Restaurant Marketing and Customer Acquisition After Coronavirus
Restaurants affected by COVID-19 are getting creative with their customer acquisition strategies. Read our restaurant marketing tips for inspiration. The restaurant industry has been singled out as one of the kinds of businesses most impacted by the coronavirus crisis. Government orders have closed dining rooms across the country. At the same time, many eateries have struggled to hang on with delivery and takeout — and some have even done quite well. Thus, it’s still not time to abandon the restaurant customer acquisition ideas that can bring in revenue now and help you emerge even stronger after the coronavirus outbreak finally passes. Restaurant customer acquisition ideas for during and after coronavirus Pre-coronavirus, the National Restaurant Association projected almost $900 billion in revenues for American restaurants in 2020. In March, out of about 700,000 jobs lost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of the laid off employees came from the hospitality and restaurant industry. John Harkey Jr., the CEO of Consolidated Restaurant Operations, called this crisis a financial tsunami for the restaurant business. In any case, it’s clear that the restaurant customer acquisition and marketing plans that businesses had before the shut-down and stay-at-home orders will need to change quickly. Consider online ordering, pickup, and delivery With the growth of delivery services and consumers’ growing desire for convenience, delivered, takeout, or drive-through meals already accounted for a significant and growing percentage of overall restaurant revenue. Some kinds of restaurants, like pizza places and fast food, had already based a large portion of their business around delivery and takeout. Still, as various state and local governments began to close dining rooms, some restaurants had to scramble to put online ordering in place. Sometimes, they did not have time to do much more than post a menu on their website and social sites and offer customers a phone number to call for curbside pickup orders. Still, depending upon the existing following these restaurants had, they still managed to keep a steady flow of customers. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Orlando restaurant marketing has focused upon delivery to offset the loss of in-store business. They gained assistance in their efforts when Uber Eats, one of the largest delivery companies, waived their fees for any orders from independent restaurant businesses. Some of the larger chains already offered their own delivery, and they’ve also begun to stop charging fees as a gesture of goodwill to their patrons and an incentive for more people to order. Exercise enlightened self interest Pickup won’t work for all restaurants. Harkey, the CEO mentioned above, said that they operated most of their restaurants out of malls, and since the malls have closed, they can’t easily offer pickup and don’t really have the structure in place for deliveries. At the same time, delivery companies like DoorDash are heavily promoting an #OpenforDelivery campaign that pushed their services, the restaurants they work with, and even such competitors as GrubHub and Uber Eats. Some restaurants have balked at using these kinds of services because of the extra delivery charges, but for restaurants without capacity to offer certain services, they might serve as a handy option in more ways than one. In addition to pushing national chains, they’ve also helped promote local restaurants they deliver from. Another example of related businesses sharing resources includes a group of businesses that agreed to donate a percentage of revenue to coronavirus-relief charities. As they all promote the relief effort and their own struggles to keep employees working, the digital presence of the charitable organization also promotes the companies that sponsor it. Create compelling digital content for your restaurant Certainly, you attracted diners because they loved your food. Even better, you may have retained business because your customers loved your facility and even you. With that in mind, you can develop content that helps strengthen your connection. You could give your audience a behind-the-scenes video tour of your kitchen. Introduce them to your staff or let them watch you prepare one of your specialties. For example, one high-quality Italian restaurant shared an engaging recipe of the process they used to make, cut, and cook their homemade pasta. Another produced a series of cooking videos. Don’t overlook introducing your audience to your hard-working employees in order to remind customers that their patronage helps keep people working. These kinds of content tend to do very well on Facebook, YouTube, and other social platforms. Don’t worry about giving away all of your secrets, you’re probably just going to make more of your audience hungry than eager to attempt your recipes. If you need extra revenue, you can even monetize your content with ads and sponsors on some platforms. Don’t worry if you don’t have any production experience. While you should strive for quality, you can find cell phone apps that will allow you to shoot, edit, and upload decent videos. Don’t abandon marketing and advertising Plenty of research from other downturns demonstrates the wisdom of maintaining a marketing budget. Business that do tend to weather the crisis and emerge even stronger. As with other hospitality businesses, you might need to adjust your restaurant customer acquisition strategy a bit, but you certainly should not abandon it. Realistically, you may have to trim your budget, but you may find that some advertising platforms have grown less competitive as your competitors have done the same. You may also find you can do more with less as you focus upon satisfying existing demand within your community. Geo-fencing for restaurants Geo-fencing refers to setting a perimeter around your physical restaurant. For instance, you might use this technique to connect with people who are within the same shopping center, at work in a nearby essential business, or even just passing by your door. When they pass within the perimeter, this technology can alert them with a ping from a social network advertising platform, text, or message from a mobile app. Geo-fencing for restaurants has proven to convert really well. It might offer you the perfect way to
Why the Best Time to Invest in OTT and Digital Media is Now
