12 Tips for Restaurant Local Direct Mail Marketing | Taradel

Menu printing is an essential part of your restaurant marketing strategy, but it does not end there. No advertising campaign is effective unless it reaches the consumer via a reliable delivery method. 

This is where menu direct mailing comes in. Follow these quick and easy tips for direct mailing restaurant advertising flyers and menus to ensure your menu direct mail strategy runs smoothly and effectively.

What Is Direct Mail Marketing?

Direct mail marketing is an advertising method involving sending printed materials via the postal service directly to potential clients.

Using this technique, it is crucial to take demographic information into account and focus on the audience from a specific location, age, income, etc., to maximize the chances of making a profit.

Many industries use direct mail strategies to promote their products and services. In the case of restaurants, they most frequently send advertising flyers with their menus, delivery information, and special offers in the area surrounding their venue.

Why Do Restaurants Still Use Direct Mail Marketing?

You may be wondering why, in the era of digital marketing and social media, restaurants are still using direct mail to promote their offer. The answer is simple - because it is effective nonetheless!

Many consumers still prefer to just grab a flyer they found in their mailbox and place an order quickly and conveniently instead of browsing through numerous menus available online. Those who prefer to visit a restaurant in person also sometimes prefer to go to a venue they already know is nearby rather than to search for others online.

Even though social media can help you spread the word about your business around the city and encourage people to make an effort to visit you, direct mail marketing works locally, so it targets the audience with the highest chances of responding positively to your invitation.

How to Mail Restaurant Advertising Flyers Effectively?

Here are some tips to help you maximize the benefits of direct mail restaurant marketing:

Focus on the Right Area

Make sure you know exactly which customers are in your delivery zone. Deliver menus directly to all customers in it, and don’t give any out to people who are not. 

Before you set out to direct mail any menus, make sure you know which houses you are mailing the menu to. This will make sure you get all potential customers as well as not wasting your restaurant advertising flyers and time delivering to people outside the delivery area.

Provide Enough Advertising Flyers

Get to know which houses are family homes and which are self-contained flats or student accommodations. This way, you can provide enough leaflets per household to ensure all potential customers get a copy. 

Only providing one pizza menu per door for everyone will mean some people who share homes with other students will be without a menu and will not consider your restaurant when they decide to order food delivery.

Keep Your Restaurant Local Direct Mail Marketing Up to Date

Make sure your menu direct mail is completed on a regular basis. Customers will often misplace menus, damage them beyond use, or accidentally bin them. 

What’s more, ensure they have a fresh new menu to hand by regularly direct mailing them. You should also remember to send out a new copy of your menu every time it is changed and inform them about any current specials.

Attach a Menu to Every Order

Ensure the customer has plenty of menus by providing one with every order they make, as well as delivering the menu at the same time as their food. 

Customers are more likely to need a new one when they order, and if they enjoy their food, they can pass on the menu to their friends and family to recommend your restaurant. This will help you to promote your offer even further and reach new potential customers.

Mail Restaurant Flyers to Both Sides of the Street

If you deliver menus to one side of the street, ensure you deliver to the opposite side as well. Delivering to one side of a street may be because it falls within the delivery zone, but take into consideration that there’s no extra petrol or much additional time needed to make a delivery to the opposite side of the street as well. 

You can easily deliver menus to the opposite side of the street with no extra hassle and double the audience of your restaurant's local direct mail marketing campaign. This will increase your target customers and potentially improve your business growth with no extra expenditure, so it’s always worth it.

Keep It Local and Tell Your Story

Thanks to restaurant advertising flyers, you have an excellent chance to tell the people from the surrounding area who you are. Let them know why your business is special, and stress that your venue is located nearby because that will let them know the delivery will be fast and inexpensive, encouraging them to place an order.

Don’t try to create a wide audience - social media should be used for this purpose, while your restaurant’s direct mail marketing should be kept local to focus on these consumers who are most likely to turn into your customers. 

Track Your Results

Similar to any other marketing strategy, direct mail is an investment, and its results should be properly tracked to make sure it provides the desired results and improves your ROI (return on investment).

When it comes to restaurant advertising flyers, one of the best ways to check how effective they are is to attach coupons that are exclusive to them. In this way, every time a customer uses a coupon while placing their order, you will know they got your flyer, and that is what convinced them to choose your restaurant over others. 

Keep in mind that the coupon should offer a benefit, like a discount or free delivery, for example.

Use the Best Photos of Your Food

You probably know the saying that "people eat with their eyes first," and you should use it to your advantage! It is certainly a great idea to invest in professional food photography before you create your restaurant advertising flyers.

Choose a few of the best photos presenting your top dishes, and when they are properly edited, add them to your design. It will let the customers know exactly what they are paying for, which can additionally encourage them to place an order.

Emphasize Convenience

Your customers care not only about the quality of your products but also the convenience of your service. Therefore, apart from showcasing your dishes, you also need to stress that the ordering and delivery process in your restaurant is quick and intuitive. 

As most of your recipients probably use smartphones, it is certainly a good idea to include a QR code on your restaurant advertising flyers. With that provided, your potential customers can easily reach your website or other ordering platform.

Showcase Your Working Hours and Location

Apart from the menu, special offers, and delivery options, your customers will definitely be interested in your operating hours, especially if they get hungry pretty early in the morning or late in the night. 

What’s more, it is also definitely worth showing your address very clearly because it may not only encourage consumers to visit your restaurant in person but also order a delivery service, as they will know it is likely to reach them quickly.

Promote Events at Your Restaurant

If you are organizing any events in your restaurant that may additionally attract customers, don’t forget to mention them in your restaurant advertising flyers. 

Maybe there will be a band playing live music on Saturday evening? Or perhaps you have promotions that are active only at a particular time? Let your audience know, and you may improve your revenue!

Send Out Loyalty Cards

If your restaurant has a loyalty program, it may be a great idea to attach them to your restaurant advertising flyers. In this way, you can encourage people to become your loyal customers, as every order will bring them closer to a reward. The rewards can mean a freebie or a discount, for example.

Many restaurants give up on paper loyalty cards and prefer to use digital alternatives. If that is the case, you can add a QR code encouraging your customers to sign up, and it will provide you with similar results.

The Bottom Line

Follow these 12 tips for restaurant local direct mail marketing, and you will be able to get the best exposure to potential customers and the most effective distribution method to boost your business growth and customer retention. 

You should also remember that without an attractive flyer design, your distribution method cannot be fully effective. It works the other way around as well - if your distribution is not properly planned and executed, even the most impressive design of your restaurant advertising flyers will not bring you satisfactory results. These two aspects of your restaurant's local direct mail marketing depend on each other to succeed.

Importantly, you don’t have to be left alone in that. Our skillful and experienced team is here to help you prepare and conduct a campaign in such a way you can get the most benefits of direct mail restaurant marketing. Contact Taradel for professional help with your restaurant advertising flyers!