Advertising Automation for Meals and Beverage Companies: How It Works

Advertising methods will fluctuate from business to business or firm to firm. However, on the core of each technique must be the purpose of constructing a robust relationship along with your prospects and repeatedly enhancing the expertise they’ve along with your model. 

To do that, you’ll use a singular set of instruments like buyer relationship administration (CRM) software program, stock administration software program, provide chain administration software program, and extra. Nonetheless, advertising and marketing automation instruments have confirmed to be a strong lever that firms can use to not solely save time however to create efficient advertising and marketing campaigns that attain the suitable prospects on the proper time. 

Why ought to the meals and beverage business lean into advertising and marketing automation?

Meals and beverage companies can enormously profit from utilizing advertising and marketing automation for a number of causes. To begin, automating repetitive duties, resembling e-mail campaigns and social media posts, frees up time for advertising and marketing groups to concentrate on extra strategic initiatives. Plus, you’ll have extra management over the messaging you ship out. Automation ensures that the advertising and marketing copy and content material stay constant throughout all channels and touchpoints.

Let’s have a look at how advertising and marketing automation can profit meals and beverage companies.

Construct a model along with your neighborhood

Your prospects are the spine of your model so it’s vital to create a welcoming and powerful neighborhood. There are various methods meals and beverage firms can successfully use advertising and marketing automation to construct a model inside their neighborhood.

You need to use automation to construct a model with the next methods:

Enhance engagement and interplay
• Automate social media posts: Schedule common posts that spotlight your model’s story, values, and neighborhood involvement. Have interaction with followers by responding to feedback and messages promptly.
• Create interactive campaigns: Create automated campaigns that encourage neighborhood participation, resembling polls, contests, and challenges. Use automation to handle entries and responses effectively.

Deploy constant and related messaging
• E-mail campaigns: Use automated e-mail sequences to maintain your viewers knowledgeable about new merchandise, upcoming occasions, new retailer openings, and particular promotions. Make sure that the content material is related and provides worth to the recipients.
• Newsletters: Often ship out newsletters that present updates in your model, business information, and neighborhood tales. Personalize these newsletters to make them extra participating.

Construct loyalty packages
• Automated loyalty packages: Implement and handle loyalty packages via automation. Reward prospects for in-store and on-line purchases and engagement with factors, reductions, and unique gives.
• Birthday and anniversary gives: Use automation to ship personalised gives on prospects’ birthdays and anniversaries, fostering a way of private connection.

Prioritize suggestions and enchancment
• Surveys and polls: Use automation to ship out surveys and polls to assemble suggestions out of your neighborhood. Analyze the responses to enhance your services.
• Buyer opinions: Automate requests for opinions and testimonials from happy prospects. Showcase these opinions in your web site and social media to construct belief and credibility.

Inform your model story and the way you bought to the place you’re right now

You may as well use advertising and marketing automation to successfully inform your model story and share your journey so prospects really feel nearer to the genesis of your organization.

Right here’s how you are able to do it with advertising and marketing automation:

Automate storytelling campaigns
• Ship sequential emails: Create an automatic e-mail collection that unfolds your model story over a number of installments. This might embrace your origins, milestones, challenges, and successes.
• Timed releases: Schedule these emails to be despatched at intervals, guaranteeing that subscribers obtain the following a part of the story on the proper time to maintain them engaged.

Personalize content material supply
• Buyer segmentation: Use segmentation to tailor components of your story to completely different buyer teams. For instance, new prospects may obtain an introductory story, whereas long-term prospects may get behind-the-scenes insights.
• Dynamic content material: Leverage dynamic content material options in emails and in your web site to personalize the story primarily based on buyer habits and preferences.

Embrace visible and multimedia parts
• Automated video collection: Use automated workflows to ship a collection of movies that visually narrate your model’s journey. Embrace interviews with founders, footage of your manufacturing course of, and buyer testimonials.
• Infographics and timelines: Routinely share infographics and timelines that spotlight key moments in your model’s historical past. These will be distributed via e-mail, social media, and your web site.

Incorporate user-generated content material and tales out of your neighborhood
• Buyer tales: Automate the gathering and sharing of buyer tales that replicate your model values and journey. Use e-mail and social media to encourage prospects to submit their experiences.
• Social media campaigns: Launch social media campaigns that invite prospects to share their very own tales along with your merchandise. Use automation to curate and repost these tales, constructing a way of neighborhood and continuity.

By investing in a advertising and marketing automation software like ActiveCampaign, meals and beverage firms can improve their advertising and marketing efforts, present a greater buyer expertise, and drive development and profitability. Leaning into automation provides you that further leg up, nurturing your prospects with well timed messages that can constantly give them a cause to return again.

What does this appear to be in actual life?