Consumers are cutting cable but still watch favorite shows by streaming them. Invest in CTV and Local OTT Media to maximize your marketing investment. Even some researchers who conducted a recent survey of cord-cutters expressed surprise at their study results. Cord cutting refers to people who have canceled their cable TV accounts but kept internet as a way to access streaming content. This content may include their favorite TV shows and streaming-only programs. People still watch television shows, but far less of them watch via cable these days. While it’s obvious that regular TV ads won’t reach as many people as they used to, you can find out how savvy marketers can enjoy even better returns from accessing local OTT media and CTV advertising. These kinds of ads reach the viewers that cable cannot and offer plenty of benefits. The importance of digital media for advertising The survey mentioned above occurred last year and involved 5,000 Americans. The survey takers believed that their demographics tended to skew a bit younger and more budget-conscious than average, but they still included residents of each state and people from age 18 to 69. The results uncovered surprising insights and trends: Almost 60 percent of the respondents had already canceled their cable service. Meanwhile, almost 30 percent said they had not yet cut the cord but were actively considering it. In summary, about 90 percent of survey respondents had already canceled their cable TV subscriptions or planned to do it in the future. Meanwhile, industry analysts expect the trend to continue. Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon already offer billions of dollars worth of content. Such devices as Roku Streaming Stick and Google Chromecast let viewers access multiple services from older TVs, and newer sets often come with built-in internet connectivity. Of course, people can also watch content from their laptop, mobile phone, or tablet, so they really don’t need a television at all. Rather than choosing an expensive cable package, many consumers have found they can get more content for less money by streaming. Even cable companies recognize the trend and have begun to offer stream-only accounts that give customers internet access to basic and some premium cable stations. In addition, most cable and network stations offer free and paid plans to let viewers watch their favorite shows through an internet connection. Also, you can only access some new network programs from, like the new Star Trek series, through a paid app. With that CBS app, for example, the basic paid plan still shows ads, and viewers need to pay more to remove them. As another example, you have to have paid cable access to see some AMC shows, and you still have to pay more to remove advertisements. In any case, the numbers from the survey may not exactly illustrate the behavior of all Americans. Still, they represent a large population of internet-aware, budget-conscious consumers. If that sounds like your market audience, you should consider the digital media marketing options that will let you reach them. What is OTT Vs. CTV advertising? Very often, OTT and CTV advertising get used interchangeably. More precisely, CTV refers to connected TV or even any device used to watch content through an internet connection. OTT stands for “over the top” and refers to using a service to access content from the internet. For instance, people still need to get bandwidth from their cable company, but they may need a subscription to such OTT providers as Hulu and Netflix to watch a particular show. The anachronistic origins of over the top came from the days when people usually placed their gaming or streaming device physically over the top of their cable box. Anyway, you can usually think of OTT and CTV advertising as having a similar meaning, depending upon context, but they may not always exactly mean the same thing. So, you might see CTV and OTT advertising more precisely described like this: CTV advertising: CTC advertisements generally describe short-form, professional video ads that marketers can offer to targeted audiences of people who use connected TV. OTT advertising: Advertisers can have OTT ads inserted inside of OTT content in much the same way that viewers are used to seeing ads on network shows. Subscribers will not see ads for external businesses on Netflix or the HBO app. However, some services have subscription levels, so the provider will display ads to bring in additional revenue for the cheaper plans. Examples of these services include Hulu and the CBS and AMC streaming apps. Benefits of OTT and CTV advertising Before discussing the benefits of digital media advertising, it’s a good idea to consider the drawbacks of traditional media: Targeting: Traditional TV, radio, and even print ads generally cast a wide net. You may have had some ability to target an audience by choosing time slots or media; however, you can’t tune that well enough to target things like your previous website visitors or people who have or haven’t seen your ads before. Analytics: After your ads ran, you may have figured out how to gather some rough metrics. For instance, you might have asked viewers to call a particular phone number or ask for a specific TV-only deal. Still, you had no way to track the buyer’s journey or know exactly which of your efforts effectively gave you the best returns. Besides knowing that you’ll gain an increasingly larger audience by targeting online content, you should understand the rich features of streaming ad platforms. Targeting Sophisticated digital media marketing platforms offer these kinds of popular targeting options: Geographic location: In the past year, local OTT media marketing grew by 127 percent, which amounted to seven times the increase for all digital media marketing put together. You can also use IP targeting to find customers in specific geographic locations. Your own insights: You can use your own website visitor tracking, subscriber list, and other first-party data to find your audience. Demographics: As with other kinds of ad platforms,
How DTC Can Pivot Media Plans for the Rest of 2020
DTC retailers have been affected by COVID-19. Pivoting your 2020 marketing plan using e-commerce, data, and direct sales platforms will help you recover. By the Middle of March, AdWeek published the sobering news that DTC stores had been among some of the first retailers to close because of the coronavirus crisis. At the same time, these companies’ rationale for closing may point to strengths — and not weaknesses — with many of the brands. To develop an effective media plan for DTC brands, you might consider some of the strongest examples in the industry and how they coped even when retailers had to close. Rethinking the media plan for DTC brands for post-crisis 2020 Adweek’s take on early closings by such DTC retailers as Glossier, Warby Parker, and Allbirds contained some encouraging insights. These companies did not necessarily lock their physical stores because they struggled more than typical retailers. Instead, many of them believed they could ride out the storm without brick-and-mortar outlets because they had already developed a strong online presence. In fact, some DTC retailers only sell online or at least, began with e-commerce marketing before establishing brick-and-mortar stores. In this time of crisis, they could simply return to their roots. Pivoting e-commerce marketing strategies after the coronavirus crisis To develop your plan for DTC marketing after coronavirus, it could help to consider the example of one very young company and then, consider some advice for the industry as a whole. Success through infrastructure, data, and innovative direct sales platforms Zak Normandin founded Iris Nova, a soft drink company that sold offline through its own retail stores and the hospitality industry. Normandin spoke about remaining unafraid to pivot his marketing strategy, and how this alleviated sales losses during the past couple of weeks after many of his offline channels lost business or closed. Now backed by Coca-Cola, Normandin first gained attention with the novel tactic of marketing more through text messaging than web platforms. ‘In fact, customers can directly order crates of beverages through SMS. With more people staying home, demand for home delivery has increased