I have had my own vegan restaurant and store for over 20 years now in Florida, since way before veganism became as widespread as it is at the moment. Honestly I never got into business to make real money, I wanted to have a business which I cared about and one which would bring enough cash in to keep my family going. About 6 years ago more vegan restaurants popped up here in Florida and I began to lose customers, and money.
I had never spent money on real marketing before so I knew that it was time to change that. My son had read some of the etargetmedia reviews online and suggested that I give the company a try. These guys specialize in targeted email marketing, and for a small investment they have completely turned my business around, and here is how email marketing helped.
Bringing Back
The first step was to try and bring previous customers back into my business, those who had since gone elsewhere. I was able to target these customers and write personalized emails which would really talk to them. I saw a he benefit from this and my old customers began to drip back through the doors. Many of them actually thought that I was no longer in the restaurant game, which just goes to show what a lack of marketing can actually do.
Brand Growth
Something which I was very keen to do was to build a brand rather than just a business, with the idea being to be competitive with the franchises which had opened up nearby. Email marketing became a great way for me to do this as through the process of doing this, you are planting seeds in the minds of the customers. For example let’s say you send an email to prospective customer, inly they don’t click on the email and they don’t bother coming to your store. Then let’s say one day they are in the area looking for something to eat and bang, they see you, it feels familiar so they come in. This has happened to me so many times and then you hear the customer say ‘I’ve seen your emails’ at this moment you know that targeted email marketing is helping you to grow yourself as a brand.
Driving Sales
Ultimately my sales have increased massively since I invested in email marketing and that is because I am able to speak directly to my target market. I am not putting up a billboard which may or may not be seen by my target customers, I am speaking their language and I am directly contacting them in a very personal way. This results in a bigger brand, more business visibility and ultimately it leads to more interest in your business and more cash coming in as well.
If you haven’t tried targeted email marketing then it is something which I would strongly recommend.
