Location-Based Marketing

Smartphones have become as common as wallets, and the digital age of the internet has changed the way businesses reach out to customers. It is concluded from statistics that close to 6 people in every 10 people in the UK and USA own smartphones. These hand-held computers are starting to play an increasingly important role in marketing- finding where your customers are at, physically.

Traditional marketing campaigns were fixed when it came to the location of customers- you could figure out their working address and where they live. If the customer was out and about, you would have no idea of knowing. Nowadays, customers are consuming content and making purchasing decisions, and targeted communication can be achieved by smartphones and it helps in narrowing down what customers want in the casual dining scene.

No longer are customers staying exclusive to large restaurant chains. Customers want to explore the less heard of restaurants that boast of an amazing dining experience.  Customers are making use of the internet to figure out where they want to eat. Since they are there, that is also where restaurant businesses must be.

There are many benefits when it comes to marketing your restaurants such as proximity marketing, geosocial media, and location-based advertising. Some restaurants have apps that allow for unique pop-up notifications with exciting offers when you are around the brick-and-mortar store. But even in the case that you don’t have an app, here are some of the ways in which you can location-based market your restaurant:

Search-Based

Make sure that your restaurant has an online presence in one form or the other. Most of the customers make use of Google Maps, Bing, and Yelp to find places to eat from. List your business on Google. Make sure to get your establishment reviewed at restaurant review sites and ask customers to review your business on Google reviews, for starters.

Social Media And Paid Ads

Social media is starting to become increasingly location-based with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram making use of your location to show you relevant content-especially local food culture. This will make it easier for your customers to find user-generated content that is linked to your restaurant, which increases exposure and help in influencing potential customer purchase decisions.

You can expect customers to get hyper-local content that is targeted at people of a particular demographic in a specific duration of time and area. This is one thing that sets digital marketing apart from traditional marketing- its targeted approach. You can have contests or story-based content that aims at creating brand awareness.

Geo Marketing Or Proximity Marketing

This is the act of serving communication or specified ads to customers when they are near your restaurant. There are numerous ways of doing this, such as creating a customized app but that will dig deep into your pockets. A better cost-effective option would be to use paid ads platforms like  Google Ad Words and Facebook’s Local Awareness ads.

These platforms allow you to bid for targeted keywords that the potential customer may type on the search query. Based on their proximity and the radius, you can control exactly who sees your ads and when they see it. This is a powerful tool that allows you to rein in customers who are in your chosen demographic. Plus you are able to benefit from when customers come nearby your restaurant when they are visiting your rival business (this is what’s called geo-conquesting)

Build Your Business’s Customer Avatar

Market Your Restaurant

This is the item that comes under a general marketing rule. When it comes to optimizing your location-based marketing, it is important that you know not only where your customers are but also who they are. Identifying your customer persona will help you in better targeting your customer base that is relevant to the services you are offering.

You can make use of other marketing tools such as marketing surveys that will allow you to zero in on who your existing customers are and what they like, dislike, and what they might want to be changed in the product or service you offer. Based on this information you can make subtle tweaks to the location-based marketing and the customer demographic that you want to target.

Social Media Check-ins

Facebook is one app that allows customers to ‘check-in’ to the online marketplace that you set up. This is a great way to run marketing campaigns such as to offer discounts and incentives to customers and also to increase brand awareness by being visible on the customer’s social media profile. If you are providing great customer service and satisfaction is top-notch, then you can also offer customers to refer others and receive concession or flat-off on their next purchases.

Getting in front of your potential customers has become challenging, as they are more in need of real-time information. One can make use of digital marketing to benefit from location-based marketing.