Marketing is such a versatile and incredible tool. It’s something companies can end up spending millions on but it’s also something that can be done on a small budget! Regardless of what your budget is though, it’s something that you should be thinking about.
This is particularly important in the world of Direct to Consumer (D2C) online ordering. In the absence of the promotion and name of a marketplace or the natural footfall of a brick and mortar site, marketing is the core thing driving traffic to your website. Whether that’s through SEO, Social Media or print!
So if you’re looking to up your marketing efforts or you’re not even sure where to start, this is the blog for you.
Go big on launch
First things first, make sure you shout about your D2C offering from day one! There are so many ways you can do this:
- Simply start by telling your regular in person customers that they can now order all their favourites online too when they come in.
- You might want to use print to help, handing out branded leaflets or putting up window decals with QR codes that lead to your digital store.
- And you definitely want to get online too. Whether you just use social media platforms like instagram or you’re a pro at email marketing. The more channels the better!
The launch of your own online ordering system (web and/or app) is also the perfect time to run a promotion or offer. We’ve had partners see huge success with simple things like ‘free delivery’ for the first few weeks to get customers using the platform. Others have opted for more unique (and quite frankly irresistible) offers like £1 burgers. Either way, a promotion is a great way to tell your customers you’re doing D2C and show them how easy it is to use. In fact, ⅔ of consumers say they prefer to order direct where they can, but they can’t if they don’t know you do it!
Pasta Remoli gave 30% off to encourage people to download their new app
Print is still relevant
Now just because the world is going digital, doesn’t mean that other methods of marketing aren’t still effective! Sometimes a beautiful poster put up in your store or a QR code placed at your till is all it takes to get your customers attention.
And if you’re a small business but a big part of your local community then handing out promotional flyers or cards with QR codes leading to your online store could be the perfect way to spike your customer’s curiosity.
Consistency is key
Particularly in the case of Social Media. Consistent communication is the key to results. It doesn’t matter if it’s super simple. And we’re not saying you should spam them with emails, just remind your customers that they can order your products online directly from your website.
We have found that an omnichannel approach is the most effective. In other words, marketing is most effective when you use multiple channels at once. One of our partners saw a 190% increase in revenue when they used email, SMS and push notifications simultaneously to let customers know about a new offer.
Crosstown regularly post reminding customers they can order online
An OCK email encouraging orders of their famous curry puffs
SMS is a really quick way of getting in-front of your customers
Update your website
Potentially the most important one. Make sure you have a clear call to action (CTA) button on the front page of your website. You need to create a quick and easy user journey from your site to your store. Today’s consumer is not a patient one. So nothing is going to cause drop offs more than making it difficult to get to your digital store. We recommend multiple buttons in multiple areas like the below example with a clear CTA like ‘order now’.
Pavilion have multiple, clear CTAs to their store on their site
Think about google
For those of you out there who want to up their marketing, start with Google! There really is so much you could do with this search engine, from ads to seo, and we have blogs on both of these to advise you. But we’d recommend starting with the basics.
You’ve probably all used google my business to put your restaurant on the map (quite literally). You might have had some good reviews from customers who have left some photos of your food. But have you personalised it yourself? And more importantly have you got a link to your digital store? You’ve told them where your brick and mortar site is, so why haven’t you told them where your digital store is? Simply go to ‘add update’ and you can add a button, linked to your store, with a description and an image!
Chicken Cottage promoted their app on their google my business page
We know we’ve covered a fair bit here. So as always, our team is here to answer any questions and give advice. And if you’re worried you don’t have the staff or time to do some of this, speak to our partners Connect!