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By PHILLIP VALYS| SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL |JUL 16, 2019 | 5:15 PM
Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery, the national “breastaurant” chain known for serving up objectified women along with shepherd’s pie, has closed its final South Florida location in Boca Raton. The nearly 5-year-old Tilted Kilt outpost at 3320 Airport Road, located along an access road behind the Boca Raton Airport, announced its abrupt closing on Tuesday afternoonin a Facebook post to followers. “Hey everyone, the time has come that the Tilted Kilt of Boca Raton has closed,” the social-media post read. “We would like to thank all of our incredible customers that we have met over the past 4 and a half years. We’ve made some great memories that you can take some time to reminisce on.” Phone calls to the restaurant on Tuesday went unanswered. Customers left brief remembrances of the Tilted Kilt below the Facebook announcement, with a few bemoaning its food quality. “Sad to see another establishment close, good or bad. Had many good meals there and fun times,” wrote commenter Diane Wotring Israel. The restaurant’s closing marks the end of the Scottish-themed sports pub’s presence in South Florida, after shutting down its Fort Lauderdale location in early 2017 (now the German-style beer hall Township). Employees of the Tilted Kilt in Boca Raton pose for one final group photo before the restaurant shuttered its last South Florida location on July 16. The Tilted Kilt franchise was founded in 2003 but was purchased in 2018 by Jacksonville-based the ARC Group. The tavern specialized in sports-pub fare – flatbread pizzas, chicken wings and hamburgers – served by so-called “Kilt Girls,” scantily clad waitstaff in mini-kilts, white stockings and midriff-baring white tops. Whiskey Tango closes in Hollywood, Twin Peaks (with new balcony bar?) on the way »Despite the closing, these so-called chain “breastaurants” remain popular across South Florida. A Twin Peaks restaurant is scheduled to replace longtime bar Whiskey Tango in Hollywood in early 2020. Meanwhile, OG breastaurant Hooters still operates 10 locations from West Palm Beach to Doral, while Twin Peaks has outposts in Davie, Pembroke Pines and West Palm Beach.
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Reggie Connell - July 17, 2019
Marketing is a crucial factor in creating a long term successful business. There are many different forms of marketing and most you can tailor to the specific needs of your business and its type. With that also comes both online and offline marketing strategies that should both be taken into account when it comes to building a business. The growth depends on the efficiency of the marketing strategy you choose to implement. For small businesses, it is especially important to have a significant amount of focus on marketing. Online marketing strategies are extremely beneficial for those smaller businesses. You want to focus on getting the right group of customers or clients to your products or services. Sometimes small businesses can rely on advertisements online or offline, but other marketing methods have been proven to give significant results for businesses looking to expand their growth. Most customers and future customers are online and a vast majority of the population spends a vital amount of time online. If you have a small business and you want to expand your customers and outreach, you must find some room for online marketing methods. Here is a list of the most popular forms of online marketing.
You can focus on having all of your social media accounts up to date or you can focus on the social sites that are most beneficial or convenient to you. Many businesses have a Facebook account but not all have an Instagram account. Those that want to be heavy on photographs like restaurants or boutiques should focus on Instagram rather than sites like Twitter, for example. Your online presence is important and should be personable as well. Utilize your social media account to create and build relationships with your current and future customers. It can be easy to build trust with your customers through comments, likes, and even reposts on your social accounts. You can even use the direct message feature on certain apps and sites that allow your direct contact with your customers. This causes for an easy and convenient exchange for customer communication and service.
Your website will rise to higher rankings on the search page when you have multiple links back to your specific page. Make sure to research link building to be prepared on how it works and how to use it to your advantage. There are link building agencies out there to help assist you along the process.
SEO, also known as search engine optimization, is a highly profitable marketing method and is growing and becoming a primary way online businesses market to their targeted audience. What SEO marketing does is optimize your content and structure of your website to make it easier for search engines to use keywords to rank your website. Like we learned before, search engines use certain algorithms to rank the sites on a search. Many local businesses use this method to increase the number of locals view their web page and the amount of people who visit. Many customers are constantly searching on their mobile devices for local services and products, and you can optimize your relevance to these searches through local SEO.
