How To Market Your Pizza Shop By Using Cellphones?

Aug. 25, 2009 - PRLog -- Part 1: Sell Pizzas By Cellphones? This Can Be A Great Marketing Tool!

As I've observed today, more and more people depend on their mobile phones to connect to the internet. From small donut shops to New York subways, consumers are using their iPhones, Blackberries and other mobile devices to locate dry cleaners, taxis, stores and services.

While many businesses have an online presence, most are unaware of their potential reach across the mobile Internet. Throughout the world, even small businesses have a competitive advantage creating their mobile Web sites over to those who do not.

However, it is not as simple as setting up a mobile web site. The small size of a mobile phone's screen and the expensive cost of transmitting data, for instance, create a number of stumbling blocks to transacting business by mobile phone.

Although, there's a good news, it's easy and affordable to creat a mobile web site to start attracting customers. And what's the best of it is that you're not going to waste money because it doesn't cost much. Here are five simple steps to follow:

Create a mobile site

A mobile Web site is one that is optimized for viewing the web on the small screen of a mobile phone. When creating a mobile version of your Web site, ease of access and usability should be key.

Unless you're a multimedia programmer, chances are you're looking for a quick and easy solution. A great place to start is Ubik.com, a free-to-use online service which allows anyone to publish compelling mobile Web sites. With Ubik.com, you can easily set up a mobile web site with in 15 minutes.

By simply removing the mobile-unfriendly components of your traditional web site, your mobile web site can can adapt to the parameters of a mobile phone browser, which can enhance user experience. Coding for the thousands of mobile devices on the market, with varying screen dimensions and resolutions, would be an impossible task. Ubik.com achieves this for you, all you need to do is provide the text, images and menus.

There are dozens of scenarios that can be used to demonstrate how useful it is to have a mobile web site. Here's one good example: A group of friends exiting a movie theater one late night suddenly craved for a Pizza quattro formaggi ("four cheese pizza"). They wonder if your pizza shop is still open, one of them opens a cellphone and finds out. Here, having your mobile site ready to reassure them that they can satisfy their cravings until 11 p.m. is key to closing the sale.

Keep it simple!

Simplicity is an important key to keep customers browsing your mobile web site, by simply removing unnecessary texts and slow-loading pictures. Mobile shoppers easily tends to leave a slow-loading mobile web site, they want a quick and easy solution they can act on, so shorten your message but make sure that you provide the necessary information. Even in these days of “all you can eat” data plans, most users are still paying every byte they download.

Mobile customers need something far simpler than the average PC Web site. Let's say they're busy business people who wants to have their pizza on the go. Adapt the mobile site to highlight information that's key for hungry people on the go, such as specials, menu, directions, contact info and store hours. Make it simple, consistent with your brand, while keeping the navigation simple and directly provide the right information. If you focus on quick and convenient access to pertinent information, you’ll help drive more customers to your pizzeria and not to your neighboring competitors.

Market by text

Treat your customers as your community. SMS marketing is designed to generate an immediate response from them. People carry their mobile phones all the time, so keep in touch with them by offering an opt-in text messaging system to let them know about special deals and menu items.

Send them electronic coupons. People are more likely to read and respond to text messages than many other forms of communication. You can use this advantage to increase your sales, send out notifications of an offer that's nearing expiration and tell them the if they act now an even greater reward awaits them.

In fact, according to the Mobile Marketing Association, 89 percent of companies used text and multimedia messaging to reach their audiences in 2008, with nearly one third spending more than 10 percent of their marketing budgets on advertising in the text message marketing medium.

To give their business an edge and one step ahead of their competitor, many restaurants are now opting for mobile ordering service through text messaging. Typically, the customer creates an account on your Web site, activating the text message ordering service the moment they enter their mobile number and setting up a list of favorite orders, such as “large cheese.” This favorites list corresponds to an online customer account, gives you a buzz when to cook that large cheese when the “FAV” text message arrives.

Mapping your way to success

The latest handsets come with location-based capabilities and mapping software. How do you make sure your business is listed when someone nearby is searching for what you can offer? One answer is Google Maps for mobile, a popular application that is used in smartphones.

With this free to download application, your pizzeria can be mapped and searchable by people using mobile phone users. Google’s local search engine allows people to search for your businesses by name – such as "Joe’s Pizza Shop" - or by type – such as "pizza." They'll be able to search for your business address, working hours, menu, contact info, payment method, ratings, pictures of your establishment and even be able to contact you through text messaging or calls.

You can simply link directly to your Google listing from your web site.

To be continued... watch out for Part 2: How To Market Your Pizza Shop By Using Cellphones?

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With over 20 years of experience in restaurant point of sale the author of this article is the Customer Relations Vice-President at http://www.pos-for-restaurants.com -- helping you use your Restaurant POS technology to be more more efficient and more profitable.

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