Throughout our last several articles, we walked you through everything you need to know to create coupons and enticing pizza specials that will delight your existing customers, bring new customers to your pizzeria, and ramp up sales. We’ve covered the following:
- Why pizza coupons and discounts work
- Best practices for your coupon marketing strategy
- Types of deals to run at your pizzeria
But there’s one thing left. PROMOTION! After all, what good is a great pizza deal or coupon if people don’t know about it?
When it comes to pizza promotion methods, there are many options to choose from. Because of this, we will break the topic into two articles that look at online marketing methods and offline/physical promotion strategies separately. We’ll start today with online marketing methods to get the word out about your pizza specials.
That said, we encourage you to choose multiple strategies from this list and our next list about offline promotion. Regarding promoting pizza and restaurant specials, experts recommend taking an omnichannel approach. So, although we are splitting up our discussion, we encourage you to embrace both options.
Online Marketing Ideas for Pizza Specials
Online pizza promotions involve digitally sharing your coupon or information about your pizza special. These methods are ideal if you run a pizza deal that does not require a coupon or use digital coupons or coupon codes.
1. Digital Loyalty Program
One of the best ways for pizza restaurants to advertise and share pizza coupons is deals is by creating a loyalty program. Doing so allows you to gather important contact information from your customers and reward them for repeat business. Once you set up your loyalty program, you can use other methods on this list to communicate with members, including email and text marketing. If you have an existing loyalty program, check out this article for tips on improving it. Or, if you’re starting out, you can get advice on launching your program here.
2. Email Marketing
Email marketing is an ideal way to share pizza specials and coupons with your contacts, presuming you have their email information. Don’t have their email address yet? Offer them a coupon if they share it with you! Once you have their email address, you can send promotion-specific emails to those who sign up. In fact, as you gather more information about your customers (for example, past orders, order frequency, etc.), you can segment your list to send personal and relevant coupons to various groups. You could also create a regular newsletter that you send to your list once a week or once a month that shares pizza specials, updates, and stories that help people get to know the heart of your business.
3. Text Marketing
Research indicates that consumers want businesses to communicate with them via text message, which is why more and more pizzerias are getting on board with the trend. If you have your customers’ phone numbers (AND permission to send texts), you can quickly share details on the latest pizza specials and entice customers to order from your pizzeria. Don’t have texting capability yet in your business? Then get started today with PizzaPhones, a cloud phone system designed specifically for pizzeria owners!
4. Social Media Marketing
If you have a social media presence (and you should!), spending a few minutes daily or weekly to post about your latest pizza specials is worth your effort. By doing so consistently, you will train people to check your page when they’re thinking about ordering out. Include mouth-watering images and have some fun with your posts to please your audience and build a following.
5. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing involves partnering with people who have amassed a large following to promote your business (or, in this case, your pizza specials). Social media influencers have established credibility and trust with their audience; when they speak, their audience listens. It’s worth it to research if there are any food-specific influencers in your local area and reach out to them to see if they’d like to partner with you. You can pay them a fee or give them free pizza in exchange for joining your big campaigns.
6. Website/SEO
The second most searched online coupon category in the United States is for restaurant and delivery coupons. And when a person is thinking about ordering from a specific restaurant or pizzeria, the business’s website is the first place they’ll check for coupons. Regularly updating your site with the latest specials on the home page, or creating a dedicated page for coupons and coupon codes, can increase your website traffic and pizza sales.
7. Online Advertisements
A final online pizza promotion idea to consider is ads, especially social media ads. With targeting, you can customize your ad to show to people in your local area, making it a great way to reach new customers. For example, the owner of the Rapid Fire Pizza chain in Ohio spends 10 percent of the marketing budget on social media ads. “Social media advertising is a good bang-for-the-buck way for us to reach customers and franchise partners, since so many of them are active on social media.” Check out this Pizza Today article to learn more and get tips on enhancing your paid ads.
The Key to Online Marketing – Engagement
As you evaluate and choose your favorite online marketing methods from this list, we want to stress that the key to these strategies working is engagement. Don’t expect a single social media post about your latest pizza specials to flood your pizzeria with customers. By engaging with people over time through these online methods, you will build trust and start seeing results.
Even the methods that don’t seem like they require engagement do need it. For example, you’ll lose customers if you post your pizza specials on your website but never respond to people who email you or fill out your contact form. Also, creating an online advertisement isn’t a ‘set it and forget it’ venture; you must monitor your ad and respond to people who have questions or leave comments.
Take some time over the next week or two to choose which online marketing strategies will be the main channels for sharing your pizza deals and coupons. Also, consider what you need to do to build consistency and boost customer engagement through these channels. We’ll be back next time with more ideas for promoting your pizza specials through offline and physical methods. See you then!
