Why Menu Promotions Plus Location Targeting Are Fast Food Marketing’s Secret Sauce

Step into a fast food restaurant at any given time, and you’ll find the menu isn’t what it used to be. While tried and true favorites are always present, fast food chains are notorious for peppering them with menu promotions — new items available only for a limited time. Arby’s, for example, has the Super Reuben. McDonald’s has Gilroy Garlic Fries. Burger King has Mac n’ Cheetos.

And consumers eat them up.

To get a taste before it’s too late, customers go out of their way to visit restaurant locations that feature these new offerings — and fast food chains win out. In a recent investigation of the “limited time only” trend, CNBC found that menu promotions can drive “heavy amounts of foot traffic” to burger chains.

“Limited-time offers at a chain restaurant are the equivalent to a daily special at a mom and pop restaurant,” chief marketing officer for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s explained in the article. “It’s the same strategy, you are simply trying to get your customers to come in a little more than they normally would if you had a static menu.”

Offering something new and exciting is important not only because it’s likely to stimulate more visits, but also because it puts restaurants in a better position to compete in the crowded QSR — Quick Service Restaurant — space. According to xAd’s recently released QSR Q2 Foot Traffic Trends Report, which analyzed 37 million visits to more than a dozen QSR brands,McDonald’s dominates the fast food market, but brands like Domino’s, Arby’s, Pizza Hut, and KFC are neck and neck when it comes to attracting customers.

With heavy competition, fast food restaurants must go out of their way to advertise their menu promotions and maximize their potential for increasing foot traffic and, ultimately, revenue. Because these promotions can be regionally specific and marketers have limited time within which to promote these specials, it’s imperative that brands get the word out fast to the most receptive audience.

To inform customers, QSRs have typically turned to TV, radio, and online ads. But there’s a better way to let consumers know what’s on the menu nearby. By leveraging a consumer’s location, brands can target hungry potential patrons based on past visitation, when they’re near a specific fast food location, or at a time of day when they’re likely to be seeking out a meal. That’s vital to brands offering, say, a breakfast promotion or an item that appeals to the late-night dining crowd, as it can mean the difference between a sale and a lost opportunity.

What’s more, location-targeted ads allow fast food brands to present their menu promotions at a time when customers might be considering a visit to a competitor’s restaurant. By taking a conquest marketing approach and leveraging proximity targeting, fast food brands can entice consumers to change their minds with special menu items, diverting foot traffic to their own locations when it matters most.

On their own, menu promotions are a useful business strategy. Coupled with location intelligence and targeting, they can give foot traffic the boost fast food brands — Mac n’ Cheetos and all — need to come out on top.

Interested in more QSR insights? Download our Q2 QSR Report.