Across the board, consumers expect personalized marketing. According to Deloitte research, personalized offers "significantly influenced purchase decisions." Deloitte also found that businesses investing in personalized experiences are seeing better customer engagement and satisfaction, higher average order values, and higher lifetime value for their customers.
For restaurants, personalized marketing campaigns like targeted email and text messages, content marketing, and advertising, can help drive loyalty and increase revenue. They offer lower cost options to reach the most engaged audiences on the channels where they're most active.
Here's how restaurants can use personalized marketing to connect with current and future customers, with practical tips shared by real restaurant growth experts like Alejandro Aguilar at the National Restaurant Association Show.
What is targeted online marketing for restaurants?
Restaurants can target their audiences using information they've collected about them, like their age, location, or favorite meal. In marketing, you can message segmented lists, like "frequent diners" or "event goers" via text, email, phone, or ads. You can also personalize messaging in these targeted promotions using customers' first names, birthdays, or preferred location to keep them coming back again and again.
Understanding your restaurant audience
To understand your restaurant audience, first collect and analyze data on customer demographics, behaviors, preferences, and feedback. Jon Farrer, Chief Operating Officer at Ballyhoo Hospitality, shared at a panel at the National Restaurant Association Show, "When people care enough to give you the feedback, I think it's really on you and how much you embrace it."
Use tools like customer surveys, loyalty program metrics, and social media analytics to gather information that gives you the insights you need to connect with customers and create better marketing campaigns.
Determining the best channels to reach your restaurant customers with personalized campaigns
While the content in your marketing messages and promotions is important, so are the channels you share them on. For example, if your restaurant caters to a younger demographic, you may want to use social media and texting, whereas older populations might be more likely to respond via email.
Here are some of the most popular marketing channels for restaurants, and how to leverage each channel to send personalized communications to their customers.
Email marketing for restaurants
About 60% of small businesses find email marketing successful, and 54% of those using email plan to use personalization (like using names in email copy and subject lines) and segmentation in the year ahead. Restaurant email marketing tools like Constant Contact, Mailchimp, MyEmma, and HubSpot allow users to add personalization tokens, customize pre-made templates with their brand, and send automated or pre-scheduled emails to lists of contacts.
Restaurants can use email marketing to send promotions, like the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf does here, and regular newsletters or updates, like special menus and event announcements.
When personalizing email marketing campaigns, consider segments of your audience, like these:
Customers who haven't made a purchase in 30, 60, or 90 days (lapsed customers)
Frequent customers (regulars) who make purchases weekly, or monthly
Customers who have provided their birthday or anniversary
Customers in certain regions for seasonal or weather-related promotions (i.e. "Cool down with an ice cream treat!")
Customers who have used coupon codes or discounts in the past
Customers who have referred a friend
Members of your rewards program
Customers who have ordered specials in the past
SMS marketing for restaurants
SMS or text message marketing is becoming extremely popular with businesses. 72% of people made a purchase after they got a text from a brand, and top factors that motivate consumers to subscribe to SMS updates include discounts, unique offers and experiences, personalized messages, and being able to repeat purchases via text.
Restaurants can use SMS marketing to send timely promotions and updates directly to customers' phones, where they typically go to order food via third-party apps. These promotions can include new items, birthday discounts, special promotions for regulars, or limited time offers. When sending text message marketing campaigns, keep messages concise, highlight your personality, and include a call to action.
Content marketing for restaurants
The idea of content marketing is to create helpful, engaging content, like blogs, social media posts, and videos, to attract people to your restaurant organically, then keep up a relationship with them over time.
Content marketing helps to surface more of your restaurant webpages on popular search engine results pages (SERPs), boosting your search engine optimization (SEO). The more you share about your restaurant, the easier it will be for interested people to find you — plus, you can repurpose content from blog posts or social media for your email newsletter.