Meet Sarah, the proud proprietor of a newly opened franchise of a well-liked restaurant chain. She’s enthusiastic about introducing a specialty lunch and dinner menu to draw extra prospects and enhance gross sales. To make sure the launch is a hit, Sarah decides to make use of advertising and marketing automation to streamline the method and maximize attain.

Step 1: Constructing anticipation

Automated teaser marketing campaign: Sarah begins by creating an e-mail marketing campaign to construct anticipation. She units up a collection of teaser emails utilizing her automation platform of alternative. The primary e-mail hints at one thing particular coming quickly, the second reveals a bit extra concerning the new menu, and the third gives an unique preview of the dishes. 

Every e-mail is scheduled to exit every week aside, creating buzz and pleasure amongst her subscribers.

Step 2: Segmenting the viewers

Focused messaging: Utilizing her level of sale and buyer database, Sarah segments her viewers into completely different teams. Common lunchtime prospects obtain tailor-made emails concerning the new lunch choices, whereas night diners get details about the dinner menu. For loyal prospects, she units up an automatic e-mail that features a particular “first-taste” invitation.

Step 3: Participating social media

Automated social posts: Sarah is aware of the ability of social media, so she makes use of a social media administration platform (like Sprout Social, CoSchedule, or Iconosquare) to schedule a collection of posts on Fb, Instagram, and Twitter. These posts characteristic mouth-watering photos of the brand new dishes, chef interviews, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the kitchen making ready for the launch.

She additionally units up automated reminders for her followers concerning the launch date, encouraging them to share the posts to unfold the phrase.

Step 4: Creating incentives

Automated coupons and gives: To drive visitors, Sarah decides to supply a limited-time low cost on the brand new menu. She makes use of automation to ship out personalised low cost codes by way of e-mail and SMS. These messages are scheduled to exit only a few days earlier than the launch to make sure they’re recent in prospects’ minds.

Step 5: Accumulating suggestions

Put up-visit surveys: After the launch, Sarah needs to assemble suggestions to see how the brand new menu is performing. She units up an automatic e-mail survey that’s despatched to prospects a day after their go to. The survey asks about their expertise, favourite dishes, and any strategies for enchancment.

Step 6: Analyzing Knowledge

Marketing campaign efficiency: Trying on the analytics included in her advertising and marketing automation platform, Sarah tracks the efficiency of her campaigns. She screens open charges, click-through charges, and engagement in her social media administration platform to see what’s working and the place she will enhance.

Step 7: Steady engagement

Ongoing communication: Sarah continues to make use of automation to maintain her prospects engaged. She schedules common updates about new menu objects, particular occasions, and unique gives. By automating these communications, she ensures that her prospects all the time really feel valued and knowledgeable. Plus, she has the prospect to cross-sell new meals choices when she launches them sooner or later. 

With the assistance of clever advertising and marketing automation, Sarah effectively manages her marketing campaign, saves time, and ensures her message reaches the suitable individuals on the proper time. Her specialty lunch and dinner menu launch is a success, drawing in new prospects and delighting her regulars.

The significance of a point-of-sale system

A degree-of-sale (POS) system streamlines transaction processing, making it simpler for meals and beverage companies to simply accept varied cost strategies shortly and securely. It additionally gives real-time stock administration, serving to firms to keep up optimum inventory ranges and keep away from shortages. 

Meals and beverage companies must arrange their level of sale (POS) programs for just a few completely different causes:

• Environment friendly order administration: A POS system streamlines the order-taking course of, lowering wait occasions and attainable errors. This enhances general buyer satisfaction and improves the velocity of your service. 
• Gross sales and income evaluation: POS programs present detailed gross sales studies and analytics that allow companies to watch their efficiency, establish their hottest menu objects, and make data-driven choices that can enhance earnings. 
• Stock monitoring: Your POS system is liable for managing stock by monitoring ingredient utilization and inventory ranges in actual time. Doing this helps companies to keep up constant stock and scale back waste. 

Moreover, POS programs supply detailed gross sales reporting, giving priceless insights into gross sales tendencies and buyer preferences which assist inform what merchandise and choices you promote.

Some of the in style POS programs is Sq. which is thought for its user-friendly interface and scalability, making it appropriate for small companies in addition to bigger enterprises. The app allows companies to course of funds, handle gross sales, monitor stock, and perceive buyer habits. 

Sq. gives a variety of options together with:

• Help for varied cost strategies (resembling bank cards, cellular funds, and contactless funds)
• Gross sales analytics
• Employees administration instruments
• Banking and money move merchandise
• Buyer administration instruments
• And integration with different enterprise software program

Take into account that Sq. has a number of POS merchandise: Sq. Level of Sale, Sq. for Retail, Sq. for Eating places, and Sq. Appointments. Though all of them fluctuate barely, the setup course of could be very related throughout all merchandise. When you’ve arrange a POS system, you’re in a position to streamline transactions, handle stock, and improve customer support effectivity. 