Companies that use this form of marketing find that it is best to figure a lead magnet first. This means you must find the type of audience you are looking for and offer them some kind of incentive for giving their email over to you. These are usually special promotions and discounts but could also be webinar access and special content. You can have specific types of content in your email to help decipher the types of customers you have. Associate certain customers with the links they click to help organized and distinguish the likes and dislikes of your customers. Include attention-grabbing content in your emails as well. It is always good to include:
Blogging also helps you convert the traffic you get into the leads you can use for better customer understanding. Having blog posts on your website also brings authority. Those who have more educational content and access to knowledge on their site have a higher probability of getting more customer traffic. Brian Wallace — July 13, 2019
Phishing by email is when attackers manipulate the receiver into opening a malicious file or link containing malware. Upon clicking on these files or links, the malware is automatically downloaded to the receiver’s device. Your information can also be compromised by malware, allowing spoofed websites access to collect your login credentials. Furthermore, phishing attacks are categorized into: credential harvesting, extortion, malware, and spear phishing. 1 in every 99 emails is a phishing attack, and in a 5 day work week, this amounts to nearly 5 phishing emails per employee. With 30% of phishing emails making it past default security, businesses could be receiving daily attacks and not know it. In fact, from 2013 to 2016, cyberattacks cost businesses over $5 billion worldwide and from 2016 to 2017, phishing attacks increased by 65%. Although 83% of people have received phishing attacks, 64% of infosec professionals are targeted by spear phishing, and 35% of professionals don’t even know what “phishing” means. Today, a phishing attack on a midsize business can cost an average of $1.6 million. It is common for consumers to stop using a business following a security breach. Saying this, phishing can not only lead to a damaged business reputation, but also decreased productivity and a loss of proprietary data. Workers tend to fall for fake content targeting them as consumers. The most successful phishing attack scenarios regard social, safety, retail, and office communication attempts. Hackers prey on trust, spoofing trusted brands such as Microsoft, Amazon, banking and finance companies, and shippers like DHL, FedEx, and UPS. Email is the digital communication staple we rely on personally and professionally. This infographic outlines the risks and statistics revolving phishing, as well as tips on searching for a security platform. Secure email is the key to a secure business. Protect your email from becoming the weakest link. Read more at https://www.business2community.com/infographics/is-your-email-the-weakest-link-infographic-02220957 By Beth Anthony Special to The News-Post, Jul 14, 2019
There’s no denying it: Entrepreneurship is on the rise, and small businesses face stiff competition as they look to capture the attention of consumer markets. In fact, the internet has become the great equalizer when it comes to accessing information, allowing consumers to connect with businesses of any size in just a few clicks. But even if your business offers a unique product or service, you could find yourself lost in the digital clutter. While there are many tactics small businesses can use to stand out, few will prove more effective in today’s digital age than video marketing. Capitalizing on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter provide businesses the opportunity to reach new and existing customers, often at little to no monetary investment. But according to a study done by Wyzowl, 48 percent of people said they’d be most likely to share video content with their friends ahead of any other type of content. This means if you want to drive higher engagement and more interactions, a portion of your posts need to incorporate video. In addition, videos in Facebook, Instagram and Twitter automatically play in your newsfeed, making your posts more eye-catching to consumers than just text. But it isn’t just social media platforms garnering the attention of video. Google now owns YouTube, and that in itself should mean a lot to any business owner. There are varying statistics regarding how many times more a website with embedded videos gets exposure, but most put this figure above 50 times. This means if you’re looking to capitalize on organic traffic, the only way you’ll get to the top is with video, and considering 75 percent of people never venture past the first page of search results, adding video to your website is well worth it. In addition to boosting your online presence, video also provides an opportunity for businesses to connect with consumers on an emotional level. According to Medium, 94 percent of respondents said they would be “highly likely to recommend a brand they were emotionally engaged with.” This means using video to connect with consumers on an emotional level will help increase audience engagement, while also providing the opportunity to promote your product or service. In fact, 80 percent of viewers can recall a video they’ve seen within the last 30 days. Can anyone say the same about a blog post or Facebook update? There’s no doubt that the internet has become an increasingly crowded space to advertise in, and when it comes to online marketing most small businesses change their marketing strategy based on the audience they’re trying to reach. For example, younger users spend more of their time on Snapchat, while millennials dominate Facebook. That isn’t the case with video marketing. From the youngest to the oldest internet user, everyone loves video, which means your small business can reach any audience at any time. Yet even with all the evidence and statistics that demonstrate video marketing is essential for propelling your business forward, a surprisingly large number of small-business owners still shy away from video, presenting a huge advantage to their competitors. The fact is if you’re not using video, you should be. On average companies who use video grow 49 percent faster than those who don’t. Conversion rates nearly double for websites using video and 72 percent of consumers say they’d rather watch a video to learn about a product or service. Bottom line: Video marketing is the most effective and powerful tool a small business can use to advertise, increase sales, and expand their customer base. Whether it’s a product review, a testimonial or a webinar, having video content will surely grab your audience’s attention and keep them wanting more. Beth Anthony is a SCORE subject matter expert. She has worked in the video production industry for more than 15 years and specializes in digital content creation and video marketing. By Tim Newton - July 11, 2019
