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Searches for “staycation” are at their highest level since trends began according to <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&amp;geo=GB&amp;q=Staycation">Google Trends.</a> 



Many of you may have seen advertising and articles from district councils promoting local sights and experiences to the local population. And with foreign tourism at an all-time low, there’s some serious slack to pick up.



What can you do to make the most of this opportunity?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Get your SEO hat on.&nbsp;</h2>



Make sure that your website and social media has some written content regarding staycations. Likewise with your online listing in Tripadvisor and other third-party sites. You can really help your business and website’s search engine optimisation making sure the right words are in the right place for starters.



Make sure to include the location of your venue in any “staycation” content as this will help with <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/local-seo">local searches</a> i.e. staycations in East Anglia



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Postcode offers.&nbsp;</h2>



By offering a discount or special upgrades for people within certain postcode areas (either the same as yours or adjoining) you’re sure to capture the interest of people nearby looking for staycations without having to go far. It will also contribute in a small way of restricting too much nationwide travel. You can see a full map of all UK postcodes <a href="https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map4-ui-test5.php?mapType=area&amp;mapRegion=uk&amp;mapOrientation=portrait">HERE</a> to find out what’s nearest to you.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Targeted Facebook Ads.</h2>



One of Facebook Ads most powerful tools is the ability to target very precise geographic locations. This makes it very cost-effective for small and local businesses, especially when the advert is something with high relevance like a staycation. Facebook ads aren’t for everyone, but there are plenty of local agencies and specialist freelancers who can help set things up correctly.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-hashtags-for-your-restaurant-posts/">Hashtags.</a></h2>



&nbsp;If Twitter and Instagram are big hitters in your marketing activities then getting the #staycation hashtag featuring in posts more regularly will increase your visibility on the topic. Be careful not to get too specific though with #StaycationEastAnglia though as these will have minimal traffic compared to broader terms.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Research local activities.</h2>



&nbsp;By cross-promoting other things to see and do near your venue, you’ll give people more of a reason to come to where you are. This could go further if there was an opportunity for partnership between local attractions and your venue, with joint discounts or package offers aimed specifically at the staycation market.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Contact local bloggers.&nbsp;</h2>



Food, travel and lifestyle bloggers are a great way to reach very targeted audiences. Many of them get started by covering topics in their local area and growing from there, meaning their audience could be exactly the kind of people you want to reach. Bloggers are very tuned in to on-trend topics &#8211; such as staycations &#8211; so approaching them to feature you as part of a staycation promotion would go down well.



People are more eager than ever to support local businesses in the wake of coronavirus, and still enjoy their holidays at the same time. Getting your business in front of those people is a great way to give your business a boost during this opportune time.

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Staycations: 6 Ways To Get Your Business Noticed

<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fresh-content-inspiration-for-a-new-month">Fresh Content Inspiration for a New Month</h4>







This week marks the beginning of a new month! We had a little sneak peek for you and March is full of exciting topics and events to look forward to. Mother’s Day is less than a fortnight away! Get your customers prepped with brunch and gift ideas and don’t forget to promote your offers.



But let&#8217;s jump straight into this week’s topics. National Nutrition Month meets Pie Week and Peanut Butter Day. Healthy vs. no regrets? Take your pick!



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nationalnutritionmonth">#NationalNutritionMonth</h4>



This year’s theme is “Personalise Your Plate” by making informed food choices, committing to healthy eating and physical activity. The campaign also features <a href="https://www.eatright.org/food/resources/national-nutrition-month" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">weekly key messages</a> with inspiring ideas on how to commit to eating and living healthy.



Tips to encourage and support your customers:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Share your favourite healthy recipes</li><li>Share healthy snack ideas</li><li>Share hacks around meal planning &amp; cooking</li><li>Share daily exercise tips from your staff</li><li>Start a ‘real food’ challenge and provide tips on how to swap&nbsp;processed with real food</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1st-to-7th-of-march-britishpieweek">1st to 7th of March &#8211; #BritishPieWeek</h4>



The saying goes that: “We in Britain stopped evolving gastronomically with the advent of the pie.” It’s true: we Brits just love our pies and we’re a well-known pie nation. So why should we come up with anything more than that?&nbsp;



Pies brighten our dinner tables, complement a perfect picnic and make the most delicious dessert (apple pie!). <a href="https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/our-best-pie-recipes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pie variations seem to be endless.</a> It’s not only about choosing the right filling, but also deciding on the right base. Just no soggy bottom, please! And to stick to British Pie origins, there should be a top and a base involved.



Get your customers engaged in pie week:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Offer a pie meal kit</li><li>Share your chef’s best pie recipes</li><li>How to get the perfect crust/bottom</li><li>Poll &#8211; what kind of pie lover are you?</li><li>Competition &#8211; share your homemade pies with us and win</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-monday-1st-peanutbutterlover-sday">Monday 1st &#8211; #PeanutButterLover&#8217;sDay&nbsp;</h4>



It can be crunchy or smooth, rich and intense. It can go sweet or savoury. But it is definitely indulgent and comforting. Peanut butter! I would say, there’s (almost) nothing a spoonful of peanut butter can’t fix. No doubt, peanut butter is one of the world’s most favourite spreads.&nbsp;



Keeping National Nutrition Month in mind, there are lots of delicious <a href="https://www.self.com/gallery/healthy-peanut-butter-snacks-under-250-calories" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">healthy peanut butter snack recipes</a> out there! After all, peanuts are a good protein source and high in healthy fats.



Peanut butter is also part of some iconic duos &#8211; Which one is your favourite?



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Peanut butter &amp; toast &#8211; the straightforward one</li><li>Peanut butter &amp; jelly &#8211; the classic one</li><li>Peanut butter &amp; chocolate &#8211; the match made in heaven one</li><li>Peanut butter &amp; pork &#8211; the Asian-style one</li><li>Peanut butter &amp; pizza &#8211; the more adventurous ones</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-content-ideas-for-this-week">More Content Ideas for This Week</h4>



Friday 5th &#8211; Employee Appreciation Day (Employee spotlight!) Saturday 6th &#8211; National Oreo Cookie Day Saturday 6th &#8211; White Chocolate Cheesecake Day Sunday 7th &#8211; National Cereal Day 



If you&#8217;re looking to get your stories and promotions in front of your customers <a href="https://stampede.ai/company/#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">get in touch</a> with our team. We’re here to help with your email marketing and much more.

What’s On This Week? – 01/03/2021

With the exception of agriculture, it’s hard to think of an industry more affected by seasonal pressures than the hospitality sector. Along with the times of exceptionally high demand, surviving and even thriving during times of low demand is perhaps the <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/top-marketing-trends-in-the-hotel-industry-for-2020/">biggest challenge facing independent hotels</a>. Often lacking the efficiencies of scale and considerable marketing budgets of the bigger chains.&nbsp;So how do you boost your hotels&#8217; occupancy? 







However, there are plenty of ways that independent hotel owners can attract more bookings all year round. Without any huge investment or having to resort to third-party travel booking websites. In fact, believe it or not, right now you are surrounded by deep wells of untapped demand. All you have to do is figure out how to uncover them. And your hotel could be filled to overflowing, seven days a week, 365 days a year!&nbsp;



Once you open your mind to the possibilities, you will see opportunities to boost occupancy in all kinds of areas. To help you, we’ll cover four different ideas in this article. Bear in mind there are many more &#8211; really, we’re only scratching the surface.&nbsp;



As an independent hotel, you are in a uniquely powerful position to forge relationships. But also take advantage of trends that would take bigger organisations years to emulate. Intrigued? Let’s dive in and explore this together!&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Idea # 1 &#8211; Become a destination for Digital Nomads</h4>



We’ve written before about digital nomads. Those with in-demand skills who travel the world while working remotely, utilising just their laptops and smartphones to remain connected to their employers. This is a <a href="https://workationing.com/digital-nomad-remote-work-statistics/">trend</a> that is set to grow substantially over the years ahead. So establishing your hotel as a great place to stay and work could reap handsome rewards in years to come.&nbsp;



Of course, the beauty of these travellers for you is that they tend to be completely free of the need to follow the usual holiday patterns. They travel at any time of year, or often all year round. Making them perfect for filling your otherwise quiet times.&nbsp;



And how might you tap into this lucrative market, we hear you ask? Well, to begin with, you may already know of some regular guests who fit this description. So why not have a chat with them to find out what would make your hotel an even more attractive destination for them to visit. Recommend their contacts to visit also? Here’s a few more suggestions to get your ‘idea bulb’ flashing;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Could you repurpose one of your function rooms into a bright and modern co-working space? Available to non-residents to take advantage of in return for a small monthly fee? This would be bound to attract free publicity, as well as boosting your status as a destination for remote workers!</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Create a dedicated page or section of your website specifically on how you cater for digital nomads. Index the page for search engine optimisation. So that this section of your website will start to get organic hits from those searching Google for ‘workations’ in your city or area.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Hundreds of social media groups dedicated to this lifestyle. Not to mention membership organisations and job boards. All of these contain opportunities for you to advertise or post links to your website offering your services. Why not kick off with a time-limited special offer just for those quoting code “Nomad” to claim?</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Idea # 2 &#8211; Turn drop-in visitors into overnight stays</h4>



There is a branch laden with low-hanging fruit that many independent hotels overlook altogether in their marketing. We’re talking about the people who are right at this very moment utilising your hotel bar, cafe, or lobby area as a venue for a work meeting. A chance to catch up with a visiting friend, or just popping in for a quick meal on their way to their next destination.&nbsp;



These visitors may have never used your facilities before, or they may be regulars. But you just haven’t given them a reason to stay overnight yet! They all know exactly where you are. They know many of your facilities, and they have had a chance to experience your service. Without a shadow of a doubt, they represent a much easier prospect for you to entice to visit. Compared to someone who hasn’t visited your hotel yet.&nbsp;



And if you’re wondering how you can get the contact information of these drop-in visitors, wonder no more! <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-marketing-with-wifi-benefits-your-business/">WiFi Marketing</a> gives your visitors the option to connect to WiFi in your hotel, and at the same time lets them opt-in to get special offers from you. Easy!&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Idea # 3 &#8211; Special Offers for Senior Citizens&nbsp;</h4>



This might seem like the kind of strategy more suited to a hairdresser than an independent hotel but stay with us. Similarly to digital nomads, retired travellers are not constrained by traditional holiday seasons. Not only that, the current generation of senior citizens from all around the world are more likely to travel than any of the previous ones. With <a href="http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/309398/travel-most-important-for-over-half-of-retired-people">over half</a> of the retired people citing “travel” as the most important part of their plans.&nbsp;



Even better, retired travellers stay for longer. They are <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Tourism_trends_and_ageing">less likely</a> to make use of rented accommodation and are known to be receptive to marketing campaigns that specifically aim for their patronage. (Did you know that <a href="https://www.saga.co.uk/">Saga</a>, which specifically caters for those over 50 years of age, has over 2.7 million customers?!)&nbsp;



If all of this sounds like a good fit for your hotel, you can follow similar steps to those outlined in the Idea # 1 Digital Nomad section above to target this market. Maybe you could create a bar and a socialising area specifically for your “Silver” visitors? Again, there are membership organisations, magazines, and travel companies that specifically target this sector. All you have to do is create some offers to attract the attention of savvy senior travellers &#8211; and get them out there!&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Idea # 4 &#8211; Partner up with Business Associations&nbsp;</h4>



As business travel tends to be a lot less seasonal than those on vacation. It makes sense to consider how you could position your hotel to be the ideal conference destination, or the obvious choice for employees of a particular PLC to stay overnight.&nbsp;



Again, this tends to be an area that is much overlooked by independent hotels. Perhaps you think that the big chains will always be the first choice for the busy business travellers. However, there’s no reason why that should be the case <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/5-useful-free-marketing-tools-that-anyone-can-use/">if you’re smart with your marketing</a>.&nbsp;



Study the industries in your district. Especially look out for any large companies that have headquarters, training centres, or other significant properties nearby. Don’t forget existing clients. There could be a CEO who regularly visits that could be persuaded to make your hotel the default option for all her employees.



Again, you can create a search-optimised dedicated page of your website for business travellers. Use offer codes for conferences that might be held in your city so that you win more of this passing trade. Create simple flyers that you can drop off at local companies. <a href="https://www.canva.com/">This tool</a> is a great way for even non-graphic designers to design attention-grabbing leaflets and postcards! Offering them exclusive rates in return for their patronage.&nbsp;Maybe even a free or discounted first drink in the bar?



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Bringing it all together</h4>



We hope that these ideas have given you plenty of food for thought on how you can boost your year-round hotel occupancy. All this without having to resort to offering huge discounts via third-party resellers. If you found this article useful, why not sign up to our email newsletter so that you can be sure not to miss out on future posts?&nbsp;



Want to find out more about how WiFi marketing can further boost your hotel occupancy?



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How to Boost Hotel Occupancy And Direct Bookings

These Automations Can Help When Short-Staffed

Gone are the days when having a website was a “big deal” and creating a business Facebook page was an advanced social media strategy. Now, social media marketing has become far more complex and there are countless platforms to choose from.&nbsp;The strategy of marketing one’s business online has also evolved. Where we once communicated messages that were “salesy” and persuasive, today’s consumers prefer a more conversational and down-to-earth tone.&nbsp;In fact, this is why many companies have completely adapted their entire <a href="https://creativeclickmedia.com/company-culture-social-media/">company culture to fit in with the new social media-oriented world</a>.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">What Is Company Culture?</h4>



Company culture can be defined as the personality of a company. In essence, a company’s culture creates the entire environment in which work takes place. It consists of many elements, including the work environment, a company’s mission, values, ethics, expectations, and goals.



For example, some organisations prefer teamwork and endorse casual attire. While others have a more traditional and formal management style where a suit and tie are still a requirement.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Why Does Company Culture Matter?</h4>



Company culture is one way of keeping employees happy. A happy business is generally a thriving one. If candidates know what your company culture is like before they apply for an open position, then they are going to be more willing to embrace it and stick around.&nbsp;



Also, workers tend to enjoy work more when their opinions and values are consistent with those of the workplace. This forms a great foundation for productivity and team spirit.&nbsp;



When an employee appreciates a company’s culture and feels akin to it, then they are more likely to be proud ambassadors of their workplace. Having such team players on your workforce is a very important component of a successful modern-day social media campaign.&nbsp;



The next section delves into why.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The Importance of Reflecting Your Company Culture in Your Social Media Strategy</h4>



When it comes to social media, you can use your <a href="https://www.toprankblog.com/2017/05/company-culture-instagram/">company’s culture to send engaging messages</a> to your audiences to let them know who you are, what you have to offer, and why! It adds a personal touch to your marketing – a personal touch that consumers have come to appreciate and acknowledge.&nbsp;



The characters your employees, the core values of your business, and the moments of euphoria that are experienced when goals are reached. All this contributes to the giant tapestry of your workplace.



But, while your culture may be fun and positive, if you haven’t found a way to show this energy that your company radiates, then social media is the place where you need to turn your focus. &nbsp;



One thing that social media captures is the personification of an organisation’s culture. Whether you are a retailer or are in the hospitality industry. Portraying the positivity and happiness of your workforce on social media not only fosters further positivity, but another bonus is that it’s great for recruiting other employees whose values are the same.



If you’re not sure how to incorporate your company culture into your social media marketing. Here are five ways to make it happen.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Get Employees to Participate</h4>



If your company culture is one that embraces new ideas and encourages employees to be team players, then you will have no problem including your employees into your social media marketing strategies. Ask workers to share the company’s posts to their personal pages. Emphasise how important it is to engage with audiences who respond to posts.&nbsp;



You could even set challenges for your team where employees get points for the posts they like, share or comment on. The one with the most points could win a prize, perhaps?



Once you have your employees participating in your social media campaigns, then the next suggestions will easily fall into place.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Be Human</h4>



We understand that you are trying to promote your business and sell a product or service. Audiences, however, respond much better to messages that contain a human element. The more casual you are (as opposed to being formal and corporate-like), the more likely you will put your company in the limelight to get the exposure it needs.&nbsp;



You can humanise your posts by:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Including faces in your posts. Feature your team leaders and employees and remember to tag them.&nbsp;</li><li>Adding positive emotions to your social media content. Posts that include humour, intrigue, pride, warmth, hope and curiosity are more likely to be shared.&nbsp;</li><li>Making audiences feel like they are a part of your team and the fun company culture you have created. Use terms like “let us” and “join us” in your content.</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Celebrate Employees. Give Them the Limelight</h4>



Share the achievements of your employees on social media and give them praise for their accomplishments. When you let your followers and customers know you’re proud of your team, then it leaves the impression that you are a company that cares about its staff as well one who works hard to deliver an excellent product or service. &nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Tell Stories and Give Sneak Peeks into What Happens “Behind the Scenes”</h4>



Share your company’s culture with the world. Tell them stories about your day and give them sneak peeks into “what’s to come”. Keep them engaged by keeping stories real and personal. 



For example, if your hotel has just received a new shipment of luxury bathroom amenities, share a picture of your staff eagerly adding them to guest bathroom shelves. Or what about a <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-video-marketing-can-boost-your-restaurant/">live video</a> of your busy kitchen team preparing Sunday lunch?



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Engage and Respond</h4>



If your company’s culture is one that takes the consumer seriously, then responding to inquiries and comments is key.&nbsp; Remember, <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/the-importance-of-digital-word-of-mouth/">social media is meant to be a two-way street</a> (with emphasis on the word “social”)! This means that you need to engage with followers and respond to any messages promptly.&nbsp;



Audiences will appreciate your friendly responses and your business’s culture will be kept positive. When a social media strategy reflects the core essence of a company (it’s culture), then it’s more likely to attract the attention of readers.



Want to further increase your engagement and interaction on social media channels? Get in touch with us.



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Reflecting Your Company Culture in Your Social Media Strategy

Yesterday we published <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2020/06/29/How-can-pubs-collect-customer-data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an article in The Morning Advertiser</a> about collecting customer data, and how reopened pubs, bars and restaurants around the world have been doing it.



 If you missed it you can read the article in full <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2020/06/29/How-can-pubs-collect-customer-data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.



 We spent some time researching how other countries’ approached data collection for track and trace. Our aim was to prepare for if and when the U.K. Government asked hospitality to do something similar to the other parts of the world. What was the reception by the public and the industry in countries like New Zealand, Germany and the USA?



 Our research also gave us a view of the possible future outcomes of data collection programs. It will be interesting to see if the UK mirrors any of these effects in the next few weeks. Will there be news stories about data privacy incidents as in New Zealand?



This article also takes a look at the practical implications. What methods of data collection worked best in other countries? There’s a short review of the pros and cons of the most commonly considered methods that will hopefully clear up any issues around collecting contact details.



 If you’ve got more questions about collecting data and how it might work for your business, then <a href="https://stampede.ai/company/#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">get in touch</a> and we’d be happy to talk it through.

Other Countries Have Already Done Track and Trace

The real magic happens when your repeat customers turn into brand ambassadors and spread the word about you because they love what you do.



This phenomenon is called brand advocacy.



It’s a form of earned media meaning you don’t pay for it, you earn it through delivering memorable experiences.



There are many ways customers show and share their affection that attracts new customers.



Here are the 3 most common forms of brand advocacy:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-online-reviews-testimonials">1. Online Reviews &amp; Testimonials</h2>



Customers who have left a positive review have great potential for becoming brand advocates. 



They’ve already spoken publicly about you in a positive way. Now it’s onto you to make sure they spread the word even further.&nbsp;



This is why it is also vital to not only <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-respond-to-positive-and-negative-customer-reviews-online">respond to your negative reviews but to positive ones</a> as well. It shows that you value your customers and want to build a relationship with them.



Tip: Actively encourage repeat customers and those who are engaged on your socials to leave a review.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">2. Word of Mouth</h2>



<a href="https://www.lxahub.com/stories/word-of-mouth-marketing-stats-and-trends-for-2023">88% of customers trust their peers’ recommendations more than they trust brands</a>.



Word-of-mouth is organic and therefore often more persuasive than any advertising. Even better, it can generate up to <a href="https://review42.com/resources/word-of-mouth-marketing-statistics/">5x more sales than paid media</a>.



Apart from traditional oral word-of-mouth, a lot happens online nowadays, This includes user-generated content, such as social media posts, reels or videos.&nbsp;



To amplify your customer’s message, make sure to comment and re-share their content.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">3. Dark Social</h2>



Dark social happens when people are shifting personal conversations off the public (i.e. social media) and into private spaces.&nbsp;



Examples could be customers sharing photos from their night out with their friends on a messenger app rather than on Instagram. Or a family member asking for a restaurant recommendation in a joined WhatsApp group.