and this ordering method appears increasingly popular with the company’s customer base. The company does have financial challenges because of the loss of retail business, but Normandid says that he’s thankful that they had already invested heavily in brand awareness, marketing intelligence, and technology for their mobile direct ordering system. As an example, they’ve also developed retail technology they used for their own cashless store. Even though they needed to shutter the store during the coronavirus crisis, they can use this tech to generate additional revenue in partnership with other companies. Digital DTC marketing trends for during and after the coronavirus crisis Jerome Shimizu co-founded DoGood Media and serves as its chief data and analytics officer. He observed that stay-at-home measures have made consumers increasingly dependent upon direct orders. At the same time, lots of legacy companies have failed to keep up with this model. He mentioned that more old-fashioned businesses could benefit by looking at the ways newer players, like Iris Nova, have developed their online customer base. It’s also a good time to make certain brand messaging expresses sympathy to the stress many customers have experienced during the crisis. As an example, McDonald’s had a chance to procure at least an extra million masks to donate to healthcare workers when it ordered protective supplies for its own employees. This act of enlightened self-interest helped the company improve their brand image as a good employer and community member. For a DTC example, look at Brands X Better. A couple of dozen DTC brands, including Clean Simple Eats, Boll and Branch, and Harrow Sports, have teamed up together to commit a percentage of sales to a charity effort. These individual brands all cooperate to donate money and promote the effort. In turn, the website also helps promote the companies. The message on the Brands X Better site tells visitors that by buying from these brands, they can help support worthy causes and of course, keep the companies in business and employees at their jobs. It’s already time to develop e-commerce marketing for after the coronavirus As demonstrated by these examples, your ability to weather the current crisis and bounce back stronger afterwards depends upon the actions you can take now to respond. You might also need to remain flexible in the way you meet consumer demand, even though you have to make drastic changes to your original marketing and advertising plans for the year. A strong e-commerce platform and online audience can help carry you through times of weaker offline, retail sales. During the crisis, lots of consumers have turned to online ordering, so you just need to let them know you’ve made that available for them. You may even find sales boosted by consumers who are more likely to order for home delivery than to travel to a retail outlet right now. To build your brand imagine, consider actions and marketing that can demonstrate how well you adjusted and strove to help protect your employees and your community. In some cases, you may even find it easier to stretch limited resources if you can find other like-minded companies to partner with.
How Post-COVID-19 Behavior Will Impact Property Digital Media
Marketing apartment complexes using digital media will be very important for property managers to reach future tenants searching for rentals after COVID-19. One thing’s for sure. During the coronavirus crisis, property managers cannot enjoy business as usual. Even in early April, online searches for apartments and rental rates have dropped significantly. Still, the crisis has impacted some sectors of the real estate market more than others, and industry experts expect a strong upswing once the worst has passed. After all, people still need places to stay and live. Find out how to use digital media after COVID-19 to effectively market your properties during and after the coronavirus crisis. Apartment marketing after the coronavirus To develop digital marketing plans, consider the state of the rental property market, how property managers should respond to consumer behavior during and after the pandemic, and finally, some reliable property management digital marketing strategies to consider. Coronavirus declines in property rentals Housing Wire saw a decline from 10 to 35 percent for online apartment searches during the first part of April. Short-term rentals suffered the most, as people have drastically reduced travel. In response, many short-term property owners have begun offering longer terms to make up for the drastic declines in business or vacation trips. Still, the report ended upon the optimistic note that property managers did not see declines like some other industries, including hospitality or travel. They also expected rental properties to enjoy a strong upswing once the worst of the crisis had passed and people began to resume their normal lives. Property management’s response to COVID-19 Besides analyzing the current rental market, it’s also important to consider current coronavirus best practices for apartment managers. For example: The National Multifamily Housing Council, or NMHC, has published guidelines that cover everything from proper disinfection techniques to package handling. They based these suggestions on CDC recommendations, and it’s great to not only follow appropriate tips but to communicate your actions to your current renters, prospects, and other stakeholders. Most progressive property management companies have moved a lot of their business online anyway. It saves time and money and best of all, typical renters prefer these convenient options. If you haven’t made much progress, it’s a good time to consider online contracts and payments and even virtual tours. If you need to show empty apartments, keep hand sanitizer by the door and follow a screening process before scheduling the appointment. Property management digital marketing strategies for after the coronavirus crisis Laurence Yun serves as the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. While he spoke more about the home sales than the rental market, his marketing advice for after coronavirus applies just as well to the rental market. He said that a couple of the biggest consumer behavior changes would stem from timidity about meeting strangers in person and economic uncertainty. Digital Apartment Marketing After Coronavirus To alleviate the first concern, David Kong, a NYC Keller WIlliams partner, said he has already ordered online 3D walkthroughs for apartments. Prospective renters can view these from any computer or mobile phone. You can still schedule appointments with your property managers, but instead of conducting initial visits in person, you can offer online walkthroughs. Of course, you can even advertise self-guided virtual visits that people can take 24-7. Redfin, an online broker, boasted that it was ahead of the game because it already prepared virtual home tours and plans digital marketing campaigns for each listing. They believed they had a unique selling tactic because they felt their online media mix optimization could close deals just as well as brokers who focused on offline meetings and showings. It’s only reasonable to expect that other real estate businesses will benefit by following this lead. Search and Social Marketing After COVID-19 Besides marketing specific rental units, you