The marketing and advertising world is evolving quickly. And you need to evolve with it. How you used to successfully market your business ten years ago… five years ago… even last year, needs to be different today so you can reach more customers for less. Things are moving REALLY fast and the terminology and science of advertising is moving along with the technology. The shift to online marketing is profound. Just imagine you put a display ad in a local newspaper a decade ago. How many papers were printed? Where were they distributed? How many were sold? Would the reader even turn to the page with your ad on it? Who read the ad? What age were they? Were they even interested in what you were selling? Answers to most of these questions were impossible to answer. Your ad wasn’t linked to your website or Facebook page, it was static and, well, the paper quality wasn’t fantastic so the glossy photo you gave them looked a bit disappointing by the time it was printed. And you paid good money for the pleasure to advertise in a newspaper ten years ago! The caveat to all this is that magazines, newspapers, radio, billboards and TV are still valid and strong means to advertise. But the audience is much more difficult to measure and the cost is high, compared to the modern alternatives. For bigger businesses, with broad appeal and a budget to match, the traditional forms of advertising still have a value and appeal. But the move online is happening very fast Now, for a LOT less, you can deliver your ad right into the heart of your customer target. No longer are you randomly spraying your message to an audience you can’t even measure. Even if you’re a small volunteer organisation you can reach out to your constituency, with even a tiny budget, much more effectively than in the past. Here are our Top 10 tips for successful marketing and advertising in 2019 if you’re a small to medium business. Who are your customers?It’s difficult to plan a good campaign if you don’t know precisely who your market is. Age, sex, where they live, what other products they like, what do they spend on similar products or services? We bet most small to medium businesses would have little idea who their buyers are. In the past, most advertising was sprayed out across a broad audience, loosely defined, and you just hoped some of your message would fall in the right laps. Now, the more you know about your customers, the better you can plan a reliable and efficient marketing campaign. A little research is going to make everything else much more successful and predictable. Because you can highly define you ads in 2019 you also need to highly define who your customers are. Unless your mother owns the radio or TV station, go onlineDisplay ads in newspapers, billboards on the side of the road, theatre advertising, even radio advertising. Think about it…. how many of the people hearing, seeing or reading your ad are actually interested? You’ll pay big money to reach a whole lot of people who couldn’t care less about what you have to offer, in the hope of reaching a few that do. It’s inefficient and it’s wasting a lot of your money. The incredibly broad scope of online advertising allows you to spend less and reach more of YOUR buyers, specifically. Traditional banner ads are, mostly, a waste of time… for advertisers and website owners. The idea of an advertiser placing a banner strategically on your website is really just a lazy online version of the old magazine or newspaper days. Instead of display ads in print, they’re just display ads on the website! With all the tools and tricks available today you need to weaponise what your money and advertising can do online. And why do we really bother what it looks like on a desktop or laptop anymore. Most people, the vast majority, are going to see your online ad on…. Smartphones: The window to the world in 2019Every day an older consumer of media, sadly, dies. And another 1000 smartphones will be purchased. This is a harsh and relentless march into the future. Depending on the age group (the younger, the more likely they are to consume information and entertainment on a smartphone), you need to be making sure you are reaching people on smartphones. The damn things are ubiquitous, perhaps even annoyingly-so. But you can’t deny their astonishing ability to reach eyeballs and ears. You don’t need us to remind you that people, of all ages, are glued to their handheld device long periods every day. You will be hard pressed to find people not using smartphones every day, in some capacity. You don’t have to deliver them a paper, leave your magazine in their doctor’s waiting room, sit them down in a theatre or wait for them to turn on the radio in their car. They’re carrying their smartphone with them wherever they go and probably sleep with them on the bedside table charging overnight. They are the first things they look at in the morning and last things they look at before going to bed. Reality. You can point to the negatives of this situation but it doesn’t change the facts. Smartphones are a vital part of modern life in developed and undeveloped countries. In the case of The Thaiger 84% of our pages are read on a smartphone, not a desktop or tablet. That figure, maybe less with some websites aimed at older readers, is more or less where things are at in 2019. Which platform?But the internet is HUGE, how the hell can I choose the right platform or website? This is relatively easy although it may first appear over-whelming. Why? Because you have valid information freely available online – lots of it. Website owners will charge you to advertise on their pages. Facebook, YouTube, Google, Line, Instagram – they’re all just website/webportals. There are so, so many ways your can creatively use any website to reach your audience – they all offer different angles and opportunities. Maybe it’s a website about topics relating to your business or service. Then you already have a defined target audience. If you sell motorbikes then place an ad with a website that has motorbike reviews or motorsports results. If you sell skincare products advertise on health and fitness website. Read up about each of them, visit their websites and see the way other advertisers are using them. Research about what advertising opportunities they offer. It’s really an entirely new science and the more you read up, the better decisions you’ll make and the better success you’ll have with your marketing dollar/baht/pound. With the ‘biggies’ like Facebook, Google and YouTube, you can advertise on these as well and it’s not that difficult, complicated or expensive. There are many variables and specific ways you can point your advertising dollar directly at your potential buyers. The bad news about Facebook. Facebook, especially in Thailand, is incredibly popular. It’s free to post and reach out to your customers with engaging posts – right? Well, not really. Say you have 10,000 followers on your shop, service or organisation Facebook page. When you do a post, how many of your followers will see the post? Sit down… it’s probably only around 2% of your followers. So out of your 10,000 followers only 200 will see the post on their page feed! Of course there will be others who like your page and may visit your page and read it there – but they are not the majority. So, with Facebook, if you’re not boosting your posts your pretty much wasting your time using Facebook as a marketing tool. It may be free but the effort you’re putting into your witty, clever or beautiful post may be better spent boosting in a targeted, clever way to reach your customers more efficiently. Check the numbers, it’s all about the numbersThere is now an incredible amount of data available about website traffic and who is reading what. This information is