Promotional strategies for a restaurateur on Zomato
As a restaurant owner, when there is so much on the plate to take care of internally, it can sometimes get overwhelming to keep an eye out. The key to the growth of a business lies in balancing out their time and efforts between internal and external challenges.
In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running, if you stand still, they will swallow you.
Earlier, it was difficult for a restaurateur to find customers outside their vicinity but thanks to Zomato customers are a click away. However, with over 1.4 million restaurants registered on Zomato, everyone is trying to have an edge over others. For a highly competitive market, that the F&B industry is today, it is important for a restaurateur to position and promote their brand on Zomato, to attract more customers and bring in more sales for a restaurant.
Zomato offers a myriad of complimentary promotional strategies to the restaurateurs to increase their reach and build an online reputation. Here are some of the promotional strategies that will help a restaurateur to promote his business online —
Zomato Eazy (Quick Value Meal)
Zomato Eazy meal ensures quality, single served meal in a short period of time. It is primarily focused on working consumers who are in a hurry to grab a quick meal without spending a lot of money. On busy weekdays, one doesn’t have that much of time to look at the different choices and then decide what to eat and then wait for the order.
Zomato Easy can help a restaurant to increase its brand visibility by selling their low budget items. Creating an opportunity for serving a potential customer, who might have not tried the brand otherwise. Now if this customer likes the experience, chances are they will turn into your potential loyalist.
Tip: As restaurateurs, you have an idea of the basic order size and quantity. You can keep the ingredients ready, prepare orders quicker and make the delivery time shorter.
Context-based Ads on Zomato app
Context-based ads are graphic display banners that are used to promote a brand and get customers to land on the restaurant page when clicked in the Zomato app. With the help of location-based information (GPS), the app show in-line ads which aim to target the users in a specific geographical area. It is one of the most efficient promotional strategies for restaurateurs.
Banners can be really effective as they keep brand names fresh in the minds of existing customers as well as create awareness to new customers. As a restaurateur, these ads can be used to tell a visual story. It can be used to promote a meal visually from starters, to drinks, to salads, to beverages, to main course and desserts. Restaurateurs announce specials and discounts through a catchy, clear, creative ads which motivate their customers to order the items offered.
Tip: If you are a restaurateur who is willing to spend some money on advertisements then this is the place to be
Brand discounts
Giving discounts to potential customers is one of the fastest ways to draw the attraction of customers and drive in more traffic. For any restaurant —big or small, discounts can work really well in online ordering marketplace. If the restaurant is in the location with colleges and offices around— it can’t get any better.
For example, say, a dish of Rs 90 may sound normal, but the same dish priced at Rs 100 with a 10% discount would come across as far more fascinating in a restaurant. When customers benefit really well from the discounts, they will bound to refer to that restaurant to others. This, in turn, will result in getting more orders and growing of business eventually.
Tip: Run discounts on your newly opened outlets to get an initial boost in sales and acquiring customers.
Buy one get one (BOGO)
When it comes to promoting a restaurant online, buy-one-get-one promotions are very common. It offers customers two for the price of one which means they are getting a deep discount and that’s what makes them happy. But, are restaurateurs shooting themselves in the foot by giving something away? It’s necessary to understand the science behind these promotions.
Offering BOGO deals on expensive items with low-profit margins can land a restaurateur in trouble. While offering two-for-one for restaurant promotion, make sure that the food cost on the items offered has lower ingredient cost, like pasta or chicken wings. By this way, even by offering BOGO deals, a restaurateur can still profit on the sale.
Tip: With this kind of promotional strategy, restaurateurs must have their numbers right, ensure that the food cost on the free items is minimal such that the margins on any add-on will replace or at least balance the loss that comes upon the dishes offered for free.
Wrapping up
Well, it takes months to build a feasible promotional strategy. Though, these were just a few promotional strategies for a restaurateur to experiment with, measure results and determine what works best for them to keep their restaurant on the top of customers mind.
