Operations
Email vs Text vs Social: Expert Restaurant Tips for Multichannel Marketing
5 min read
May 15, 2024
5 min read
May 15, 2024
You've just launched an exciting new menu, and you’re eager to spread the word.
Your goal is to reach as many people as possible, but you’re not sure which marketing channel will be the most effective at getting diners in the door.
Email? Social media? Text?
The answer is all three. But to effectively engage your audience, each channel requires its own strategy and approach.
Enter Dana Farber, Founder & CEO of Moonstone Marketing and the marketing mastermind behind New Jersey-based restaurant group Cul+ure Collective.
In this article, we'll dive into Dana's expert approach to multichannel marketing, sharing tips for crafting effective messages across email, SMS and social media.
You'll learn when to leverage each channel for maximum impact, the importance of leaning into your owned channels and five tips for mastering your marketing mix.
As a restaurant marketer, you have three primary digital channels to engage with your guests: email marketing, SMS marketing and social media. Each channel has its unique strengths and best practices.
Think of Email Marketing as the workhorse of your marketing communications. It's perfect for sharing longer-form information, such as new menus, upcoming events or behind-the-scenes stories. It allows you to nurture your audience and establish more meaningful, engaging relationships with them.
As Dana says, "Email is where you can dive deeper. It's a place for layered storytelling, for building a narrative around your brand.”
For example, Dana sends three brand-building emails for every one sales-focused email per month. The brand emails are all about engaging your readers with compelling content, while the sales email drives specific actions like making a reservation or snagging a special offer.
"We send an email every Wednesday. I alternate between Cul+ure or a restaurant brand," Dana explains. This approach allows them to showcase their overarching brand while also highlighting individual restaurants.
Example of Dana's email newsletter promoting National Margarita Day and new menu.
While email should be your go-to for nurturing audiences, SMS is all about sparking immediate action. It's the channel you turn to when you need to fill seats fast, promote a last-minute special, or create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out).
For one, text messages are hard to ignore — they have an astonishing 98% open rate compared to email which averages 18.5%. Also, as many as 66% of consumers want to message with brands.
"We're filling reservation gaps with SMS," Dana shares. "With email, you're sending it once a week, hoping that people read it, click on it, remember it and forward it to a friend. But with SMS, you have the ability to send messages… and potentially hit someone exactly when they need it."
Dana leverages SMS heavily on Fridays to drive bookings before the weekend. SMS is also an effective tool for filling shoulder times (slower periods).
Dana’s SMS campaign for National Margarita Day
However, because SMS is so direct and intimate, it's essential to use it sparingly and only send highly relevant messages to avoid overwhelming your subscribers. This is where knowing your audience becomes crucial.
"Understanding our guest data and the best way to communicate with them is key," Dana notes.
Allow data to guide not only your messaging frequency, but your messaging channel as well. Dana leverages SevenRooms’ customer relationship management solution (CRM) which gives her valuable insights into her diners' preferences, behaviors and demographics.
A tool like this can help you determine if Text Marketing is the right fit for your audience and help you tailor your messaging accordingly.
For instance, if your data shows that a significant portion of your guests are millennials or Gen Z, SMS marketing might be a highly effective channel.
According to Dana, “SMS is definitely for a younger audience. Gen Z and younger millennials are going to be more receptive to an SMS. It's kind of like a hybrid between social and email."
Maximize the impact of your multichannel marketing by cross-promoting your email and text messaging channels on social media and within each platform.
Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are fantastic for building brand awareness and engaging with a wide audience.
As Dana puts it, "Social media is the cherry on top. It's gonna help you get in front of a couple people that wouldn't otherwise see your message, but it should never be the sole channel you use to communicate with your audience since it’s too volatile.”
Dana's Margarita Day Instagram post
Think of social media as your playground for creativity and experimentation. It's where you can showcase your restaurant's unique personality, share drool-worthy food photos and jump on trending conversations.
"The fun is that you can try different types of content," Dana explains, “This flexibility allows you to keep your social media presence fresh and exciting, continually drawing in new followers and keeping existing ones engaged.”
However, with social media, you're competing with millions of other posts — for context, there are 19 million live posts created each day on Instagram.
Frequent algorithm updates can also affect your visibility. That means your carefully crafted posts may not always reach your intended audience.
That's why it's crucial to use social media as a complement to your other marketing efforts, rather than relying on it as your sole channel.
All that said, opting for a hybrid strategy is just the beginning. To truly master multichannel marketing, you need to dive into the data, personalize your messaging and continuously optimize your approach. Dana shares her tips for mastering multichannel marketing below.