However what about taking that buyer expertise to the following stage?

Automations for meals and beverage firms

After you’ve arrange your POS system, you unlock a world of automation. When you’ve built-in your knowledge between the POS system and your advertising and marketing automation platform, there are all types of automations {that a} meals and beverage enterprise can use to start participating its viewers and constructing its model. 

Let’s check out just a few you’ll be able to simply construct in ActiveCampaign to get you began. 

Put up-purchase welcome collection

In ActiveCampaign, you’re in a position to create a post-purchase welcome collection automation by organising a set off that prompts when a buyer completes a purchase order. This set off can begin an automatic e-mail sequence designed to welcome the shopper, thank them for his or her buy, and supply helpful details about their product. The collection can embrace a mixture of emails resembling a customized thank-you be aware, an introduction to the model, recommendations on utilizing the product, and an invite to affix a loyalty program or present suggestions. 

Every e-mail will be scheduled at particular intervals, guaranteeing constant engagement and constructing a robust relationship with the shopper from the very starting. Plus, ActiveCampaign’s segmentation and personalization options enable the content material to be tailor-made to every buyer’s buy, giving that further contact of buyer care.

Product cross-sell post-purchase

We talked about this a bit in our instance with Sarah above. In case you discover {that a} particular buyer is normally coming in and shopping for breakfast, you should utilize automation to tell them of the lunch specials you supply that they could be excited by.

Utilizing ActiveCampaign, you’ll be able to arrange an automation that triggers when a purchase order is accomplished. This automation can ship a collection of personalised follow-up emails recommending further choices (like lunch specials) primarily based on the shopper’s latest buy. Moreover, incorporating particular gives or reductions can additional incentivize the acquisition.

Utilizing engagement tagging

Engagement tagging in ActiveCampaign permits you to monitor the place prospects work together along with your model throughout varied social channels. By tagging these interactions, you’ll be able to collect priceless knowledge on buyer preferences and behaviors. This info can be utilized to create focused advertising and marketing campaigns that cater to their pursuits. 

As an example, if a buyer regularly engages with posts a couple of specialty espresso you supply, you’ll be able to automate personalised e-mail campaigns or social media advertisements selling associated menu objects, rising the possibilities of them deciding to modify up their typical order.

New retailer opening

Alert prospects a couple of new retailer location by organising a focused e-mail marketing campaign that triggers primarily based on buyer location knowledge. First, phase your buyer record to establish those that reside close to the brand new retailer’s space. Then, create a collection of automated emails that announce the grand opening, present unique opening-day gives, and invite prospects to go to the brand new location, guaranteeing well timed and related communication.

For instance, you should utilize ActiveCampaign automations to establish a listing of shoppers that usually order your merchandise out of your web site and ship them an e-mail about in-store specials in the event that they’re near the placement you’ll be opening your new retailer. 

Unique gives and particular reductions

Lastly, with ActiveCampaign you’ll be able to ship SMS advertising and marketing communications and personalize your buyer outreach for issues like specials, loyalty packages, birthdays, and anniversaries. 

First, arrange triggers primarily based on particular buyer knowledge factors, resembling buy historical past, enrollment in loyalty packages, and recorded dates for birthdays and anniversaries. For specials and promotions, create automated workflows that ship SMS messages to segmented buyer teams when a brand new supply is accessible. For birthdays and anniversaries, schedule automated SMS greetings and unique gives to be despatched on these particular dates, guaranteeing a customized and well timed engagement that enhances buyer loyalty and satisfaction.

For eating places with a number of areas, orchestrating your automation at scale is made attainable with ActiveCampaign HQ. With ACHQ, you’ll be able to ship constant experiences at scale with personalised content material to your native prospects.

Create an unimaginable buyer expertise with Sq. and ActiveCampaign

Whenever you combine a POS system like Sq. with ActiveCampaign, you’ll be able to start to automate and customise advertising and marketing communications primarily based on routinely synced buyer knowledge like buy exercise —amongst a whole bunch of different attributes and data. 

You’ll have entry to:

• A drag-and-drop e-mail designer with an intuitive person interface
• Simple to create lists and superior segmentation for personalised sending
• Strong advertising and marketing automation for e-mail, web site messaging, and SMS
• Net and e-mail behavioral monitoring
• Lead supply and touchpoint gross sales attribution

Since you’re in a position to change the messages you ship to prospects primarily based on the data you accumulate, you’ll be able to goal your prospects with custom-made emails, Fb Adverts, web site messages, or texts with the info you get from Sq.. This stage of precision provides you full management over the best way you interact along with your prospects.

And on the finish of the day, that’s the spine of all of your efforts. 

Prepared to avoid wasting time and drive income? Give us a take a look at drive and join a free trial of ActiveCampaign right now.