Willy’s Mexicana Grill
About the Atlanta-based restaurant chain serving up smiles and freshly-rolled burritos
One of our clients that is currently enjoying a high degree of success is a restaurant in metropolitan Atlanta known as Willy’s Mexicana Grill. The company’s first location was founded in 1995.
The founder, Willy Bitter, discovered a passion for authentic Mexican cuisine while traveling as a young man. He decided to turn this personal love of Mexican food into a successful local restaurant chain.
Willy’s Mexicana Grill has expanded to more than 30 locations in the Atlanta area. Throughout this time, the company has maintained its focus on providing excellent customer service and high-quality Mexican food.
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What We Delivered
- Digital Strategy
- Paid Media
- SEO
- UX/UI
- Art Direction
- Web Development
- Email Marketing
- Reporting
Results Overview
- 54% Sales Increase
- 682 Applicants In 60 Days
- 17% Increase In New Site Users YoY
The Challenge
Building an effective digital presence
During the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants relied on their digital presence more than ever before. Willy’s launched a new online ordering system to meet the increased demand. They also partnered with delivery services to supplement their business during the difficult season.
Leadership at the company wanted to partner with an agency that could enact effective digital marketing for restaurants. They hoped that a solid digital marketing strategy would help to drive online orders for their numerous locations.
The team at Willy’s understood the importance of digital marketing. But, like many restaurants, they had primarily focused on in-person business prior to the pandemic. Because of this, they did not have experience in running extensive digital campaigns.
Laying Down the Rails
Planning a successful strategy
Willy’s knew that they needed a partner who could help them build a more effective online presence. And when our team assessed the restaurant’s situation, we knew we could help.
We found it wisest to take the following measures:
- Develop an ongoing digital strategy
- Set up eCommerce tracking through their online ordering platform
- Find an optimal media mix
Our team had to find ways to enact these tools in a cost-effective manner, as the pandemic had affected the revenue of many local businesses at the time.
Fortunately for Willy’s, the Enormous Elephant team has extensive experience with high-quality digital marketing for restaurants.
How We Did It
Providing deliverables
Willy’s Mexicana Grill needed to offer their customers a seamless UX to boost sales. To meet this goal, the Enormous Elephant team developed a custom-tailored digital strategy to meet the specific needs of the company, which included:
- Social media advertisements
- Display banners
- Optimized sales emails
- Digital recruitment landing pages
Copy and creative development teams crafted unique email marketing content to help the client grow their online customer base. To ensure the success of this marketing strategy, we managed emails sent by the client and oversaw their customer contact lists.
Comprehensive SEO management was included and SEO solutions for both front-end and back-end optimization were deployed.
A unique blog was developed to showcase certain menu items and highlight the company’s community engagement efforts. Enormous Elephant was tasked with updating this blog at a rate of two posts per month.
Ongoing website development was provided, including site updates and fixes.
Lastly, to reach new patrons and encourage repeat customers, ongoing campaigns were launched and managed, which included:
- Paid search campaigns
- Paid social campaigns on Instagram and Facebook
- Google Display
The team used the same approaches and avenues for their digital recruitment campaigns, as well.
The Outcome
Delivering results
Willy’s Mexicana Grill saw incredible results after they partnered with Enormous Elephant. The campaigns and email marketing strategies helped to increase their sales significantly. The company saw a total sales increase of 54% when comparing the same timeframe year-over-year.
The digital recruitment efforts were also highly successful. Those campaigns resulted in 662 applicants during the first 60 days. With this increase, the company was able to resolve their hiring issue during a particularly difficult time for businesses.
Finally, Willy’s saw a drastic boost in their online traffic. They experienced a 17% increase in new site users year-over-year.
The team at Willy’s Mexicana Grill was ecstatic about the results that we were able to achieve.
The Results
54
Sales Increase YoY
682
Applicants for HR in 60 Days
17
Increase In New Site User YoY
Let's make things happen.
Digital marketing for restaurants requires a team that has knowledge and experience, along with a deep understanding of the industry. We can design and launch effective digital campaigns to help you reach new customers in innovative ways. Partner with Enormous Elephant to grow your business and build a successful online presence.