can use your social platforms and ads to demonstrate how well your company has responded to the crisis by following best practices from the CDC and the NMHC. Let prospective renters know that you care about the health of your tenants and your employees and exactly how you demonstrate that care. Also, if you see specific demand changes, you might consider responding to these with changes in your own rental policies. For instance, if you offered short-term leases geared to AirBnb-type clients in the past, you might consider extending leases for individuals and families who need a place to shelter for several months or even longer. Even if you need to lower your monthly rental rates somewhat, you can always benefit from the economy of not having to replace tenants as often. Your local market research may find a ready audience with displaced travellers, college students, or medical workers. When you come up with a local demand and some appropriate deals, be certain your target those people for your digital ads on search and social platforms. Bouncing back during and after the COVID-19 crisis Again, industry experts expect rental properties to bounce back fairly quickly. While the market may change, your flexible approach to this disruption can give you an edge. Follow safety guidelines, provide prospective renters the online tools they prefer, and of course, use your marketing to let your audience know what a good job you’re doing.
How Can Airlines Win Back the Public’s Trust After COVID-19?
Airlines need to focus on gaining and maintaining the public’s trust in the wake of COVID-19. These marketing tactics can help airlines reach that goal. Even when compared to many other industries, the coronavirus crisis has hit airlines particularly hard. Airline research from Reuters shows that seat capacity for international flights has dropped to half when compared to one year ago. Even more unsettling, storage buildings now house about one-half of all planes in the world. The largest airlines have already predicted that they will emerge from this crisis as smaller companies, and industry experts predict that some will not survive at all. For certain, marketing geared towards gaining and maintaining the public’s trust will be critical for airlines after the coronavirus. Make Plans to Build Trust Before and Not After the Coronavirus Even though airlines may have trimmed their schedules, they’re still departing, landing, serving customers, and working hard to ensure passenger and crew safety during these trying times. According to Aviation Technology, travelers still need to fly for repatriation to their homes and for other essential reasons. Colleen Costello serves as the CEO for a company that embeds germ-killing technology into lights, Vital Vio. In her interview with Aviation Technology she said that she worked with several airlines that were aggressively tackling the challenge through screening, chemical disinfectants, and the sort of technology that her company supplies. She also mentioned the importance of having airlines clearly communicate with passengers, crew, and other stakeholders about how seriously they take the threat and how important safety measures have become. For instance, she mentioned that a pre-coronavirus survey found that two out of five respondents had admitted to flying when they were ill and never wiping down surfaces or even their phone when they traveled. So, airlines can find plenty of opportunities to educate fliers about best practices for traveling and of course, to get more serious about enforcing and encouraging those measures. As a simple example, airlines could provide complimentary wipes and hand sanitizer for planes and boarding areas for crew and passengers. Emails, website notices, ads, social site postings, and even press releases can provide valuable safety tips and information about the steps the airline has taken to protect their customers and employees. Audience Targeting for Airlines In order to come up with good audience targeting for airlines after the coronavirus, it’s important to predict what travel will be like. It’s safe to assume that the bulk of the first post-corona travelers will fly for work and not discretionary trips. That’s particularly true for international flights. Forbes actually predicted that family travel will eventually resume, stronger than ever, as people take their delayed vacations or trips to visit family and friends. However, especially at first, people may choose short, domestic travel for vacations in order to stay closer to home and conserve budgets. With that in mind, a couple of post-coronavirus targeting tactics may prevail: B2B travel: Look at the example of the way Cathay Pacific used LinkedIn to target business travelers. Since the airline hoped to increase bookings on Asian flights, they targeted members of LinkedIn groups that focused on Asian business. The benefited from using polls to promote their loyalty program and the extra exposure they gained from LinkedIn recommendations. LinkedIn also lets companies post articles to their own pages to attract attention by highlighting their own efforts to protect travelers. The combination of ads and organic social attention can prove very potent. Personal travel: Some airlines have benefited by using the targeting and retargeting options on such popular travel sites as Expedia. The platform allows advertisers to gather information to retarget to people who search for specific trips without purchasing flights, even when they continue to use the internet away from the original website. This helps reinforce the airline’s brand and increases the chance of engaging travelers. To learn more, it may help to consider how Korean and Hainan Airlines benefits from this strategy with Expedia to gain brand recognition from fliers who may not have considered booking with these two airlines before. Since many businesses and individuals will suffer financial strain during the crisis. Airlines may not always need to compete with the cheapest tickets, but they should always stress why they offer a good value. Customers will still have an interest in loyalty programs, customer service, routes, schedules, amenities, and ticket prices. For some time after the crisis passes, it’s also safe to predict that fliers will want to know how well airlines responded by protecting travelers and employees. This can include protection from disease, but it may also include adding in more generous policies for people who need to reschedule trips. Adding travel insurance with generous cancellation products can help develop trust and even provide airlines with an upsell to generate a little extra revenue. It’s Time to Start Planning for Post-Coronavirus Airline Business Almost everybody agrees that airlines will have to struggle over the coming months because of travel restrictions. Even after the worst of the crisis passes, it may take some time for travelers to feel comfortable leaving home. Likewise, businesses may find ways to reduce nonessential travel. Still, plenty of transportation experts feel confident that after some time, the business will enjoy another boom as both companies and individuals decide to make up for lost time. Airlines can position themselves well to enjoy this future surge by making certain that they represent their brands as well as possible during the crisis and find the right customers to target afterwards.