The tricky bit about dark social is that you can’t track it and it’s hard to influence, it happens in the dark.&nbsp;



The good news though, you probably have more brand advocates from those channels than you think. In fact, <a href="https://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media/what-is-dark-social/">more than 80% of shares</a> are via dark socials.



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<a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-hospitality-operators-can-use-data-to-reveal-loyal-customers">Find out</a> how you can identify and nurture your most loyal customers using data insights and our customer retention cohort report.

Breakdown: 3 Ways Customers Advocate Your Hospitality Brand

5 Tips for Setting Up WiFi for Your Restaurant or Pub [Updated for 2022]

A short Q&amp;A with our founder Patrick.







Now that you know that we&#8217;re changing our name, you might have asked yourself, yeah but why? What&#8217;s wrong with the name Stampede? That&#8217;s exactly what we&#8217;ve asked our founder Patrick.



Why are we changing our name?



“As companies evolve, so do names. Like many other start-ups, we have been growing quite a lot over the last couple of months. We wanted a name that represents growth for businesses. Helping our customers to get a whole load of new customers themselves.”



What&#8217;s different about the new name?



“Our new name really embodies the idea of being very busy. It’s memorable and really stands out against the other companies in our space. In the future, we will have a whole suite of tools to help businesses become busier.”



So what is going to change for our customers?



&#8220;Nothing. The only change is our name and appearance, everything else stays the same. Same values, same people, same product.&nbsp;&#8220;



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Getting excited and curious to find out what the new name will be?&nbsp;



Keep watching this space for the big announcement later this week.

Why are we changing our name?

It’s set to be an exciting weekend ahead for all sports fans. The Euro 2020 championship finals AND the Wimbledon men finals will all happen this Sunday. One thing is for sure, buzzing venues are to be expected!&nbsp;Start getting prepared for those final sports matches to maximise revenue and to ensure smooth operations for the weekend ahead and of course happy and satisfied customers. 



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-main-areas-to-focus-on-for-maximum-revenue-outcome-from-sports-events">4 Main Areas to Focus On For Maximum Revenue Outcome From Sports Events</h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-pre-booking">1. Pre-booking</h4>



Get on your pre-booking promotions if you haven&#8217;t already started them. If you’re on it and have only a few places left, make sure to run a “last-chance” booking booster promotion.&nbsp;



To nudge people further into bookings, think about offering a pre-match special menu with limited availability only and/or pre-order meal and drink packages.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-email-sms-campaigns">2. Email &amp; SMS campaigns</h4>



With the last semi-finals of the Euro 2020 taken place yesterday, the final teams are set. Whereas, for Wimbledon, we won’t know until Friday.&nbsp;



This doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare any email &amp; SMS campaigns already. But you can create yourself some templates and use placeholders for the imagery and potential teams and winner for now. This will save you a lot of time later on.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-social-media-posts">3. Social Media Posts</h4>



Social media posts are probably the easiest and quickest to prepare. The same applies here as with the email &amp; SMS templates, use placeholders for now until final matchups are set. Make sure to use the right trending sports hashtags for optimum reach.



If you want to go one extra step, prepare some posts for the potential winning teams already, so you don’t have to bother with getting a post ready when you’re busy on the floor during match days.&nbsp;



For a wider reach, push your posts to your stories. Stories are also ideal if you have some last-minute availability spaces at your venue to fill in. And you can also use them to update your customers once you’re fully booked.



Be creative with your posts prior to the matches to get some further engagement on your socials and to create some excitement.&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Poll &#8211; who will be the winner? How many scores? …</li><li><a href="https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro-2020/news/026a-1275f8987950-ed0e47ef7f19-1000--ultimate-euro-quiz/">Football</a> or <a href="https://www.usefultrivia.com/sports_trivia/wimbledon_trivia_index.html">tennis</a> trivia quiz</li><li>Share themed memes</li><li>Hold fan contests</li></ul>



Last tip for your socials, don’t forget to ask your customers to share their experience at your venue on your socials and tag their family and friends.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-wifi-login-screen">4. WiFi Login Screen</h4>



One of the main reasons why people love to go somewhere to watch matches is the atmosphere. You’ve probably taken an effort and decorated your venue accordingly to create some fan vibes.&nbsp;



But what about your WiFi login screen? Your login screen is part of your overall customer experience, so make sure your online experience is in line with your offline one.



You can easily brand your splash screen to cater for any sort of events. Turn it into a “welcome to the fan zone” version and change the background image to display, for example, the flags or captains for each team.&nbsp;



If you need some help ramping up your sports events marketing promotions for maximum revenue, <a href="contact@stampede.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reach out to our team. </a>We&#8217;re happy to help.

How to Maximise Revenue For The Sports Event Finals Weekend

With Google announcing the end of third-party cookies in 2024, the clock is ticking for hotels to switch to a first-party data strategy for good.



For many this radical change has already proven worthwhile. As per a recent survey by Sojern, <a href="https://www.sojern.com/press-release/81-percent-of-hoteliers-see-a-lift-in-revenue-once-a-first-party-data-strategy-is-implemented">81% of hoteliers said they have seen an increase in revenue</a> since changing their game plan.&nbsp;



No doubt, this is a big strategic move that requires thoughtful resource management and planning.



We’ve gathered some key things to keep in mind before you get started.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-a-first-party-strategy">What is a first-party strategy?&nbsp;</h2>



First-party data refers to data that is obtained by the hotel through its owned digital channels. Examples are their Guest WiFi, loyalty program or website booking integration.



The biggest benefit is that operators have full ownership over this type of data. They can store, access and manage it directly and use it for marketing purposes and more.



In addition, 1st party data is often more accurate and relevant as it is willingly provided by customers to the company.



However, the current situation is more like a mix of first- and third-party data. The latter often comes from guests booking through OTAs rather than direct.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why opt for a first-party-only strategy?</h2>



Without third-party tracking and data, operators miss out on essential interaction points in their customers’ journey.&nbsp;



Personalised marketing and on-site service become nearly impossible, the outcome is a rather disjointed guest experience. 



For example, hotels <a href="https://stampede.ai/downloads/the-direct-booking-checklist">don’t get access to OTA booking data</a> and can therefore not contact guests prior to their arrival to tailor their stay.



So in an ideal scenario, all the data is collected by the hotel based on actual customer interactions. From the first touch point, i.e. the initial booking, onwards when guests return.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This then allows operators to create a holistic guest profile which stores preferences and previous interactions. Insights that can be used for personalised marketing to drive long-term loyalty and revenue.



Though, the key to a successful 1st party strategy is getting the right data from the right sources.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">10 most-used 1st party data sources for hotels</h2>



How can hotel operators gather their own data covering online and offline events? Let’s have a look at some common first-party sources:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Property Management System (PMS)</li>



<li>Customer Relationship Management System (CRM)</li>



<li><a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/wifi">Guest WiFi</a></li>



<li>Website &#8211; newsletter sign-ups</li>



<li>Mobile app sign-ups</li>



<li>Online booking engine</li>



<li>Guest surveys</li>



<li>Loyalty program</li>



<li><a href="https://stampede.ai/get-bookings">Table booking platform (F&amp;B)</a></li>



<li>Social media channels</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">4 steps for implementing a first-party data strategy</h2>



Here are 4 essential actions to take to start shifting your strategy:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Map out your entire customer journey. Consider all potential online and offline sources. Define your marketing short/long-term goals.</li>



<li>Determine the required data and its sources. What is the current process in place and what is missing? Close potential data gaps.</li>



<li>Make the best use of your data. Choose the right technology to manage your data most efficiently.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Analyse and adjust if necessary. Build your own customised dashboards and reports to keep an eye on progress.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How to maximise your first-party data</h2>



In general, the more data sources hotels can access, the easier it is for them to build a 360-degree customer view.&nbsp;



However, this can also quickly lead to <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/5-common-data-integration-flaws-in-hospitality-tech">disjointed data silos</a> piling up, which requires a lot of manual labour and time to connect them. But without their integration, the data is of no use and correct attribution is nearly impossible.&nbsp;



In addition, handling various systems and spreadsheets also increases the potential risk of a GDPR breach.



So, in order to use the data in the most efficient and secure way, hotels should therefore opt for a <a href="https://stampede.ai/">unified CRM solution</a>. It automatically syncs all their sources into one place without the need for integrations.



All staff members get access to the same data and from there they can quickly analyse it, segment it and use it to drive their marketing efforts.&nbsp;



Plus, with a multi-functional system, the overall data quality increase as guest profiles are always up-to-date. Which in turn results in better marketing conversions.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Make sure to check out our <a href="https://stampede.ai/downloads/the-direct-booking-checklist">FREE Direct Booking Checklist</a>. Our step-by-step guide features examples around social media, email marketing and SEO to ensure that you’ve ticked every box when it comes to your direct bookings.

A Quick Guide On First-Party Data Strategy For Hotels

Internet access and provision is essential for nearly every successful business these days. Customers and clients love fast and reliable guest WiFi. But if you’re just starting out, or you’re upgrading your WiFi, getting your head around the WiFi jargon can take up time better spent running your business. Here’s an explanation of the terms you may come across to help you provide the best WiFi for your business and customers.



ISP &#8211; Internet Service Provider An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is a company that supplies the Internet connection into a venue. The router provides the gateway between the Internet and all the devices via this connection. The ISP is often referred to as the ‘provider’. Every organisation or home with Internet access has an ISP. 



Broadband Broadband is a type of high-speed Internet connection which is now the standard way to connect to the Internet. Broadband packages come in different forms including cable, ADSL, and mobile.



Cable broadband is provided through fibre-optic cables. These provide faster broadband speeds than ADSL. Landline and digital television services can also be provided through the cable. Your ideal speed depends on your business. You should consider fast fibre-optic cable with a package that includes unlimited downloads if you are providing guest WiFi in premises such as cafes and bars. 



In the UK, ADSL broadband is provided through existing BT phone lines. The speed depends on your distance from your local telephone exchange. The closer you are to the exchange, the faster the broadband. 



Mobile broadband is transmitted via mobile phone networks. Users need a mobile phone signal to access the broadband.



LAN &#8211; Local Area Network A local area network (LAN) is when two or more computers are connected together in a building using software or hardware. A LAN can be wired or wireless. The administrator of the LAN will decide what can be shared and what can’t be on the network.



You can set up multiple networks on the same broadband connection, with different bandwidths for each one. For example, you might have one network for staff and one for customers. You’ll need plenty of bandwidth for your customers! You set these up through the router.



Your router sends data from the Internet cable to a device and acts as a wireless access point so that the data can be shared through radio signals instead of another cable. It is plugged into your landline or cable line. When running a business with guest Wi-Fi, you’ll need a router that allows for multiple networks. Routers may come with various security tools, for example, firewall management and intrusion detection.



IP Address IP means Internet Protocol. There are two types of IP address: internal and external. An internal IP address is a series of numbers that identifies your router connection. 192.168.1.1 is a common one used for routers. To change your router settings, you need to know your IP address. 



The easiest way of finding it is to look at the back of your router. Most have a sticker or card with all the information you need for logging into its settings, including the IP address.



An external or public IP address is used across the entire Internet to locate computer systems and devices. Your Internet service provider assigns you an external IP address when you connect to the Internet. When your web browser requests a webpage, it sends the IP address along with it. Your provider uses external IP addresses to determine which customer uses which website. 



Bandwidth Bandwidth refers to the volume of information per unit of time that an Internet connection can handle. Bandwidth is expressed in bits per second (eg, 50 Mbps is 50 million bits per second). However, it can be expressed in other ways and it’s important to check which unit is being used.



Businesses will vary on how much bandwidth they need. If you’re providing guest WiFi, you must get this right. Customers will not tolerate poor Wi-Fi connections and your reputation will suffer. Monitoring usage is essential in understanding how much bandwidth is being used, and when. 



WAP and Hotspot A wireless access point (WAP) is a hardware device on a local area network that allows WiFi devices to connect to a wired network. The WAP usually connects to a router although it may be included in the router itself. WAPs feature radio transmitters and antennae. 



The hotspot is the physical location where Wi-Fi access is available. Putting up signs with a Wi-Fi symbol is a helpful way of letting customers know how and where they can log on.



Cloud Controller Your WAP can come with a hosted cloud controller service. Cloud computing simply means that you store and access data over the Internet rather than on your hard drive. A cloud controller lets you manage your WiFi system from anywhere as well as managing multiple sites with a single log-in.



Mesh Network WiFi mesh networking kits are often sold to businesses and consumers to address WiFi ‘dead zones’ because they blanket a building or home with WiFi. Having a mesh network means that you don’t need to use range extenders or extra access points. 



The kit, which normally replaces your existing router, includes nodes. One node or router connects to the Internet through your modem. This node and each of the other satellite nodes then communicate with each other. Cover is expanded with each new node. Mesh networks are easy to set up. You manage the system, for example, to set up a guest network, by using an app.



Captive Portal If you want to set up guest Wi-Fi, you’ll need a <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/wifi">captive portal</a>. A captive portal is a webpage that a user needs to view and interact with before being given access to a public WiFi network. It is mainly used for authentication purposes and is usually in place for free or chargeable WiFi hot spots e.g. business centres, cafes, bars and hotels. 



The captive portal may feature a branded log-in page, conditions of access, surveys, and payment options. The page with the log-in details is sometimes called the splash screen. The landing page is the page the customer or guest gets put through to after they log in.



The trick to a great captive portal is making it easy for the user while getting benefits for your business or service. Through your captive portal, Stampede can turn your guest Wi-Fi into a money making asset for you. It will also give your customers a great Wi-Fi experience. You can grow customer loyalty, stay compliant with the law, increase your social media presence, and build your brand.



Wireless security Wireless security, sometimes referred to as wireless network security, <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/take-the-risk-out-of-guest-wifi/">protects a wireless network from unauthorised access</a>. Understanding the common acronyms will help you choose the best security for your network. 



WPA2, WPA and WEP are the three encryption protocols you will probably come across. WPA2 is the most secure of the three. When it is enabled with its strongest encryption option, data traffic is scrambled with the most up to date encryption standards. This is the one you should use. If you are providing guest Wi-Fi through a captive portal, you have to use it. 



WEP, introduced in the late 1990s, is easily hacked and should not be used. WPA replaced WEP, and is an option if a device does not support the more up to date WPA2. 



<a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/wpa3-the-next-generation-in-wifi-security/">WPA3 will replace WPA2</a> and the transition has already started, although it will take time to roll out. WPA3 has significant new security features and will be important for open public Wi-Fi networks. However, a WPA3 enabled router will need WPA3 compatible devices (laptops, phones) to take advantage of the new features.



MAC Address – Media Access Control Address A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique code assigned by a manufacturer to every piece of hardware that connects to the Internet. A MAC address ensures each device is unique and allows data to be passed among hardware devices. 



Many people will never need the MAC address to use their devices. However, some providers may require registration of the address to ensure those who are paying for the service are the only users who can connect. If you do need it, you can normally find it on a sticker on the device. The address is composed of six pairs of numbers/letters separated by colons. If the device is portable, it may be printed inside the battery compartment.



Contact us at Stampede



If you’d like more info on how to make guest WiFi work for your business, we’re ready to help. Whether you’re a major business or just starting out, you’ll be in good hands. 



Stampede is the smart guest WiFi for any venue, from independent coffee shops to global brands with thousands of sites. We provide a level of <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/the-marketing-power-of-wifi-analytics-for-your-business/">customer insight</a> previously only available to large corporations. If you’d like to grow your business and build brand loyalty, get in touch. We’d be delighted to chat.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/>





<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/>

The Ultimate Beginners Guide to WiFi Jargon

In the last few years, social media has completely transformed not just how we interact with each other, but how as businesses, we interact with our customers too. We’ve gone from leaflets through the doors to paid Facebook campaigns, megaphones in the street to hashtags and tweets. If you’re not au fait with social media, you can be forgiven for thinking Tik Tok is simply the noise a clock makes. When in reality being one of the biggest platforms of the new decade.







So, when you’re a restaurant with social media feeds, just how do you get them to work for you? So that your tables are booked and not sitting empty? If you are looking to get higher engagement across your social media channels, here’s everything you need to know.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Start with the basics</h4>



When you first create a social media page for your business, it’s going to have nobody following it. Therefore, no engagement either. A really simple step is to invite all of your friends to like the page. Maybe leaving a message explaining it’s your new venture, or that your business is now on Facebook/Instagram etc, and you’d appreciate the support.&nbsp;



You should also have links to your social media pages clearly displayed on your website. Also any other digital or physical marketing material, you put out. ‘Follow us on Facebook’ is a really simple sentence, but you’d be surprised how well it works. Make sure your page name corresponds with your business, and that the page is public and easy to find.



When it comes to social media posts on Instagram and Twitter, always tag the location of the city you’re in. Additionally, aim for at least 20 hashtags on each post. You can type the hashtags out in advance if it speeds things up. But always include tags that state your location and the food you serve. <a href="https://adespresso.com/blog/instagram-statistics/">The most popular time for posting food-related content is 12pm on a Friday</a>, so this would be a good time to tap into that all-important engagement.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Be engaging to begin with</h4>



It sounds simple enough, but one of the biggest mistakes companies make on social media is assuming that your followers are extremely interested in everything you post. In reality, if it doesn’t offer value to the customer (such as informing/inspiring/entertaining them etc), then why should they stop and pay attention. Let alone share it with friends?&nbsp;



If you are stuck in a rut, and all your posts are flatlining. Then it’s time <a href="https://coschedule.com/blog/social-media-post-ideas/">to research the type of content that will spice things up</a>. Perhaps you could share a blog post about your upcoming events. Do a giveaway or even run a straightforward poll asking people how they like their steak. It’s not always about too technical, rather delivering content that provokes a reaction, therefore, boosts engagement.&nbsp;



It pays to <a href="https://www.postplanner.com/facebook-post-ideas-for-businesses-that-guarantee-engagement/">go through your previous posts and see what did well, versus what didn’t</a>. Ask yourself if the image or message was weak, or if the timing could have been better. Sometimes, looking at things from a fresh perspective can be really useful. Perhaps even put it on a big screen and ask your staff for their feedback too.&nbsp;



Further reading: <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-effectively-design-social-media-posts/">https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-effectively-design-social-media-posts/</a>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Remember it’s supposed to be sociable</h4>



Running a restaurant probably takes up most of your waking hours, but that doesn’t mean to say you can neglect your social media as a result. When companies respond and react to their customers on social media, this boosts engagement as a result.&nbsp;



If you really don’t have the time or knowledge. You may consider employing a social media manager or even outsourcing your social content to a marketing agency. Either way, ignoring it is the very opposite of what social media is about, and it’s definitely not a tactic that will win you new customers.&nbsp;



On Facebook, in particular, your stats <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/1625715647696553">showing how fast you respond to customers is public</a>. Imagine if someone was looking to ask about booking a table with you over Facebook, but they saw you take 3 days on average to respond?



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>





<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Try a sponsored campaign</h4>



Ideally, your social media followers and the engagement they can generate will happen organically, but sometimes this just isn’t the case. If you are a new restaurant to the area, it can take time to build up a decent following. When you’re trying to spread the word about your business, time isn’t a luxury you have.



In this instance (or if you just want to shake things up) <a href="https://sproutsocial.com/insights/topics/social-media-advertising/">you should consider doing a sponsored campaign through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram</a>. Essentially, by creating a campaign and agreeing on a budget in advance, your page will be exposed to thousands of people automatically. The amount you spend is up to you. The platform will display the expected number of engagements or actions to your page the amount is likely to generate.&nbsp;



It goes without saying that you should put a lot of thought and effort into the post. Not least because there are rules about what can be paid to be boosted. You also want it to have the maximum impact and get your money’s worth. Another factor considering here is the time at which you post the content. For example, few people are going to be interested in a breakfast deal at 3 pm in the afternoon, or a steak deal at 9 am on a Monday. Insight is key here.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Conclusion</h4>



Achieving a high level of social media engagement requires a consistent <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/rock-your-restaurant-with-wifi-and-instagram/">effort at delivering content</a> that is in tune with your audience. In addition, it should also have a clear purpose so that the message is understood and your objectives are achieved. If you really want to get those likes and shares flying in, then it has to be worth people’s while.&nbsp;



Here at Stampede, we’re on a mission to make it even easier for you to obtain customer insights that will boost your marketing campaigns and <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/engaging-customers-through-wi-fi-marketing/">overall engagement</a>. Our software also allows you to boost your social media reach by redirecting them to your preferred channels once they&#8217;ve signed into your WiFi.