The key to a successful multichannel marketing strategy is being intentional about how you use each channel to engage with your audience.
Start by setting clear goals for your email, SMS and social media efforts.
Dana suggests, "Start by outlining your content pillars from the beginning and identify which pillars to focus on per channel. Knowing your audience on each channel and how to speak to them is crucial. The same event can be communicated in three different ways across three channels, depending on the audience. Adapt your messaging to what each audience will be most receptive to."
Let’s use the example of launching a new menu.
Done this way, email nurtures, SMS drives immediate reservations and social media builds buzz, all channels working together to maximize the impact of your marketing efforts.
Your marketing efforts should always revolve around collecting guest data and growing your owned channels — email and SMS. While social media is a powerful tool for building brand awareness, its ultimate goal should be to guide followers to your email or SMS list.
Why? Because owned channels give you direct control over your audience. When someone opts into your email list or text messages, they're giving you permission to communicate with them directly. This is a valuable opportunity to nurture relationships and drive repeat business.
It also allows for highly targeted, personalized marketing. One-size-fits-all messaging doesn't cut it anymore. 75% of consumers opt for brands that provide personalized messaging, offers and experiences. To stand out in a crowded inbox or SMS feed, you need to get personal.
To make the most of this, always include prominent calls-to-action on your social media posts and profiles encouraging followers to sign up for your email list or SMS program. You could offer an incentive, like a free appetizer, to sweeten the deal.
Not all metrics are created equal. To truly gauge the impact of your email and SMS campaigns, you need to look beyond the basics like open rates and click-through rates (CTR).
For example, SevenRooms Email Marketing and Text Marketing solutions automatically track reservations, covers and revenue generated from each campaign, allowing marketers to effectively measure their ROI without switching between multiple platforms.
“For me, I really like the reservations and covers metrics. They’re really helpful because I think they give a more holistic view of the data than just looking at unsubscribes or clicks or revenue.”
Dana notes that tracking covers is particularly valuable because it provides attribution for walk-ins, which has traditionally been difficult to measure. The key is training your staff to collect a walk-in’s name and phone number so you can properly capture the visit.
"By tracking covers, I can say, ‘Hey, we've gotten 33 covers from SMS. That's 33 people that might not have walked in if they hadn't received a well-timed SMS message.’ It's helpful for marketers to show that value."
Focusing on the right metrics will give you a clear sense of which campaigns are driving the most business so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Data is just part of the picture. To really understand how your campaigns are resonating, you need to talk to the people on the front lines.
"It's really important that I lean on the operations team and the in-house team to give me feedback that I would never get otherwise," emphasizes Dana.
"I can look at the data all day long and think, oh, this is working great. And then the team could say, ‘someone came up to me about that happy hour text we sent last week, saying they loved the offer but wished it was available on weekends too.’ Or maybe ‘someone mentioned our recent social media post didn't have enough details about the event.’ It's feedback like this that you can't get from numbers alone."
Make a habit of regularly syncing with your staff. Ask what they're hearing from guests, what questions keep coming up and what feedback they have on recent campaigns. Those qualitative insights can be just as valuable as the hard numbers.
Your work is never done. The most successful marketers are always testing, iterating and optimizing their approach.
"I always say, report monthly, iterate quarterly. I think people are very quick to make changes instantaneously and say, oh, that didn't work, so I'm going to pivot." - Dana Farber, Moonstone Marketing
Give your campaigns time to run their course, but don't be afraid to make changes based on the data. For example, experiment with different send times and try various types of content.
On social media, play around with various formats — go with a Reel instead of a static image, or test out paid ads versus organic posts. The key is to make small, strategic tweaks over time, not huge overhauls at the first sign of a dip.
Keep in mind that what works for one channel might not work for another. An eye-catching subject line might fall flat as a social media caption. A high-performing Reel might not translate into an engaging email. That's why it's crucial to test and optimize for each channel individually.
Remember, optimization is an ongoing process. As your audience evolves and new marketing trends emerge, your strategy will need to adapt. By continuously testing and refining your approach, you can stay ahead of the curve and keep driving results for your restaurant.
As you've seen, email, SMS and social are equally essential channels for engaging guests and driving revenue for your restaurant. But how do you tie it all together?
That's where SevenRooms comes in.
With SevenRooms, your email and SMS marketing efforts are integrated into one system, allowing you to create consistent, targeted campaigns that reach your guests where they are.
You can also see which social media channels and campaigns are delivering the best results with customized tracking links and reporting.
This level of insight is invaluable for refining your marketing strategy over time.
Interested in learning more? Book a SevenRooms demo to get started today.
