Food and beverage businesses face a distinct set of unique challenges, and given the constraints of their industry, they have to appeal directly and persuasively to prospective consumers in their immediate area. Even national quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains rely on a loyal local customer base to ensure that they maintain a healthy bottom line.
Because of this reality, local and hyperlocal marketing efforts are essential. These initiatives aren't limited to traditional media or online outlets like Google My Business or Yelp, though.
Application-to-person (A2P) texting provides unique advantages for food and beverage proprietors. Here's why.
Why A2P Texting Is Especially Valuable For Food And Beverage Businesses
While automated A2P texting often serves as a valuable tool for generating appointment reminders or distributing one-time passcodes in support of two-factor authentication, messaging can also be useful for food and beverage marketing.
The Appeal Of the Local: A2P Texting And Marketing Segmentation
In 2019, BrightLocal conducted a study using Google My Business Insights. This research found that restaurants received 54% of their Google My Business views from a Google search engine results page and 46% from Google Maps. This tells us two important things:
- Inbound traffic and search optimization are important for businesses in this industry.
- Geographic proximity is a driving factor in purchasing decisions for consumers.
To build off of these two points, we'll touch on two core concepts that every marketer should know about: segmentation and nurturing. Both of these concepts help us see why A2P texting can provide a beneficial channel for food and beverage marketing.
Inbound traffic can produce new prospects and leads. However, in order to nurture those leads, you need to provide prospects with an opportunity to demonstrate their intent, usually motivated by an incentive.
A call to action that encourages visitors to sign up for timely promotions via text message fits the bill here. If users believe they'll be the first in line for high-value promotions, you have a new venue for driving conversions and eventually nurturing and retaining customers.
Segmentation is important because it helps you to nurture the leads with the highest potential or to encourage heightened activity in particular geographic areas. For national and international QSR enterprises, area codes provide you with a built-in method for segmenting your audience by location. For example, if you want to drive engagement with consumers in the Phoenix area, A2P texting makes it as simple as sorting by the appropriate area code.
The Appeal Of the Visual: A2P Messaging In the Era of RCS
When you think of A2P messaging, the first thought that comes to mind is probably a standard Short Message Service (SMS) communication consisting entirely of alphanumeric characters. However, text message marketing has incorporated pictures using Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) for some time, and Rich Communication Services (RCS) promise to offer an exciting new evolution in the potential applications of this technology. According to a January 2021 press release from Juniper Research, a recent report from the agency projected that there would be 3.9 billion global RCS users by 2025.
This is great news for restaurants, bars and other food and beverage establishments. Why? Because, in this sector, nothing can beat the visual appeal of a well-crafted product image. Well, nothing except for a free sample, maybe.
How to Use A2P for Food and Beverage Marketing
To make sure that you get the most out of your A2P food and beverage marketing efforts, here are a few simple tips.
Know Your Audience
These days, you can pretty much rest assured that your target audience is comfortable with texting — because almost about everybody is. That means that you don't have to modify your brand to appeal to mobile users. Keep your identity intact and focus on learning how your typical audience communicates over messaging.
Leverage the Technology To Your Advantage
In addition to techniques like targeted nurturing campaigns, careful marketing segmentation and stunning visuals, A2P texting has further benefits that can help you attract new customers and keep them coming back. Automate sends for the optimal time of day and have a clear call to action for every message.
Find the Right A2P Messaging Partner For Your Needs
A reliable technology provider is an important partner for ensuring that your food and beverage business achieves the best results possible from A2P text marketing campaigns. Contact Swift SMS Gateway today to find out how we can help.
