70% of Consumers Find Loyalty Programs Too Cumbersome

Did you know that text message marketing (also known as SMS messages) marketing can help you achieve your business goals? It's true! This review will discuss the many benefits of text message marketing, how enhance your traditional marketing efforts and maximize your ROI. Text message marketing is extremely effective for reaching your target audience and boosting sales. If you're not currently using text message marketing, you're missing out on a lot of potential revenue using this important digital marketing channel. Here are seven surprising benefits of text message marketing: 1. Reach More People In An Instant Text message marketing allows you to reach a large number of people with your promotional messages. You can send out mass texts to your entire list of contacts at once, or you can segment your lists and target specific groups of people. Either way, in a matter or minutes, you'll be able to reach more people than you would with other marketing channels. 2. Get More Engagement Text message marketing can help you increase engagement with your brand. SMS messages have a high open rate and a high click-through rate, which means more people are likely to see your message AND take action. This can help create a connection between your customer and your brand. 3. Increase Sales You can use text message marketing to promote special offers and discounts to encourage customers to make a purchase. By offering incentives, you can increase the likelihood of making a sale and generating revenue for your business. You can also use text messages to up-sell and cross-sell your products. 4. SMS Marketing is More Reliable Than Email

Text marketing is on the rise. In this digital age, people are more connected than ever before, which means they are more likely to respond to text messages than any other form of communication. If you're not already using text marketing, now is the time to start. Here are a few reasons why you should consider using text marketing for your business: What Is SMS Text Marketing? SMS (Short Message Service) Text marketing is a form of marketing that uses text messages to reach and engage customers. It's a quick and convenient way to stay in touch with your audience, and it can be an effective marketing tool if used correctly. There are a few things to keep in mind when using text marketing, such as making sure your messages are clear and concise, avoid spam keywords, and being mindful of privacy laws. But if you play by the rules, text marketing can be a great way to reach your target audience. Why Should You Care? Here are a few reasons why you should consider using text marketing for your business: It's a quick and easy way to reach your customers. It's an effective way to engage with your audience through personalized messaging. It can you boost sales and ROI It's a great way to build customer loyalty using a mobile marketing strategy . It's a cost-effective marketing tool that can compliment your social media. If you're not already using text marketing, now is the time to start. It's a powerful marketing tool that can help you reach your customers and boost your bottom line. How to Get Started with Text Marketing

There are a number of digital marketing strategies that can be utilized to get found online.

You’ve heard it a million times – you need a website for a business to build your online presence, get customers to review your business, and more. But do you understand why? It’s essential to understand the value in doing these things to learn how to do them and succeed online. At NorthShore Loyalty , we want to help you and your business thrive, and in today’s digital world, understanding how to stand out online is a critical step in doing that. Here’s a breakdown of the 5 key reasons it’s so important for businesses to have a strong ad healthy online presence: 1. Allows you to meet your customers where they already are Like we said – we live in a digitally focused world. The last time you needed a specific product or service and didn’t know where to go, what did you do? Chances are, you pulled out your phone or laptop, Googled highly-rated businesses in your area that provide that product or service, whittled down the options and went to that business. If you do this often, you’re not alone. According to Pew Research Center , 91% of adults use search engines (including Google, Yahoo or Bing) to find information. When you exist online, you can meet your customers halfway when they are searching for a product or service you provide.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ron Goldblatt Northbrook, Ill. – FEBRUARY 2021 – NorthShore Loyalty, a community-based digital marketing company, now offers restaurants an easy and effective solution for their customers to order menu items online as dine in options remain limited and the use of smartphones for ordering continues to increase. Their program follows what they call the “30/30/30 Rule” for online menu orders: Over 30% of orders are online, so you must have online ordering with credit card processing. Paying 30% commission to third parties and charging more for online items hurts sales and the bottom line. Most restaurants see a 30% or more increase in average order value when purchased online. “Our new online ordering program is flexible, easy to set up and maintain, and customers love it,” said Ron Goldblatt, founder, and owner of NorthShore Loyalty. “Restaurant customers can customize their order and check out quickly, and restaurants have the opportunity to earn more, view real time analytics and can email or text message updates on new offers and promotions.” The platform was designed to be convenient and helpful for both the restaurant and customer. The following features accomplish this goal: A customizable option that makes up-selling easy. A optimized checkout page to increase conversions. Automatic data refill for returning customers. Fast, real time confirmation of the order. In-store app for accepting orders. Promotion engine that allows restaurants to advertise offers via email and text marketing. Reporting module that gives insight on order numbers, delivery heat map & more. To learn more about the program or set up a consultation, contact Ron Goldblatt at 847-477-0429 or via northshoreloyalty.com. About NorthShore Loyalty: NorthShore Loyalty is a community-focused digital services company that has been in the digital and mobile marketing business for over five years. Using specialized marketing tactics, NorthShore Loyalty creates original content for local businesses to attract new customers and encourage current ones to come back more often. Their business purpose is to create measurable engagement with new and existing customers to drive more traffic to their clients, and ultimately increase their client’s revenue . Their social purpose is to amplify their client’s community involvement. To learn more about NorthShore Loyalty and its services, click here.

