Category: Insights

Why aren’t my events always a success?

We’ve witnessed a common stumbling block among hospitality venues when it comes to setting up promotions: a lack of foresight and market research. We’ve boiled this down to a crucial factor—objectivity. Too often, an idea is cooked up, launched half-baked, and then disappointingly gains no traction.

This failure stems from various factors such as insufficient lead time for event advertising, lack of creative assets for campaigns, unattractive offerings, poor-quality products, and inadequate information on event pages and booking platforms. And with 72% of restaurants saying that special events have a positive impact on their revenue, it’s important to get things right!

Our perspective is simple: to maximise your event’s success, follow a checklist to ensure all bases are covered. We’re not here to dictate how to run your business, but rather to guide you toward market success.

1. Thorough Market Research:

• Understand your target audience’s preferences and expectations.
• Analyze competitors’ promotions and pricing strategies.
• Gather feedback from previous events to refine your offerings.

2. Clear Objectives:

• Define clear, measurable goals for the promotion, such as increasing foot traffic, boosting sales, or enhancing brand awareness.

3. Adequate Lead Time:

• Plan and promote your event well in advance to build anticipation and generate buzz.
• Utilize both organic and paid advertising channels to reach a wider audience.
• We recommend no less than 2 weeks for paid campaigns to ensure adequate results.

4. Compelling Creative Assets:

• Invest in visually appealing graphics, photography & videography, and promotional materials to capture attention and convey the value of your promotion.
• Ideally, you would have a mixture of social + print assets created to reach patrons within your venue as well as online.

5. Competitive Offerings:

• Ensure your promotion offers unique value propositions and competitive pricing to attract diners.
• Regularly assess and adjust your offerings based on market trends and customer feedback.

6. High-Quality Products and Service:

• Deliver consistently high-quality products and service to exceed customer expectations and build loyalty.
• Avoid overpromising and underdelivering, as it can damage your reputation and deter repeat business.

7. Comprehensive Information:

• Provide detailed information about the event, including date, time, location, pricing, menu options, and any special requirements.
• Optimize event pages and booking platforms for easy navigation and seamless booking experiences.

8. Simplified Packages:

• Offer straightforward and easy-to-understand packages to avoid confusion and streamline the booking process for patrons.

9. Email Marketing:

• Utilise additional marketing platforms like email marketing to take advantage of guest lists, and increase overall conversion.

By following this checklist, you can increase your chances of hosting successful promotions and driving business growth. Remember, success in the market requires careful planning, execution, and ongoing refinement.

The Surge of Online Delivery Apps

These digital platforms have reimagined the way we enjoy takeaway food, offering the ease of perusing menus, placing orders, and tracking deliveries with just a few taps. Giants like Uber Eats, Menulog, and DoorDash have made accessing a variety of cuisines simpler than ever. And with delivery app revenue expected to increase by 22% worldwide in 2024 alone, we might all have to accept that they aren’t going anywhere.

Advantages for Restaurateurs

Navigating the restaurant business is challenging, yet online delivery apps offer several advantages:

• Expanded Reach: Your eatery gains exposure, drawing in new customers.
• Efficient Order Handling: Integrated systems facilitate smoother operations during peak times.
• Valuable Feedback: Customer reviews provide insights for service enhancement.
• Marketing Analytics: Tools and analytics aid in refining your marketing approach.

Maximising Your Delivery App Profile

Here are some actionable tips to structure your delivery app profile effectively:

1. Price Strategy for Free Delivery: Position your main dishes near the threshold for free delivery, typically around $20. This clever pricing encourages customers to add an extra item, such as a high-margin beverage or side, to reach the free delivery mark. These small additions can significantly boost your average order value.
2. Lunchtime Combo Offers: Introduce combo deals during lunch hours to entice higher spending. By bundling items at a set price, you remove the hesitation associated with adding extras to an order. Customers perceive greater value and convenience, making them more likely to indulge in a fuller meal experience.
3. High-Margin Add-Ons: Highlight low-cost, high-margin items like drinks, bread, or chips. These are often overlooked but can be the key to upselling. Ensure they’re prominently displayed on your profile as suggested add-ons to main dishes.
4. Visual Appeal: Invest in high quality photography to showcase your dishes enticingly. A visually appealing menu can be the difference between a customer scrolling past or stopping to order.
5. Menu Clarity: Keep your menu clear and concise. Overwhelming customers with too many options can lead to decision fatigue. Instead, focus on a selection of your best-sellers that are optimized for delivery.
6. Promotions and Deals: Use the app’s promotional features to offer time-limited deals or discounts on certain days or times, which can drive orders during slower periods.
7. Engaging Descriptions: Craft compelling descriptions for each item. Highlighting key ingredients, flavours, and any unique selling points can sway customers to try new dishes or go for those with higher profit margins.
8. Customer Reviews: Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. High ratings and good reviews can improve your visibility on the app and make your venue more attractive to potential customers.
9. Personal Touch: Consider including a personalised thank-you message with each order. Small gestures can build customer loyalty and increase the likelihood of repeat orders.
10. Optimisation: Make sure your profile is setup correctly and allows customers to make choices. If you offer soft drink for example, make sure they can choose a flavour. When you don’t optimise your delivery app correctly, you risk incorrect deliveries, complaints and refunds.

