New Mover Marketing Helps Eateries Reach Potential Guests

This year could be a strong one for restaurants as people relocate to new cities across the country in search of a change of scenery and a quieter life. Experts predict home sales will continue to skyrocket in 2021 as Zillow forecasts this year to be the best year for home sales since 2005, with 6.9 million homes expected to sell by year-end.  The spike in remote working last year untethered people from their corporate offices and prompted many people to relocate.

Restaurants can take advantage of this moving trend by implementing marketing strategies that help build lasting relationships with customers. 

How Do I Form Relationships with New Residents?

The moving surge provides an avenue for restaurants to increase their customer base. New mover marketing helps restaurants capitalize on the housing boom by building relationships with new residents in their community. Restaurants can welcome new residents by participating in a one-time-use housewarming gift filled with offers on behalf of local businesses in the community. Inviting new residents to eat at your restaurant with a proven offer encourages them to become regular customers before they have a chance to form loyalties to other establishments.

This is an impressionable time for consumers, and thankfully for those businesses that capitalize on it — new movers spend more money than established residents as they are working to turn their new house into a home. New mover marketing allows you to make a great first impression and marks the beginning of a lasting relationship. With some new mover marketing companies, restaurants can even track their return on investment when new movers redeem their offer.  

New Mover Marketing Captures Customers Online

One of the best ways to form long-lasting relationships with customers is to reach them where they spend their time. At least 37 percent of customers have three or more mobile phones at home, according to a survey of 2,000 people conducted by SAS Institute, a multinational developer of analytics software. Potential customers surf the web and many spend time on social media each day.

The Informed Delivery® service offered by the United States Postal Service offers an integrated marketing approach to meet current consumer demand by allowing people to see their mail on their smartphones before it is delivered to their mailbox. Combining new mover marketing and informed delivery gives restaurants multiple touchpoints of their message. It lets businesses generate online buzz and still reach new movers with the tactile experience of physical mail. 

It also provides ways to bolster your online presence, too. Businesses can add ride-along content at an additional cost to spark interest. The ride-along content is in color and includes a link, which can be used to drive traffic to your social media accounts. It also allows restaurants to entice customers with videos to tell people about specials, or about the welcome package that will be arriving in their mailbox from your new mover marketing campaign.

As COVID numbers continue to drop, the outlook for foodservice is trending up and customers are excited to return to dining rooms, especially as they get to know the restaurants in their new cities. The International Franchise Association predicts increased consumer savings, as well as the rollout of the vaccine and a government aid package helping erase last year’s losses. Franchising is projected to open more than 26,000 locations and add nearly 800,000 new jobs in 2021. Eating and drinking establishments added 285,900 jobs in February on a seasonally-adjusted basis, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Restaurant Association reported.

New mover marketing can bring new residents who are eager to start dining out again to your restaurant, but the rest is up to you. The key to building long-lasting relationships with customers is to serve high-quality, consistent cuisine that is a good value. If those standards are met when new movers are brought into your restaurant via new mover marketing, you’re already on your way to forming loyal, long-term relationships with the customers in your community.