How to Get Higher Engagement on Social Media Channels

The Hospitality Industry Is Leaving Money In Their Inbox [Industry Insight Report]

Tammie Hurrell

Montpeliers Group

Grant Murray

CRU Holdings

Emma Luke-Ward

Lane7 Group

Steve Watson

Signature Pub Group

Nick Gregory

Society Manchester

Shivani Kenth

Zindiya Streatery & Bar

Graham Atkinson

Butta Burger

Lottie Bedford

Birdhouse London

Chris Hughes

Mele Group

Chris Aitchison

Bar Tonic

Ieuan Davis

The Coal Exchange Hotel

Have you ever been lost in a foreign city? Ever had to send out an important text? There are moments in which we are grateful for an Internet connection on our smartphone and even more grateful for the <a class="" href="/blog/restaurant-wifi-with-tapas-blackbx-success-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bars and restaurants</a> around us that allow us to access it.  

In some situations WiFi can be a lifesaver, but at other times it seems like people simply have a crave to check their newsfeed, mails and stay connected with friends. It can be argued that WiFi is indeed highly addictive, as <a class="" href="https://www.ipass.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/iPass-Mobile-Professional-Report-2017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a study from iPass</a> suggests that 27% of respondents indicated that WiFi is impossible to give up. 
Let’s put this in relation with other cravings humanity has &#8211; gambling is only impossible to give up for 4% of the respondents, while smoking was only slightly higher &#8211; at 6%. This connectivity-craving is leading some people to use WiFi on their smartphones even in some weird situations. 
<h3>The Toilet </h3>
I am sure you remember the last text you received, but are you aware there’s a good chance this text was composed on a toilet? Fair enough, sitting on the throne can be quite inspirational. I bet the amount of texts sent from bathrooms all around the world must be quite impressive, as 72% of us make use of a smartphone in the stall. Maybe it’s the solitary atmosphere that bathrooms provide us with that make it so likely to just grab a smartphone and explore the fascinating world wide web. We really don’t mind, but please wash your hands.
<h3>On a Date </h3>
Having used Tinder in the bathroom, some of us might be lucky enough to have a date or two. Well done! Get your favourite shirt ironed and take your crush to a nice bar around the corner. Don’t forget to be charming, interested in what your counterpart has to say and keep your phone in your pocket. Apparently none of you are listening to our old-fashioned dating advice anyway &#8211; since a shocking 36% of people use their smartphone during a date. In other words, more than every third person will have a wee look at Facebook, read some mails or sends an ‘<a class="" href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/73/b1/a7/73b1a7bafc43a649c857984719588d1e--sweet-texts-cute-texts.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">emergency text</a>’ to the best friend during a date.
<h3>During Sex</h3>
In case the date goes well, brace yourself &#8211; 7% use their mobiles even during sex, unfortunately we weren’t able to find out exactly how they do it.
<h3>In a Meeting </h3>
Sure, meetings are boring and sometimes you might need to check your phone to bolster a fact or two in your PowerPoint. But, if you&#8217;re in a meeting, it&#8217;s usually a good idea to give the persenter your full attention. Which apparently more than half of us can&#8217;t do, as 53% of respondants reported that they had checked their smartphone during a meeting. For shame. 
<h3>At a Funeral </h3>
If you thought tweeting during a date (or an intimate encounter) would be rude or impolite, you might be shocked about the next odd situation. Some people would literally take their smartphone to the grave if they could &#8211; 11% of respondents during the research admitted they’d use their smartphone even during a funeral. Somethings are a little too much, even for us. 
<h3>Being Connected is a Good Thing</h3>
Just because some internet users lose control over their habits and might have a weird relation to their smartphone, doesn&#8217;t mean we all have to follow in their footsteps. 
Internet and smartphones have revolutionised the way we interact, the way we plan and even the way we live. The strong need to connect with others, share our experiences online and always be up to date, has brought an opportunity for businesses looking to expand their audience. 
The importance of offering an Internet access to customers is absolutely vital today. If you want to learn more about guest WiFi and how offering it will benefit both your business and your customers, click below. 
Just make sure you wash your hands first. 
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

THE TOP 5 WEIRDEST TIMES TO USE A SMARTPHONE

Data from the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/ishybridworkingheretostay/2022-05-23#:~:text=More%20than%20three%2Dquarters%20(78,had%20fewer%20distractions%20(53%25).">Office of National Statistics</a> suggest that the number of people who regularly work from home has doubled since pre-pandemic times.



As the novelty of working from home wears off, demand for public spaces that offer a social yet productive working environment will grow.



If you own a coffee shop with plenty of space then you are in a prime position to take advantage of this demand. You already have many pieces in place to set up a good coworking space.&nbsp;



With <a href="https://drinkycoffee.com/coffee-statistics/">coffee shop revenues still below pre-pandemic numbers</a>, this could be an excellent opportunity for coffee shop owners to recover and diversify their income.



Here we will go through the necessary steps to accommodate paid coworking customers in your coffee shop.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">1. Assess Demand for Coworking Space</h5>



Before you plough time and money into setting up your coffee shop for coworking, you should first try to find out how likely it is people in your local area would be willing to pay to work at your premises.



There are a few ways of doing this. They include:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Look online if there are any coworking spaces in your area. If there are some then it&#8217;s very likely that there is demand for these types of spaces in your local area.</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Take note of how regularly people work at your coffee shop. Many of these people would be willing to pay a small fee to work there if you can provide a more productive space.</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Put up a comments and suggestions box in your shop with a sign above it saying &#8211; “We are thinking of offering coworking with ergonomic furniture and high-speed internet. Would any of you be interested in this?” Check how many people have expressed interest over a four-week period</li>
</ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>If you have some sort of online access to your customers (active social media account or <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/marketing">email list</a>) then simply ask your customers on there.</li>
</ul>



It&#8217;s really important that you get some sort of interest in coworking before you make any moves to implement it in your business.



Do not assume that a lack of competition in your local area means that you have found an underserved market. In ninety-nine per cent of cases, a lack of competition means a lack of demand.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">2. Designating a Space for Coworking</h5>



Once you have decided that you are going to offer coworking at your premises, the next step is to decide which part of your coffee shop you are going to set up a coworking space. And how much of your premises will be designated for coworkers.



When it comes to deciding where in your shop you want to have your coworkers, you should remember that one of the biggest needs of working people is for their environment to be quiet.&nbsp;



Therefore you should try to select a space that is as far away from any of the noisiest areas of your shop as possible.&nbsp;



If you have the means to have a physical barrier between the coworking space and other areas of your shop (say an upstairs area, for example) then this is ideal.&nbsp;



It may also be worth investing in a sound system that allows you to exclude music from your designated coworking space while still having it piped into other areas of your premises.



You also need a dedicated space big enough to meet your demand from coworkers.



I’ve found that during working hours, about one-fifth of your customers will be coworkers. So try to dedicate around that proportion of your seated area to coworking.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-deciding-on-pricing-and-terms">3. Deciding on Pricing and Terms</h5>



Coworking is usually either priced as an individual fee per day, or as a monthly fee that covers a certain number of hours per month.



You are also going to have to decide what is included in this fee. Are coworkers entitled to unlimited food and drinks as part of their fee, or will this be sold separately?



In my experience, the best way of pricing out coworking at a coffee shop is to offer a monthly fee for a certain number of hours. Allow one meal, unlimited drinks and a selection of unlimited snacks as part of this.



Offering free food and drinks as part of your terms gives you a real competitive advantage over coworking spaces. While many coworking spaces do offer complimentary snacks and drinks, these won’t be of the same quality as ones freshly prepared by you.



While you may not be able to offer meeting rooms and private phone booths at your coffee shops, your ability to offer superior food and drinks should make you more appealing to freelancers and solo workers.



When it comes to pricing, current rates (2022) for coworking tend to be around £75 &#8211; £100 for part-time (2-3 days a week) and £125 &#8211; £180 for full-time (5 days a week).



The main variable for this cost is location. So if you are based in London then it&#8217;s likely you will be at the top end of this scale.



Of course, you will have to experiment with pricing and find the sweet spot between profitability per head and demand.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-getting-the-required-infrastructure-in-place">4. Getting the Required Infrastructure in Place</h5>



To have any chance of being competitive in the coworking market you will need to offer customers:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Ergonomic padded chairs with armrests</li>



<li>Tables of a suitable height to work at&nbsp;</li>



<li>High-speed, reliable <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/wifi/">guest WiFi</a> that can handle multiple users at the same time</li>



<li>A quiet environment</li>



<li>A means of <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/marketing">communicating with existing</a> customers</li>



<li>Opening hours during regular office hours (and ideally longer)</li>
</ul>



Many coffee shops are unlikely to have the required table and chairs, or the internet.&nbsp;



It is imperative that you invest in these things before you offer coworking.&nbsp;



Offering a bad coworking experience due to insufficient infrastructure can damage your reputation and ruin your chances of being seen as a viable coworking option by local people going forward.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-marketing-yourselves-as-a-coworking-space">5. Marketing Yourselves as a Coworking Space</h5>



In my experience, the best way of marketing yourself as a coworking space is to try and rank for the term: “coworking space in [your location]” on Google.



So long as you narrow this down to your really local area, say “coworking space in Hackney” rather than “coworking space in London”, then you have a decent chance of ranking due to a lack of competing coworking spaces in this area.



To optimise your website for this keyword, just do the following:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Set up a dedicated page on your website for your coworking where you talk about your offering and terms. Make sure this is titled with your target keyword.</li>



<li>Add that you offer coworking in your business description and services in your Google My Business account</li>



<li>Add that you offer coworking on some areas of your website’s homepage</li>



<li>Look around if there are any online directories dedicated to coworking spaces and sign yourself up for these.</li>
</ul>



You will not rank for coworking-related keywords immediately. However, if you follow these steps you should be appearing in these searches within a couple of months.



Other ways that you can market yourself as a coworking space include:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Having a sign outside your premises</li>



<li>Making social media posts about it and asking your followers to share it</li>



<li>Emailing existing customers on your email list</li>



<li>Taking out an advertisement in the local newspaper (this is always cheaper and more effective than you expect it to be)</li>
</ul>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-final-thoughts">Final Thoughts</h5>



The rise of remote working after the pandemic has meant that the part-time coworking space market will certainly grow in the next few years.



Coffee shops are in a prime position to take advantage of this as they can set up a coworking space without core changes to their business operations. All they need are a few tweaks to be able to compete with (often overpriced) dedicated coworking spaces.



If you have a large premise, then this could be an excellent opportunity for you to increase and diversify your income.



This article was written by Oli Baise. Oli helps run London-based coffee shop The Coffee Traveller. He writes about all things coffee and the coffee industry in his blog <a href="https://drinkycoffee.com/">Drinky Coffee</a>.

How to Set Up a Coworking Space in Your Coffee Shop

Team Update

The Power of Reviews and Recommendations

What is Real-Time Marketing in Retail?

3 Steps to transforming the customer experience in retail

Guest WiFi in the Retail Industry

This month we&#8217;ve been putting the spotlight on branding within Stampede.



Consistent branding has a huge positive impact on customer loyalty and engagement. The goal is to improve recognition and recollection amongst your customers, increasing the chance of word-of-mouth marketing. And we all want more of that lovely free advertising.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-new">What&#8217;s new?</h2>



Brand Kits &#8211; a single location in Stampede to control your brand settings across all channels. This includes WiFi login, review feedback emails, website forms, and the table booking widget.



Bringing the settings for all these into one location will save you and your teams heaps of time and effort. Deploying consistent branding this way won&#8217;t have directly measurable results but it&#8217;s impact will be positive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digging-into-details">Digging into details</h2>



Within the Brand Kit you&#8217;ll be able to save things like text font for both headings and body text at account level to save you doing this for every email.



You&#8217;ll also be able to upload a Primary image, such as your logo, and colour to be used across all your channels. This would control the colour of all your call-to-action buttons for example &#8220;Book now&#8221; on an email or &#8220;Confirm booking&#8221; on your table booking widget.



Lastly (for now) you can also set a default Background image to be used in various locations. This might be a collage of your dishes, an artful photo of your interior design, or maybe something more conceptual around your brand like a pattern.



Once you&#8217;ve got these set you can check the previews to see how your various channels will look.



Ideally they should be very similar to your menus, website and any other existing brand elements you have.



If you have an existing brand book &#8211; this will be the place to input that so that it&#8217;s saved across your account.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coming-soon">Coming soon</h2>



Booking confirmation pages &#8211; our team is working on a new landing page for table booking confirmations. It&#8217;ll make managing bookings easier for customers, and we&#8217;re including ways to help them spread the word about their visit to your venues.



Review capture design &#8211; we&#8217;re also giving our Reviews automation emails a refresh. Mobile optimisation is our main priority here, and when paired with the Brand kits, it&#8217;ll tie the digital customer experience together.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-getting-started">Getting started</h2>



If you&#8217;ve got a Stampede account and want to learn more about Brand kit, or get some help setting up, <a href="mailto:support@stampede.ai?subject=Learn%20more%20about%20Brand%20Kits">contact our Customer Success team.</a>



Otherwise you can <a href="https://stampede.ai/demo">get a guided tour</a> from one of our team at a time to suit you

New Features & Updates – September 2023

If email open rates are falling out of favour, where should you turn to measure your marketing results?



In the <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-get-insight-from-questionable-email-open-rates-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first part of this series</a>, we introduced an alternative way to analyse open rates in relation to other email elements, such as sending times and subject lines.



However, there are other clever marketing tools that make your marketing results reporting more accurate and meaningful.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">Linking Online Marketing With Offline Events</h5>



The major attribution problem in hospitality is linking your online marketing efforts to in-venue conversions.



Let’s take a look at 3 clever tools you can use to measure your marketing results and better understand customer behaviour.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">1) Unique Voucher Codes</h5>



Is there a way to track customers that came to your venue based on promotions you’ve sent?



With <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/new-stampede-marketing-feature-unique-voucher-codes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unique voucher codes</a>, you can easily link your offers to your emails. Once customers come to your venue to redeem the voucher, you can track each conversion back to your individual campaigns via the unique code.



This allows for more granular campaign reporting and you know exactly how many repeat visits and revenue you’ve generated on the back of your voucher campaign.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">2) Website Pixel</h5>



Is your website converting new customers and generating bookings?



To answer this you need to <a href="https://cookie-script.com/blog/tracking-pixel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">install a website pixel</a>. This is a simple line of tracking code added to a webpage. You might have done something similar with Google or Facebook.



With the pixel, you can see your customers’ interactions and behaviours across your website and on particular pages. This can tell you how many bookings you get via your website and where they came from, i.e. emails, advertising, etc. 



The pixel also helps you to identify your best-performing landing pages and uncover potential areas to improve on your website. Such as including more ‘book now’ buttons.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-utm-tracking">3) UTM Tracking</h5>



How do customers behave when they read your email, do they click on the links?&nbsp;



For this, you have to include <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/improve-your-campaign-measurement/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UTMs in your links</a>, particular text strings that are added at the end of a website URL. Google Analytics uses those to track website visitors coming from different sources.



UTMs let you trace the full range of customer activity created on your website, from the moment they land on your website to taking a certain action such as booking a table. This is all based on one traceable source, i.e. the button on your email.



How to build a UTM:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Campaign source &#8211; referrer, i.e. newsletter</li><li>Campaign medium &#8211; medium, i.e. email</li><li>Campaign name &#8211; campaign name, i.e. summer22_offer</li><li>Campaign content &#8211; additional information, i.e. booking_button</li></ul>



Here’s what your URL would look like:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-15-at-14.07.11.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="551" height="56" src="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-15-at-14.07.11.png" alt="" class="wp-image-21830" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-15-at-14.07.11.png 551w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-15-at-14.07.11-300x30.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-15-at-14.07.11-150x15.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-15-at-14.07.11-190x19.png 190w" sizes="(max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px" /></a></figure>







Tip &#8211; use this <a href="https://ga-dev-tools.web.app/campaign-url-builder/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">free Google tool</a> to quickly custom-build your URLs.



Want to measure more marketing results and conversions easily? <a href="https://h.stampede.ai/meetings/stampede/demo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Get in touch</a> with our team to find out more.

3 Clever Tools That Simplify How You Measure Marketing Results

Hey there everyone! Hope you&#8217;re having an awesome summer! 
We don&#8217;t have much of a sunny season here in Scotland, simply a part of the year where it doesn&#8217;t rain quite as much.
But that hasn&#8217;t stopped us here at Stampede &#8211; in addition to providing WiFi to a number of the <a href="https://stampede.ai/press/blackbx-one-million-customers-and-counting/">world&#8217;s hottest music festivals</a> over the past few weeks, we&#8217;ve been busy packing new improvements into Stampede and tweaking the awesome features you already know and love.
Here&#8217;s just a few of the updates we&#8217;ve brought to Stampede in July:
<h2 class="list-header ng-binding">Custom CSS</h2>
<img decoding="async" class="wp-image-5211 size-medium" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 360px;" title="Stampede Custom CSS" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/Imported_Blog_Media/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-12_13_56-360x168.png" alt="Stampede Custom CSS" width="360" data-constrained="true" />
You know, of course, that the Stampede splash screen can be <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing">customised with your </a><a style="background-color: transparent;" href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing">own logo and branding</a> but now, with our latest tweak, you can now add your own custom C
SS to create the splash screen of your dreams.
<h2 class="list-header ng-binding">Advanced Email Validation</h2>
We&#8217;ve tweaked the input process, so that email addresses will now go through more validation checks before gaining access to the WiFi. Eliminate the frustration of building up a mailing list composed of fake email addresses.
<div class="caption"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-5222 size-medium" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 304px;" title="Stampede Overview" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/Imported_Blog_Media/Stampede-Connect-Dashboard-2017-07-25-304x270.png" alt="Stampede Overview" width="304" data-constrained="true" /></div>
<h2 class="list-header ng-binding">Simplified Reports</h2>
<a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#analytics">Our reporting features</a> have had some changes. It&#8217;s now easier for you to view the information you need, in an easier to understand and simplified way.
<h2 class="list-header ng-binding">Table Export</h2>
Need to collate your data into <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing">another program like Mailchimp or even a CSV</a>? No problem, export functionality has been added to multiple location reports.
<h2>Something We Missed?</h2>
We&#8217;re constantly improving Stampede but we can&#8217;t do it without your input. You, yes, you! Got an idea that you&#8217;d like to see in Stampede? Then make your voice heard!
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>
Don&#8217;t want to fill out an online form? No worries &#8211; you can also reach out to us on <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/company/blackbx">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blackbxwifi/">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/Stampedewifi">Twitter</a>!

Stampede Updates – July 2017

Chris Wilkie

It is a well-known fact that there are several ways to garner positive 5-star reviews for your business. But one has also be aware of the <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/the-power-of-reviews-and-recommendations/">impact</a>, positive as well as negative ones, can have on your overall business performance and growth.



Good service and customer care are &#8211; of course &#8211; very obvious things that convince your customers to give your business a good rating. But we could all use a little help every now and then, right?







<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Generating Your Link</h4>



Stampede is not only about providing your shop with awesome <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-does-wi-fi-marketing-work/">WiFi </a>and your customers with an epic experience, but we&#8217;ve also found a way to generate more 5-stars reviews for your business on Google.



1. Go to the <a href="https://developers.google.com/places/place-id">Google Places API</a> and search for the place ID of your business.



2. Add your place ID to the end of this link:



<figure class="wp-block-embed"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=[YOUR-PLACE-ID]
</div></figure>



3. Open the link in a browser and copy the generated link. Note that your actual link will look much more confusing that the one below.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://your-link-that-has-a-lot-of-numbers-and-letters
</div></figure>



4. Finally add ,5 (comma 5) to the end of the generated link.



<figure class="wp-block-embed"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://your-link-that-has-a-lot-of-numbers-and-letters,5
</div></figure>



And there we go!&nbsp;This link will propose everyone who clicks on it to rate your business with 5-stars on Google. Great, isn’t it? Now, this isn&#8217;t going to automatically have the customer give your business a 5-star review. They can still change the rating if they want. You&#8217;re just suggesting they rate your place with 5 stars. After all, you&#8217;ve earned it, right?&nbsp;



As the link is very long and not exactly tidy, we propose you use a <a href="https://bitly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">short URL generator</a> to make the link good looking and ready to share.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Using Stampede already?</h4>



Then we have even better news for you, as there are fantastic ways to employ this link within your marketing helping you to grow your online reviews.



