Roberto’s is a beloved fixture in Ogunquit, Maine, a beautiful place by the sea. For over 30 years, Roberto’s has brought the finest in hand-crafted Italian food to tourists and local residents. They take pride in selecting the finest ingredients; they stock only the finest imported olive oils and produce is delivered to their chef's daily, as is fresh native seafood.
In January, 2015, Nicastro Consultants , an Ogunquit Chamber Member was contacted by fellow member, owner and host, Kathy Cammarota, to update Roberto's website , establish a social media presence and expand Roberto's brand using email marketing. Their Facebook business page was at a respectable 587 likes and Twitter followers at 100. They had no way of capturing customer email addresses.
During the snowy months of January and February, Kathy in Florida and Doreen in Boston, they defined Roberto's business goals for the upcoming 2015 season; increase the restaurant's visibility in searches and on social media. It was determined to use engagement marketing to build an email list of loyal fans. We started with a social audit. Did a "Roberto's Italian Restaurant' Google search and learned that Roberto's had not claimed their presence on Foursquare , Yelp or Tripadvisor.
Roberto's had no way to engage with current customers outside their venue. Although Roberto’s uses Open Table for reservations they have no way of interacting with Open Table customers once they leave the restaurant. When Roberto’s opened its doors for the 2015 season, they had a mechanism in place for guests to connect with Roberto’s once they left. In addition they are easily found on the Internet and on social media sites.
The owner is reluctant to place social media icons in the establishment's window or on the menu. The question for brick and mortar venues is if you don't let your customers know or give incentives or reasons for social engagement, what's the point?
To keep costs down we used the current restaurant logo, images and pictures. We also created a new consistent branded website along with a matching Newsletter template. We implemented Constant Contact email marketing solutions to capture customer email addresses: at the restaurant via a text message sign-text OGTROBERTOS to 22828 to join Roberto's mailing list- (JML). We added a JML icon on the new website and on Roberto's Facebook business page. We uploaded Chamber Members emails and customer emails from Roberto's Opentable reservations. We sent monthly email Newsletters from April-September.
It started with a Memorial Day 10% off coupon. It was sent to 857 emails which we complied, segmented and uploaded to Constant Contact. Three-hundred seventy three people (46%) opened the Newsletter. This was Roberto’s first time interacting with customers outside the restaurant. Ninety-three people ( 25%) clicked a unique link and seventy-one clicked on the coupon link and four coupons were purchase.
Today, Roberto's Facebook business page has 869 likes and growing (50% increase over five months) and 120 Twitter followers. They are also have a Google + and Pinterest presence. This season, Roberto's increased their customer email list from 0 to 857. The last email they sent was in August to 869 people , 285 (36%) opened it. They had a total of 30 click through to their links.
What are the takeaways?
Customers like to engage with their favorite brands and products.
Bricks and mortar businesses who start using social media and mobile app's
may consider placing those social icons in the window, on their menu, or create an incentive
for customers to engage with your brand.
Is your business easy to find on mobile Internet searches or on social media? Does your establishment provide incentives for customers to interact or check-in at your venue? Do they share their experiences with their friends and family on social media? We are ready to help your business or organization connect and engage with customers and fans.
Are you ready? Start today with a
Social Media Audit.