Harold’s Chicken Shack is a popular restaurant chain in the Chicago area. Recently, it made headlines when President Barack Obama told 60 Minutes that it was his favorite place to eat when he was in the area. But while that free advertising likely helped the company’s profits, it has taken numerous smart steps to ensure its success in a congested market.
The company recently implemented a text message marketing campaign that has, thus far, produced stellar results. By using traditional advertising such as in-store signage to promote the steps required to register as a text message recipient, Harold’s saw 10,000 people sign up in the first seven months.
Once those prospects were obtained, Harold’s used innovative techniques such as promotional texting and SMS couponing to convert their message recipients into regular customers. According to an article in Business 2 Community, the introductory coupon yielded a 53 percent redemption rate. Subsequent coupons were redeemed 37 percent of the time and overall sales rose by 11 percent. All of this resulted in one of Harold’s most successful years to date.
Sandra Zoratti, the author of the article, praised Harold’s for its innovation and implored other companies to follow suit.
Harold’s approach to customer relationship management clearly demonstrates that marketers truly must evolve and focus their efforts on consumer demand,” Zoratti wrote. “If they don’t, they won’t last very long into this New Year.”
These results show just how valuable text message marketing can really be. Whether it’s promotional material like coupons or brochures being sent through the SMS application or a simple line of text detailing the latest sale, recipients have proven to follow the words of mobile marketing messages. Swift SMS Gateway offers the tools all companies need to launch truly effective SMS marketing campaigns.