Utilizing Geofencing to Improve Local Business Marketing
Geofencing is crucial for local business marketing because it allows you to reach the people who are around you and interested in what you sell. A geofence refers to a virtual boundary around a real-world area. It’s helpful for marketing a local business because it allows for hyperlocal targeting of people in a very specific location. Combined with other marketing tactics, you will also reach people who are not just nearby but also interested in what you offer. Find out how you can benefit from geofencing to market a local business. Using Geofencing to Market My Local Business Again, geofencing isn’t limited to just marketing or even cell phones. For instance, some companies use it to monitor activity in specific locations. The U.S. government relies upon it for security around military installations and even the White House. Still, you will find this tech heavily associated with mobile, local marketing. Geofencing apps rely upon Wi-Fi, GPS, RFID, or other device information to pinpoint the location of the user. The apps might either use proximity to a business or specific coordinates to decide if the mobile user has entered the boundaries of the geofence. Since there are about 7.8 million people in the world and five billion mobile users, this technology has the ability to reach many potential customers. Generally, business access this technology through their own in-store apps, social medial sites, or advertising platforms. Imagine, for instance, you sell vegetarian lunches within a large city. Simply targeting your city or part of the city won’t give you the same results as having the luxury of targeting hungry vegetarians who are only a couple of blocks away or even walking past your front door. When people approach your restaurant, you could offer them a mobile discount or BOGO coupon. When nearby workers start to look forward to lunchtime, you might send them a free delivery coupon. You can expect to enjoy much better conversions than by using promotions, coupon codes, and other ads that simply target people who happen to live within the same ZIP code or city and especially without any geographic targeting at all. Benefits of Hyper-Targeting Local Audiences With Geofencing Look at some encouraging statistics to see how you can improve your own local business marketing with geofencing: Adding geofencing to mobile advertisements will double a typical click-through rate. Over two-thirds of consumers say that they prefer personalized marketing experiences, and geofencing helps deliver that experience with its just-in-time messaging. Even more, geofencing tech works with over 90 percent of today’s smart phones. Also, people almost always have their phones with them when they’re out and about, and they spend an average of five hours each day actively using them. Your own business can benefit from geofencing with: Improved marketing returns: You can assume that customers will prefer to visit a nearby business, so you can enjoy better conversions. With some advertising platforms, better conversions will even translate into cheaper bids. You can spend less money on ads and earn more in revenue. Better data collection: You have a chance to adjust and test the virtual perimeter of your geofence and the kinds of offers and messages that you send. You should also add this information from other data you collect online and locally to gain a better understanding of customer behavior. Improved customer experience: Truly, you will use geofencing to provide your customers with a better experience. You can deliver exactly what they want at the time when they’re nearby and ready to obtain it. Common Ways Local Businesses Use Geofencing for Local Business Marketing Marketers use geofencing in a number of different ways. Common applications include: Business apps: These days, lots of businesses develop apps for consumers to use. Besides the other benefits of having consumers download your business app, you can also include geofencing to send notifications when users enter your defined locations. Text messages: Along with email lists, it’s great to get permission to send text messages to your customers. You can use software to automatically send pre-written text messages when users step inside your zone. Third-party applications: You may not have the resources to develop your own apps yet; however, you can find third-party coupon and promo apps that give you access to geofencing technology and very often, a wide audience. Social media: Twitter, Facebook, and most other large social platforms have advertising programs that will allow you to use their geofencing capabilities. Search and other internet ads: Advertising platforms, like Google, will let you define geofencing locations for displaying ads. Tips to Maximize the Benefits of Local Business Marketing With Geofencing As with most marketing, you should include a clear call to action. In this case, your call to action should emphasize immediate action because you’re taking advantage of the fact that your customers have moved close to your brick-and-mortar office or store. You don’t want to tell these customers that they can save money all month. Instead, you want to let them know that they’re lucky enough to be close just when they have the chance to take advantage of your deal. Also, you’ll enjoy the best results if you mix geofencing with other marketing techniques, like search, demographic targeting, and so on. You probably don’t want to target everybody who happens to wander near your business but those who are most likely to want what you’re offering.
