Authors: Matthew Swan and Stephen King, Eagle Eye Solutions.
Following our
recent blog post about why operators in the hospitality industry should partner with their suppliers to drive footfall, in this blog we will turn our attention to the vast networks of Issuance Partners who each have a select audience of value-seeking members.
As the government’s restrictions on the food and beverage (F&B) sector remain ever present with no immediate sign of easing, the public have to be extra prepared in order to reserve tables at their local restaurants. Working in collaboration with an Audience Partner to offer a promotion could be the difference that makes a customer choose one restaurant over another.
By utilising a combination of “always-on offers” to reward members of a select audience, such as the public services or students with a mixture of daily discounts to entice your promotionally savvy High Street shoppers, this blog will explain why operators should be engaging with a variety of Issuance Partners in order to make sure that they are connecting with their previously unreachable audiences and then winning their next visit with the right offer.
What is an Audience Partner?
Audience Partners are any third-party company who maintain an audience of users. A great example of an Audience Partner is
UNiDAYS, which captures and reaches a student audience or
Blue Light Card, which has an audience of verified National Health Service (NHS) and other key workers.
Audience Partners have active and highly engaged audiences. The Audience Partner Blue Light Card, for example, can take an operator's promotional codes and push them to a new untapped audience - in this case verified NHS and key workers.
Audience Partners are a great way of reaching new customers and can act as an extension of a marketing database, enabling operators to increase their reach of potential customers.
How do Operators work with Audience Partners?
Eagle Eye is an agnostic digital marketing management platform that can connect these Audience Partners to operators through application programming interface (API) integrations, allowing greater reach for marketing campaigns. Eagle Eye has a selection of pre-integrated partners that can help operators reach and target select audiences for select marketing campaigns, for example:
Student Beans and
UNiDAYS target students, so could be perfect for freshers week and other relevant discounts.
Perfect for targeting validated NHS and key workers as part of a “thank the NHS” campaign, such as the recent F&B-focused
Great Summer Outdoor Café initiative.
A great way of targeting a family audience, and driving family bookings.
Capture the attention of thousands of commuters using trains and buses with promotions delivered in the right place, at the right time.
Reach targeted audiences in hundreds of UK hospitality venues and support corporate social responsibility: for every code redeemed by a TangoTab user, Tangotab will donate a meal to a charity
For an operator, it's as easy as selecting a pre-integrated or new Audience Partner, having a conversation with them regarding what you want to achieve and the optimal offer. Then a campaign can go live with one or more selected Audience Partners as Issuance Partners. Eagle Eye will create single-use codes and track all issuances and redemptions through to a sale. An operator can review the success of a campaign in real time and watch the footfall and sales follow!
Win - Win - Win
By working together to reward their customers, Operators and Audience Partners will also support their individual business goals to keep ahead in the current market. Operators get to reach a new targeted consumer base that will engage with their brand if they have a relevant promotion and/or are being recognised for their frequency or status. These types of behaviours can drive engaged customers to their estate with the right offer and then work to retain them to build frequency in the future. Operators can look at historically successful campaigns and apply those learnings to their own future activations.
As the Audience Partners add more pubs, bars and restaurants to their networks, this can make them more appealing to their members and helps to keep them engaged. This, in turn, ensures that the sectors that their partners work in stay supported by providing them with new customers. Additionally the Audience Partners support their own members by continuously adding variety and value to their mix of available promotional offers.
Conclusion
Audience Partners are a great way of tapping into new audiences, enabling operators to drive incremental footfall and win more visits on a highly competitive High Street. With lockdown uncertainty at an all time high, the general population have shown that they still want to socialise with friends and family. Partnerships will be key in order to drive the frequency of these social occasions and Operators should be looking to Audience Partners to assist.
To find out how Eagle Eye can help build your Audience Partner network and reach, please get in touch with us here -
https://www.eagleeye.com/contact