The quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry is one of the most lucrative, as individuals increasingly favor easy, to-go, low-priced foods over other alternatives. However, because this industry is lucrative, it’s also one of the most competitive. After all, smart entrepreneurs know to go where the money is.
How do you stand out from other QSRs? The answer lies in your marketing. The only way to survive and thrive is to attract potential customers and retain existing ones constantly.
There’s a shift toward digital marketing platforms, as this is where customers are. Leveraging digital marketing techniques alongside traditional strategies can make all the difference.
In this post, we explore QSR marketing strategies that can help create brand awareness and a loyal customer base.
What to consider when creating marketing campaigns for QSRs
What comes to mind when you hear “quick-service restaurant?” Odds are, you think about fast food restaurants like Burger King and McDonald’s. Why? Because these QSRs have cracked the code when it comes to restaurant marketing.
Take McDonald’s, for example. The restaurant runs one of the most successful QSR loyalty programs—the McDonald’s loyalty program boasts roughly 150 million active users, highlighting its tremendous success in customer retention. This is just one of the strategies the fast food giant employs. It also uses targeted advertising, pays attention to customer demands, employs limited-time offers (LTOs), and more.
You, too, can thrive in the industry if you pay attention to your marketing. Take time to understand your target audience so you can create targeted campaigns. What are their needs and preferences? Do they prefer online ordering over coming to your restaurant? Do they value free delivery services and giveaways? Understanding your customers will help you create an effective marketing plan. For example, if you find that they value giveaways, you can center your marketing campaign around promotions.
It’s also essential to determine customers’ satisfaction with current processes. Distribute customer satisfaction surveys to determine what you need to improve and include the changes in your marketing campaign. This way, customers can feel heard and valued, and you can present your QSR as a customer-centric business.
Also, it’s essential to maintain brand consistency and include clear calls to action throughout all marketing efforts to promote recognizability and direct customers toward desired actions. Assuming that customers will automatically recognize your marketing efforts and know what they’re supposed to do without offering some direction can result in lost sales.
Whatever marketing strategy you choose, ensure you continually measure its effectiveness to determine what works with your target audience and what doesn’t. Tracking and analytics tools like Bitly can help—with Bitly Codes and branded links, you get real-time data on your campaign’s performance, allowing you to make immediate adjustments and future campaign improvements.
Top 6 marketing ideas for QSRs to try
If you’re in the QSR industry, the odds are definitely in your favor. A survey by US Foods found that approximately 60% of Americans prefer to order takeout from fast-food restaurants. So, if you play your marketing cards right, you’ll have no problem attracting new customers and keeping current ones.
Here are some marketing ideas that can help:
1. Local SEO optimization
Most people turn to search engines like Google for recommendations on where to find products and services—75% use Google to find business information. As such, visibility in search engines is crucial to your success.
Invest in local SEO optimization to help your website rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs). There are various local SEO efforts you can implement, including:
- Optimizing your Google Business Profile: Upload high-quality pictures (food, drinks, drive-thru, and so on) to show new customers what to expect, set your business hours to let them know when you’re open, and describe what makes your restaurant stand out.
- Engaging with customers: Encourage them to leave reviews online and reply to reviews to show you value customer feedback.
- Creating valuable content: Search engines display pages that offer visitors value. Create content relevant to what your target audience may be searching for online. For example, you might discuss health and nutrition because it aligns with your business and is a topic many people search for.
- Incorporating keywords into your content and business profile: Conduct keyword research to determine which words or phrases your target audience uses to find QSRs. You can look at your competitors’ keywords or leverage Google or Yelp Suggest. With Google and Yelp Suggest, you simply type in a keyword customers would use to find your restaurant, and the engines recommend alternative options you can incorporate.
2. Social media engagement
People are increasingly using social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook to find restaurant recommendations. So, don’t just optimize your website—do the same for your social media pages. Share new menu items, high-quality pictures and videos, special offers, as well as behind-the-scenes content on your platforms to create brand awareness and improve your social media presence.
However, don’t stop there. Engagement is a key part of social media marketing. Encourage customers to leave comments, reply to these comments, post question tags, publish user-generated content (UGC), and so on, to build a loyal customer base.
