Category: Trends

Branding Opportunities for Multi-Location Restaurants

Post author By admin
Post date May 22, 2022

Restaurant marketing is always changing, and when you have multiple locations, keeping up with how to best promote your restaurants can seem even more daunting. Today’s marketing trends lean towards local, with an emphasis on highly-targeted messaging. Here we break down a few local marketing must-dos plus other trends that will help you gain a competitive edge.

Update Information on Your Restaurant’s Website

One of the most important things you can do to increase your visibility online is to make sure your website is up-to-date and informative, as over a third of diners find restaurants through websites. The best website design includes relevant local content for each of your location’s pages, including location data, hours of operation, the address and the business name. Photos and information on local offers and specials can also go a long way in helping you show up in Google’s search results.

Take Full Advantage of Mobile Local Search

Speaking of search, you really can’t underestimate the power of it. Invest time and money if needed to make it work for you—and you will reap the benefits. As a multi-location restaurant, you likely compete for high-volume search terms like “bbq near me” or whatever is applicable to your restaurant.

Let’s look at a few things you can do to improve your rankings:

Make sure your Google Business Profile listings are compete and accurate as Google prioritizes listings with no errors or inconsistencies.
Ask for reviews on your Google Business Profile—your search result will also be prioritized if you have good reviews of 4+ stars or more.
Increase the number of mentions of your restaurants across the web and one your website. The more citations you have, the higher you will show up in local search.
Post text and photos directly to your Google My Business listing. Keywords in that post can be found when a customer searches for a certain term.

Step Up Your Social Media

Another important platform to attract new customers is social media, of course. It’s reported that more than 84% of all customer impressions happen on location pages for multi-location brands, rather than the brand’s corporate site.

As a multi-unit restaurant, make sure each of your locations has its own social media presence to engage with local audiences. Localized social media posts can also help to boost your SEO rankings. Another advantage of local restaurant pages is that you can get a great ROI on paid media posts if you have the budget to expand beyond your organic reach. In addition to local pages, don’t forget to embrace user-generated content and encourage your guests to share photos or use a branded hashtag.

Go Back to Branding Basics

If you’re not sure where to start when opening your second restaurant, don’t be afraid to take what worked from your original marketing strategy and try duplicate it for this new location, especially if it was a success with customers the first time around. Just be sure to keep a consistent look and feel across all locations to help strengthen your brand. You could also consider standardizing your menus at each location and promoting the most popular dishes that made you famous in the first place. But no matter what, don’t forget that the proof is always in the pudding—and whatever marketing tactic you use won’t be effective unless your food and service are at the highest quality they can be.

Looking to give you marketing efforts a boost but not sure where to begin? With years of experience helping multi-location restaurants succeed and grow, we’re here to help! Check out our work and don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Social Branding Lifestyle Trends Education

The Future of Education Marketing in the Metaverse

Post author By admin
Post date February 17, 2022

As you know by now, the idea of the metaverse has started to gain more and more popularity as many leading companies and brands are starting to shift their attention to the newest frontier, Web 3.0. This next evolution of the internet sees online experiences evolving, creating communities where users can immerse themselves within a virtual world or brand.

Metaverse Marketing

Although the term metaverse has just recently gained mainstream relevance, there have already been versions of the metaverse that companies have been collaborating with. Games like Roblox partner with brands like Gucci and Vans to create visual worlds that users can explore to learn more about the brand.

Tips for education marketing in the metaverse

But these virtual experiences aren’t limited to just businesses—education marketing in the metaverse can give prospective students a better understanding of your school and what you have to offer. Here are some tips for education marketers on how to effectively leverage the metaverse to promote your institution.

Tip #1 – Prospective student meetings

Through the power of the metaverse, enrollment teams will have the ability to meet with prospective students in virtual rooms, instead of being separated by hundreds of miles.

Meta, formerly Facebook, is already using settings like this in their new virtual technology called “Horizons Worlds,” providing users with virtual spaces where your avatars can meet with others. These virtual experiences can create a sense of intimacy that is lost on a video or phone call.

Tip #2 – Virtual campus tours

Bring your campus to life in the metaverse and allow prospective students to take a tour of your campus. Virtual tours can include a game day experience, giving future students the best seat in the house for the big rivalry game. You can show how your school’s traditions are truly unique and allow the guests to take part.

Research shows that students who visit a campus before applying to a college are two times more likely to matriculate. These experiences are essential to the admissions process, and taking it to the metaverse allows potential students to be fully immersed into the campus no matter where they are.

Tip #3 – Virtual in-class learning

With the power of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality), your online learning experiences can be transformed to immerse students in their education.

In recent years, online learning has seen a significant increase, but students are claiming that this new mode of learning leads to feelings of isolation. These online learning environments often lack the human interaction that in-person classes provide.