Create a strategic restaurant content marketing plan and highlight your restaurant menu, unique story, events and experiences, and customer stories. And while content marketing can be a more general marketing approach for a wide audience, you can personalize content for different groups. Create posts about the best vegan and vegetarian options on your menu. Or, share what customers can order for parties and gatherings and ways to make hosting easier.
Throughout your personalized content, include opportunities for readers to order or shop. Don't forget to gather data and keep track of which audience members engage with which types of content so you can share more personalized messaging in the future.
Advertising for restaurants
Unlike content marketing which is typically organic (i.e., not paid media), advertising is a pay-to-play strategy. Restaurant advertisements can complement your website and online ordering page and drive traffic to your business, helping you reach new audiences or retarget existing customers.
Restaurants can run ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other digital channels, advertise on local news or media outlets, or partner with influencers on sponsored posts. Of note, 17% of consumers look to influencers to choose new restaurants.
In his session at the National Restaurant Association Show, Alejandro Aguilar, Fractional Marketing Director at Panna New Latino Foods, emphasized the importance of running Google Ads to attract new customers and bring in consistent traffic to fuel the marketing flywheel.
"Use product as the incentive — it's your best marketing tool," Aguilar shared.
The benefits of an omnichannel approach to restaurant marketing
People communicate with brands across tons of channels — 93% use email, 88% use phone, 86% engage in-person, 76% use mobile apps, and 66% use texting or SMS. One day, a potential customer may see your ad on Facebook, the next they might see an influencer post about you in an Instagram Reel, and then a few weeks later, they might stop by after work to see what your espresso martini flight is all about.
Taking an omnichannel marketing approach that hits all of these possibilities gives restaurants the biggest chance of building a strong brand and reaching their target audience.
Restaurant marketing campaign ideas
Here are some innovative restaurant marketing ideas to consider:
1. Multi-visit promos: Target loyal customers and encourage repeat visits by offering discounts, promotions, or rewards for multiple visits within a specific timeframe.
2. Social media contests: Run contests on social media platforms to engage different audiences via niche influencers or hashtags, like #glutenfreefoodies or #familymealideas.
3. Local partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses to create mutually beneficial promotions that target segments of your audience, like couples celebrating their anniversaries who may be interested in a wine and food pairing, or families looking for activities like bringing a takeout meal for a picnic at a concert in the park.
4. Personalized offers: Use customer data to create personalized offers and promotions that cater to individual preferences, such as office lunch deals for professionals, a meal prep deal for customers who buy multiple meals at once, or a special for new customers who have purchased from you for the first time in the past month.
Bonus tip: Incorporate pop culture references that cater to your demographic.
The best restaurant marketing tools
Search for restaurant marketing tools that are easy to use, integrate with your POS and website providers, and fit within your budget. If you're growing your business, think about the future and how these software tools might scale with you.
1. Email marketing platforms: Tools like Mailchimp or Constant Contact can help you manage and automate your email campaigns.
2. Social media management tools: Platforms like Hootsuite or Buffer can schedule and streamline your social media marketing.
3. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems: A CRM system can help you manage customer data and personalize your marketing efforts.
Analyzing the results from personalized restaurant marketing
After you've started running personalized marketing campaigns, you can analyze results over a certain period of time to see what's working best. Use analytics tools to track key marketing metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Aguilar points out, "You only own the data that you can control, that you have access to," so keep that in mind and prioritize marketing campaigns you can measure.
Build stronger relationships with restaurant customers using personalized marketing
Personalization and authenticity are key to building strong relationships with audiences that lead to business growth. When you understand your audience, choose the right channels, and use effective marketing tools, you can create impactful campaigns that resonate with your customers.
Farrer encourages fellow restaurant professionals, "Don't be afraid of technology. Embrace it. Learn about it." Technology makes it possible to extend a personal touch to a wider audience and share what makes your restaurant special with your community.
"Our job is to make memories for people and use food to make them feel special. So if you can personalize a note, do it. It's such a small thing that most other operators won't do."
Check out our Restaurant Marketing Calendar and Toolkit to improve your online presence and attract new customers in your area.
