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Marketing on a shoestring? Yes, it can be done

Social media gives operators with limited budgets a way to gain exposure to customers. Supporting charities and non-profits also helps, as a panel talk at the Fast Casual Executive Summit revealed.

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October 28, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Automatic Merchandiser

Starting a foodservice business on a shoestring budget is not for the faint of heart, especially when it comes to the all important marketing function. But that isn't stopping today's entrepreneurs from finding creative ways to get their message across to potential customers.

Angela Petro, who launched Sweet Carrot as a food truck in Columbus, Ohio in 2013 and built it into a brick-and-mortar restaurant two years later, shared her experiences on this critical topic during the recent Fast Casual Executive Summit in Austin. Joining Petro on the panel were Jeff Fenster, founder and CEO of San Diego-based Everbowl, and Pedro Mora, founder and CEO of Houston-based Fajita Pete's. Stephen Polanski, senior vice president at Buxton, a consumer analytics provider, served as moderator.

Social media plays a key role

Social media has played a big role in raising awareness for all the panelists. Supporting charitable causes and the community also play a big role in generating awareness. Oftentimes, the two — social media and social involvement — work in tandem to raise awareness in an economical way.

Petro's most successful social media event was raising money for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. The brand donated a portion of profits on every macaroni and cheese sale during Macaroni and Cheese Day.

"The social engagement was the highest it's ever been of any campaign," she said. "It definitely drove traffic into the restaurants that day."

Fenster said it's important to know many consumers today care more about the "why" than the "what" a brand sells.

"Now it's what does your company stand for and what are your about," he said. "If you can deliver that message, that's what gets the grass roots together."

Like Petro, Fenster earned public recognition partnering with a non-profit. His company was already donating 10% of the sales from bowls custom created for a group of patients at a children's hospital back to the hospital. A local radio station heard about it and offered to give Everbowl 80 30-second spots for the month. "I got 80 30-second segments and it cost me no marketing dollars there," he said.

Petro, who holds half-day, off-site meetings with her marketing team every quarter, has also found posting videos on Youtube and LinkedIn very helpful. "By far the biggest reach that we get is video YouTube," she said. 

Interns help

She also gets free assistance producing videos by tapping interns. "To stretch our marketing dollar, we take in a lot of interns," she said. "They tend to think really creatively about the video piece when they're doing it." The relationship with interns is mutually beneficial, she said, since the intern gains valuable experience.

The interns are especially helpful in a college town like Columbus, Ohio, since they know about the subtle messages that will reach people their own age. "It's localized and it's a much younger voice," Petro said.

Capitalize on store openings

Everbowl has gotten a lot of social media coverage from offering free food to encourage people to attend store openings. Word of free food travels fast, Fenster said.

"We had a line beyond lines out the door," he said. The giveaway costs money, he admitted, but the event made people aware of the store and customers were patient and did not post negative comments on Yelp. 

The Everbowl team also used the occasion to sign customers up for its loyalty program.

"It'll never be as chaotic as it is that day, so every experience thereafter tends to be a little bit better," Fenster said. "It jump starts our openings for a little bit of food costs."

"Just because you don't have a lot of cash compared to the really big companies doesn't mean that you can't have the same amplification utilizing social media and other methods," Fenster added. 

What about social media influencers?

The panelists have different views when it comes to using social media influencers.

Fenster focuses on "micro influencers" with regional followings as opposed to trying to get endorsements from celebrities.

"The bigger their following the less successful (they are); they do all types of tricks to make them appear bigger than they are," he said. "We look for micro influencers within our region that have a ton of activity and not followers. It's the micro influencers we found have the best success." The company provides free food to one such blogger.

Petro said she prefers to interact directly with customers and the community as a whole.

"We balance the virtual relationships with actual contacts with people," she said. This has included sponsoring a girls' t-ball team, which provided material for social media posts. 

Use social media to learn about customers

One of Petro's most successful marketing projects involved reaching out to Sweet Carrot's social media "zealots" to help create customer surveys to learn more about guests. The posting got 50 responses in two hours, with hundreds responding over a few days. 

The marketing team interviewed eight respondents in person and asked them to provide two collages to describe their day before and after eating at Sweet Carrot.

The team then interviewed them about their answers. They used the information to create customer surveys, posing questions such as where the customer would eat if Sweet Carrot closed. The marketing team learned that most guests are between 24 and 50 years of age and earned more than $75,000 per year.

"This cost zero dollars," Petro said.

Traditional methods still work

Traditional door-to-door marketing still has a place for Fajita Pete's. Mora delivered custom-designed invitations to people door to door for his opening, which resulted in a long line.

"Try to get in front of people who will pick up the story for you," Mora said. To gain support, he got involved in community events.

One of the best marketing strategies is to convince customers to help market the business, he said. 

During a 2018 power outage that affected many people in his market less than a month after he opened, Mora delivered $4,000 worth free fajitas to 90 families. "That just got the community involved," he said.

Measuring success costs money

The panelists agreed that tracking the success of marketing is difficult with limited resources.

Petro, who spends 3% of her sales on advertising, said a bigger advertising budget wouldn't necessarily help since she does not yet know how to make the best use of it. Fenster agreed, noting he needs to understand his customers' behavior better before investing more in marketing. The panelists also said it is important to recognize that team members are brand ambassadors.

When the subject of marketing to prospective franchisees came up during the question and answer session, Mora said all of his franchisees' relationships evolved from networking as opposed to marketing. He said the best way to market to potential franchisees is to gain the support of existing ones.

Fenster, who has 30 stores and 500 employees but doesn't yet have any franchisees, has received more than 600 inquiries from people. He is wary of franchising because of the challenges he has confronted opening new stores, such as being in a location that is hard to drive to or being located in an area with a lot of low income residents.

Going forward, Fenster said he will soon be introducing a customer app that will help him learn more about the customers. So far, he understands the three-year-old brand is strong among millennials.

"With the app, we're actually going to be able to profile our customer in a whole new way," he said.