Repeat customers are the bread and butter of any business. Studies show that loyal customers can spend up to 73% more on repeat visits. Thus, it is vital to come up with promotions, deals or perhaps, marketing strategies to achieve sustained success: repeat customers

Creating the perfect restaurant deal to build an army of loyal customers requires you to analyze and understand your customers—who are you catering to, what are their dining preferences, what social media platforms do they use, etc. It also requires you to scrutinize your own business—what are your best and worst-performing dishes, which time of the day is the busiest, what margins do you want to maintain.

After you go over these details with a fine-tooth comb, it’s time to promote your restaurant with these fail-safe deals that are sure to draw in customers again and again.

Corporate discounts

As the name suggests, these are discounts you offer to certain corporate organizations in your city, preferably those located in your own neighborhood. Offices have many events all year round, especially during the holiday season, and are regularly looking for places for group dinners, both for dining in and delivery.

By offering them discounts, you’re wooing them with a great incentive, while increasing your own footfall and brand awareness. But before you give out corporate discounts, it's important to do some research. Find out if the companies you’re reaching out to consists of your target demographic or whether their vision does not contradict yours.

Charity events

Businesses that give back to the community are always appreciated and there are more ways than one in which you can fulfill your social responsibility as a restaurant.

As a local business, you should closely understand the needs of your community and tailor innovative promotions accordingly. One simple way is to host a promotional benefit, where part of the sales from that day are donated to a charitable institution. A more elaborate promotion would be to invite a celebrity and donate the day’s proceeds.

People are known to be more benevolent during the holiday season and this is the best time of the year to organize campaigns that encourage customers to make a contribution.

Social media contest

In 2019, there were approximately 223 million social media users in the US and this number is only growing. Therefore, it goes without saying that with the right marketing ideas, you can effectively use social media to drive traffic to your restaurant.

Social media contests are great ways to boost engagement with existing customers and attract new ones as well. To the winners, you can offer gift cards, give a one-off free meal or free drinks with a meal. For a more intimate experience, you can also reward the winners with a cooking class with the chef or a behind-the-scenes tour of the restaurant.

Loyalty programs

The benefits of having return customers through loyalty programs are many, including the fact that return customers tend to buy more over time.  Today, more and more brands are opting for digital loyalty programs and reaping benefits at that.

This new-age innovation allows you to create more personalized deals for each customer on the back of reliable data. Capitalize on the holiday season and reward your most loyal customers by offering them bigger discounts, extra bonus points, and special tasting events.

Happy hours

The concept of Happy hours is no more applicable only to drinks. You can also use this strategy for your food menu or bundle up both food and drinks in order to push additional sales and tempt more customers. Local professionals will often respond to a great happy hour.

You can also create an exclusive themed menu for the holiday season available only during happy hours. The idea is to build up to something unique enough to draw crowds on particular days of the month.  

There you go!

These five promotion tactics will make you stand out from the throng. If you want to get an edge over the competition, always try to offer a little extra than your competitors.