The first option is to send the link to customers with the marketing automation that Stampede offers for <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing">emails and SMS</a>.



Another great option is to redirect every customer, who logs on your WiFi network, to this prefilled review form.



The steps to do so, are even easier:



1. Log on your account at <a href="https://connect.stampede.ai/">https://connect.stampede.ai/</a>



2. Go to “Location” and choose the venue you want to set up the review form for



3. Go to “Set Up” and choose “General”



4. Here you can now paste the generated link into the “Landing URL”- Box



5. Hit the “Save” button below



And voilà &#8211; now all logins to your Stampede WiFi are proposed to leave a 5-star review for your business! Lean back and keep track of your increase in online reviews.&nbsp;



One of the many benefits we offer!&nbsp;&nbsp;



If you are not using Stampede WiFi for your business yet, it is about time to make a change to smart guest WiFi today! There’s a world of opportunities to discover to grow your business.



Did you know that our software also prevents negative reviews from getting online? Find out more about our <a href="https://stampede.ai/reviews/">reviews feature</a>. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#schedule-demohttps://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a></h2>

Grow your Business with 5-star Reviews

More effective way to run meta ads for hospitality

4 Ways CRM Data Can Be Used in Day-to-Day Service by Your Staff

How to Use Segmentation to Increase Guest Engagement in Hospitality

Introducing Quick Campaigns

Snap Box – Stampede Network Application

Stampede-Meta Audience Connect: Simplifying multi-channel marketing strategies

A new kind of marketplace for hospitality apps

October Update – 3x Faster Guest WiFi and more

Feature Update – Improved campaigns, reporting and imports

Did you know that <a href="https://supplygem.com/social-media-statistics/">42% of the current population makes use of social media</a>? Most of these users are attracted by the visual content. This is a refreshing contrast to the clutter of written content we’re constantly exposed to online. But when your business is competing against virtually thousands of other companies to “get seen” on these social media platforms, the question is — how you can compete effectively? And how to design your social media posts to do so?







Our answer is to tackle social media with good designs. If you want to use social media platforms to leverage your fans towards your business, then excellent designs are what you need to make this happen.



In this article, we’ll discuss 10 principles that you can follow to create attractive and effective social media posts for your brand.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Consistency Is Key</h4>



When it comes to choosing an image for your brand, you want to keep your colour schemes, logo design, and even the type of fonts you use for your marketing consistent. This consistency is what helps audiences to recognise you among the crowds.&nbsp;



At the same time, however, you also need to keep each post unique. Otherwise, your audiences may tire of your “same old” posts. For example, you can use free stock images to give your viewers something appealing to look at. Whilst also keeping the background colour and typography relevant to your brand’s image.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Fonts Are Important</h4>



Fonts bring life to the message of your design. It’s very important that you select fonts that embody the personality and character of your brand. For instance, sports brands can get away with quirky fonts that ooze energy while banks and insurance companies should stick to placid fonts that make readers feel secure.&nbsp;



Just because social media is mostly about visual content, it does not mean that written content must be omitted completely. You simply need to get artsy with your wording so that it forms part of your design. Remember, whatever fonts you choose, make sure you apply them consistently.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Images Should Have Enough Clear Copy Space</h4>



When we talk about copy space, then we are referring to the empty areas in images where text can be placed. By placing your text in areas with clear copy space, you can automatically improve the legibility of your design. Whether this copy space is white, a solid colour, or gently patterned. It will help to ensure that your message is made clearly visible.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. Present Data Visually</h4>



If you have a lot of data that you need to share, then creating an <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/infographic-how-likely-are-people-to-act-on-promotions/">infographic</a> is one way you can display your information visually. An infographic is a design that’s made up of text, icons and images. It is an excellent option for health, charity, or educational organisations that need to share facts to get their message across.&nbsp;



Fact: A survey administered by popular marketing company Venngage found that <a href="https://www.lucidpress.com/blog/32-infographic-stats-facts">42% of marketers agreed that infographics and other original graphics were the most engaging type of posts</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">5. Remember to Include Your Logo</h4>



This principle may seem obvious but you would be surprised by how many companies forget to add their brand’s most important marketing tool to their social media designs.&nbsp;



Apart from remembering to include your logo clearly in your social media post design, you should also make it a priority to keep the positioning and size of your logo consistent. For example, try to keep it positioned either centre, right, or aligned to the left in each of your posts. This consistency falls in line with our first principle.&nbsp;



As a rule of thumb: Your logo shouldn’t be sized so large that it overpowers your design. At the same time, it is also important that it isn’t too small or hard to locate in a busy image.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">6. Use Filters that Enhance Your Brand Identity</h4>



Applying a filter to your social media posts can help give your visual content a unique look and feel. Use filters to brighten images, exaggerate certain colours, or to give a design a feeling of nostalgia. So, when selecting a filter, it’s important that you first have a clear idea about how you want your images to look and what you want them to communicate.&nbsp;



Remember filters are optional, so only apply them if you are 100% sure that they are going to add value to your posts.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">7. Optimise Your Image Posts for Different Social Media Platforms</h4>



The different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google all have preferred image dimensions. This means that for your post to remain attractive, you may have to adjust and tweak your design accordingly.&nbsp;



This, of course, can be quite time-consuming. We suggest that you optimise your graphics efficiently by creating templates for your regular post-types. For example, you could try these ideas:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>A weekly industry tip</li><li>A weekly profound and relevant quote</li><li>A weekly post that links back to your blog</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">8. Use Free Tools</h4>



<a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/5-useful-free-marketing-tools-that-anyone-can-use/">Use free tools</a> such as <a href="https://www.canva.com/">Canva</a> or <a href="https://www.designer.io/en/">Gravit Designer</a> to help create profound designs. These tools not only supply templates that have been strategically designed to attract viewers but they also give you ideas to draw inspiration from. 



There are even niche tools out there like <a href="https://www.musthavemenus.com/category/social-media-templates.html">MustHaveMenus</a> that offer design templates specifically for bars and restaurants



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">9. Prioritise Images Over Text</h4>



The reason why audiences respond better to images on social media is that they’re easier to digest (they are not as intimidating as text messages). With this in mind, we advise you to keep text to the minimum. In fact, if your <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-take-perfect-food-image-for-instagram/">images are strong</a> enough, you might not need any text or graphic overlays at all.



An idea: Why not replace words with icons? This is one creative way to keep text minimal whilst still conveying a message. For example, use an icon of a dog to communicate that you are an animal-friendly restaurant.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">10. Make Your Messages Meaningful</h4>



People prefer posts that speak to them on their level. They want to see images that they can relate to. This means that you need to make the messages you convey personal and “down-to-earth”. Use marketing tools such as “Wi-Fi marketing” to find out what it is that your target market wants to see from you.&nbsp;



Over to you…



In order to create effective social media posts that are engaging and worthy of a “like” or upvote, it’s important to be conscious of the above design principles.&nbsp;



If you want to know more about how you can reach customers and draw in the crowds effectively, then please <a href="https://stampede.youcanbook.me/">contact us here at Stampede.</a> Understanding social media marketing isn’t just about creating graphics that look good — it’s about learning to express yourself in a rapidly moving social media environment.



Need some content tips for your social media posts? Download your free copy of our Social Media Content Calendar 2020 now. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>





<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

How To Design Social Media Posts Effectively

Never miss a message from your customers again with our brand new product feature: the Stampede Inbox.



It can indeed be a challenge and time-consuming task to stay on top of your various inboxes.



<a href="https://www.superoffice.co.uk/resources/articles/customer-service-study/">A recent customer service study</a> found that a worrying number of 62% of customer enquiries are left unanswered.



Common reasons are inboxes not being connected to a CRM and only a limited number of staff having access to incoming emails.



So, what about centralising all customer communication to one platform that is accessible to the whole team?



Such a unified inbox massively improves your response times and gets you extra points for your quick and streamlined customer service.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-it-works">How It Works</h2>



All incoming customer requests and responses are received in the inbox and stored under their individual profiles.



Staff members can then reply straight away in only a few clicks which means happier customers.



There is also the option to add internal notes to keep your team updated.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why The Stampede Inbox Is Unique</h2>



What makes our inbox a one-of-a-kind is that it comes ready-linked to every other interaction your customers have via Stampede. 



There&#8217;s no more piecing together the conversations and information from disjointed platforms. 



This creates a single 360° customer view, providing you with more context based on previous customer interactions and historic data.&nbsp;



So you can craft personalised responses that are relevant to each customer.



The Stampede Inbox is now available for all customers. Head to <a href="https://product.stampede.ai/">Stampede</a> to explore our new product feature in more detail.



If you have any questions or need a hand, reach out to our <a href="https://meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/murdo">Customer Success team</a> who are happy to help.

Meet Stampede Inbox: Never Miss Another Message 

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4 Best Restaurant Table Booking Software Compared

Strengthen Your Brand With Customised Booking Emails

Buyer’s Guide: 11 Key Features Your Table Booking System Needs

New Feature – Stampede Table Booking System

5 Tips To Sell More Gift Cards This Festive Season

Do you have control over your automated online reviews? Imagine this, your customer has booked a table at your venue through your booking platform. The actual booking never takes place as the customer is a no show. However, as far as the booking platform is concerned, the booking went ahead. Which then resulted in an automated review request&#8230;&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



 Some customers might just ignore those requests, but others might still rate you. But what do they rate their experience on? Certainly not based on their actual in-venue experience. And there are many examples of customers leaving reviews purely based on their pre-visit customer experience.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-online-reviews-the-problem">Online Reviews &#8211; The Problem</h4>



Whether or not the customer came in, a bad review still affects your overall score, and ultimately how potential new customers form an opinion of your venue.



Booking and review platforms usually ask for reviews without knowing that a physical interaction takes place. That’s just the way they’re automated, as the trigger for the request is the booking date itself. They won’t question if it went ahead and if those customers came to your venue at all.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Online Reviews &#8211; The Solution</h4>



So how do you ensure that only people who actually visit your business get an automated review request after they’ve left? It’s pretty straightforward.&nbsp;



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">Trigger The Review Request via Your Guest WiFi</h5>



How does that work?&nbsp;



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>Their initial connection to the WiFi signifies their presence in the venue.</li><li>When they disconnect, and stay disconnected for a period of time, that’s the signal that they’ve left.</li><li>An automated system then uses this information to send a review request.</li></ol>



Systems that can do this (<a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/automations/#reviews" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">like Stampede</a>) are a much more reliable way of gathering valuable customer feedback.&nbsp;



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">Get The Timing Right</h5>



The right timing is another advantage of this immediate post-visit review request. Customers can better recall their experience and are also more likely to leave a review straight after their visit. With automations, the timing can always be right.



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">Use Text Messaging</h5>



Another tip to boost your reviews is having them requested not only via email but also via SMS. After all, your customers spend a good amount of time on their phones and will probably check them when they leave.&nbsp;



Get in touch to find out how our Guest WiFi solution can help your business to better control your online reviews. <a href="contact@stampede.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reach out to one of our team now.</a>

How to Take Back The Control of Your Online Reviews

Infographic: How likely are people to act on promotions?

The latest trend hitting the hospitality headlines is pub desks&nbsp;or “Work From Bars” (WFB).



 The curfew situation has created an interesting pivot opportunity for pubs, bars and licensed restaurants:



Open earlier and provide an alternative &#8220;office&#8221; environment.



Many people are getting tired of working from the kitchen table and are rightly looking to change their environment up a bit, if they still can’t get back in the office.



 In <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54472414" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this BBC article</a>, the journalist tries WFB at their local pub, and gets encouraging feedback about why pub desks are appreciated by owners and customers alike.



 It’s fast to set up and promote too. Here’s a quick checklist for setting up:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>An offer/package. Consider the following: fixed price, guaranteed power socket, food and drink, choice of time slots and durations.&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/wifi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Good quality WiFi</a> with strong coverage throughout the venue. Security is important here as people could be handling potentially sensitive work related information.</li><li>A booking system</li><li>Staff to cover any earlier opening hours</li><li>Think about table layout to optimise space near power outlets (or stock up on extension cords)</li><li>Bonus: A Loyalty scheme. Encourage people to use your pub desks more often with a <a href="mailto:contact@stampede.ai?subject=Digital%20Stamp%20Cards&amp;body=Looking%20for%20a%20loyalty%20scheme%3F%20We&amp;#039;ve%20got%20a%20brand%20new%20digital%20stamp%20card%20app%20that%20we&amp;#039;d%20love%20you%20to%20try%20out%20for%20FREE.%20Just%20hit%20Send%20on%20this%20email%20and%20we&amp;#039;ll%20get%20back%20to%20you." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">digital stamp card.&nbsp;</a></li></ul>



The concept isn’t entirely new. Brewdog recently started offering “<a href="https://www.brewdog.com/uk/locations/bar-experience/desk-dog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Desk Dog</a>” that included a dedicated work space, WiFi, unlimited coffee/tea and a free pint of beer at the end of your booked time. People would naturally hang around after finishing work, and more sales followed.



 There’s even a new directory&nbsp;set up with the help of <a href="https://www.barlifeuk.com/index.php/2020/09/work-from-bars-initiative-add-your-venue-to-a-growing-list-of-daytime-working-spaces/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bar Life UK</a> where you can list your venue as open for office workers. Check out the details here: <a href="https://www.barlifeuk.com/index.php/2020/09/work-from-bars-initiative-add-your-venue-to-a-growing-list-of-daytime-working-spaces/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bar Life UK</a>



 If you’re planning to offer &#8220;pub desks&#8221; and want to get the message out to existing customers, <a href="https://stampede.ai/company/#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">get in touch</a> with one of the team and we’ll help you spread the word, fast.

Turning Tables Into Desks

Vertical: The Future of Video Content for Digital Marketing

Emma Dittmer

DIY meal-kit demand has skyrocketed in the past year. Businesses have put a lot of effort into coming up with their own kits. And their customers loved it! Lots of us have discovered some unknown chef talent. Indeed, meal-kits seem to be a win-win for businesses and customers alike.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



But now that venues start to reopen again and customers are able to enjoy their meals at your venue, what will happen to your meal-kit offers? How could you further increase your meal-kit sales?



According to the recent report “A Tale of Two Tables” by <a href="https://kam-media.co.uk/resources/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">KAM Media and Slerp</a>, 89% of customers want the restaurant brand to continue delivering and 62% want their favourite restaurant brand to start selling meal boxes nationwide.&nbsp;



So is it worth keeping your meal-kit offering available to satisfy this demand, whilst also reopening for normal service?



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reasons-why-meal-kits-are-here-to-stay">Reasons Why Meal-Kits Are Here to Stay</h4>



Our <a href="https://twitter.com/stampede_speaks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#PrepStartsNow</a> partner Flipdish sees meal-kits as a <a href="https://www.flipdish.com/resources/blog/why-meal-kits-are-here-to-stay-and-a-smart-new-revenue-stream-for-your-business" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">key revenue stream for restaurants in the future</a>.



Here’s why:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The number of bookings allowed in venues is still limited and lots of your customers might not be able to secure a booking.</li><li>They are an additional revenue stream with little additional costs.</li><li>You can reach more potential customers with your offerings. Some might not be able to travel to your physical location.</li><li>It’s convenient for your customers &#8211; no need to look for recipes and buy ingredients.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-create-more-meal-kit-ordering-buzz">How to Create More Meal-Kit Ordering Buzz</h4>



<a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/quick-tips-to-drive-more-sales-at-home-kits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Customer awareness about DIY meal-kits has reached a mainstream level.</a> It’s now on to you to make the most out of this and secure more revenue from your meal-kit sales.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-spread-the-word">1. Spread the Word</h4>



Leverage your social channels and share regular posts about your meal-kits. Highlight the fact that customers can still order your popular kits to enjoy at home. Pin your posts and add an “order direct” button to make it as easy as possible for customers.



Don’t forget to add your meal-kit offerings to your regular newsletters to increase sales. For a little extra sales push, combine them with a promotion.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-come-up-with-new-meal-kit-ideas">2. Come Up With New Meal-Kit Ideas</h4>



With Summer just around the corner, customers might want to take their dining experience outdoors. What about <a href="https://lovindublin.com/lovin-home-comforts/bbq-kits-order-cook-at-home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BBQ</a> or picnic meal-kits? Get creative to make your offerings even more attractive.&nbsp;



Consider special event meal-kits for birthdays, anniversaries, sports events, etc. You might also offer a premium version of it with limited or high-end specials and ingredients.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-get-the-maximum-out-of-your-online-store">3. Get the Maximum Out Of Your Online Store</h4>



Make sure that your online store lets you upsell and cross-promote your entire product range for additional revenue.



Also, allow your customers to add special dietary restrictions during the ordering process. You might also think about making your meal-kits available in different group sizes and offering a special family version.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-go-the-extra-mile">4. Go the Extra Mile</h4>



Turn your DIY meal-kits into a special at-home customer experience, provide more than just food and drinks. This could be table decorations or a curated playlist of music.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-bonus-tip-nationwide-delivery">5. Bonus Tip &#8211; Nationwide Delivery</h4>



By offering your meal-kits nationwide you can upscale your reach and increase meal-kit sales massively. You can connect to a whole new range of customers. Plus, you can also deliver to your regular customers whilst they are on their staycations.



Several operators already offer this such as Pizza Pilgrims. The biggest challenge is packaging, but if others can solve that, so can you!



Need some assistance with spreading the word about your meal-kit offerings via email and SMS marketing campaign? <a href="contact@stampede.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reach out</a> to our team. We are happy to help.

4 Creative Ways to Increase Your Meal-Kit Sales

WiFi marketing is currently becoming an essential tool for small businesses – and with good reason. Growing in popularity, it’s one of the most innovative and powerful ways to advertise while effectively bridging the communication gap between the retailer and the customer. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The big question is – how does WiFi advertising work?</h3>



<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">When business owners are first introduced to the term “WiFi marketing”, their response is often a blank stare. This is completely understandable since this form of advertising has taken digital media marketing to a whole new level. For this type of marketing to be possible, you will need to have your own WiFi coverage that preferably remains within the borders of your store. Anyone that uses a WiFi-enabled device (like a smartphone, tablet or laptop), will be able to see and connect to your WiFi network. Upon joining your network, your customer will be redirected to a splash page. Here they will see a message from your store and they will be notified on the terms of use. Many WiFi marketing companies allow you to customise your WiFi splash page with your branding while notifying the user about the network’s terms of use. To agree to these terms and to access your WiFi, the customer will have to enter their email address and you can also prompt them to answer other useful questions. Once they have agreed to give you this information, they can use your WiFi as a hotspot (you can determine the type of access they have and set limits). It’s at this point that your digital marketing efforts can commence. The platform that your customers have just subscribed to can prompt them to visit your other social profiles, it can notify them when you are running a promotion, it can be used to store data for a <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/loyal-customers-should-be-king/">loyalty reward program</a>, and it can even track trends so that you can deliver on what it is your customers are really after – encouraging them to come back for more. One of the biggest novelties about hotspot marketing, however, is that you are now also providing an additional sought-after service. For instance – A study by <a href="https://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&amp;articleId=1591418">Cisco</a> [1] found that 96% of consumers prefer to shop at stores that offer free WiFi, and they’re also more likely to return.</amp-fit-text>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"> How Can My Business Benefit from WiFi Marketing?</h3>



We have briefly touched on why physical retailers are embracing the digital world, with WiFi marketing making its way to the forefront. But let’s take a lengthier look at how it can benefit offline businesses. 



