It was love at first bite when a passionate baker and entrepreneur Danni tasted her first donut. That sweet moment became the spark for the donut shop she eventually opened, Danni’s Donut Shop.
On a mission to spread the love of donuts one bite at a time, Danni wanted to connect with her customers in a way that was just as delightful as her treats—both online and in person. That’s when she discovered the Bitly Connections Platform—a powerful platform that allowed her to customize links, generate QR Codes, and create beautiful and hassle-free landing pages, all while tracking performance with insightful analytics.
Okay, the jig is up—there is no Danni, and Danni’s Donut Shop doesn’t actually exist. But it could be your restaurant, café, or wine bar. We want to show you what’s possible when you make Bitly your one-stop shop for driving your marketing initiatives forward. Let’s dig in—you donut want to miss this!
Enhancing brand visibility and engagement
Danni and her team knew that word-of-mouth wouldn’t be enough to boost foot traffic to the store—they needed to step up their online marketing game. That’s where Bitly Links came in!
To get the dough rolling, Danni’s team created custom links for their social media pages and emails. Take a look at how they made it happen.
Sharing customized links
Danni’s team created short links to showcase their opening hours, menu, and ordering forms on their bios of their social media accounts. Thanks to trimmed, branded links, followers knew what they were getting into before clicking a link. With each link being trackable, Danni’s team could see which content was getting the most attention, giving them a clear picture of what their customers were after.
Using a custom domain
Danni’s team created a custom domain (also known as a vanity URL) to help customers recognize the Danni’s Donut Shop brand across multiple channels. The team started sharing the link in their emails and social media to see which channels were stirring up the most buzz.
Her team also ran an A/B test to find out which content and calls to action were hitting the sweet spot. When the results rolled in, they saw which ones got customers eager to click and visit the shop.
Shortening links for Instagram Stories
The team turned up the engagement by running a poll to discover which donut toppings had their followers drooling. They used the results to craft a new menu with the top picks and introduced new flavors in the following weeks.
Each flavor was showcased on their Stories using an Instagram link sticker that took followers to an order form. Thanks to Bitly Analytics, Danni could see if the new flavors were boosting online orders.
Boosting donut orders and collecting feedback
Danni wanted to find a way to guide offline customers to her online shop so she could continue making sales, even outside of regular business hours.
Her team agreed that Bitly Codes were the sweetest solution for driving traffic to their online resources. Here’s how Danni’s Donut Shop used QR Codes to level up their business.
Advertising on the physical storefront
The team customized a large QR Code with Danni’s Donut Shop colors and logo and placed it on the store window. Folks who walked by could simply pull out their smartphones and scan the code to order freshly baked donuts, whether the store was open or closed.
Since the QR Code directed them to the order forms, the team could collect orders around the clock and handle them the next morning.
Sharing order forms via stamp cards
Danni’s team had a sprinkle of inspiration—what if they could boost donut orders and build customer loyalty at the same time? The solution was right under their noses: QR Codes on stamp cards!
Each stamp card functioned as a loyalty card: For every order—whether in person or for pickup—customers earned a donut stamp. One side of the card was for collecting the stamps, while the other featured a QR Code to order donuts.
After collecting 10 stamps, customers were rewarded with a free donut. This tasty incentive kept them coming back. Plus, having the card on hand ensured they were always ready for satisfying those donut cravings.
Making it easy to leave feedback
Danni knew her donuts were a crowd-pleaser, but she wanted to keep her customers happy in the long run. She created a feedback form and shared it through QR Codes.
By printing the codes on receipts and adding them to bulk order invoices, she made sure every customer had a voice. With just a scan, customers could easily share their thoughts. This was the perfect tool, letting feedback roll in faster than ever.
Promoting seasonal offerings and events
When Danni decided to set up a food truck, she knew she needed to invest in landing pages to promote seasonal offerings and events. The only problem was that building landing pages was beyond her team’s expertise, and they didn’t have time to learn code from scratch.