available to you so that the mysterious world of advertising is much more transparent now. The amount of papers or magazines sold, the number of listeners and viewers, was mostly a number given by an enthusiastic salesperson in the past. NOW you can check and sift through the marketing hype to make educated, professional and strategic decisions about YOUR marketing spend. For websites, check similarweb.com and type in any website to see an approximation of their last six months of web traffic. If they don’t have at least 12,000 visits a month, they won’t even register on their traffic counters. Unless they are a highly specific website aimed at YOUR customers in your area, best steer away from low-traffic websites if you want to maximise your spend. Our experience is that similarweb.com usually under-reads traffic by 10-20% but the trends, general insight and trends are invaluable if you’re going to do online marketing. The more traffic, the more people that may see your advertising, but it’s not as simple as this and now it starts getting a bit more complicated. Brace yourself. For Facebook or social media platforms there are other ways to get traffic numbers. In some cases it doesn’t matter because, in Facebook’s case, they’ll distribute your ad to a specified target audience for you – you don’t even have to choose the Facebook pages, they do it for you. Facebook ‘boosting’ of posts is quite easy and relatively cheap. With practice, and learning the tools available, you’ll get really good at delivering very targeted ‘boosts’ on Facebook. Different websites or social media pages will have slightly different audiences. learn about the sorts of people that use certain websites and social media. Where are YOUR customers? Forget banner ads, go for PPC (pay per click)Ever heard of Google AdSense? If you’re doing any sort of modern marketing or advertising you need to get your head around AdSense or similar products to weaponise your hard-earned marketing spend. For AdSense, Google becomes your modern advertising agency. The products you will use are all online and there are many, many tutorials to guide you how to use it most efficiently. There are also other online services who will place your ads on the best websites to give you the best return. The best place to find them, for your region or country, is… guess… Google. Just type in “Best PPC in Thailand”, or US, or Australia or wherever you are. Pay–per–click (PPC), also known as cost per click (CPC), is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a search engine, website owner, or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked. In this case you pay to have your banner seen or clicked on a certain number of times on particular websites – specifically or broadly – reaching out to your customers. You could pay $100 and AdSense, or a similar product, will place your banner strategically, a certain number of times. You are paying for specific clicks on YOUR ad – you only pay when they click, it doesn’t get much more targeted than that! There are hundreds of variables in this situation giving you remarkable flexibility to get YOUR message right in front of your customers eyeballs. You still need a brand, logo, great graphics or videoThe method of reaching your customers may have radically changed but the need for good branding, messages, artwork and media hasn’t changed. But remember, in the modern world, it’s most likely your message is going to be seen on a hand-held smartphone, not an IMAX screen or A4 glossy magazine page. So plan accordingly. The online ad is just the start of the journey for your customerThey like the look of your ad, they’re interested, they click. Now where do they go? To your website, Facebook page, YouTube clip or a page listing all your products and shop address. This is now you’re time to shine. The readers have limited time and you’ve got them in your online showroom. Make sure your message and branding is clear, your products well laid out, an opportunity to purchase is clear and the photos and media are top class. All this should be in place before you start getting people to click on your ad. Need help with your marketing? Again there are hundreds of online services to help you and tutorials to help you do it yourself. Don’t be bamboozled by slick salespeople – you’re now in controlThe one HUGE advantage of modern advertising and marketing is that YOU are in control, like never before. In the past there used to be advertising agencies to help you wade through the marketing world and help you to maximise your advertising spend. Now there are e-media companies who understand the online world and how to best prepare media for your internet-based campaign. But you can do it yourself if you’re prepared to do the homework. There is a vast, incredibly detailed, library of tutorials, informative websites and examples to give you the information you need, in most languages. The more you learn the smarter you’ll become in navigating the modern media world and making choices that will sell more of your products, faster and for less advertising cost. One thing we can promise – you will get MUCH better value spending your dollars on specifically targeted online advertising, aimed DIRECTLY at your customers and it will cost you less. This is true wherever you are in the world. By: Adam Guild - July 10, 2019
Have you ever heard the saying that "People eat with their eyes"? It used to be that you didn't know what a dish looked like until it was set down on the table in front of you. But now restaurants and customers alike post tantalizing photos of delicious food on social media daily. Instagram, as a completely visual platform, is the place for restaurants to focus their marketing power. Food and beverage users are more engaged on Instagram than on any other social media app Further, 90% of Instagram users are under 35. And Millennials eat out more than any other generation! I can't think of any reasons not to use Instagram for your marketing. But if you're still on the fence about where to focus your marketing efforts, here are 7 reasons Instagram is the best social platform for restaurants. 1. You can save moneyLabor is expensive and margins are tight. So any marketing platform must be affordable. Instagram is 100% free to use, unless you decide to do any advertising. It doesn't get much more affordable than free. Also, you can test what works and what doesn't without sacrificing your hard-earned cash. And your reach is virtually unlimited. You can find the locals looking for somewhere new to add to their regular haunts. Or you can find the tourists planning a trip to your town. With 26% of domestic travel expenses spent on food, this is a huge market! You can share new menu items, changes to your hours, or upcoming events. And you can experiment to figure out the best Instagram captions for your restaurant – all without spending a penny. You don't even need an expensive camera. Most smartphone cameras these days are capable of taking high-quality photos. Just make sure you have enough natural light and you'll be good to go. 2. You can work with influencersInstagram didn't create the "influencer." But it did give non-celebrities a new platform where they could grow a big following. There are thousands of food influencers. They range from micro-influencers with 2,000 followers to huge accounts of 150,000. Fact: 49% of consumers count on influencer recommendations when making purchasing decisions. This is great news for the restaurant industry. These tastemakers aren't focused on Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat. In fact, 91% of influencers say that Instagram is their #1 platform. This is especially true for food bloggers and influencers. People love food photography! Find some of the popular influencers in your area and start interacting with them on Instagram. Liking and commenting on their posts will help them remember your restaurant's name. Soon, you can reach out to see if they'd be willing to do a post about your restaurant in exchange for a free meal. If they see you as a fan, they may be more likely to work with you. If you can find an influencer willing to work with your restaurant, you can gain access to their followers without a big investment. That could be thousands of new potential customers, all without spending any money. 