Marketing the use of VR and AR in your online classrooms can show prospective students that your programs look to provide the community and interaction that many online learning programs currently lack. Instead of students and professors being trapped inside boxes on a screen, they can walk around and interact with one of another.

Why Push?

Here at Push, we’re always looking for ways to maximize the reach of our higher education brands, and with the increasing potential that the metaverse holds, we want to make sure our brands are utilizing the technology to its fullest potential. To continue learning more about how you can grow your college or university’s enrollment, check out how content marketing funnels can grow student enrollment.

Retail Marketing Communications Digital Media Advice Trends

Using SMS Marketing to Get Return Customers to a Retail Shop

Post author By admin
Post date January 21, 2022

Despite recent events sky rocketing the success of retail SMS marketing, text strategy has steadily grown in the last decade. From time pressing promos to lapsing coupons, retail SMS marketing campaigns have proven to be a more effective marketing channel than email campaigns. You’re able to send short, to-the-point, high priority messages straight to the consumer’s preferred channel of communication. When it comes down to it, 78% of shoppers say SMS is the fastest way to reach them and they are six to eight times more likely to engage with text messages than emails.

In fact, 99% of SMS marketing campaigns are read and email marketing has failed to meet the same metrics, dropping 47% in open rate performance over the last 5 years. Through open lines of communication, like text messaging, you can make your retail shop more accessible. Social media platforms and SMS marketing allow shoppers to interact with your brand on a personal level. Sharing feedback and coming face to face with your brand’s voice in casual settings are just a couple of reasons shoppers are able to build a relationship and trust with your store.

Retail SMS marketing technique wins engagement over shoppers at every level of the marketing funnel. Whether they are prospects or existing customers, shoppers signed up for your store’s SMS marketing builds customer loyalty and fosters repeat purchases. Once you have their information, you can send new discounts or products available your shoppers might be interested in.

You can make your retail SMS marketing campaigns more successful by sending personalized and pertinent messages. Bulk text blasts are a thing of the past and are not viable in the retail industry. One-to-one messages deliver content shoppers truly want to read and have the potential to communicate your brand’s voice, values and image on a completely different level. To see how Push has helped retail stores seize their potential, check out our case studies.

So how can you push retail SMS marketing messages to drive sales? Here are four tips get shoppers back in-store.

1. Deliver discount details:

When shoppers know a sale is starting, and more importantly ending, it will drive more traffic to your store and website to purchase before the promotion is over.

2. Send can’t miss coupons:

More often than not, coupons are extremely timely. They are a simple marketing strategy to attract shoppers for saving on regular prices. But it also positively impacts your customer loyalty, therefore increasing repeat purchases.

3. Enrolled loyalty program messages:

If you don’t already have a loyalty program, you should consider setting one up for your loyal shoppers. Personalized messages are important to this audience because you are making their shopping experience quicker, easier and personal. Loyalty programs not only measure repeat purchases but connects your brand to shoppers.

4. Seasonal sale reminders:

These promos bring in big bucks and helps sustain stores during slow periods. You can also build off of these sales to increase loyalty among shoppers.

For more strategies on how to drive traffic to your retail store, check out our previous blog titled 5 Strategies to Bring Customers Back to Your Retail Shop.

Email marketing may not be completely out of the picture, but shoppers are 40% more likely to convert when they receive text marketing. If your goal is to drive in-store traffic and increase repeat purchases, retail SMS marketing is a useful resource. Short, concise and personalized text marketing, according to the voice and tone of your brand, has shown statistical success and can help your store grow in more than one aspect.

Restaurant Branding Digital Media Advice Trends

When is the Best Time For Restaurants to Bring on a Branding Agency?

Post author By admin
Post date December 23, 2021

Have you ever sat back and wondered, “Why are guests choosing my restaurant?” When it comes down to it, there are a multitude of options for eating out, and guests are looking for great taste and an even better experience. Details like restaurant design style, staff attitude, menu marketing and brand image work together to deliver a unique story and selling point for your consumers.

Maintaining your restaurant’s brand is as important as laying the foundation that solidifies and stimulates the growth of your customer base. Keeping a close watch on quickly evolving trends and aesthetics will help you identify when your brand is due for an update. Timing is everything. Hiring a restaurants branding agency could be a game changer for your business strategy. But what most leaders don’t know is the time to hire is now. Here’s why:

Bringing on a restaurants branding agency earlier in the game will win you more in the long run.

Designing a brand from scratch when you don’t know where to start is a tall order. Especially if you don’t know what questions to ask or how to put your mission on display for the world. That’s why it’s important to understand the value of investing in a restaurants branding agency. Hiring outside help may seem intimidating, but in actuality, the uneasiness is temporary and the pay off is epic. Some of the most eminent leaders in the restaurant industry knew having a well-defined, and relevant brand, would give them the space to run their business more efficiently and effectively. And they wouldn’t have to worry about rebranding down the line because they already have an established partnership with professionals who know how to monitor, maintain and refresh their restaurant brand.

