In an uncertain marketplace with shifting consumer behaviors and new restrictions due to the Delta variant that vary from city to city and state to state, staying engaged with your audience can be the biggest challenge in pizza marketing.  

In times of uncertainty, pizza brands must pivot their pizza marketing strategy to adapt to shifting behaviors and market changes. For brands to remain a part of consumers’ everyday purchase decisions, going dark is not an option. It’s imperative to keep your brand in front of consumers consistently and to utilize a pizza strategy that drives customer acquisition while also retaining existing customers. 

That’s where we can help. We partner with pizza brands across the U.S. to develop effective multi-channel advertising campaigns to engage consumers and drive sales. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of blog posts with key insights to help inform your pizza marketing strategy as you adjust to the ever-changing pizza marketplace. 

Pizza Marketing Part 1: Print—the “crust” that Anchors Your Marketing Pie

A multi-channel campaign anchored with direct mail increases your pizza advertising response and ROI. Much like the crust is the foundation that holds the rest of the pizza ingredients, direct mail is the cornerstone of a multi-channel campaign. Direct mail gives consumers an opportunity to interact with a tangible, printed piece, and one they can easily reference later. This increases brand stickiness. Consumers, including the sought-after millennial age group, also value direct mail and read the offers they receive in the mailbox.

• 65% of pizza lovers responded to an ad received in the mailbox in the last 12 months.
• Direct mail prompts 58% of consumers and 64% of millennials to visit a restaurant or order delivery.

• In the past 12 months, 55% of millennials responded to an ad or offer in the mailbox.
• On average, consumers keep direct mail ads of interest for 14.5 days, increasing the likelihood of response even after their initial interaction with your direct mail advertisement.
• Mspark’s shared mail package typically averages over 80% readership, helping give your pizza business maximum exposure.

See how one pizza client drove a 26% increase in ROI with our solutions.

Crust is just the beginning

Now we’ve created the crust for our marketing pizza with a solid direct mail solution. But we won’t stop there. A pizza with just crust is pretty sad, right? It needs some sauce, pepperoni, veggies and definitely cheese! In the same way, direct mail is just one ingredient—albeit a key ingredient—and it’s one of several powerful lines of communication in the mix to manage your audience of customers as well as potential customers and lapsed customers.

Look for our next post that will focus on integrating print with digital to boost reach and effectiveness. When direct mail marketing is paired with digital ads, this powerful combination can help you lift response rates up to 118% and conversion rates up to 28%. 

Our goal is to inform your marketing strategy to drive success. If you’d like to talk through your approach and how your pizza brand could benefit from partnering with Mspark, click Get Started below today. For pizza insights, trends, and case studies, visit our resource page.

Sources: AdMall AudienceSCAN 2021; Valassis.com; Valassis Consumer Study 2020; Advertising Readership & Response Tracking Study, TNS Custom Studies; Millward Brown Print Campaign Analysis; Simplifi