3. You can reach millionsInstagram has 1 billion active monthly users and 500 million daily users. And those users spend a lot of time on Instagram – an average of 53 minutes per day. Compare that to Facebook's daily users, who spend about 41 minutes per day on the app. That's 22% less time than they spend on Instagram. This level of use provides businesses with unprecedented levels of access to potential customers. And users aren't interacting only with their friends and influencers: 80% of accounts follow at least one business on Instagram. And 75% of users take some kind of action, like visiting a website, after looking at a brand's post. With that kind of reach at your disposal, you'd be crazy not to start posting! 4. You can easily talk to customersOne of the key benefits of all this activity is that you can interact with your customers after they've come and gone. When people want to communicate, they turn to Instagram. Just look at the numbers. There currently are 184 million total Yelp reviews. Compare that with more than 95 million new Instagram posts per day. And people interact with brands on Instagram more than any other platform. They actually want to hear from you! When people post photos of their meal or experience, reach out! Let them know that you appreciate them coming in. If someone makes a complaint on one of their posts, you can send them a message to get more information about their visit. And you can follow up with an apology or a gift card to get them to come back. If a customer took a great photo during their visit, send them a quick message and ask if you can re-post it on your feed. They'll usually say yes as long as you give them photo credit. That's free user-generated content for you. This kind of rapport can turn customers into advocates and encourage repeat business. 5. You can use geotags to attract new customersOne of Instagram's key benefits is how easy it is for users to find new accounts to follow. Unlike Facebook where you have to actively seek out content, Instagram suggests posts you might like in the "Explore" feed. By using geotags on your posts, you make your content visible to users who search for that location. Geotag your restaurant address so that anyone searching for your location will see your content. Also geotag your street, neighborhood, or city. You'll provide an opportunity for users searching those locations to discover you. Local Instagram users may tag the same areas, and those common geotags will make you more likely to show up in their searches. Geotags can also help your visibility with tourists. Visitors to the area search local geotags to get an idea for what is going on in the neighborhood. If they're staying at the hotel down the street, you want to make sure that your restaurant is popping up when they are exploring on Instagram. The benefits of geotags aren't limited to what the restaurant can do with them. Customers can also use your geotag on Instagram. And all geotagged content will appear when users click on the tag, whether it was created by the restaurant or the customers. These geotag results show delicious food and customers having a great time. There's also an important piece of news: the restaurant is closed for repairs. This was an easy way to communicate with anyone checking out their geotag. 6. You can use hashtags to attract new customersHashtags are another great way to attract new customers. You can use local hashtags with your business name, street, neighborhood, or city to help people nearby find you. You can use restaurant or food hashtags to attract the notice of foodies and people looking for somewhere to eat. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, so you can really expand your reach. Different guides to Instagram have differing opinions on how many hashtags you should use on each post. Experiment with different numbers to see what gets the most engagement. People can also follow hashtags on Instagram. Your content can appear in a user's feed if you use a hashtag they follow, even if they're not following your account. I'm not following this account. This post appeared in my feed because I'm following #ramen. 7. You can expand your reach with easy advertisingIf you'd like to take your marketing to the next level, using Instagram ads is simple. Your ad can be a single photo, photo series, video, or slideshow. They can appear as posts or stories. You can control how much you spend and customize the audience you're trying to reach. You can pause your campaign at any time, and you'll get detailed analytics of how it performed. You'll create your ad through Facebook's Ad Manager, which will walk you through the process step-by-step. Besides the benefit of getting your ad in front of more users, you'll also be able to include a link with your promotion. Currently, Instagram doesn't allow links in your posts for most accounts, and you only get one link in your profile. But if you use a paid ad, you can include a clickable link right there. This will provide an easy way to get visits to your website, event page, or menu. ConclusionInstagram can be a challenging platform for some industries. If you don't have an attractive physical product, it can be hard to build an interesting feed that gets engagement. But for restaurants, Instagram is the best way to get out there. Engagement is high and more people sign up every day. Users are looking for new content, and it's free! Take some beautiful photos of your food, and you'll have the kind of content people keep coming back for. More followers leads to more brand awareness. And then it's just a short step to customers in seats and money in the bank. So now you understand what a powerful resource Instagram can be for restaurants. Are you going to take advantage of this tool to grow your business? Or are you going to let yourself be outpaced by your competitors who do? It's up to you! restaurantnews.com - July 9, 2019