 For the customer it is:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li> Super convenient. Consumers can access a network that’s potentially faster than their mobile network. This means they can enjoy fast browsing while they save on their data usage. </li><li>Able to improve the overall shopping experience. According to a survey done by <a href="https://smallbiztrends.com/2014/06/benefits-of-offering-free-wifi.html">Devicescape</a> [2], almost 62% of a business’s customers stick around for longer when free WiFi is provided. </li></ul>



 For the retailer it:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li> Increases sales. The main goal for most retailers is to drive sales. The more time your customers spend at your store, the more money they are likely to spend or they might stumble across something that they wouldn’t have otherwise seen if they had rushed out of the building. This also gives you more time to “make your pitch” to your customer. </li><li> Helps to get a better understanding of customers. WiFi marketing grants you access to a cornucopia of information and data about customers and their shopping trends. This insight can then be used to get an in-depth understanding of your business, the in-store experience, and what makes shoppers tick. You can also do comparative analysis if you have more than one store location. </li><li>Builds an audience. By <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-build-an-email-list-for-a-non-digital-business/">collecting email address</a> and social profiles, you are creating an audience of interested individuals to whom you can target your marketing efforts. You will also have insight into their shopping and online behaviour, making it possible for you to leverage for more targeted advertisements and promotions.</li><li>Is perfect for promotions. There are several ways that businesses can use WiFi advertising to promote their brand. From placing a message on your splash page to retargeted ads and <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/email-marketing-tips-for-the-hospitality-industry/">email campaigns</a>, the avenues open up a whirlwind of opportunities. For example, many companies have been using their data to make informative store layout and visual merchandising decisions – pleasing consumers and increasing sales conversions as a result. </li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"> Who Offers WiFi Marketing?</h2>



 With digital marketing taking its place as the world’s ultimate form of advertising, offline businesses are looking for solutions so that they can participate in this digital revolution. This means that many marketing companies are branching out to offer similar services. 



 If you would like to increase your own sales and encourage customers to return, we’d like to refer you to Stampede. Stampede is a leading WiFi marketing platform that offers an effective and automated mobile marketing strategy that has been developed with smaller businesses in mind. To get first-hand experience on how WiFi marketing works, get in touch with us now.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>





<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



 From independent coffee shops to global brands with thousands of locations, Stampede is ready to equip you with the tools you need to make your marketing efforts work. 



 References:



 <a href="https://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&amp;articleId=1591418">Cisco Consumer Study.</a>



 <a href="https://smallbiztrends.com/2014/06/benefits-of-offering-free-wifi.html">Survey By Devicescape. </a>

How Does WiFi Marketing Work?

The financial and operational benefits of a <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/what-is-a-hospitality-crm-system-a-full-guide">Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system</a> are immense for any type of business. 



Though CRMs also come in all shapes and sizes, and not all are suitable for the hospitality industry.



We had a look at the main differences between a generic CRM and a hospitality-tailored one.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-generic-crm-vs-hospitality-crm">Generic CRM vs. Hospitality CRM</h2>



Generic CRMs, such as HubSpot or Salesforce, are centred around sales. Their main core features are for example lead management, forecasting and task management. They therefore often fall into the B2B software category.



Hospitality-specific CRMs on the other hand put the customer in the focus, which makes them B2C. Their features are designed to better communicate with customers and create personalised experiences to drive long-term loyalty.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Main differences</h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Customer journey</h4>



The hospitality customer journey covers both online and offline interactions. This makes it much harder to track than a complete online journey an e-commerce business might have.



In order to map out the full journey operators rely on <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/5-common-data-integration-flaws-in-hospitality-tech">integrations to get access to more data points</a>. Even though well-known CRM providers offer a whole range of different integrations, they are mostly not hospitality related.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Customer profiles</h4>



Customer profile management looks entirely different for B2B and B2C.&nbsp;



B2B contact management can be quite complex with associated companies, stakeholders involved, deals attached, etc. None of which is needed in the hospitality context.&nbsp;



What matters here is to build a single customer view. Such a 360° customer profile should include basic contact information but more importantly, store preferences and previous online and offline interactions.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Reporting &amp; Analytics</h4>



Hospitality KPIs are quite unique compared to other industries. They are more focused on visit data and marketing ROI. For example, in-venue visits and retention rates but also table covers, loyalty or WiFi sign-ups. 



Contrary to generic CRMs, these can all be easily accessed in a hospitality-specific one and operators can use them to build their own reports. 



There might be the option to add them to generic ones, however, this will come with additional costs.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Marketing</h4>



Equipped with CRM insights marketers can create <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-create-personalised-marketing-campaigns-with-your-crm">personalised and tailored campaigns</a> that bring customers back.



So integrated email &amp; SMS marketing is probably one of the most important CRM features for hospitality businesses. This also covers the option for setting up marketing automation. 



A CRM is meant to improve operational efficiency. The best time-saving marketing tools are without doubt <a href="https://stampede.ai/downloads/category/Email%20Templates">templates</a> and pre-build customer segments. However, they need to be relevant to the industry to be really effective.



For a quick overview, we’ve summarised the most distinctive differences in the table below:



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="604" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison-1024x604.png" alt="Generic CRM vs. Hospitality CRM" class="wp-image-23149" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison-1024x604.png 1024w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison-300x177.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison-768x453.png 768w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison-1200x708.png 1200w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison-150x88.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CRM-comparison.png 1423w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



The <a href="https://stampede.ai/amaze">Stampede CRM</a> is designed specifically to meet the needs of hospitality operators and marketers. <a href="https://stampede.ai/get-started">Reach out</a> to get started and bring back more customers, more often.

What Makes A Hospitality CRM?

New feature alert! <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/loyalty/">Loyalty</a> by Stampede launches today. Bring more customers back to your venue with our digital stamp cards. Become your customers’ preferred place to go and reward them to increase their loyalty.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Customer loyalty is more important than ever before. Acquiring new customers comes with a notably higher cost than building a long-term relationship with your existing ones. Plus, regular customers spend up to 67% more in your venue compared to one-time visitors.&nbsp;



Loyalty and reward programs are a proven way to keep your customers coming back in. It’s time to ditch your paper stamp cards and take them to the next level. <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/loyalty/">Go digital with Loyalty by Stampede</a> and start saving time and money on printing fliers and paper cards immediately.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-get-started">How to Get Started</h4>



<div class="wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:66.66%">
Loyalty by Stampede is easy to use and quick to set up for your business. You set the reward and decide how many stamps it takes to redeem it.
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:33.33%">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-medium is-resized"><a href="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Loyalty-design-1.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://image.stampede.ai/fill/300/300/ce/0/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdGFtcGVkZS5haS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMS8wNC9Mb3lhbHR5LWRlc2lnbi0xLTMwMHgzMDAucG5n" alt="loyalty design" class="wp-image-19829" width="271" height="271"/></a></figure>
</div>
</div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-improved-customer-experience">Improved Customer Experience</h4>



Improve your customer experience with our digital stamp card. Loyalty by Stampede offers your customers an uncomplicated way to get rewarded for each visit. What’s more, all your returning customers will be automatically issued with their digital stamp card and stamps!



Your customers only need to download the app once to start collecting points. The Stampede loyalty app allows them to keep all their stamp cards from different venues handy in one place. They&#8217;ll never miss a stamp, forget a card or end up with duplicate cards again.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-benefits-of-using-loyalty-by-stampede">Benefits of using Loyalty by Stampede</h4>



<div class="wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-2 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:66.66%">
<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Increased spend per head and visit</li><li>Fast and easy change of promotions and offers&nbsp;</li><li>Customise your loyalty cards to your own branding</li><li>No staff training required</li><li>Save money on printing costs for flyers and posters</li></ul>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:33.33%">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-medium is-resized"><a href="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Loyalty-redeem-1.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://image.stampede.ai/fill/300/300/ce/0/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdGFtcGVkZS5haS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMS8wNC9Mb3lhbHR5LXJlZGVlbS0xLTMwMHgzMDAucG5n" alt="loyalty redemption methods" class="wp-image-19831" width="257" height="257"/></a></figure>
</div>
</div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-customers-get-their-stamps">How Customers Get Their Stamps:</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list" id="block-4ebaf83e-1901-41be-b998-75a21aba3b8f"><li>By logging into your <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/wifi/">Guest WiFi</a>&nbsp;</li><li>Through scanning a QR code</li><li>Through taping a unique NFC tag with their phone</li></ul>



<a href="https://stampede.ai/company/#contact">Get in touch</a> with one of our team to set up Loyalty by Stampede at your venue today. Sign up your business before 15th May 2021 and you’ll get Loyalty for free for 6 months.

New Feature – Loyalty By Stampede

We’re working hard towards January&#8217;s Beta release of Connect 3.0. What does this mean to you? It means you can register to be one of the first testers!

So what&#8217;s coming up in Version 3.0? Man &#8211; you are just full of questions today, aren&#8217;t you? No worries. Happy to let you know what&#8217;s coming up.  Just take a look at some of the goodies we&#8217;ve packed into version 3.0:
<h3>Version 3.0 Changelog</h3>
<ul>
<li>Connect Account Login via Google</li>
<li>Simplified interface</li>
<li>Zapier Integration &#8211; New zap &#8216;Unvalidated Registration&#8217;</li>
<li>UniFi Integration &#8211; Enter details once, stay in sync forever
<ul>
<li>Email validation timeouts now work on UniFi</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Meraki Integration &#8211; Simple integration with the Cisco Meraki platform</li>
<li>PayPal Integration &#8211; Enter details once, rather than site by site basis</li>
<li>Notification Center &#8211; e.g. email alerts for invoices, insight reports and much more!</li>
<li>Advanced device management of user payments/devices</li>
<li>Marketing
<ul>
<li>Setup wizard</li>
<li>Templates</li>
<li>New &#8220;Not seen in Audience&#8221; segment</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Beyond</h3>
After Beta moves to Golden Master Release; there will be more big changes coming up, including the refactoring of the way we offer content filtering and major under-the-hood changes which should make some of the other features you’ve been requesting at our <a class="" href="https://feature-vote.stampede.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Feature Vote</a> easier to implement (dual daily schedules for example).
<h3>Want to Try the Next Generation?</h3>
You can register to become part of our Beta testing programe and try out new Connect 3.0, with all its new features, by simply sending us a request through the button below:
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NOTE: Connect 3.0 has undergone our normal stringent internal testing. However, as it is in Beta, some bugs may still be present. If you come across any, please report them <a class="" href="mailto:beta@stampede.ai?subject=Beta%20Bug" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.
Releasing an update of this magnitude as a Beta is a first for us&#8230; and we&#8217;ll keep doing this going forward as we can get feedback from you  and implement incremental changes quicker.
Connect 3.0 will be in Beta for approximately one month in order to ensure all bugs have been ironed out. It will then be rolled out to all customers.

ANNOUNCING Connect 3.0 Beta

Planning, importing data, reporting. These are the bread around the meat of your marketing campaigns (i.e. the fun bit with all the actual content).



In most platforms, campaign reporting often creates more questions than answers, is hard to understand and difficult to navigate.



Likewise, importing CSV lists is often a major frustration for marketers across the board.



It can be so much easier to plan and iterate on your email campaigns, and we’ll prove it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-new">What&#8217;s New?</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Segments</h3>



Create new segments in one click from past campaigns.&nbsp;



Target just the openers, or just the clickers to double-down on conversions with a tailored follow-up campaign.



Navigate to a campaign, head to the reports and you’re one click from a new audience segment.



Follow-up campaigns to engaged, but not converted, customers are hugely effective at increasing conversions.



Try it now.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Planning</h3>



A small but critical part of your campaigns. When should you send them? Normally this takes months of testing to get answers.



To get you an answer now, we’ve added a new AI-powered helper to give you better insight into the best send times for your business.



You can now see the best day of the week and time of day to send emails for maximum performance, based on your past campaigns.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reporting">Reporting</h3>



From what we’ve seen out there, these tend to be quite rubbish.&nbsp;



With this latest update, our campaign reports provide the detail that so many miss, giving you valuable insight in seconds&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Improved conversion attribution reports show real spend at your venue via walk-ins / bookings / gift card sales / online orders</li>



<li>Full email click maps help you pinpoint the most popular content in your campaign, so you can optimise future emails and boost your click-through rate</li>



<li>Quick breakdowns of Most engaged contacts and top clicked links, make it easy to see what performed best and who your biggest fans are</li>



<li>Export reports to CSV for further analysis. Handy if you need to send them on to third-parties outside your organisation, or merge with other data.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-data-imports">Data Imports</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>CSV uploads are way faster with bigger files. Merge and move lists faster. If this has been holding you back from switching email platform, it’s time to reassess.</li>



<li>Auto-emails will tell you when an import is done. Hit “Upload” and get back to designing the email whilst your audience populates.</li>



<li>Field mapping: also faster.</li>
</ul>



All of this is now available on your Stampede account, so<a href="https://product.stampede.ai"> get stuck in.</a>&nbsp;



If you need any help you can reach our team on <a href="mailto:support@stampede.ai">support@stampede.ai</a> or visit our Knowledge Base

GDPR isn&#8217;t another networking acronym or government agency. GDPR is short for the <a href="http://www.eugdpr.org">General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),</a> which takes effect on May 25, 2018 throughout the EU.

<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/tackling-gdpr-compliance-before-time-runs-out">Any business established in the European Union</a>  will have to comply with all the GDPR laws. Of course, with Brexit approaching rapidly, requirements may fluctuate with the UK, but even UK based businesses that deal with EU customers will be bound by the GDPR rules.
<iframe loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/n5WJOncaHt4" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Basically the goal of GDPR is to empower individual data privacy. It ensures that when people give their personal information out to a business, that data is used for a specific purpose, kept only for specific period of time and stored securely.
<h3>What does GDPR Mean for Your Business WiFi ?</h3>
<a href="https://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2016/08/public-wi-fi-forget-the-scare-stories-read-this/">There are a lot of myths</a> floating around about what exactly GDPR is going to mean for your business &#8211; from multi million dollar fines for users downloading pirated movies on your network, to businesses being required to retain personal data for all users on their WiFi network. Some of the stories are just that &#8211; stories &#8211; while other rumors are filled with half truths.
<h3>Why even bother with the hassle?</h3>
With Stampede, you can offer your patrons <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#security">safe, secure and &#8211; yes &#8211; GDPR compliant WiFi. </a>
Terms and Conditions, data retention, <a href="/blog/blackbx-wifi-and-gdpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GDPR requirements</a> &#8211; we&#8217;ll take care of all of that for you so that you can get on with what you really want to do: run your business.
Users in your business connect to your WiFi through our secure captive portal (<a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing">fully brandable as yours, of course</a>) where they can authenticate with a social media profile, like Facebook, or by using an email address. You can use this opportunity to then <a href="/blog/press/marketing-with-wifi">gather marketing data about your customers</a> &#8211; name, age, post/zip code &#8211; and even ask questions. Once connected, users need never log in again.
The end result? Customer data is kept safe, secure and, most importantly,  GDPR compliant.
<h3>Get GDPR Compliant Today</h3>
You can get started getting your business GDPR compliant for FREE!
Stampede <a class="" href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#integration">integrates with most of the world&#8217;s leading WiFi equipment providers</a> &#8211; award winning names like UniFi, Open Mesh, LigoWave, Cisco and more. Don&#8217;t have your own WiFi equipment? No problem, we can help you out there, too.
Don&#8217;t let GDPR ruin your business &#8211; try Stampede today!
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

Offer GDPR Compliant WiFi with Stampede

It’s time to break out the Doritos and enable cookies, cause today is the day we celebrate the first thing you ask for when you go to a new friends house or when you arrive to a new hotel or a restaurant &#8211;  Yes, you guessed right, today is World WiFi Day!
Thank you WiFi, for connecting people, creating communities and giving us access to a wealth of information, more than any library could contain. Most of it is cat videos, but we still appreciate the resource.
<h2>Do we need WiFi?</h2>
But did you know that there are still more than 4 billion people throughout the world that don’t have internet access? &#8211; That’s 4 billion people that don’t have immediate access to any important information like weather reports, world news, emergency services and even the things that aren’t that important. Like an answer to the question ‘can a bee sting another bee?’ &#8211; Yes &#8211;  or ‘How many people speak Klingon worldwide?’ &#8211; est. 300,000.
<h2>But what&#8217;s the purpose of World WiFi day?</h2>
World Wi-Fi Day is taking place today, on the 20th of June, and it aims to recognise the importance WiFi has on the modern world, and to “<a href="http://worldwifiday.com/about-us/what-is-world-wi-fi-day/">help bridge the digital divide</a>”. WiFi is playing a very significant role in cities and communities around the world, trying to ‘connect the unconnected’  through innovative projects and diverse initiatives.
We know how important WiFi is to us, but it plays an even more crucial role in developing countries: Providing internet access means providing people with opportunities to upskill themselves, as well as improve social mobility and increase economic growth.
<h2>Start offering Guest WiFi in your business</h2>
So &#8211; Why not offer your customers or guests free WiFi?  Keep your customers connected with Stampede and take your business to next level in  just a few minutes.
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

Stampede Celebrating World WiFi day

There’s no escaping the fact that staffing is a major problem in the hospitality industry right now. Adding to that, recruitment to solve the staffing problem is not only time-consuming in itself but also challenging at the moment too.



However, there are a bunch of ways that digital tools and automation that can help you when short-staffed.&nbsp;It’s all about getting more done with less so that your team can focus on doing what they’re best at &#8211; creating and delivering an unforgettable customer experience.&nbsp;



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<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digitise-and-automate-your-tasks">Digitise and automate your tasks</h4>



There’re various areas of your business that you can automate. As a starting point, have a look at platforms like <a href="https://zapier.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zapier</a> or <a href="https://automate.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automate.io</a> to get some ideas around easy workflow automations. They’re quick to set up but can take a big workload off your shoulders.



Tools like those are ideal for tasks like collating data from different sources into one, formatting large spreadsheets and creating alerts and messages for your team to act on.



In general, we would recommend focusing your automations on your customer communication and reviews.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-plan-and-schedule-social-media-posts">Plan and schedule social media posts</h4>



Operating a business and coming up with regular social media posts to engage with your customers can be tough. To free up some of your time, make use of platforms such as <a href="https://later.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Later</a>, <a href="https://www.hootsuite.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hootsuite</a>&nbsp;or <a href="https://buffer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buffer</a>&nbsp;to plan posts ahead and schedule them in advance.&nbsp;



Top Tip: <a href="http://assets.blackbx.io.s3.amazonaws.com/magnets/july-august-social-media-calendar-2021-Stampede.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Download our free social media calendar</a> to get two months worth of post ideas.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-email-and-sms-automations">Email and SMS automations</h4>



Marketers spend an average of 3.48 hours a week on email marketing. A good amount of your messaging will be repetitive, such as to welcome new customers, send out birthday offers or reservation reminders.



With email and SMS automations you can set up and send targeted campaigns triggered by your customers’ behaviour. Just let the automation do the work for you.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-automated-reviews-management">Automated reviews management</h4>



Even though more is better, gathering and monitoring reviews manually and then going through all kinds of review platforms to analyse them is probably giving you a headache.&nbsp;



You can set up automations to request reviews automatically and collect all of them (from various platforms) in one dashboard. What’s more, with the right review management system in place negative reviews can be held back. This gives businesses the opportunity and time to handle them.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-make-technology-do-the-work-for-you">Make technology do the work for you</h4>



Lastly, technology is a great support in your daily operations. It can take work off your staff and increasing productivity and revenue for you.&nbsp;



3 main tech tools you should consider implementing in your venue that will further support your staff:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Smart <a href="https://stampede.ai/covid-19/track-and-trace/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Track and Trace solution</a> that captures your customers’ data automatically through your Guest WiFi and QR codes</li><li>Order &amp; pay app</li><li><a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/loyalty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital Stamp Cards</a></li></ul>



Also, have a look at our exclusive offers from our tech partners on our <a href="https://stampede.ai/prep-start-now/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prep Starts Now</a> page that can further help you operate more efficiently.&nbsp;



<a href="contact@stampede.ai" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Get in touch</a> with one of our team to find out how our all-in-one platform can support you with Track and Trace, automations and more when short-staffed.

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<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1.png" alt="case study icon growth graph" class="wp-image-19670 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-100x100.png 100w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-60x60.png 60w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-90x90.png 90w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Over 250,000 New Customer Records</h3>



Growing their database rapidly with additional data capture. 
</div></div>
</div>



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<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1.png" alt="case study marketing roi icon" class="wp-image-21409 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">£18,000 ROI per Marketing Email</h3>



A time-saving and intelligent marketing tool.
</div></div>
</div>
</div>



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<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2.png" alt="Case Study Icons Loyalty" class="wp-image-21240 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Case-Study-Icons-2-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">95% Opt-In Rate to Marketing</h3>



A compliant and engaged customer database to support marketing efforts.
</div></div>
</div>



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<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2.png" alt="case study SMS return icon" class="wp-image-21411 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-2-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">£125,000 SMS Marketing ROI</h3>



Bringing more customers back more often.
</div></div>
</div>
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<h1 class="wp-block-heading">Overview</h1>



Recently ranked&nbsp;46th in the Sunday Times 100 Fastest Private Growing Companies, Lane7 are dominating their area of the hospitality industry. They currently operate 16 entertainment bars and venues across the UK with a continuous to open in the near future.&nbsp;



From bowling to table tennis, arcade games, beer pong, darts and classic American pool tables their bars make for seriously memorable nights out. There are also plans to expand on the existing concept with new activities such as mini-golf.