Marketing for Senior Living Facilities After the Coronavirus
Marketing senior living facilities after COVID-19 must demonstrate how you’ve improved, while presenting the facts that show your residents are safe. One of the first big news stories that you may have read about COVID-19, usually just called the coronavirus, involved deaths at a senior living facility near Seattle. Since then, the virus has made its way to vulnerable populations inside other skilled nursing, assisted living, and independent living facilities across the United States. In response, most of these places have restricted visitation, canceled social activities, closed communal dining areas, and taken other firm action to reduce the chance of spreading disease. In the past, most senior facilities have highlighted the chance to remain social and active as some of their most positive features. Of course, even offering residents an active, social experience cannot come before safeguarding health. Naturally, this crisis has created huge challenges for facility administrators, loved ones, and of course, residents. Still, this national health crisis will surely pass. Along with the challenges of today, senior care businesses can also find some marketing opportunities for the future. Positive marketing for senior living facilities after the Coronavirus No doubt, senior living facilities and families have recently needed to make some hard choices. Many facilities have temporarily suspended new admissions, which will reduce revenue. Families have had to make the difficult choice to forgo visiting their parents and grandparents or to take them home. The resident’s adult children may not want their loved ones to feel isolated or might simply have the typically misguided idea that senior care facilities are breeding grounds for disease. Marketing senior living after coronavirus will take emphasizing the very real positives of your facility by demonstrating how you’ve improved and presenting the facts that can alleviate concerns. Marketing for assisted living and nursing homes should emphasize overall benefits For instance, families may already struggle to take care of their younger and healthier members during the current situation. Even during typical times, they often lack the training, equipment, and focus to protect their elderly and infirm elders. Katie Smith acts as the CEO and president of LeadingAge. This organization represents nonprofit senior care facilities. She admitted that some early cases, such as in Washington state, highlight how unprepared some facilities — and even the entire country — was for a quick-spreading virus of this nature. At the same time, Katie Smith observed that these facilities still provide one of the safest places for elderly and infirm people to live. Trained professionals can monitor residents, ensure they get their medications on schedule, and most of all, stick to best practices for containing the spread of disease. In addition, federal and state governments strictly regulate senior living and healthcare businesses. Under this recent threat, organizations have doubled down on their efforts to adhere to high standards. It’s well known that elderly people have a much greater risk from dying of coronavirus than younger people, according to published medical statistics. On the other hand, almost three-quarters of family members said that their own and their parent’s life improved after a move to a senior facility, according to surveys. Even better, about 70 percent of the seniors surveyed felt the same way after the move, even if they had resisted in the beginning. Some examples of the benefits that they cited included improved mental and physical health, less stress, and better family relations. Focus upon communication During this crisis, senior facilities can maintain their good image by focusing upon clear, honest communication with current residents, families, and the wider community. This is a good time to send out emails, letters, and even press releases to let everybody know how hard you’re working to effectively protect residents. Even if it’s not all good news, you should also remain as transparent as possible. Certainly, current restrictions on activities, visitations, and communal dining will make some people unhappy. With the relatively long incubation period of coronavirus, you could have residents who already contracted the disease from visitors or even caregivers who had no idea they were carriers. You need to ensure that people understand that you have followed best practices and taken steps to save lives. While you’re communicating important information, you can also use this opportunity to build and maintain your brand image as a competent, caring, and transparent organization. Try to mitigate the negatives Right now, many residents and their loved ones will find your social distancing measures unpleasant, if necessary. Still, you may find ways to help bridge the gap. For instance, some senior living facilities have helped residents use such technology as Facetime and Zoom in order to reduce isolation, keep in contact with their families, and even interact with other residents. It’s time for you to find creative solutions and of course, craft marketing to let people know about them. Start developing your marketing plans now Sadly, we’re likely to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic for several more months, if not years. Still, people will need your services, perhaps now more than ever. Your attention to safety, honest communication, and clever solutions should provide you with plenty of marketing inspiration in the coming months.