Restaurant owners and operators have a lot to look forward to in August for restaurant marketing opportunities. For starters, August is National Sandwich Month, National Catfish Month and National Panini Month. Restaurateur can also take advantage of special days celebrating Banana Splits, Bananas, Brownies, Cherry Turnovers, Chocolate Pecan Pie, Chop Suey, Filet Mignon, Frozen Custard, Ice Cream Pie, Ice Cream Sandwiches, Lemon Meringue Pie, Mustard, Oysters, Peach Pie, Peaches, Pecan Tortes, Potatoes, Raspberry Cream Pie, Raspberry Tarts, Rice Pudding, S’mores, Soft Ice Cream, Sponge Cake, Spumoni, Vanilla Custard, Waffles, Watermelon and Zucchini. For beverage marketing, Beer, Lemonade, Mead, Root Beer, Rum and Whiskey Sours take center stage in August. There are also several days focused on family and friends in August. Restaurant marketing plans can be built around Friendship Day, Girlfriends Day, Sisters Day, Son and Daughter Day, Middle Child’s Day and Senior Citizen’s Day, among many others. Here’s your restaurant marketing calendar for August: Brownies at Brunch MonthNational Sandwich Month National Catfish Month National Panini Month National Golf Month Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month Get Ready for Kindergarten Month Romance Awareness Month 1 – National Raspberry Cream Pie Day 1 – National Girlfriends Day 2 – National Ice Cream Sandwich Day 2 – International Beer Day 3 – National Watermelon Day 3 – National Mustard Day 3 – Mead Day 4 – Assistance Dog Day 4 – National Sisters’ Day 4 – Coast Guard Day 4 – Friendship Day 5 – National Oyster Day 5 – Work Like a Dog Day 6 – National Root Beer Float Day 7 – Lighthouse Day 8 – National Frozen Custard Day 8 – National Zucchini Day 8 – Happiness Happens Day 9 – National Rice Pudding Day 9 – Book Lover’s Day 10 – National S’mores Day 10 – World Lion Day 10 – Garage Sale Day 11 – National Raspberry Tart Day 11 – Son and Daughter Day 11 – Play in the Sand Day 12 – International Youth Day 12 – Middle Child’s Day 12 – Vinyl Record Day 12 – World Elephant Day 13 – National Filet Mignon Day 13 – International Lefthanders Day 15 – National Lemon Meringue Pie Day 15 – Julia Child’s Birthday 15 – Relaxation Day 16 – National Rum Day 16 – Tell a Joke Day 17 – National Vanilla Custard Day 17 – International Homeless Animals Day 18 – National Ice Cream Pie Day 18 – Bad Poetry Day 19 – National Potato Day 19 – National Soft Ice Cream Day 19 – World Humanitarian Day 19 – Photography Day 20 – National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day 21 – National Spumoni Day 21 – National Senior Citizens Day 22 – National Pecan Torte Day 22 – National Eat a Peach Day 22 – Be an Angel Day 23 – National Sponge Cake Day 24 – National Peach Pie Day 24 – National Waffle Day 25 – National Banana Split Day 25 – National Whiskey Sour Day 25 – Kiss and Make Up Day 26 – National Dog Day 26 – National Cherry Popsicle Day 27 – National Banana Lovers Day 27 – Just Because Day 28 – National Cherry Turnover Day 28 – National Bow Tie Day 29 – National Chop Suey Day 29 – More Herbs, Less Salt Day 30 – National Toasted Marshmallow Day 30 – Frankenstein Day 31 – Trail Mix Day Need help generating some buzz for your restaurant marketing efforts? RestaurantNews.com offers an affordable, dependable, effective outlet for your restaurant news. For more information, please visit http://www.restaurantnews.com/press-release/. Responsival.com - 7/10/2019
Coming from a city consistently-ranked one of the best food cities in the United States, the digital marketing experts at Responsival have a knack for food. Whether we’re eating our way through the Steel City or using digital marketing strategies to boost ‘eatership’ at some of our favorite spots, we know what it takes to be at the top of our food game. As a restaurant owner, however, it can be hard to know the exact course of action to take for your digital marketing efforts. Not only are you extremely busy running the day to day functions of your restaurants, but you’re consistently working on what makes your place one of the best in town: the delicious food. That’s why Responsival - the experts of digital marketing Pittsburgh - is here to break down the six most important aspects of your restaurant's digital marketing strategy. RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGNTHE ONLINE PRACTICE AT THE CENTER OF DIGITAL MARKETING FOR RESTAURANTSIt’s a no-brainer that every business needs a website in the 21st century. However, in the restaurant industry, having a responsive website is even more important. Studies show that more than 90% of people research a restaurant before dining -- more than any other business type. These people are looking for easily accessible information about your restaurant like where you’re located, what your hours are, and what’s on the menu. Making this information as easy to find as possible not only helps get your name out there, but can make customers commit to coming in for a meal. But you don’t just need any old website. You need a website that looks great on all devices - from desktops to smartphones - and is the one-stop-shop for anything a potential customer could need. According to the National Restaurant Association, 3 in 5 US restaurant diners order takeout at least once a week. With online ordering becoming more and more popular, it’s vital that your website is equipped with everything it needs to maximize your sales, including an online portal or partnerships with Postmates and other delivery services. Luckily, the experts of digital marketing Pittsburgh at Responsival have experience in all aspects of making a restaurant’s website ready for sales at a price you can afford. For you, that means you always have someone on your side helping your business reach its full potential. A COMPLETE GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTINGALLOW YOUR BUSINESS TO BE FOUND WITH EASEWhen someone Googles your business, the first thing they’re going to see is your Google Business Listing (GBL). GBL’s are the phone book listings of the 21st century that provides you quick information like hours, food type, and reviews. Since your GBL is often the first place - and sometimes the only place - that people gain information about your business, it’s key to make sure your GBL is complete. Not only do people find your business and learn about you from your GBL, but your GBL is a place where people can easily gather reviews from Yelp, Zomato, and other review sites. Since 33% of people view reviews prior to eating at a new restaurant and more than 92% of people trust these reviews, it’s important to not only make this information accessible but to monitor it carefully. Responsival can not only help you get your GBL up and running but can assist you in Online Reputation Management for your restaurant to monitor your customers’ feedback. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETINGUNLOCKING A VISUAL MARKETING MECCA THROUGH DIGITAL MARKETING PITTSBURGHSocial media is an increasingly important aspect of any business’s marketing strategy. With 69% of adults using at least one social media platform and the average American having 7.1 social media accounts, social media is an obvious place to reach an engaged audience. Notably for restaurants, social media is a visual way to display images of your food, dining area, and more that attracts people to your restaurant in the first place. Maintaining and growing interest in your restaurant on social media can be a time-consuming process. From responding to tweets sent to your business to editing Instagram posts and engaging with your customers on Facebook, it’s sometimes difficult for restaurant owners to use social media to the best of their abilities. Luckily, you can hand your social media over to the experts at Responsival to keep your social media active and running to its full potential. PAID ADSEXPAND YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING PITTSBURGH REACH WITH SOCIAL MEDIA