During the first lockdown, the team at Lane7 used the downtime to upgrade their systems and processes to help accelerate their future growth.
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Lane7-small-Ipng.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="474" height="570" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Lane7-small-Ipng.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22647" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Lane7-small-Ipng.png 474w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Lane7-small-Ipng-249x300.png 249w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Lane7-small-Ipng-150x180.png 150w" sizes="(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px" /></a></figure>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Growing With Stampede</h2>



Lane7 venues utilise Stampede’s <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/wifi/">guest WiFi</a> and captive portal to grow their contact database. By delivering a 94.8% opt-in rate, their database has grown by several thousand swiftly and safely even with limitations on opening during 2020.



Before using Stampede their online booking system was the main source of collecting customer contact details. Most bookings at Lane7 are for multiple guests, but they were only able to take the bookers’ contacts details.



Now they can gather the details and contact nearly all customers thanks to Stampede’s guest WiFi solution.&nbsp;



With a larger contact database, Lane7 can gather more customer feedback, as well as launch bigger marketing campaigns to generate repeat bookings via email and SMS. Their first SMS campaign sent through Stampede saw a 17% return-to-venue rate.



Additional feedback contributes to their growth by enhancing their online reputation and organic conversions as a result. As word-of-mouth spreads digitally, they generate additional demand and bookings. More feedback helps them spot areas to improve quickly.



A final bonus of having a larger contact database is ensuring they get the maximum value from their reviews system, Feed-It-Back.
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<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>“I present reports monthly and it only takes a couple of minutes to get what I need in Stampede.”</blockquote></figure>



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&#8220;The platform is really easy to navigate around, helping us to work intuitively without having to constantly ask for help. It took us no time at all to find our feet!&#8221;
<cite>Emma Luke-Ward&nbsp;– Digital Marketing Manager, Lane7 Group </cite></blockquote>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-stampede">Why Stampede</h2>



“On top of the extra data capture, the ease of use also drew us to Stampede,” says Emma, Head of Sales and Marketing. “The platform is really easy to navigate around, helping us to work intuitively without having to constantly ask for help. It took us no time at all to find our feet!”



“I present reports monthly and it only takes a couple of minutes to get what I need in Stampede.”



“We’re also looking forward to the future prospects of working with Stampede. It’s a product that will continue to improve with new features and we are really excited to have technology like that in place at Lane7”



Implementing a high-performance set of technologies has enabled Lane7 to grow quickly, with data-driven insight and marketing &#8211; regardless of the complications 2020 brought to hospitality.&nbsp;



They can reliably look at expanding their number of venues, knowing the technology in place will ensure success at every new site.



We’re looking forward to being part of Lane7’s journey and wish them all the best with their new openings.
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With over <a href="https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/email-marketing-research-and-statistics/">4.2 billion email users worldwide</a> and the worldwide email marketing sector expected to be worth $17.9 billion by 2027 – email can be considered the number one communication channel for businesses.



In fact, people check their emails multiple times during a day and around <a href="https://blog.salecycle.com/stats/18-essential-email-marketing-statistics/">59% of users</a> say that marketing emails have an impact on their purchase decisions.



And the best part is that this medium is just as useful for non-digital businesses like cafés, restaurants, hotels, etc. as it is for digital ones.



So if you’re not yet using email marketing to market your business, then you’re missing out on the chance to engage your leads and nurture your customers – at scale.



To help guide you through your first email campaign, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the steps you can follow. &nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-set-up-your-email-campaign-in-6-simple-steps">Set Up Your Email Campaign In 6 Simple Steps</h4>



Before you start writing and sending emails, here is what you need to know.&nbsp;



<a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/marketing">Email marketing</a> is extremely cost-effective and affordable. In other words, even small businesses with a limited budget can set up and run successful campaigns.



But simply sending multiple emails to your subscribers is not enough. You need to send meaningful, personalised emails in order to connect with your audience and avoid spam filters.



Here are six steps to creating your first email campaign:



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-chalk-out-your-objective">1 &#8211; Chalk Out Your Objective&nbsp;</h5>



Before you design your campaign, ask yourself:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What is the purpose of this email? Education? Promotion?&nbsp;</li>



<li>What is my target audience?&nbsp;</li>



<li>Will the content of this email appeal to my audience?&nbsp;</li>



<li>What’s my CTA? Go to my website? Find me on social media?</li>



<li>How will I measure the success of this campaign?</li>
</ul>



You will find the foundation of your marketing campaign in all the questions mentioned above. Once you have the answers, your objective will become clear automatically.&nbsp;



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-choose-a-reliable-service-provider">2 &#8211; Choose A Reliable Service Provider&nbsp;</h5>



Picking a service provider that meets your requirements is an extremely crucial step.



Gmail, Outlook or Hotmail aren’t recommended for sending emails at scale as they have limited to no template libraries, contact segmentation or reporting. All of which play an important role in meeting your KPIs.



Use platforms like Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor as these are specifically designed to meet your email marketing needs and give you maximum mileage out of your campaign. 



With these providers, you can enjoy a range of features such as:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Templates customized to your brand</li>



<li>High deliverability rate</li>



<li>Comprehensive performance reports</li>



<li>Scheduling options</li>



<li>Options to set up trigger-based emails (e.g. welcome emails)</li>



<li>Extensive library of resource etc.</li>
</ul>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-build-a-list-of-subscribers">3 &#8211; Build A List Of Subscribers&nbsp;</h5>



You should be able to plug in a signup form on your website – or landing pages – with the help of your email service provider mentioned above.&nbsp;



<a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-build-an-email-list-for-a-non-digital-business/">Other ways</a> of capturing customer information for building a list is through <a href="https://stampede.ai/customer/brother-marcus">branded Wifi portals</a>, a brief section on your feedback forms (physical or digital) etc.



An important thing to remember here is: keep your database as organic as possible. Update your list regularly to add in customers who’ve filled in physical opt-in forms and only email subscribers who have given you the green signal to approach them.&nbsp;



Remember, permission-based campaigns have <a href="https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/permission/">30-40% open rates and around 20% click-through rates</a> on average. Comparatively, if you email people who haven’t given you permission (as in the case of paid emails lists), your open and click-through rates could drop to 2% and 0.2% respectively. 



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-structure-your-email">4 &#8211; Structure Your Email</h5>



Once you have done all the prep, it’s time to start writing your email. Below is a checklist of the key elements that your message should have.&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Strong Subject Line</li>
</ul>



Your subject line should be powerful enough to compel the recipient to open your email. It&#8217;s a good idea to highlight the benefit of your email here such as; 50% discount, Christmas offers etc.



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Captivating Headline</li>
</ul>



Now that they’ve clicked on the email, grab and keep their attention with a captivating headline that makes them want to scroll further and read the rest of your content.&nbsp;



The online audience has an attention span of less than <a href="https://litmus.com/blog/email-attention-spans-increasing-infographic">11 seconds</a>, so make it count.



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Business Offering</li>
</ul>



Typically, B2B businesses can get straight to their offering and how it can benefit the other party. As a B2C company, you’ll need to create a little hype around your business.



Add emotional/relatable undertones to your email to encourage impulse purchases and attract customers back to your establishment. For example, <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/establishing-your-coffee-shop-brand-online/">if you’re running a café</a>, then send across coupons for a free coffee with a bagel or other such offers.



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Text To Image Ratio</li>
</ul>



Keeping a balance between images and ratio contributes to the visual appeal of your message. You don’t want your email to look like a catalogue nor do you want to bore your customers with chunky text paragraphs.&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Your Brand Assets (Logo, Address, Website Link)</li>
</ul>



Logo, address and website link all add to the legitimacy of the email.



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Clear And Interactive CTA</li>
</ul>



Okay, now that they’ve read your email, what do you want your reader to do? Whether your call-to-action is a button or a link, make sure it’s clear enough for the recipient to notice and interact with.&nbsp;



Your CTA should also be actionable; state what you want the reader to do. Examples include Book Now, Claim Your Coupon etc.



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Unsubscribe&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



All businesses should provide an Unsubscribe link or button in their email as part of GDPR compliance. 



This is a permission-based campaign and anyone who doesn’t want to read or engage with your emails is not your prospective client anyway.&nbsp;



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-send-your-email">5 &#8211; Send Your Email</h5>



This stage involves a couple of tests you can carry out to see what day and time gets you the highest CTR.&nbsp;



According to research, many B2C emails have better open and click-through rates <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/3-big-hospitality-email-marketing-questions-answered">over the weekend (Saturday) around 12 am</a>. 



<h5 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-measure-your-success-rate">6 &#8211; Measure Your Success Rate&nbsp;</h5>



Tracking your emails through different metrics is a crucial step for understanding what works and what doesn’t.&nbsp;



While you may have different ways of defining success depending on the objective of your campaign, some common metrics include:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Open rate</li>



<li>Click-through-rate</li>



<li>Number of downloads</li>



<li>Registrations to an event, online course etc.</li>



<li>Spam score</li>



<li>Return on investment&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



So there you go! Make sure you keep measuring the success of your campaign and use the insights you collect for your future campaigns.&nbsp;



Most importantly, only email people who have subscribed to your list for optimum results. Not sure how you can do so? <a href="https://stampede.ai/">Stampede</a> is an easy way to collect customer information to build your list of contacts. We offer a simple tool for offline businesses that can help you connect with your guests and turn them into returning clients.

How To Set-Up Your First Email Campaign [Guide 2023]

[vc_row padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; padding_bottom_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; font_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space el_class=&#8221;m-hide&#8221;][fildisi_slogan title=&#8221;&#8221; heading_tag=&#8221;h3&#8243; heading=&#8221;h3&#8243; subtitle=&#8221;Better together&#8221; button_text=&#8221;&#8221; button2_text=&#8221;&#8221; el_class=&#8221;bx-caption&#8221;]Cloud controlled access points and the ability to offer beautifully branded captive portals, word class analytics and marketing automation all at the click of a button[/fildisi_slogan][fildisi_empty_space][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Book a Demo&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:%23schedule-demo&#8221; button_class=&#8221;book-demo&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1530737589539{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][fildisi_empty_space el_class=&#8221;m-hide&#8221;][fildisi_single_image image=&#8221;13060&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space el_class=&#8221;m-img&#8221;][fildisi_modal modal_id=&#8221;free-trial&#8221;][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/6&#8243;][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;2/3&#8243;][vc_raw_js]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwaWQlM0QlMjJzaWdudXAtaWZyYW1lJTIyJTIwc3R5bGUlM0QlMjJvdmVyZmxvdyUzQWhpZGRlbiUzQmhlaWdodCUzQTEwMHZoJTNCd2lkdGglM0ExMDAlMjUlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIxMDAlMjUlMjIlMjB3aWR0aCUzRCUyMjEwMCUyNSUyMiUyMHNyYyUzRCUyMmh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGc2lnbnVwLnN0YW1wZWRlLmFpJTJGJTNGdmVuZG9yJTNEbWVyYWtpJTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGaWZyYW1lJTNF[/vc_raw_js][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/6&#8243;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/fildisi_modal][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; padding_bottom_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; font_color=&#8221;#0a0a0a&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1531064993448{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221; el_wrapper_class=&#8221;slider&#8221;][fildisi_single_image image=&#8221;13059&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space el_class=&#8221;m-img&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_slogan title=&#8221;&#8221; heading_tag=&#8221;h3&#8243; heading=&#8221;h3&#8243; subtitle=&#8221;Captive Portal Analytics&#8221; button_text=&#8221;&#8221; button2_text=&#8221;&#8221; el_class=&#8221;bx-caption&#8221;]We&#8217;ve defined a new standard for captive portal analytics. This isn&#8217;t about bits and bytes, its about people connecting.[/fildisi_slogan][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_type=&#8221;color&#8221; bg_color=&#8221;#f7f7f7&#8243; section_id=&#8221;stickywicket&#8221;][vc_column][fildisi_callout title=&#8221;Get Started Now&#8221; heading=&#8221;h4&#8243; button_text=&#8221;Book a Demo&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:%23schedule-demo&#8221;]Using Cisco Meraki for your in-venue guest WiFi?[/fildisi_callout][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Cisco Meraki

A flaw in WPA2, the encryption protocol used by routers to secure networks, <a class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/16/wpa2-wifi-security-vulnerable-hacking-us-government-warns" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has been shown to have a massive flaw</a>, leaving networks across the globe open to cyberattacks.

<img decoding="async" class="" style="width: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/wifi-security.jpg" alt="wifi-security.jpg" width="320" />Let&#8217;s repeat that &#8211; WPA2, which is the wireless encryption standard used to keep wireless networks secure and used by just about every router in the world &#8211; is no longer secure. In super plain terms &#8211; that means that hackers can now spy on, eavesdrop and capture whatever data they want on just about every wireless network in the world.
The exploit, named KRACK, takes advantage of the fact that some of the encryption algorithms used by WPA2 aren&#8217;t quite as random as they should be and, with enough persistance, a <a class="" href="https://youtu.be/Oh4WURZoR98" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hacker could eventually break onto the wireless network</a>. Details of the exploit were revealed by the researchers who discovered it at the website <a class="" href="https://www.krackattacks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Krackattacks.com</a> on October 16.
Here&#8217;s a video made by the researchers that discovered the exploit of how it works.
(Spoiler alert: for the terminally techy only.) 
<iframe loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Oh4WURZoR98" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
This security exploit is present in just about every piece of wireless hardware sold over the past few years &#8211; including that extra fancy internet-connected refrigerator you just bought. Changing your password isn&#8217;t going to do any good.What&#8217;s that? Oh, you think this means you&#8217;re finally going to get around to changing the WiFi password you have hanging on the blackboard above your cash register? Or maybe think of something a little more creative than <a class="" href="https://www.teamsid.com/worst-passwords-2016/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Password123</a>?
So &#8211; yeah, you could say it&#8217;s bad.
<h3>How You Can Protect Your WiFi</h3>
Ok. So we&#8217;ll cut it with all the doom and gloom. There are a couple of bright spots here to takeaway.
<h3>HTTPS is still OK</h3>
<a class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/16/wpa2-wifi-security-vulnerable-hacking-us-government-warns" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">HTTPS (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) is still secure.</a> This is the type of securityused by most financial and shopping websites like Amazon.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/Blog/https-wifi-wpa2.png" alt="https-wifi-wpa2.png" width="244" height="84" />
You know the little lock you see in the URL window when you visit a site? That means that transactions are secured by HTTPS.
So you&#8217;re still good in the hood.
<h3>Automatic Security Upgrades</h3>
Companies that manufacture routers and connection points for use in businesses and public areas have been aware of the exploit for a while and have already started releasing patches and upgrades for their equipment. Companies like <a href="https://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&amp;t=126695" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Microtik</a>, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/severe-flaw-in-wpa2-protocol-leaves-wi-fi-traffic-open-to-eavesdropping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ubiquiti and Aruba</a> have been pushing out patches automatically for their networked routers.
<h3>Update Your Router Firmware</h3>
If you have a wireless router you got from your cable provider or one that you picked up at the half off bin in the store, you&#8217;ve got some work ahead of you. In order to fix the security vunerabilities, you&#8217;re going to have to upgrade the firmware in your router, what is known as &#8220;flashing&#8221;.
It&#8217;s not quite as difficult as it sounds. You&#8217;ll need to follow your manufacturers diretions &#8211; which means digging through and finding the instructions for the router in the first place. <a href="https://kb.netgear.com/23442/How-do-I-update-my-NETGEAR-router-s-firmware-using-the-Check-button-in-the-router-s-web-interface" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Here&#8217;s an example</a> on how to do this with a Netgear router.
The good thing is that it&#8217;s typically a pretty fast process. The bad part is that, if you mess up, you could brick your entire router. If in doubt, take the router into a computer repair or IT service shop and have them do it for you.
<h3>Keeping Your Business WiFi Safe</h3>
If you&#8217;re a business owner, you&#8217;ve probably long known about the benefits of offering free WiFi for your customers. But, after seeing the security implications of hacks like the WPA2 exploit, you&#8217;re wondering how to keep your business WiFi safe and secure?
That&#8217;s an excellent question &#8211; because that&#8217;s where Stampede comes in.
No more writing down passwords on a blackboard. With Stampede, customers check into your network with an email or social media login. They&#8217;re securely connected and can surf the web knowing that their data is protected.
Because Stampede works with major manufacturers like Ubiquiti and MikroTik, your routers and access points can be upgraded automagically as soon as a security breach is spotted.
And let&#8217;s not forget <a href="/blog/press/marketing-with-wifi" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">about marketing</a>. With Stampede you can offer your customers a branded login screen to keep your business first and foremost in their mind. You can also use your login screen to <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/blog/articles/wifi-data-capture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">capture customer data</a> for use in building mailing lists or SMS marketing.
Ready to make the switch to safe and secure WiFi? Try Stampede today!
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

WPA2 Breach – Is Your WiFi Safe?

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Now Online

Data is a good thing. Here at Stampede we like data. As a business owner, you should like data, too. But how can you get more data? And what&#8217;s the link between <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/09/26/how-small-business-owners-use-guest-wifi-to.html">data capture and your WiFi</a>?







We know you&#8217;re probably busy running your business and don&#8217;t have much time getting your head around complicated data capture and marketing related stuff. Which is precisely why we made it so easy for you to capture all sorts of interesting <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/5-tips-for-setting-up-wifi-for-your-restaurant-or-pub/">marketing data </a>about your customers. And the best part, no IT or marketing knowledge required. So better <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/getting-started-with-guest-wifi/">get started </a>now. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Start With Your Data Capture</h4>



First things first. What kind of data do you want to capture? Well, there&#8217;s the normal &#8220;boring&#8221; marketing stuff like names, ages, gender, postcode and so on. Sure, that&#8217;s all useful, but the really cool part in&nbsp;Stampede&nbsp;is the ability to write your own custom questions. Sounds amazing, it is!



So, what else could you ask for then? Well, whatever question you can dream of, you can ask it on your splash-screen for users to answer. So, what is your favourite drink? Are you more a g&amp;t fan or do you rather prefer a traditional pint? The sky is the limit or in this case, the data captured is. 



Good to know. The splash-screen appears instead of the usual type in your (way-too-long) password on the wall. That way you can also <a href="https://stampede.ai/resources/branded-experience/">brand </a>the splash-screen to give it clear brand recognition. 



What good does that do? (Sure sure have a lot of questions, but we don&#8217;t mind)



Well, for example, this is a great way to run a quick survey. Thinking about getting the latest hipster IPA on tap? Write up a quick question in Stampede to see what your customers think (It&#8217;s ok if you don&#8217;t like IPAs. Or hipsters. We&#8217;re for beer equality here at Stampede.)



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">There Is More to Discover</h4>



What else can you do with your shiny new data? How about building up an <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-marketing-with-wifi-benefits-your-business/">email marketing </a>list so you can send out a monthly newsletter or a coupon for your latest signature dish? You can also send out special offers to customers whose birthday is coming up, or for those who have not been at your venue for a while. All this contributes to overall better customer experience and of course to more <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/engaging-customers-through-wi-fi-marketing/">loyal customers</a>. Who says no to that?



And of course, don&#8217;t forget the <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/the-marketing-power-of-wifi-analytics-for-your-business/">data analytics.</a> Sounds a bit terrifying, too many numbers and figure? That&#8217;s why our dashboard gives you an easy to understand overview of all your data, presented in a nice way. From that, you&#8217;ll get a better understanding about dwell times, repeat customers, the average time spent at your venue etc. 



Got curious? Want to see more? 



Here&#8217;s a short video showing you how you can get up and running quickly with WiFi data capture in Stampede.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<figure><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hxS07gP8xFo" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Easier than you thought, wasn&#8217;t it? So what are you waiting for? Why not try it out?