Strategies for Thriving Amidst Delivery App Fees

To thrive despite the significant cut taken by delivery apps, consider the following strategies:

• Menu Innovation: Continuously refine your menu to include items that are delivery-friendly and have a high-profit margin.
• Operational Streamlining: Invest in training and technology that enables your team to work efficiently, reducing the need for a large staff.
• Dynamic Pricing: Adjust your prices strategically to cover the costs imposed by delivery apps while still providing value to your customers.
• Marketing: In a saturated market, it pays to keep you front of mind with your followers and potential customers, social media marketing is a way to remind people that you exist for delivery or pickup.

By implementing these tactics, venues can create a more lucrative and engaging presence on delivery apps. It’s about striking a balance between offering value to the customer and ensuring profitability for your business. Remember, every interaction on these platforms is an opportunity to enhance your brand and cultivate a loyal customer base, despite the commission costs.

In today’s digital age, the success of hospitality businesses hinges on their ability to connect with the right audience at the right time. To achieve this, it’s crucial to leverage advanced social media marketing tools, and one such tool that’s gaining immense popularity is Meta Pixel tracking.

If you’re in the hospitality industry, you’ll want to harness the potential of this innovative tracking method to enhance your marketing strategies and ultimately boost your business. In this blog post, we’ll explore why Meta Pixel Tracking is essential for hospitality businesses and provide you with a quick ‘how to’ guide to set it up yourself, complete with helpful links.

Why Meta Pixel tracking Matters for Hospitality Businesses:

• Precise Audience Targeting – Meta Pixel tracking allows you to collect valuable data about your website visitors and their behavior. This data enables you to create highly targeted advertising campaigns. By understanding your audience better, you can serve personalized ads to potential guests, increasing the chances of conversions and bookings.
  
  
• Conversion Tracking – Meta Pixels help you track conversions, such as hotel reservations, restaurant bookings, or event registrations. This information is invaluable for assessing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.You can measure the ROI of each campaign and optimize your strategies accordingly.
  
  
• Remarketing Opportunities – Meta Pixels enable you to retarget website visitors who didn’t complete a desired action, like booking a room or signing up for your newsletter. By reaching out to potential customers who have shown interest but didn’t convert, you can re-engage them and increase your chances of conversion.
  
  
• Custom Audiences – You can create custom audiences based on specific criteria, such as people who visited certain pages on your website, spent a certain amount of time, or abandoned a booking process. These custom audiences allow you to tailor your marketing messages to specific segments, increasing relevance and engagement.

How to Set Up Meta Pixel Tracking for Your Hospitality Business:

Setting up Meta Pixel tracking may seem daunting, but with the right steps, it becomes manageable:

1. Create a Facebook Business Manager Account – If you don’t already have one, create a Facebook Business Manager account. You can do this by visiting Facebook Business Manager.
   
   
2. Generate Your Meta Pixel – In your Business Manager account, navigate to the ‘Events Manager’ section and click on ‘Data Sources.’ Choose ‘Pixels’ and then click ‘Add’ to create a new pixel.
   
   
3. Install the Pixel Code on Your Website – Follow the step-by-step guide provided by Facebook to install the pixel code on your website. You can find detailed instructions here.
   
   
4. Set Up Custom Events – Define the specific events you want to track, such as page views, registrations, or purchases. Facebook provides clear instructions for setting up custom events here.
   
   
5. Create Custom Audiences – Once your pixel is active and tracking events, you can start creating custom audiences based on the data collected. Find a guide on creating custom audiences here.

Meta Pixel tracking is a game-changer for hospitality businesses in the social media marketing landscape. It empowers you to understand your audience, optimise your advertising campaigns, and boost conversions. By following the simple steps outlined in this guide and referring to the provided links, you can set up Meta Pixel Tracking for your business and start reaping the benefits of precise, data-driven marketing.