepreneurial powerhouse, Richard Branson - “Social media is not only more cost-efficient than advertising, but it also offers great opportunities for innovative engagement with your customers.” Too true. But, like any marketing tactic, it cannot operate alone. Combine your efforts across online and digital channels and you’ll soon see that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Jill Willis’s top three marketing ‘must-dos’ 1. Get organised (there’s no place for ad hoc in marketing). 2. Stay on message (co-ordinate across all of your channels and always highlight your USPs – unique selling propositions). 3. Know your market (decide who your target is, and only invest in reaching them). Examples of cross marketing with local partnerships.
Online benefits According to the latest Ofcom media use and attitudes report, nearly nine in 10 adults go online in any location – up from six in ten in 2005. In addition to this, more than two thirds (66%) of adults are now using smartphones and tablets to access the internet; this has grown from 30% in 2010. This trend looks set to continue and highlights how prevalent the opportunity for mobile ordering is, particularly for services such as food delivery and ordering, reports Carlos Morgado, group CTO for Just Eat. Despite this opportunity, digital skills charity Go ON UK found that 31% of small businesses in the UK lack basic business skills. This is making many small businesses less competitive than their larger peers. “Increasingly, restaurant owners should be aiming to capture a slice of the expanding online market by working to provide a great customer service online, particularly on mobile. And the rewards are huge; for example, online orders are typically 30% higher in value than those placed over the phone, and are much faster to process, saving time for front-of-house teams so they can focus on customers in store,” says Carlos Morgado.