Have any further questions? Want to get started right away and capture more data?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="#schedule-demohttps://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a></h2>

Getting Started with WiFi Data Capture in Stampede

Take the Risk Out of Your Guest WiFi

Founders Series: Patrick Clover, Founder and CEO of Stampede

[vc_row padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; padding_bottom_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; font_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space][fildisi_slogan title=&#8221;&#8221; heading_tag=&#8221;h3&#8243; heading=&#8221;h3&#8243; subtitle=&#8221;Better together&#8221; button_text=&#8221;&#8221; button2_text=&#8221;&#8221; el_class=&#8221;bx-caption&#8221;]Cloud controlled access points and the ability to offer beautifully branded captive portals, word class analytics and marketing automation all at the click of a button[/fildisi_slogan][fildisi_empty_space][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Book a Demo&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:%23schedule-demo&#8221; button_class=&#8221;book-demo&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1530737589539{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221;][fildisi_single_image image=&#8221;13060&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; padding_bottom_multiplier=&#8221;&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; font_color=&#8221;#0a0a0a&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1531064993448{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}&#8221; el_wrapper_class=&#8221;slider&#8221;][fildisi_empty_space][fildisi_single_image image=&#8221;13059&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space el_class=&#8221;m-img&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_empty_space][fildisi_slogan title=&#8221;&#8221; heading_tag=&#8221;h3&#8243; heading=&#8221;h3&#8243; subtitle=&#8221;Captive Portal Analytics&#8221; button_text=&#8221;&#8221; button2_text=&#8221;&#8221; el_class=&#8221;bx-caption&#8221;]We&#8217;ve defined a new standard for captive portal analytics. This isn&#8217;t about bits and bytes, its about people connecting.[/fildisi_slogan][fildisi_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_type=&#8221;color&#8221; bg_color=&#8221;#f7f7f7&#8243; section_id=&#8221;stickywicket&#8221;][vc_column][fildisi_callout title=&#8221;Get Started Now&#8221; heading=&#8221;h4&#8243; button_text=&#8221;Book a Demo&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:%23schedule-demo&#8221; button_class=&#8221;book-demo&#8221;]Using meraki.go for your in-venue WiFi?[/fildisi_callout][/vc_column][/vc_row]

meraki go

Some people might think you achieved something in life when you manage to build a house, drive a fast car and have a job that earns you a lot. I disagree. 

I claim you&#8217;ve succeeded in life when Bob Kane, one of the minds behind DC Comics, <a class="" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/anne-hathaway-explains-how-hedy-lamarr-inspired-her-catwoman/2011/12/29/gIQADJFxOP_blog.html?utm_term=.ad58ac9fa839" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bases one of his legendary characters, Catwoman</a>, on you. Or, even better, when you develop the wireless technology that later becomes WiFi and Bluetooth. 
In this post, we remember the unmatched actress, inventress and Stampede patroness Hedy Lamarr, who died 18 years ago today. Hedy was known for her unique performances in several movies, probably the most well known being <a class="" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022867/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_31" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ecstasy</a>, that lead her to become one of the most remarkable actresses in the 20th century.
Unlike most of today’s actors and pop stars, however, Hedy had a rather unusual way to spend her free time. She had a passion for science and made use of her natural curiosity to develop new innovations, a lot like Catwoman one might think.
Hedy Lamarr had little idea she would make it to Stampede patroness, when she first learned about radio-frequency controlled torpedoes and discovered flaws in the technology. As World War II raged, Hedy understood how easily these wireless systems could be jammed to cause enemy torpedoes to deviate from their predetermined route. In order to prevent that from happening with allied torpedos, she cobbled together a device that would allow the user to hop between frequencies and ensure an impeccable use of the technology. Hedy’s work on the spread spectrum technology laid the foundation for the entire WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS development, as we know it today.
Here&#8217;s a short trailer for a documentary about Hedy&#8217;s life that touches on just a few of her accomplishments: 
<iframe loading="lazy" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wa_AA_byQ58" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Thank you Hedy for your brilliant movies. And thanks for having laid the foundation for WiFi, so we can watch your performances online!
And in case you&#8217;re running a business and looking to offer Hedy&#8217;s invention to your patrons so that they can watch her movies streaming online, why not give Stampede a try? 
We offer <a class="" href="/how-it-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fast, safe and secure wireless</a> that gives you unmatched insight and analytics on your customers. And that&#8217;s something we think even Catwoman could appreciate. 
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

We Salute WiFi Pioneer Hedy Lamarr

<h3>Research reveals Brits only try new food &amp; drink venues 1-2 times a year</h3>
<h4>Millennials keeping “the local” tradition alive while Gen Z abandons pubs and clubs</h4>
Stampede, the Scottish start up that helps public venues turn their guest Wifi into a marketing platform, today released the results of new research into the habits of people in the UK going out pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants. <a href="https://stampede.ai/resources/british-social-routines-and-connectivity-report/">The report</a> shows that the British public are stuck in a routine of going to the same places repeatedly, that Londoners are surprisingly sociable patrons, that young people are ditching the local pub (as well as clubs) and that venue owners must do more to entice new customers. The report also dispels the myth that people are more likely to leave a bad review that a good one, and other surprising stats include the fact that 28% of Brits said they could go longer without sex than without data.
Key findings include:
<ul>
<li>Half of respondents said that they only try new venues when given a prompt (eg. a promotional deal or recommendation) – yet a quarter of people said that their favourite pub/bar puts no effort into marketing new deals and events</li>
<li>More than a third of Brits (38%) say they only try new venues to eat or drink less than once a year. The majority only try a new venue every six months or less</li>
<li>Millennials are the most regular pub and club patrons – gen Zs are the least: 25-34yr olds are the most likely to have a pub they consider their ‘local’ (85%) vs just 46% of 18-24yr olds. 30% of 25-34yr olds say they regularly go to clubs, vs just 7% of 18-24yr olds</li>
<li>Despite its reputation for being an unsociable city, Londoners are far more likely to have a pub they consider their local (77% vs a national average of 57%) and are the second most likely to know their pub landlords and restaurant owners (47%) only behind Northern Ireland (50%). Londoners are also more likely to try new venues more often – 69% said they try a new venue every month or whenever a new venue opens</li>
<li>One in five people said they only go to their favourite venue on special occasions</li>
<li>Contrary to popular belief, people seem to be just as willing to leave online reviews for positive eating experiences as well as negative. 36% of people said they had reviewed their favourite restaurant, but roughly the same percentage (35%) had left an online review for their worst eating experience</li>
</ul>
“On the whole, people are rarely as brave or adventurous as they’d like to think – we are all creatures of habit,” said Patrick Clover, Stampede founder and CEO. “People spend their entire lives going to the same venues over and over again out of routine, yet many are desperate to break the cycle. Thankfully all it takes is the right promotion, a good review or a suggestion from a friend and even the most unadventurous people will brave new experiences.”
“Yes, we were surprised to learn Londoners were so sociable. I’ll try to spark up a conversation next time I’m on the underground!”
Stampede also wanted to learn whether Brits were dependent on their mobile devices and understand their experiences of getting connected to wifi in popular venues. Related findings include:
<ul>
<li>62% of people said they feel better when they are connected to public wifi, even if they have data remaining</li>
<li>33% of women said they could go longer without sex than they could data</li>
<li>A quarter of men surveyed said they could forgo love and friendship for longer than data</li>
<li>More than half of respondents reported experiencing problems connecting to public wifi in the past – many reported problems with passwords not working (25%), not being able to find the right password (23%) and registration processes taking too long (22%)</li>
</ul>
“Being connected at all times has become part and parcel of modern life, and that includes drinks after work, big nights out and even dates. People want to stay connected, share their lives with others on social media and need their phones to use services like Uber to get them to and from their chosen venues. It’s a long time since Wifi was optional for venues, but sadly there’s still no accepted best practice on how to register – hence the problems people encounter with passwords hidden on blackboards which often don’t actually work. That’s why it’s Stampede’s mission to standardise Wifi across the UK so that people can get connected quicker, use the internet in public spaces more securely, and give venue owners the chance to make Wifi work better for them.

Research reveals insight to British social routines.

Up close and personal: Why WiFi might be the best way to direct marketing to your guests

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The UK’s irrepressible hospitality sector: 2022 Industry Growth Report

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Stampede announces Springo acquisition

Jimmy Garcia Catering – Lockdown Story

It&#8217;s a problem that many WiFi users are familiar with &#8211; slow loading times, sluggish networks, sites that just aren&#8217;t connecting.  Many of the residents of Market Harborough, Leicestershire were seeing all these familiar symptoms.
But then they received letters from nearby Her Majesty&#8217;s Prison Gartree, once home to notorious criminals such as Ian Brady and the Krays, explaining the network slowdown: their home network bandwidth was being <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4745586/Prisoners-using-wifi-pensioners-homes-watch-porn.html">hijacked by prisoners</a> who had smuggled phones into the prison.

Most of the houses effected in Market Harborough backed right onto the prison, where inmates could access hotspots setup without passwords. Residents, many of whom are retired couples, were urged to have their home internet security checked immediately. Prison officials reported that the inmates were using the internet to contact friends, family and associates outside the walls of the prison and, of course, to watch porn.
And it&#8217;s not just prisoners in the UK who love free porn &#8211; the site IndiaTimes recently reported that <a class="" href="http://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/indians-are-hooked-onto-free-wi-fi-with-over-33-admitting-to-have-watched-porn-in-public-326149.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">33% of Indian WiFi users</a> have admitted to using free WiFi to watch porn, while officials in Mumbai are spending time chasing <a class="" href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/non-commuters-take-advantage-of-free-wifi-watch-porn-at-railway-stations-in-mumbai/story-fSmKhmXDHssfJle29hSZjL.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">piggybackers out of the stations after hours</a> who are hogging bandwidth to you &#8211; you guessed it, more porn.
If you&#8217;re running a <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/wifi-in-action#coffee" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cafe</a>, <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/wifi-in-action#hotels" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hotel</a>, or other <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/wifi-in-action#retail" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">business</a>, these stories might scare you from offering free WiFi to your customers. It shouldn&#8217;t. You can easily stop unwanted users and bandwidth hogs by using some common sense security measures with your WiFi offering.
SCHEDULING &#8211; Does your business close at 5pm? There isn&#8217;t a reason to have the guest WiFi on after that, is there? No. An easy solution to this would be to just turn off your WiFi access point&#8230;.but then, are you going to remember to turn it on again the next day? Or will your employees? Especially in the food service industry, there&#8217;s an awful lot of work to get done before the first customer walks in the door. Scheduling your WiFi to turn on and off automatically during business hours is a easy and quick way to keep unwanted users off your network.
FILTERING &#8211; What&#8217;s the best way of keeping out porn sites? Stop them from coming through your router in the first place. Content filtering services keep constantly updated lists of inappropriate content &#8211; from gambling sites, to auction sites and, of course, adult sites &#8211; and stop them from reaching your network.
BANDWIDTH LIMITS &#8211; One person watching a movie can slow down your entire network. Imagine how slow connections were in an Indian train station where over 1/3 of the people were watching porn. Setting bandwidth limits keeps a network WiFi congestion free and fair for all.
Of course, you&#8217;re going to want a guest WiFi solution that combines all of these features. And it just so happens we have one handy &#8211; Stampede wifi. WE offers all the features above &#8211; automatic scheduling, bandwidth limits, and content filtering through our partnership with <a href="https://www.friendlywifi.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Digital Friendly WiFi Scheme</a> &#8211; and MORE &#8211; like <a class="" href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#insight" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">marketing insights</a>, <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#analytics" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">analytics</a>, and <a class="" href="https://stampede.ai/supported-hardware" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">integrations</a> with popular internet applications like Zapier and Mailchimp to keep your business growing.
And the best part? It&#8217;s easy to get going with Stampede &#8211; you can either use our preconfigured devices, or, if you&#8217;re using <a class="" href="https://www.stampede.ai/partners" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of our tech partners like UniFi</a>, get started right away by connect to your devices through our easy to use Connect Dashboard.
Either way you choose, you&#8217;ll be able to offer your customers, safe, secure WiFi &#8211; 100% porn and prisoner free.
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

Porn, Prisons and WiFi – Network Safety Tips

[vc_row bg_type=&#8221;color&#8221; padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;5x&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; mobile_equal_column_height=&#8221;false&#8221; section_id=&#8221;stories&#8221; bg_color=&#8221;#16183f&#8221;][vc_column css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1631268993216{padding-top: 30px !important;}&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Hospitality tools built to grow your business with ease&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h2|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; el_class=&#8221;main-page-title&#8221;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;main-page-text&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1631279626658{padding-bottom: 25px !important;}&#8221;]
Retain your customers using hassle-free, intelligent marketing tools that won’t impact your costs.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][fildisi_button align=&#8221;center&#8221; button_text=&#8221;Get Started&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fget-started%2F|title:Get%20Started&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner mobile_width=&#8221;hide&#8221;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;20722&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1637073665967{padding-top: 20px !important;}&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_type=&#8221;image&#8221; bg_image_size=&#8221;full&#8221; bg_position=&#8221;left-center&#8221; padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;2x&#8221; padding_bottom_multiplier=&#8221;2x&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; mobile_equal_column_height=&#8221;false&#8221; section_id=&#8221;email&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;20721&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Email Marketing&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; el_class=&#8221;main-page-title&#8221;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;main-page-text&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1631187987562{padding-bottom: 15px !important;}&#8221;]It’s the most cost-effective and efficient way to increase your revenue. More than 80% of businesses use email marketing as their primary way to retain customers and keep them coming back.
Restaurants, bars and other hospitality venues should be no different.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Get Started&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fget-started%2F|title:Get%20Started&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; el_id=&#8221;intercom_button&#8221;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Read Success Story&#8221; button_type=&#8221;outline&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fresources%2Fcru-holdings%2F|title:CRU%20Holdings&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][fildisi_divider line_type=&#8221;custom-line&#8221; line_width=&#8221;144px&#8221; line_height=&#8221;3&#8243; line_color=&#8221;custom&#8221; line_color_custom=&#8221;#edf2f7&#8243; padding_top=&#8221;30&#8243; padding_bottom=&#8221;15&#8243;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;text-includes&#8221;]OUR EMAIL MARKETING INCLUDES:
<ul>
<li>Quick customer segmentation</li>
<li>Easy to use drop and drag builder</li>
<li>Ready-made templates based on real successful campaigns</li>
<li>Accurate conversion tracking with unique voucher codes</li>
</ul>
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_type=&#8221;image&#8221; bg_image=&#8221;20389&#8243; padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;3x&#8221; padding_bottom_multiplier=&#8221;3x&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; mobile_visibility=&#8221;hide&#8221; section_id=&#8221;stories&#8221;][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;CRU Holdings&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h2|font_size:36px|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; el_class=&#8221;main-page-title&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;“Stampede has become such a powerful marketing tool for us at CRU Holdings. It is well designed, flexible and integrates seamlessly with other systems.”&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h2|font_size:25px|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff|line_height:1.4&#8243; google_fonts=&#8221;font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal&#8221;][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_type=&#8221;color&#8221; padding_top_multiplier=&#8221;2x&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; mobile_equal_column_height=&#8221;false&#8221; section_id=&#8221;sms&#8221; bg_color=&#8221;#edf2f6&#8243;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;20720&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;SMS Marketing&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h2|text_align:left|color:%23fc3a9b&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; el_class=&#8221;main-page-title&#8221;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;main-page-text&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1631187976850{padding-bottom: 15px !important;}&#8221;]Reach your customers where they are: on their mobiles and on the go.
SMS marketing has a read rate of 97% within 15 minutes of message delivery.
Send timely, personalised messages for an immediate response &#8211; bring those customers back to your venue.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Get Started&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fget-started%2F|title:Get%20Started&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; el_id=&#8221;intercom_button&#8221;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Read Success Story&#8221; button_type=&#8221;outline&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fresources%2Flane-7-group%2F|title:Lane%207&#8243;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][fildisi_divider line_type=&#8221;custom-line&#8221; line_width=&#8221;144px&#8221; line_height=&#8221;3&#8243; line_color=&#8221;custom&#8221; line_color_custom=&#8221;#edf2f7&#8243; padding_top=&#8221;30&#8243; padding_bottom=&#8221;15&#8243;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;text-includes&#8221;]SMS MARKETING:
<ul>
<li>Keep customers engaged and generate repeat business</li>
<li>Support email marketing and increase open rates by 20-30%</li>
<li>Measure repeat visits and track ROI directly</li>
</ul>
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row bg_type=&#8221;image&#8221; bg_image_size=&#8221;full&#8221; bg_position=&#8221;left-center&#8221; equal_column_height=&#8221;middle-content&#8221; mobile_equal_column_height=&#8221;false&#8221; section_id=&#8221;automation&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; text_align=&#8221;center&#8221;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;20719&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Automation&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; el_class=&#8221;main-page-title&#8221; el_id=&#8221;automation&#8221;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;main-page-text&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1634053990761{padding-bottom: 15px !important;}&#8221;]Keep in touch with customers and build your brand presence, without spending hours on marketing.
Use real customer behaviour to send highly targeted messages that keep customers engaged.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Get Started&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fget-started%2F|title:Get%20Started&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; el_id=&#8221;intercom_button&#8221;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Read Success Story&#8221; button_type=&#8221;outline&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fresources%2Fsignature-pub-group%2F|title:Signature%20Pub%20Group&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][fildisi_divider line_type=&#8221;custom-line&#8221; line_width=&#8221;144px&#8221; line_height=&#8221;3&#8243; line_color=&#8221;custom&#8221; line_color_custom=&#8221;#edf2f7&#8243; padding_top=&#8221;30&#8243; padding_bottom=&#8221;15&#8243;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;text-includes&#8221;]USE AUTOMATION TO:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Send your offers at the right time to the right customers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Build a connection with genuinely personalised messages</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Generate repeat visits and bookings without repeated marketing effort</li>
</ul>
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We would have statistics here around how hard it is to track response rates on fliers, but those stats don’t exist! Case in point&#8230;[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Get Started&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fget-started%2F|title:Get%20Started&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1/2&#8243; el_id=&#8221;intercom_button&#8221;][fildisi_button button_text=&#8221;Read Success Story&#8221; button_type=&#8221;outline&#8221; button_hover_color=&#8221;primary-2&#8243; button_shape=&#8221;extra-round&#8221; button_link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fstampede.ai%2Fresources%2Fcocktail-embassy%2F|title:Cocktail%20Embassy&#8221;][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][fildisi_divider line_type=&#8221;custom-line&#8221; line_width=&#8221;144px&#8221; line_height=&#8221;3&#8243; line_color=&#8221;custom&#8221; line_color_custom=&#8221;#edf2f7&#8243; padding_top=&#8221;30&#8243; padding_bottom=&#8221;15&#8243;][vc_column_text el_class=&#8221;text-includes&#8221;]UPSELL FEATURES:
<ul>
<li>Increase spend per head and spend per visit</li>
<li>Change promotions and offers fast and easily</li>
<li>Save time and money with fewer fliers and posters</li>
</ul>
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Marketing

If the Coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that flexibility needs to be a key component of a business. Those who remain versatile and open to change are the ones who are managing to successfully overcome the sudden curveball that was thrown.&nbsp;



Focusing on the food and beverage industry, the last few months have confirmed that online ordering is the way of the future. As such, many restaurants and bars are adapting their strategies to perfect their takeaway process and meet the demand for digitisation. This way, customers can feel both safe and gratified when ordering their meals.&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Below, we’ll share 5 essential methods and strategies that will help to make your takeaway easier to operate. Whether you’re a large 5-star restaurant or a small corner-coffee shop, these ideas will kick your innovative thinking.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-organise-your-staff-with-management-tools">1. Organise Your Staff with Management Tools</h4>



For your takeaway service to function more efficiently, your staff must be up to the task. They need to be ready and willing to adapt to the new procedures. You’ll have to schedule in training to make sure everyone’s on the same page and that the new processes are acknowledged.&nbsp;



“Often, when smaller restaurants transition to online services, they neglect the fact that their daily order volumes are now going to increase.” <a href="https://restolabs.com/blog/online-mobile-ordering/restaurant-guide-5-tips-help-you-transition-better-delivery-and-takeaway">[1]</a>&nbsp;



This may also be a good time to investigate training assistance. There are some reliable digital management tools available to assist with scheduling and workplace efficiency. For example:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Typsy is a staff training platform that uses online videos from the best in the hospitality business to teach essential skills and compliance.&nbsp;</li><li>Tap my Back provides managers with in-depth reporting on staff engagement and how members are coping while at work (which can be helpful as we all try to navigate the COVID pandemic).</li><li>7Shifts helps to keep track of staff rosters so that you can approve staff availability and ensure that you have a constant flow of hands-on deck.&nbsp;</li></ul>



Once you have created an order in your kitchen, the process of offering takeaways will be easier with fewer hiccups along the way. It will also set the foundation for keeping you, your staff, and your patrons safe and satisfied. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-adapt-your-menu">2. Adapt Your Menu</h4>



If crumbed mushrooms are a hit at your restaurant, don’t be under the assumption that they will receive the same adulation when customers order the dish as a takeaway. Fried items tend to lose their crispiness and juicy flavour after a while and may not be the best food to package for delivery. The bottom line is, not all foods are meant for deliveries and takeaways.