Just look at Taco Bell. The fast-casual restaurant is among the most popular on social media—boasting 1.5 million followers on Instagram—because it regularly publishes UGC and humorous posts.
3. Digital coupons or loyalty programs
Everyone loves a good deal. Incorporate digital coupons and loyalty programs into your marketing efforts to drive traffic to your website and boost customer loyalty. These offerings incentivize actions and loyalty by increasing customers’ perceived value from your business.
Leverage Bitly Codes and links for seamless enrollment into loyalty programs and access to coupons. Beyond easy access, these solutions also offer QSR location-based engagement data, which can show you how effective your strategy is in various restaurant locations.
4. Email marketing
Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is still highly effective. In fact, it’s one of the best ways to create a loyal customer base. Collect customer email information through loyalty programs or surveys and create an email list to which you send new menu items, special offers or promotions, and personalized content.
Conduct regular A/B tests with Bitly to determine what resonates the most with your customers. Do they click on personalized content links more than on special offers? Do they open new menus when you send them? You can answer these questions by incorporating Bitly links into your emails.
5. Innovative technology
Leverage innovative technology like digital menus, ordering kiosks, and mobile apps to improve the customer experience and enhance your marketing efforts. Businesses like Burger King, McDonald’s, and Uber Eats have all successfully implemented these into their processes. While this doesn’t guarantee success for all fast-food restaurants, it is a strong testament to this technology’s value.
Recent research from the National Restaurant Association supports this: 72% of survey respondents report that they’d like the amount of tech in their QSR dining experience to either increase or stay the same. The same survey notes that diners of all ages welcome technology that makes their experience faster and more efficient.
With this research in mind, if you offer these technologies, it’s likely a large portion of your customer base may prefer them to traditional options because they’re more convenient—making them a suitable avenue to engage with customers. You can display limited-time deals, promotional offers, and relevant content to expand your marketing reach.
6. Content marketing
We know what you’re thinking—does content marketing really work for QSRs? The answer is a resounding yes since people usually search for answers online. High-quality content can help build brand identity, enhance customer loyalty, engage audiences, and drive traffic to your website.
The QSR industry has a wealth of content ideas to explore. For example, you could create infographics, videos, and blog posts about health and nutrition, behind-the-scenes processes, new menu launches, and customer spotlight stories.
Best practices in QSR marketing to keep in mind
Your likelihood of success with the strategies above depends on how you implement them. Here are some best practices to keep in mind no matter what avenue you decide to explore:
- Ensure proper budgeting: The last thing you want is to run a campaign you can’t sustain. For effective marketing, budget for each potential cost beforehand and only implement ideas you can afford. For instance, if you’re working with a limited budget, you can try cost-efficient ideas like using UGC content on social media before investing in new technology.
- Use multiple marketing channels: Use digital and print media to maximize your reach.
- Leverage data and analytics for continuous improvement: Analyze customer engagement across different analytics platforms and refine strategies accordingly.
- Maintain brand consistency: Ensure consistency in everything from your image to messaging to promote recognizability and a cohesive customer experience.
- Ensure proper QSR customer feedback management: Collect customer feedback using convenient solutions, like Bitly Codes, analyze your findings, and act on them.
Create better QSR marketing campaigns with the Bitly Connections Platform
The key to successful QSR marketing campaigns is implementing proven ideas and investing in the right tools. Start by considering your customer base and always keep their satisfaction at the forefront of any campaign. If there’s any doubt, consider sending out feedback surveys for great insights directly into what your customers want—straight from the source!
There are plenty of great tools your QSR can leverage within your marketing campaigns. With the Bitly Connections Platform, you have access to a broad range of deeply valuable marketing tools all in one place. Leverage Bitly’s branded links within your social media campaigns to direct customers to your site, or to landing pages where they can redeem deals. Use Bitly Codes directly within your marketing materials to connect customers to your loyalty program sign-up page or discounted item of the day.
Wondering what kind of engagement your marketing efforts are getting? Bitly has you covered there, too: Bitly Analytics offers insights into the number of clicks and scans over time, plus detailed information about where customers are interacting from and what devices they use. You can leverage all of these insights to monitor campaign performance, understand customer behaviors, and refine your strategies for better results.
Sign up for Bitly today to access actionable insights into the performance of different marketing channels and campaigns to elevate your marketing efforts!