Summary of a WSJ article October 10, 2020. By Heather Haddon Summary: The big chains have a huge advantage over the local eateries. They have more capital, leverage, terms, space, numerous geographic locations, and flexibility. They have also had prior experience for carry out and delivery. Chipotle sales tripled this summer, Dominos and Papa John’s sales doubled and Wingstop created a delivery only item that was a huge success. On a local level for small busineseses, the news is not so rosy, in any given year, 60,000 restaurants open and 50,000 usually close. This year that closed number is expected to hit 100,000. Interesting some of the Big Chain casual dining places also had casualties. Ruby Tuesday, Shake Shack, California and Pizza Kitchen all filed for bankruptcy. Many other chains had to close locations, but at the same time opened new ones. One theme across the board, now is not the time to sit back as the major chain get more aggressive. There are valuable lessons and action steps that small businesses can do as well. We reviewed these trends and laid out an 8-step action plan that can help small businesses . These 8 steps are in two main categories, Physical Location and Mobile Trends. Physical Trends/Action Points There needs to be less focus on premise dining with fewer people indoors Need to look a multiple drive through options including converting parking space areas Even in the cold weather, more outside dining options need to be added but follow local safety guidelines Need to bring staff to the outdoors. Offer pick up windows, offer curbside pickup and Fast Service outside dining Mobile Trends / Action Points Digital menus are more common, make it easy to upload on a mobile phone using QR codes Online ordering needs to minimize clicks, remember past orders, and offer a credit card check out Need to connect digitally with current customers using email, social media, and text messaging QR codes are trending! Look at using them for signing up customers for messaging or to order on premise. The restaurant staff also need help. Their hours are cut back, there are less tips with less table service and these new ways to order usually means less tips overall for servers, chefs and staff who share the tips. We have heard from our North Shore restaurants that locals have been very generous with tips on pick ups and window orders. We hope this trend continues through the winter months. Other trends to consider: Packaging meals for the customers to cook is growing. Premium meats, seafood and chicken all make great takeout items when package with local sides or spices. Offering specially drinks with takeout meals is growing. Many local laws now allow alcohol takeout sales. Focus on specialty drinks like Margaritas, Mojitos or offering flights of Beer or Wine. Steak establishments are offering some of their premium wines at a discount with any takeout order. Family Packs of meals that feed four for under $50 are popular or offering lower cost proteins to hit a price point. About NorthShore Loyalty: NorthShore Loyalty is a community-focused digital services company. Our business purpose is to create measurable engagement with new and existing customers to drive more traffic to our clients and increase their revenue. Our social purpose is to amplify our client’s community involvement. During the pandemic we have provided our clients, new websites, more online reviews, an improvement in their search engine ranking, and most important an easy way to connect with customers using our Text Messaging and Loyalty services . Call or text us at 847-477-0429 to learn more.

As local businesses pioneer new ways to foster business growth while continuing to adapt to the new world of COVID-19, many are finding QR codes to be a key driver in creating a safe, technology-powered customer experience. While QR codes have been around for years, they have proved exceptionally valuable in 2020 because of one key factor that spotlights them specifically during a global pandemic: you do not have to touch anything to use them. Not to mention, when they were first introduced in the 90’s, not as many people had smartphones… fast forward to 2020 and 81% of U.S. adults have them . There are 2 main reasons for this increased in use: Over the last two years, both iPhone and Android phones changed the software so the camera becomes a QR code reader, so users do not have to download an app to read the codes. They are easy to use, easy to share, mobile friendly, and most importantly touch-free, which makes them a great way to make customers both happy and comfortable. “About a year ago, we started to see an increase in use and acceptance of QR codes once a person’s phone became the reader, but this Spring their use exploded with the need for no-touch menus and other no-touch services.” We have modified many of our programs to capitalize on this trend and are excited about how we can help our local businesses”, said Ron Goldblatt, the Founder of NorthShore Loyalty . At NorthShore Loyalty, we have outlined below the top five ways small businesses in the North Shore are using QR codes and how they have found success with doing so.

The main theme of business adaptation we are seeing thrive in this global pandemic is digitization. To promote social distancing and keep everyone safe, folks are doing more Facetiming, Zoom conferencing and digital connecting, and less in-person meet ups. Now, things are starting to reopen, and we can all reunite at our favorite restaurants and bars again. But before we go straight to hitting the social scene, we need to be careful. Restaurant owners understand the need to take caution and support public health. They want to keep their guests and employees as safe as possible. The best way to reduce risk of getting sick in a restaurant reopening? Don’t touch objects you don’t have to touch, especially if it’s communal. And menus might be the single greatest disease vector in any restaurant. Enter: QR (quick response) coded touchless menus. QR codes have been popping up throughout the restaurant scene over the past few years, and now seems like the perfect time for them to really thrive.

To state the obvious, the times we have been living in have not been easy on the overall health of our country. COVID-19 has burdened the world with deadly sickness, economic hardship, and overall fear of what the future holds. And as we re-open our country again, it’s important to take steps to preserve safety and health for our customers, and also ensure they feel comfortable.