Taco Bell’s marketing strategy can help regional QSRs to be more competitive.

We’ve all heard and read about Taco Bell’s breakfast launch, and if you’re a regional player, it’s safe to assume you don’t have the resources to duplicate an effort of this magnitude. However, some of the basic tactics can be effectively deployed.

In a recent article for Nation’s Restaurant News, Southwest Bureau Chief Ron Ruggles reported on Taco Bell’s new breakfast ad campaign.

From Ron’s review of Taco Bell’s breakfast strategy, there are at least four key takeaways you can use:

1. They’re paving the way to a “change” in breakfast.  So take advantage of it.
2. Feature the menu items that sell—“pare down,” as Taco Bell says.
3. Get in the coffee game.  It’s easy.  It drives traffic.  And consumers do actually want to spend less than $4 a cup.
4. Packaging is key, and it’s easy to implement.

Here are a few of my insights and recommendations:

Consider the timing.

Taco Bell’s strategy is to “break the routine.”  Well, the routine is dominated by McDonald’s and Starbucks.  Arguably, Taco Bell’s campaign can and will get consumers thinking about breaking their routines—that there are other options.  So now is the time to take advantage of the work Taco Bell is doing for you.

Feature your products that sell.

Do this on a store-by-store level using your point of purchase (POP) and geo-targeted advertising. Very few QSRs do this.

Here are 5 steps to featuring your products that sell on a store-by-store level:

1. Determine the percentage of sales that each breakfast product currently accounts for in your chain. A product should include any combos that feature that product.
2. Index each store and each market’s performance against that percentage. So, any store that indexes over 100% is performing better than your chain’s average.
3. Identify the stores that over-index in each of your breakfast products.
4. Now organize your groups such as: Product A stores, Product B stores, etc.
5. Implement a POP plan that is tailored to each grouping of stores.

You should also consider implementing a local store marketing program against each of these stores by:

1. Distributing breakfast bag stuffers during lunch and dinner dayparts.
2. Placing geo-targeting billboards, marriage mail/FSIs or digital advertising around each store that features the high indexing product(s).

Get in the coffee game.  

It’s pretty much proven that the taste of coffee, much like most beverages, is a great deal psychological.

If you tell a consumer, “This is the best coffee in the world,” it will taste better to a significant percentage.

So if your coffee is good, merchandise it.  Sell me on it.  Show me that you’re convinced it is the best tasting coffee, and every bit as good as McDonald’s or Starbucks.

Many QSR customers will want to believe you because they don’t want to pay Starbuck’s prices for coffee.

Use your packaging.

Packaging may possibly be the most visible advertising vehicle you have.  Don’t use a generic cup or simple logoed packaging.

So, sell breakfast. Be creative. It’s advertising.

Click on the following link to read Ron’s Nation’s Restaurant News article, “Taco Bell Reveals Next Move”.

photo credit: JeepersMedia via photopin cc