But with Bitly Pages, the team was thrilled to discover they could get started with highly customizable layouts and templates, allowing them to create custom landing pages in minutes, not hours!
This is how Danni’s team used Bitly Pages to make it happen.
Promoting events on online and offline channels
When Danni set out to fulfill her lifelong dream of launching a pop-up food truck, she was eager to turn the opening day into a buzz-worthy event. Her team created a custom landing page with Bitly Pages—a quick and easy way to showcase all the event details, complete with a promo video to get future attendees excited.
They shared the mobile-friendly link across their email list, and social media posts, promoting the event on multiple channels and reaching a wider audience.
The team created QR Codes to promote the event in the local newspaper, as well as on posters and flyers, that all pointed back to the event landing page. By using multiple touchpoints, they felt confident that their event would reach the right audience.
Now all they had to do was sit back and watch the clicks and scans roll in to see which channels were driving the most traffic. Keeping tabs on the engagement gave them a good idea of what to expect on the opening day of their food truck.
Getting audience engagement on social media
Danni’s team had been using social media to turn followers into customers for a while, but they wanted to share more content than what their social media profile allowed.
That’s when they decided to use Bitly Pages as their social media link-in-bio, which let them bundle all their links—discount codes, referral programs, food truck events, menus, order forms, and online shop—into one sweet landing page.
Marketing seasonal offerings
Danni wanted to create more hype and drive in-store traffic for the spookiest event of the year—Halloween. They crafted a limited-edition donut lineup: chocolate-coated donuts with spiderwebs, glazed donuts topped with vampire teeth and googly eyes, and powdered sugar donuts turned into mummies—all in the spirit of the spooky season!
To promote their trick-or-treat-inspired menu, they offered discounts on bulk orders to their most loyal customers, targeting busy parents who didn’t have time to make tasty treats for Halloween. Instead of using their regular online forms, Danni and her team created a customized landing page focused solely on this special offering.
The team promoted it through a targeted email list, social media, and QR Codes on posters, tabletops, and even the shop window—decorated with a Halloween-themed logo. By tracking engagement on the landing page, they could see which channels were driving the most clicks and scans.
Making improvements based on data
As much as Danni loved watching her customers sink their teeth into her delightful treats, she knew she was only getting half the story without looking at the customer data.
The icing on the donut was seeing every campaign and promotion displayed on one cohesive dashboard with Bitly Analytics.
Tracking offline marketing campaigns
Danni was thrilled to finally see the impact of her offline materials, something she had struggled to measure before. She now had an insider’s view of how customers were interacting with the shop’s window display, flyers, posters, and business cards!
With this data, her team could pinpoint which channels were performing best and which ones were flopping, helping them refine future campaigns to better connect with customers.
Measuring online performance
The team also tracked the performance of her short links and custom landing pages, including the link-in-bio, to see which ones were getting the most clicks. This click data helped them figure out which content their audience found most appealing.
They could also measure the success of promotional campaigns like the pop-up food truck event and Halloween ads in real-time, identifying which locations were grabbing the most attention and then focusing their efforts on the channels driving the most traffic.
Understanding audience behavior
After reviewing the results of their marketing efforts with Bitly Analytics, Danni got a clearer picture of which channels were the most effective by getting a deeper understanding of patterns in behavior and audience preferences.
For visual learners like Danni, it was easy to see which channels were driving the most engagement thanks to colorful donut-shaped charts (her personal favorite!) and maps revealing the top traffic locations. Customizing the dashboard by metric, chart type, or visualization style made digging into the data a breeze.
Serving up sprinkles and success with Bitly
While your shop, truck, or stand may not give your customers a sugar rush, we hope these ideas give you plenty of food for thought! Whether you’re looking to attract more customers with QR Codes, boost your online presence with custom landing pages and short links, or dive into detailed analytics to track customer engagement, we’ve got the tools to help.
You don’t need to be a marketing guru to connect with your customers and see what’s working—the Bitly Connections Platform makes it easy to reach your audience and turn them into loyal fans.
Sign up for Bitly today and start engaging your customers with deeper connections, no matter where they are!