The Tiger King’s Questionable SEO Tactics
The Tiger King Joe Exotic used blackhat SEO tactics to take revenge on Carole Baskin. We break down why blackhat SEO doesn’t work, even for Joe Exotic. If you’re one of the millions of Americans with a Netflix subscription and nowhere to go because of the pandemic, there’s a good chance you’ve watched at least part of Tiger King. According to both Netflix and Rotten Tomatoes, this documentary has generated enough attention to become America’s most popular TV show at the moment. The series largely focuses upon the rivalry between Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin, rivals in the business of keeping big cats and other wildlife. Some characters in the series have been described as appalling, cruel, and of course, oddly mesmerizing. During this time of national crisis, why are we highlighting a show that documents mistreatment of beautiful animals, hypocrisy, and even attempted murder? Well, among Joe Exotic’s other questionable actions, he employed illicit SEO tactics to try to improve his business at Carol Baskin’s expense. While this TV show can provide so many morality lessons, it’s also instructive about blackhat SEO tactics that you should never rely upon. Blackhat SEO: the Tiger King way Before explaining Tiger King SEO, it’s helpful to make sure you understand a little background of the story. Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin appear very different on the surface. For instance, Joe openly ran his zoo to earn money and often appeared short of cash. On the other hand, Ms. Baskin has lots of money and says she runs her nonprofit to help protect endangered animals. At the same time, they do have a few things in common. Baskin runs a nonprofit animal sanctuary called Big Cat Rescue in Florida. Exotic owned the Garold Wayne Zoo in Oklahoma, now known as the Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and under different ownership. The feud between the two them began when Baskin claimed that Exotic’s animal conditions, breeding programs, and practice of charging visitors to pet cubs were abusive to the captive wildlife. She embarked upon a mission to end all private ownership of big cats and in particular, Joe Exotic’s zoo. In turn, Exotic claimed that Baskin did not provide good conditions for the captive animals in her own refuge. He said that she waged a hypocritical war against his zoo by encouraging PETA to track him, badgering prospective clients, and even creating websites that called him out for animal abuse. How does Tiger King employ SEO? Another series character, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, owned a South Carolina animal preserve. He mentioned that Baskin always ranked at the top of search engines. Joe Exotic must have also known about Baskin’s SEO success. In order to gain more visibility for his business, Exotic figured he could ride on Baskin’s SEO coattails by registering his business and online properties as Big Cat Rescue Entertainment, instead of Big Cat Rescue. Even Baskin admitted that Joe Exotic enjoyed some initial success with this tactic. She would sometimes get phone calls from people who wanted to find Big Cat Rescue Entertainment. She sued Exotic in 2012 with a claim of copyright infringement. In the end, she won a settlement of almost $1 million. Some evidence her lawyers used to help her win her case included Big Cat Rescue Entertainment advertisements with the same Florida area code that Baskin’s organization used, even though Exotic had his business based in Oklahoma. Having similar business names doesn’t necessarily imply copyright infringement; however, a deliberate attempt to masquerade as another organization might. Don’t be like Tiger King Naturally, nobody wants to suffer the same fate as Joe Exotic. He had to sell his business. He also ended up in prison for trying to hire somebody to kill Carol Baskin. Nobody thinks that blackhat SEO is as bad as trying to murder somebody. Still, attempting to misrepresent yourself or your business through gaming search engines and misleading customers won’t lead to long-term prosperity, and that’s true even if you enjoy any success with it at all. Here are at least three takeaways you should learn from Tiger King’s blackhat SEO: For one thing, major search engines have gotten much better about catching misbehavior like this. According to Search Engine Watch, search engines will penalize or even delist businesses that attempt to fool them and their users. Even if you get away with it for a short time, your rankings will rarely last as long as your penalties. Even more important, companies that get caught employing these sorts of tactics suffer from terrible damage to their brand reputations. No business wants potential customers to think of them as a company that lied about their own address or other important business details. Of course, you should not overlook the fact that a court awarded Baskin nearly a million dollars after she proved that Joe Exotic tried to gain search engine visibility by spoofing her organization. If you have to start hiring lawyers, you know that’s going to make a big dent in any potential profits. Anyway, if they ever make a documentary about your life and your business, you don’t want to gain an audience for the same reasons that Tiger King did. You can speak proudly about your prominent business and website when you know that you gained that popularity by adding value and not through deceit.
Why Differentiation Is the Most Important Marketing Tactic
Even as marketers, the team at our Florida marketing agency knows we’re also consumers. Each day, we face hundreds of choices as to where to eat, where to shop, and which brand of soda to buy. Giving your money to one brand is, essentially, giving your support to that brand to keep doing what they’re doing. Particularly, in the case of a repeat purchase, you’re telling the brand you’re satisfied with the product and have returned to using it again. But, what is it that drives you to that decision to support that brand? Often, it’s convenience, like when I’m on the road, starving, yet the only restaurant around is that McDonald’s just off the highway. However, typically people have more options. Instead of going to the Publix down the street, you could drive a bit further to Fresh Market, where you know you’ll be welcomed by a team of happy people serving fee samples, and will have the opportunity to purchase healthier foods that you might not get from a competing store down the street. Or, maybe you like Fresh Market, but you know you can get a much better deal from Winn Dixie down the street. It may not be as fancy, but you know their deli meat prices are unbeatable. In this case, Winn Dixie can differentiate itself based on cost. Many times, business owners and marketers fail to recognize the importance of differentiation. Differentiation is a key aspect of effectively marketing a business. It is what tells people why you’re superior to other businesses and competitors in the space. If you can’t beat other businesses based on cost, then perhaps you can beat them based on luxury, convenience or customer service. Differentiation is the process of standing out in some way. If there are a million others just like you, there’s not much to make you stand out. But, if there’s some way you can distinguish yourself from others, you can beat out competitors by being the best at whatever that is. It’s okay if your brand can’t beat others in every category… it’s a matter of finding the one that’s right for you, and committing to being the best within that space. Take, for example, Ethica, a grassroots business dedicated to women’s apparel. If the business were limited to just that, they wouldn’t stand a chance against larger retailers that can make clothes cheaper using factory laborers. But, that’s just it. Ethica’s founders decided to adopt a social good initiative, allowing them to only carry clothing and accessories that they can verify is created ethically. Because of that, they’ve garnered attention from some of the leading fashion publications in the United States. Differentiation is key in the company’s success. You can see many examples of differentiation in the choices you make every day. I tend to spend more money on my favorite brand of tissue, but I’ll forsake quality for price when it comes to kitchen needs, like plastic wrap or aluminum foil.Everyone has preferences, so for marketers it’s often just a matter of delving into those specific preferences. When thinking about your business, ask yourself how you are differentiating your business. If you can’t think of anything, then start today by emphasizing your strengths, and working to design campaigns around those differentiators. The team at our Orlando ad agency guarantees that focusing on differentiators will bring results. Contact us today to get started setting your company apart.