Laying a solid foundation builds up your brand’s future

Restaurant guests want to invest in brands they know align with their own values. In fact, 64% of consumers say that this allows them to trust and build relationships with businesses. Giving your brand a personality also gives it a place to live in the market. That’s one of the benefits of partnering with Push, we have restaurants rebranding down to a science and can help you create an identity your customers can connect with.

Establishing a brand that is flexible enough to stay relevant and consistent allows it to evolve

Remaining stagnant does not foster growth or development in any aspect of the industry. We live in an ever-evolving era that dips, twists and turns at the share of one social media post. It’s important to stay aware of the changes happening around you so you can shift quickly. If you witness new trends appearing among your audience, you should trust your customers’ judgment and follow their lead.

The content of this document/layout will be officially proofread prior to the final approval of the art or copy document.

Bringing on a restaurants branding agency to update and maintain your brand allows you to increase your bottom line by attracting like-minded franchise partners, employees dedicated to and passionate about your mission and values and developing trusted relationships with your guests.

Interested in seeing how Push put restaurant brands on the map? Restaurant store design, marketing strategy and brand positioning are just a few ways we help restaurants build off of a relevant, strong foundation for their future. Check out our work here.

COVID Branding Advice Trends

4 Ways Great Design Can Boost Your Bottom Line

Post author By admin
Post date February 19, 2021

Despite the obvious benefits of great design, consistently realizing this goal is getting harder and harder for companies to achieve. But it’s essential for both disruptive and sustained success in physical, service, and digital channels. And as an extensive five-year McKinsey study has unveiled, companies with strong design outperformed industry-benchmark growth two to one. How? Here are four ways these top performers—and you too—can stand out from the pack.

Prioritize & Measure Design Choices

It starts with understanding your audience from the designer to top leadership. And then following the performance of your design choices. In the McKinsey study, companies that measured their design performance with the same rigor they used to track revenues and costs consistently performed best.

Design For Every Touchpoint

man describing business solution in front of a computer

The lines between products and services are blurring into integrated experiences by the day. So it’s important to consider your customer’s journey at every touchpoint of your brand. This design approach requires solid insights from firsthand experiences while understanding your customer’s underlying needs before they even interact with your brand to followups about their experience.

Design is Bigger Than One Department

Great design does not begin and end with the designer or art director. It’s a team effort. One of the strongest correlations uncovered in the McKinsey study linked top financial performers with companies that integrated designers with other departments. Working together with analytics, strategy, and designing against insights ultimately leads to better customer experiences and greater opportunities for growth.

Adapt to Feedback

Just as successful Kickstarter campaigns invite potential customers to test prototypes, great design blossoms in environments that encourage learning, testing and iterating with the end user. From testing stages of a new website before launch to focus grouping iterations of package design before sending them to press, learning from user feedback boosts the odds of creating breakthrough products and services while reducing the chance of costly misses.

Make Great Design Work For Your Brand

When it only takes 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion about your website and only 10 seconds to form a first impression of your logo—great design is essential to your bottom line.

That’s why at Push, we’ve developed a proprietary Brand Convergence Model to plan, execute and evaluate everything we do for our clients. No matter the size of the client or project, strong design combined with the right messaging, deep consumer insights, and strategic media can push your brand to its full potential.

Whether you’re looking for an AOR relationship, want support on a project, or need a complete rebrand or brand developed, contact us to learn more about becoming a client.

LET’S CHAT

COVID Marketing Communications Lifestyle Trends

Wholesome Foods Take Center Stage

Post author By admin
Post date February 4, 2021

With a commitment to New Year’s resolutions underway and COVID-19 still top of mind, being and staying healthy is more of a priority than ever. Consumers are looking for fresh, healthy food options, especially when ordering in or dining out. In fact, local-food company Forager reports that 91% of consumers say it’s important or very important to feed their family fresh, healthy food right now. We’re breaking down these trends toward healthier foods to understand what your guests are looking for and how, as a restaurant, you can incorporate them into your menu.

A Focus on Holistic Health

Immune Boosters Spark Interest

Beyond seeking out whole, healthful foods, consumers are also taking a growing interest in specific ingredients that may have immunity-boosting properties. As quoted by Market Research, over 50% of consumers reported taking more supplements to support their immune health in 2020. And purpose-driven ingredients are predicted to be at the forefront of the food industry.

As a restaurant, consider adding ingredients like vitamin C, vitamin D, elderberry, or ginger to dishes and drinks on your menu, along with some education for guests on the benefits these nutrients and ingredients may offer them.

As we move through the year, we expect this focus on health to continue, even as things get more back to “normal.” Keep in mind though, incorporating this trend should feel authentic to your
restaurant and sustainable past the pandemic. Health may be top of mind right now, but honesty and transparency will be crucial for your business to maintain for years to come.