ADSAdvertising is the key to reaching new audiences and growing your business. However, times are changing and a billboard or newspaper ad is no longer the best way to reach new audiences. Where can you get the most bang for your buck for your advertising? Social media advertising, of course. With high levels of engagement, low costs per impression, and granular targeting capabilities, running paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn is a great way to create buzz around your business and reach new audiences. While learning to use these marketing platforms can be difficult, Responsival can help increase awareness about your business and drive traffic into your restaurant, creating long-lasting regulars. EMAIL MARKETINGDISPERSING INFORMATION TO HIGHLY-ENGAGED AUDIENCES FOR A HIGH ROIEmail marketing is a great way to disperse information to your most highly-engaged audiences. Typical marketing campaigns via email send monthly newsletter, birthday discounts, and more. Email marketing allows you to easily inform your customers about promotions, new menu items, and (eventually) new locations that are opening at a relatively low cost. Your restaurant needs to be using email marketing primarily due to the 124% return on investment you can expect from a successful email marketing campaign. This ROI surpasses that of all other marketing techniques and is great for engaging your audience. Responsival can help you design email templates and carry out an intentional email campaign that maximizes sales and ROI. CONTENT CREATIONCREATING WEB CONTENT TO ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE AND DRIVE SEOWhen it comes to standing out as a business, the key is to hack the Google algorithm for search engine optimization (SEO). While the algorithm is constantly changing, one thing stays pretty consistent: the value of keywords. These keywords - or the words that you use in written content that mirror what people look up on Google - help you rank in the top search results, making your business easier to find. The best way to tie a larger number of keywords to your site is to utilize blog content. Not only does blog content help boost SEO through keywords, but blog content helps engage your audience. As a restaurant, you have a wide variety of possibilities for the type of content your write, ranging from ‘10 Best Italian Restaurants in Pittsburgh’ or ‘7 Best Date Ideas in Allegheny County.’ These topics help people learn about your business and gain an interest in what you have to offer. There are a wide variety of ways your restaurant can take your digital marketing strategy to the next level. Get in touch with Responsival - the experts of digital marketing Pittsburgh - and see how we can create a custom marketing strategy for you today. July 6, 2019 by Ejaaz Sufder Ali -The Good Men ProjectInstagram is one of the most authentic and reliable social media platforms which people use to explore their ideas and useful information to help others for some purpose. A wise business person uses media especially Instagram to attract targeted audience and to engage a large number of clients across the world for some purpose. Instagram has become a need for a modern business person to take online initiatives. To market any type of ideas through image presentations. Small scale businesses and large scale businesses have great opportunities in their social media platform to enjoy a large number of audience and to engage them for some purpose. Marketing specialists who widely use Instagram they know what type of marketing plan is effective in this world to create attention for the people and to urge them to visit something from online resources. There are numerous online software and apps which help the marketing specialists and interests people to get basic ideas to market the best campaigns for some purpose.
How to get Instant Feedback from Online Resources? There is another short method “Automatic Instagram Likes” which is also effective for creating influence for the public. Many business people prefer to use and buy different packages form various online resources to get opportunities for profit-making sites. Instagram is one of the most useful and reliable traffic generating software which people use to attract interested communities and to create influence to call for specific purposes. The main purpose of almost every Instagram follower is to deliver a task which should have some message to show their willingness to enjoy the instant responding media and instant responding online channels to engage people and to get their feedback. Instant feedback is possible to get live updates about the response of the people and to know about which one technique is the best to avail the instant marketing opportunities. Almost every auto like software has remarkable features, package plans, subscribers limit, likes limit, subscribers limit to engage communities across the world. The main objective behind each software is to attract interested business persons to help them to achieve their targets of sales and to explore their businesses in worldwide markets or in specific regions. How to Download Auto like Software for Instagram? The downloading process of almost every software is different. Automatic Viral Alternative is one of the authentic and automatic software which work efficiently and effectively to engage the people and to generate traffic to increase the sales volume and to increase the profit ratio by getting automatic likes. This software is best and recommended for almost every type of business promotion and have lots of other built-in features which enable users to use for attracting online traffic and to help business owners to make profits and to earn money by increasing tremendous traffic through efficient business plans. The nature of the business does not matter in this type of marketing strategy. With the help of the online and automatic system, tremendous traffic can be increased to increase business sales volume. Marketing specialists use creative thoughts and effective business plans to get the attention of interested users and to make influence to engage communities through efficient business campaigns. Ashish Deshpande — July 7, 2019 - Business 2 Community
If you think automation means big corporations replacing human employees with fancy robots – think again. Chances are, as a small business owner, you’re already using some automation tools in your business and personal life. If you use applications such as GSuite, Zapier, IFTTT, Hootsuite, Zendesk, or the like to save time and get more done – you’re already tapping into the power of automation. Incorporating automation technologies in your business can help increase agility, lower costs, improve productivity, reduce delays, minimize errors, and improve customer satisfaction. An automation strategy allows you to systematically apply the right tools to optimize the benefits of these technologies and boost your bottom line. Here are the various types of automation that are useful for SMBs, and how they can benefit your small business: Types of Automation Small Businesses Should UseThere are many ways to use automation to streamline business operations, increase efficiency, improve productivity, and lower cost. Here are a few types of automation can make the biggest difference for small businesses:
Here are some key ways that automation can benefit a small business: 1. Adapt To Market DemandAutomation gives you the scalability and agility to handle changes in market conditions since you don’t have to hire more employees to handle fluctuations in customer demand or order volume. For example, automation can help you handle many repetitive tasks so you don’t have to hire and train new employees to manage inventory, process orders, or handle payment when there’s a spike in order volume. You can better control costs and ensure that customers are getting their orders without delays. 2. Reduce Labor CostMany small businesses spend a lot of their budgets on hiring employees to perform tasks that are labor-intensive and time-consuming yet not adding much value to the business. Automation enables you to reduce the number of employees needed to handle these tasks and therefore, lower your overhead and increase your profitability. It also allows you to focus on the quality rather than the quantity of your employees so you can hire better talent to fuel growth. 3. Optimize Workforce AllocationAutomating tasks allows you to free up resources from repetitive tasks so you can focus on strategic and innovative initiatives rather than manual work. Human resources software can also provide the necessary data and analytics to optimize resource allocation, e.g., by making sure team members are working on the right projects and minimizing the chances that one person is over-allocated while another is sitting on the bench. 4. Increase Marketing ROIMarketing automation can help you optimize budget and improve results. There are many affordable tools you can use, covering areas such as email marketing, CRM and sales, programmatic ad buying, audience targeting, and eCommerce (e.g., product recommendations.) In particular, automation helps you process, analyze, and organize a large amount of customer data so you can implement personalization strategies, which will be the key to improving sales and marketing results for the coming years. 5. Minimize Human ErrorsAutomation helps improve the accuracy of many business operations. From invoicing and bookkeeping to order processing and inventory management – you can eliminate costly errors due to manual processes such as re-keying information from one system to another. For example, shipping software helps ensure that you’re printing the right labels for delivery, scheduling software minimizes errors in employee management, and a smart inventory tool eliminates the need for counting items manually. 6. Leverage Remote WorkforceThe increasing use of remote workers is helping many small businesses access the talent and expertise they need while lowering their overhead. You can also find the right people to work on the projects at hand without the cost of hiring a large team of full-time employees. Recommended for YouWebcast, July 18th: 6 Trends Changing Customer Retention in 2019 Automation facilitates internal processes so employees don’t need to be in the same location to work together seamlessly. Some businesses can even go completely virtual, saving on overhead (e.g., rent, office equipment.) 7. Improve CollaborationTo ensure the success of complex projects, you need to monitor every team member’s responsibility and ensure the proper flow of information and communication. Automation helps you track project process, communicate key dates and milestones, and keep team members up-to-date with the latest data, files or project status for seamless collaboration. 8. Increase Employee SatisfactionBusiness process automation helps streamline employee experience and ensure that their needs and requests are addressed in a timely manner. For example, it can facilitate forms workflow to handle vacation request forms, leave management, travel reimbursement, expense reimbursement, and more. In addition, automation can be used to facilitate new hire on-boarding so employees can become productive as quickly as possible and have a hiring experience that will help you acquire and retain the best talent. 9. Enhance External Partner CommunicationYou can integrate the systems of external vendors and partners with your platform to facilitate supply chain and procurement management, ensure timely exchange of information, minimize delays, and reduce errors. For example, you can automate the purchasing and invoicing process or integrate your inventory management software with your supplier’s system to ensure that re-orders are placed in a timely manner so you don’t run out of stock and delay important projects. 10. Deliver a Consistent Customer ExperienceAutomation helps you standardize processes such as marketing, order processing, shipment, and post-sale support so you can deliver a consistent shopping experience that meets customer expectations and builds trust. The process also allows you to gather data and fine-tune processes to streamline customer experience so you can acquire and retain more customers while driving more sales. 11. Facilitate Customer SupportCustomer support technologies, such as help desk software, searchable knowledge base, and chatbots, can streamline customer support, enhance self-service capabilities, and improve customer satisfaction. For example, chatbots can handle some basic queries and provide links to helpful information so customers don’t have to wait for a human agent. They can also screen questions and direct customers to the right agents. 12. Ensure ComplianceFor many small businesses, adhering to government and industry regulations – such as tax compliance for travel reimbursement or the handling of customer information in a highly regulated industry (e.g., healthcare and finance) – can be rather costly. By automating your processes, you can ensure that employees are following specific procedures that comply with industry standards and regulations. You can also incorporate rules into the workflow management to ensure that the necessary criteria are met. Final Thoughts: Implementing Automation the Smart WayNew tools are introduced frequently and it’s easy to fall prey to the “bright shiny object syndrome” if you don’t have a clear strategy to guide your implementation. Get clear on your short-term and long-term business objectives so you can identify key areas in which you should focus your attention and resources. Gather data on your current processes to identify workflows that can benefit most from automation (e.g., repetitive tasks that are performed manually but aren’t adding much value,) so you can prioritize them for automation. Then, you can analyze and improve the processes to ensure that they’re optimized for cost-efficiency before you standardize and automate the workflow. After all, if you’re automating a sub-optimal process, you’re just amplifying the inefficiency! It’s also important to select the right tools for the job so you can stay within budget and meet your business requirements. Often times, small businesses can get the highest ROI with simple tools that are easy to use so you don’t have to spend a lot of time and resources on implementation and employee training. Last but not least, don’t forget to define what success looks like and set up KPIs that are tied to your business objectives so you can measure the results and fine-tune your strategy. https://www.business2community.com/small-business/12-reasons-every-small-business-needs-an-automation-strategy-in-2019-02216750 |
Marcus Guiliano
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