Quantitative Vs. Qualitative Marketing Research
You can split marketing research techniques into two basic types — quantitative and qualitative research. Read on to learn the differences between the two. Quantitative research relies upon objective numbers, statistics, and hard facts. In contrast, qualitative user research seeks to explore more subjective questions, such as feelings and motivations. Your deep understanding of the difference between these two kinds of marketing research will help inform decisions that you make about investing in the information your company needs to thrive. Quantitative and qualitative user research examples To better understand the difference between these two disciplines, consider some simple examples of quantitative and qualitative marketing research: Quantitative Marketing Research You can gather broad insights about customer behavior using quantitative marketing research. For example, let’s say that your website currently sells high-quality, coffee-making supplies. Some examples might include coffee makers, filters, and so on. You have a good base of loyal patrons, so you think about adding high-end coffee beans to your online shop in order to increase revenue. How can you decide if your customers will want to buy coffee from you? Often, marketers use surveys to gather quantitative data. Your survey could ask your current customers how often they buy coffee online. Very often, you will give users a choice of a few ranges to make the information easier to collate or graph. So you might begin by asking them if they buy coffee online: Never Weekly Monthly A couple of times a year You may find that 50-percent of your current customers already buy coffee online at least once a month. That could encourage you to consider offering coffee subscriptions to satisfy your customers and of course, generate more revenue. Qualitative Marketing Research The research above helped you discover that your customer base is already open to the idea of buying coffee online. That’s good news, but you still don’t know for certain that you can motivate them to start buying their coffee from you. For that, you can turn to qualitative user research. These are some qualitative marketing research tools you could employ: You can still use surveys but ask more open-ended questions. Instead of asking multiple-choice questions, you might ask your customers where they buy coffee now, why they like that retailer, and what might encourage them to switch. Other qualitative marketing research techniques include focus groups and interviews. Surveys are easier, but the brainstorming aspect of focus groups and interviews can help you uncover surprising insights that you may miss if you simply didn’t know to put the right questions on your survey. Should you rely upon quantitative or qualitative marketing research? Do you need quantitative or qualitative data to better understand your marketplace? Experienced marketers will generally suggest gathering both kinds of information in order to gain deep insights about any aspect of a business: Quantitative information can give you a big-picture overview of customer behavior. You may also find it easy to gather numbers with surveys or even your own website’s analytics. Generally, you can rapidly plot or analyze these numbers to make them easy to understand. It’s easy to say how much time average visitors spend on your website, how many prospects abandon shopping carts, or how often customers buy coffee. At the same time, quantitative data is better at describing behavior than motivation. Since you won’t gather such neat, ordered answers as you would with multiple-choice, quantitative questions, it may take more time to organize qualitative answers into meaningful trends. Still, the more flexible and subjective nature of qualitative research can uncover surprising insights into consumer preferences and motivations. Your research group may answer questions you didn’t even think to ask. Also, you can find tools to help you analyze unstructured data. For instance, some software can pick out common and related words or phrases and arrange them into comprehensible diagrams. Finding good quantitative and qualitative research companies Of course, you might not believe you have the time or background to properly design and conduct market research all by yourself. You can work with quantitative or qualitative research companies. A good research firm should have the experience and training to provide the answers to your marketing questions. Right at the beginning, they should learn enough about your business concerns to help you decide if you should focus upon quantitative research, qualitative research, or a combination of both. According to CFR, a market research company, you need to take care when asking for advice from some companies before engaging them to do your research. In the real world, many researchers have more experience with one discipline over the other. Naturally, that experience can give them an unconscious bias. On the other hand, you can certainly find a quantitative and qualitative marketing research agency with experience in both types of research and just as importance, the skill to blend them for the best results. Why market research matters You know that a stronger understanding of consumers will give you the chance to serve them better. In turn, that good relationship will help you retain loyal customers and attract new ones. The insights you gain can help inform your website design, the products you offer, and the kind of advertisements you run. Before you plan your research, you need to decide if you should rely upon quantitative, qualitative, or a mix of the two. If you seek help from a marketing research company, make certain that they have experience to handle them both.