Perhaps it’s time that you revise your takeaway menu to only include meals that can endure the time between order and delivery. This way, you’ll still get a good rep for rustling up divine dishes.&nbsp;



From an economic point of view, it’s best to choose items that don’t take up a lot of time for preparation and packaging.&nbsp;



Also, if you haven’t yet done so – it’s time to create an online menu. To really streamline your takeaway service, you could consider investing in software (new or third party) that allows customers to order directly through your menu. These tool types typically integrate with a delivery system to encourage a seamless process.  



Did you know? Digital ordering is growing 3x the rate of on-site ordering. <a href="https://tacitcorporation.com/online-food-ordering-statistics/">[2]</a>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-streamline-delivery">3. Streamline Delivery</h4>



When it comes to streamlining food and beverage delivery, one of the key decisions to make is whether you will be using an in-house system to deliver orders &#8211; or if you are going to partner with a third party. Both choices come with their own list of pros and cons and in the end, the decision will come down to personal preference and budget. Of course, if you go the third-party route, you’ll want to in engage in a company that has the same ethos as yours. 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Great advice</h4>



Make sure that your own delivery staff are well-informed about your brand and meals so that they can answer all queries and concerns posed by customers.&nbsp;



And then &#8211; as with the importance of digitising your menu &#8211; an online ordering system has become an expectation by customers and if you’re not part of this new movement, you’ll be losing out on tons of potential business.&nbsp;



Some of the UK’s top online food delivery tools that are worth looking into include:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Just Eat</li><li>Food Hub</li><li>Uber Eats</li><li>Deliveroo</li><li>Hungry House</li></ul>



When researching these products, some intense introspection is required. To choose an application that’s going to work best for your brand, ask yourself — what features do you need? Can you integrate your current POS with the online restaurant ordering system? Are any marketing tools included in the deal? Are there any hidden charges? How compliant is the service with new COVID-19 regulations? Does the service provide access to cashless payment software?



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-cashless-payments">4. Cashless Payments</h4>



Cashless payment technology for restaurants enables quick and easy customer transactions. It also reduces the risks that come with having cash on hand. The good news is that this type of technology is no longer reserved for large restaurant chains. Even the smallest takeaway joints can access affordable cashless payment systems.&nbsp;



The advantages include:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Transparency, reliability, and security in the system</li><li>Increased speed of service</li><li>High customer satisfaction</li><li>A surge in online orders</li></ul>



Ask your bank if they provide any cashless payment facilities or browse online for cashless payment applications that are available to your area.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-get-the-word-out">5. Get the Word Out</h4>



Last – but way far from least – take advantage of tools that allow you to get the word out. If this is the first time that you’re offering takeaway as an option, then you need to let folks know that you now provide this service. If you’re a takeaway veteran, inform your patrons that you have improved your system so that they can experience even better customer satisfaction.&nbsp;



In this regard, social media is your friend. This is still one of the best marketing tools for those who are on a budget. You could also look into <a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/marketing/">SMS and email marketing tools</a>, or encourage ye’ old faithful “word of mouth”.&nbsp;



The more you market yourself, the wider your customer base will be. Having a dedicated customer base is what will make offering take-out a breeze. The best customers are the ones who create more customers through word of mouth. Referral and recommendation programs are a great way to activate this marketing method.



When getting the word out, remember to reassure your audiences that you have put all the relevant local health measures in place and that their health and safety is paramount to you.&nbsp;



References:



<a href="https://restolabs.com/blog/online-mobile-ordering/restaurant-guide-5-tips-help-you-transition-better-delivery-and-takeaway">[1] Resto Labs. 5 Tips to Help You Transition Better for Delivery and Takeaway</a>



<a href="https://tacitcorporation.com/online-food-ordering-statistics/">[2] Tactic. 20 Online Food Ordering Statistics</a>

5 Essential Ways to Make Offering Takeaway Easier

<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3.png" alt="case study star Icon" class="wp-image-21419 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Case-Study-Icons-3-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-50-increase-in-repeat-customers">50% increase in repeat customers</h3>



Increasing revenue with loyal customers.
</div></div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1.png" alt="case study marketing roi icon" class="wp-image-21409 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Case-Study-Icons-1-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-400-marketing-roi">+£2,400 marketing ROI</h3>



Trackable ROI from personalised marketing campaigns.
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</div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-2 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1.png" alt="case study icon growth graph" class="wp-image-19670 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-100x100.png 100w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-60x60.png 60w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Lane7-icon2-340x340-1-90x90.png 90w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-over-8-300-contactable-customers">Over 8,300 contactable customers</h3>



Growing their mailing list with automated data capture.
</div></div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="340" height="340" src="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons.png" alt="case study GDPR Compliant" class="wp-image-20341 size-full" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons.png 340w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons-300x300.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons-150x150.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons-96x96.png 96w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Case-Study-Icons-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-95-marketing-opt-in-rate">95% marketing opt-in rate</h3>



A compliant and engaged customer mailing list to support marketing campaigns.
</div></div>
</div>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-3 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
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<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-overview">Overview</h1>



The Coal Exchange Hotel is located in the Cardiff Bay, featuring 85 luxurious bedrooms and the on-site Culley’s Kitchen &amp; Bar. The hotel is rich in history and is also a popular venue for events, such as weddings.



The Coal Exchange uses&nbsp;<a href="https://stampede.ai">Stampede</a>&nbsp;to capture guest data to increase repeat visits through personalised marketing.
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="912" height="604" src="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22144" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I.png 912w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I-300x199.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I-768x509.png 768w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I-150x99.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-I-592x392.png 592w" sizes="(max-width: 912px) 100vw, 912px" /></a></figure>
</div>
</div>



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<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="895" height="826" src="https://stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III.png" alt="" class="wp-image-22156" srcset="https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III.png 895w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III-300x277.png 300w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III-768x709.png 768w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III-150x138.png 150w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III-16x16.png 16w, https://website-backend.stampede.ai/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Coal-Exchange-Small-III-592x546.png 592w" sizes="(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px" /></a></figure>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-challenge">The Challenge</h2>



A common challenge for hotels is to get access to guest data. Most of the time the&nbsp;data is withheld by Online Travel Agencies&nbsp;and hotels are not able to stay in touch with customers after their stay.



Until recently, The Coal Exchange was part of a hotel chain that wasn’t much invested in driving repeat customers. However, this changed when they became a stand-alone company.



The Coal Exchange wanted to market to their guests directly and turn them into loyal customers moving forward. For this, they were looking for a smart tool that allows them to&nbsp;capture and have control over their own guest data.
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<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>“It’s one of the easiest systems I’ve ever used. I would recommend it to anybody who needs to get started with marketing.”</blockquote></figure>



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Stampede has helped us increase our returning guests and also our revenue. We’ve seen an increase of over 50% with guests coming back in.”
</blockquote>
</div>



<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:66.66%">
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-solution">The Solution</h2>



Before signing up with Stampede, Ieuan Davies, Marketing Manager of The Coal Exchange spent some time comparing different companies that offer a data capture platform. He ultimately chose Stampede as it&nbsp;“fits our ethos more than any other company and the whole process from introduction to set up was seamless.”&nbsp;



Within 7 months, they grew their&nbsp;mailing list to over 8,200 customers&nbsp;by asking guests for their contact details when signing up for their WiFi. Ieuan says:&nbsp;“It’s a quick and easy way, exactly what we’ve needed.” From an administrative point of view, Ieuan can now manage all data coming from their various outlets in one single platform. As he acknowledges:&nbsp;“Stampede has saved me time and effort trying to put it all in one place.”
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</div>



The&nbsp;<a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/marketing/">Stampede Marketing</a>&nbsp;platform makes it easy for Ieuan to segment the data to directly market to guests with personalised offers, such as their popular ‘kids eat free’ deal. So far, The Coal Exchange was able to generate over&nbsp;£2,400 in return visits&nbsp;from their email campaigns.&nbsp;



To track when customers redeem their offers, Ieuan attaches&nbsp;<a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/new-stampede-marketing-feature-unique-voucher-codes/">unique voucher codes</a>&nbsp;to the emails. These one-time-only codes&nbsp;“are also a clever tool to stop people from sending the offers to friends.”, he adds.



In addition, Ieuan has also set up an&nbsp;automated birthday email campaign&nbsp;offering customers 10% off their next stay. Another simple way they are increasing customer loyalty without any manual effort.&nbsp;



To further drive direct bookings, The Coal Exchange also uses&nbsp;<a href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/loyalty/">Stampede digital stamp cards</a>. Over 450 customers have already signed up for their ‘Fab Five Rewards’ loyalty program, which rewards customers with a free stay upon the 6th direct booking.



Ieuan is also a big fan of the Stampede reporting suite. As he explains: “Some reports from other platforms just give you the very basic information,&nbsp;with Stampede you can go into more depth.&nbsp;For us, this is probably one of the most valuable assets.”&nbsp;



The reports provide him with&nbsp;detailed performance results, which he can report back to the individual departments and take action if necessary.



<div class="wp-block-group is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"></div>

Loyal customers have helped many hospitality businesses to stay afloat during the past two years. Now is the time to nurture and reward your regular customers for their ongoing support. Use the quieter times to get your&nbsp;own loyalty program properly set-up&nbsp;and kick start your sign-ups with some promotions.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-make-your-loyalty-program-a-success">Make your loyalty program a success</h4>



There are a few things you should consider beforehand to make sure your customer loyalty program will succeed.



A quick checklist to get you started:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Choose a type of loyalty program &#8211;&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://stampede.ai/blog/making-sense-of-loyalty-programs-part-i/" target="_blank">check out our quick guide</a>&nbsp;to find the right one for your business</li><li>Set up your&nbsp;rewards structure&nbsp;based on number of visits or amount spent to make it achievable</li><li>Decide on a&nbsp;type of reward&nbsp;&#8211; cash discount or free meal/drink?</li><li>Customise it to your brand &#8211; incorporate your colours, logo and branding</li><li><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://blog.smile.io/5-examples-of-loyalty-program-names-done-right/" target="_blank">Give it a name</a>&nbsp;to make it more exclusive and engaging</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Opt for a digital loyalty program</h4>



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/05/07/50-stats-that-show-the-importance-of-good-loyalty-programs-even-during-a-crisis/?sh=6711d36c2410" target="_blank">75% of customers engage more with a loyalty program if it’s accessible through their phones</a>. A&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://stampede.ai/get-loyalty/" target="_blank">digital stamp card</a>, like ours, can not only increase customer spending but also contributes to an improved overall customer experience.



It’s much more&nbsp;convenient for your customers&nbsp;as they can stamp their cards in 3 easy ways directly on their phone. So no more lost cards or missed stamps.



Businesses, on the other hand, get access to&nbsp;customer interaction data. This data can be used for personalised email and SMS campaigns to encourage revisits and spending. For example “Only 1 stamp left &#8211; come by today and get an extra …”.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Loyalty program promotions</h4>



It is all about spreading the word about your new loyalty program. Make use of your digital channels and drum up some excitement prior to launching by posting sneak peeks.



Here are&nbsp;10 easy ways to encourage sign-ups:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Email to your database to introduce your new loyalty program</li><li>Pop-up or banner on your website</li><li>Social posts with regular reminders and promotions</li><li>Incentivise sign-ups with special deals/offers</li><li>Add perks &#8211; give them early access to your events, birthday specials, etc..</li><li>‘Refer a friend’ scheme to spread the word</li><li>Automated sign-up email/text message for new customers after</li><li>they’ve left the venue</li><li><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://stampede.ai/how-it-works/marketing/#upsell" target="_blank">Digital in-venue promotions</a>&nbsp;displayed on customers’ phones</li><li>Host a bonus stamps/points event (and boost your quieter times at the same time)</li><li>Run contests/giveaways for loyal members only</li></ul>



Learn more about our Loyalty feature&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://stampede.ai/get-loyalty/" target="_blank">here</a>. Or&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request" target="_blank">get in touch&nbsp;</a>with one of our&nbsp;team who are happy to run you through it.

Bring More Customers Back With A Loyalty Program

Murdo Duncan

Why is food always so much better when you’re on holiday? It&#8217;s a question you&#8217;ve probably asked yourself while you&#8217;ve got your toes sunk in warm sand and a cerveza in your hand.
<img decoding="async" class="" style="width: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" title="tapas cafe wifi" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/Blog/Tapa01-e1443455105848.jpg" alt="tapas cafe wifi" width="320" data-constrained="true" />
We here at Stampede were wondering the same thing, so we turned to one of our customers to find out why. 
Greig Davidson, owner of <a href="http://www.tapaedinburgh.co.uk/">Tapa</a>, a restaurant specializing in the highest quality tapas &amp; Spanish gins, has found a way to bring that holiday feeling to Edinburgh. 
Importing the ingredients directly from mainland Spain, Greig and his team aim to offer the best and highest quality service as well as innovative, slightly different and more unusual tapas.
<iframe loading="lazy" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hW9wAS0FQqM" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h3>How it all started &#8211; Bumpy road &amp; customers feedback</h3>
Greig opened the business eight years ago and, looking back, it was quite a bumpy road. Opening a business during a recession might not have been the best start you could hope for, but Greig managed to make his way by listening to what his customers were saying. <img decoding="async" class="" style="width: 320px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" title="tapas restaurant wifi" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/Blog/Tapa11-e1443455076261.jpg" alt="tapas restaurant wifi" width="320" data-constrained="true" /> 

“We learn from any positive or negative review. If people have things to say, we listen and we adapt,&#8221; explains Greig. &#8220;Part of our success over the years has been our ability to adapt to what people expect.&#8221;
And if there&#8217;s one thing that customers expect today, it&#8217;s free restaurant WiFi, especially in a highly rated establishment that delivers top notch food and service. 
Tapa faced problems with their WiFi when the business first opened: thick walls that caused black spots in WiFi reception, complicated network setups and, of course, password difficulties. Greig adds, “It ended up in customers leaving and tainting their experience within the restaurant.&#8221; 
Not good. 
<h3>How Guest WiFi Software helped Tapa</h3>
After hearing about Greig&#8217;s issues, we here at Stampede reached out and introduced him and his venue to our restaurant WiFi solution. 
Tapa has been using the Stampede guest WiFi for two years now and more than pleased with the results. Not only do their customers get fantastic WiFi, but by collecting customer data, Tapa can now approach patrons on a personal level and use our <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing">marketing automation</a> to inform them about new menus, special events or just to thank them for the last visit.
<img decoding="async" style="width: 621px;" title="guest wifi captive screen" src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2735287/Blog/tapas-guest-wifi.jpg" alt="guest wifi captive screen" width="621" data-constrained="true" />
 The <a href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#insight">insights</a>, Greig is getting from Stampede WiFi enable him to keep adapting the restaurant to what customers expect. 
It&#8217;s this kind of attention to customer detail that has rocketed Tapa into the TripAdvisor listings as one of the <a class="" href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186525-d1501189-Reviews-Tapa-Edinburgh_Scotland.html">60 best restaurants</a> in Edinburgh!
“Since we started using Stampede we have not had any problems, customers are  happy as it is easy to connect. They can browse Facebook, Twitter and leave us a review on TripAdvisor while they are in the restaurant, which makes a big a difference for us.” 
¡Bien hecho, amigo!
<h3>Want to provide awesome WiFi and an Epic Experience to your customers?</h3>
You don&#8217;t have to serve mouthwatering tapas for us to help &#8211; pubs, cafes, retail, even outdoor venues and events &#8211; Stampede can get your businesses to that next level! 
Get started with a free, no-obligation trial today and see what Stampede can do for your business. 
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

How Tapa Boosted Business with Restaurant WiFi – Stampede SUCCESS STORY

Setting up a business isn’t easy, but I’m sure no one told you it was. In addition to having stock and seats for your customers, you’ve got to ensure that the infrastructure &#8211; like phones and your internet connection &#8211; is ready to go. 

Internet, more now than ever, is vital to make your business ready to operate and thrive. Every modern organization and business, whether you’re operating in hospitality, events or retail, relies on internet for internal planning, making orders and communication.
Having an Internet connection and a fast WiFi service in your venue is vital for many of your business processes. Since you’ve got the WiFi setup and going for your business, why not let your guests login and use this network? No need to have another network. Right? WRONG!
If you want to learn how and why sharing the same network with your guests might ruin your business, <a class="" href="https://get.stampede.ai/wifi-mistakes-ebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">have a look here</a>. (SPOILER ALERT: It&#8217;s bad.) You’re using the backoffice WiFi network to full extent, but are you sure you’re deploying the Guest WiFi to full extent?
Using a <a class="" href="https://www.stampede.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">proper Guest WiFi solution</a> isn’t rocket science. Easily set up, a secure WiFi solution will not only give your guests the advantage to freely and safely connect to the Internet, it also offers immense benefits for your business. Envision the internet connection you’re offering to guests as a literal connection you are establishing with customers. Inviting your business patrons to <a class="" href="https://media.giphy.com/media/IwTWTsUzmIicM/giphy.gif" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">surf in your venue</a>, gives you the unique chance to get to know them on a personal level. 
When customers make use of your Guest WiFi, you can ask them to leave some information about themselves. Customer Data like name, gender or email address can be collected easily and your business can get to know your customers. 
Gathering certain information also enables a business to build customer profiles and learn about their guests’ behaviour, like how often they visit the venue or how long they usually stay. Information like this is extremely valuable to any business, as the venue might be adapted to these insights. For example, if customers tend to linger over a cup of coffee or a meal and work during their visit, installing extra power sockets for laptops and smartphones can make a trip to your venue even more pleasant and uncomplicated for customers.
The great thing about this approach to customer intelligence is that customers only need to go through the <a class="" href="https://www.stampede.ai/how-it-works#marketing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Captive Portal</a> once!
Once registered, guests will be automatically logged into the Guest WiFi in seconds. Not only does this help the guests easily use your connection, it also helps you to generate data about them and gain insights for every single visit to your venue. Let&#8217;s say your customer visited a venue in New York, USA and your venue in Glasgow &#8211; as long as both places are using Stampede, guests will be able to login seemlessly in either venue. Now that’s what we call smooth&#8230;
All you need is a single login
Most of your guests will be grateful for the opportunity to use Guest WiFi and they’ll make use of it without a second&#8217;s hesitation. That’s how it should be, as the business is also gaining valuable data in return. Creating a win-win situation here is very easy. In case your customers are rather reluctant to use the WiFi or don’t want to exchange their email address for internet access, here’s a little tip:
After going through the Captive Portal, redirect your customers to whichever website you want them to see. So, why not redirect them to a separate Landing Page that includes a little treat like 50% off the next drink? This guarantees you happy customers AND data to profile your visitors. Let’s be honest &#8211; ever heard someone say “no” to a discounted drink and free WiFi?
If you want to find out more about how Stampede can help you boost your business, connect to customers and turn them into loyal visitors, click right below and find out.
<a class="eut-modal-popup" href="https://calendly.com/stampedeae/stampede-demo-request?month=2020-02">Click here to get started.</a>

Get Your Customers To Login Once & Keep Them Always Connected

Online reviews can make or break a business. Plus, they are a major deciding factor for customers. However, it can be difficult and time-consuming for hospitality operators to manage their reviews on a daily basis.



This is when the newest technological advancements, such as AI work a treat. Those tools help businesses to stay on top of their online reputation by identifying patterns and common themes, supporting response handling and much more with incredible efficiency.



In this blog post, we explore the key benefits of AI-powered reviews management as well as different ways operators can utilise it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-key-benefits-of-using-ai-in-reviews-management">4 Key benefits of using AI in reviews management</h2>



The use of AI in reviews management offers numerous benefits that improve decision-making and ultimately boost businesses.



Here are the 4 main benefits:



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Time-saving and efficiency</h4>



With AI, reviews can be analysed in a fraction of the time it would take staff members to go through them. Therefore, operators can take quick action and turn unhappy customers around.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. Consistency&nbsp;</h4>



AI also provides consistency as it takes a standardised, unbiased approach to review analysis. Compared to a manual spreadsheet analysis this is also less prone to errors.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Scalability&nbsp;</h4>



Scalability is another benefit, especially for bigger companies. AI can handle large volumes of reviews coming from different platforms in a short time.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. Multiple languages</h4>



Lastly, AI can analyse reviews in multiple languages. This makes it an unmissable tool for companies operating internationally.



In this second part, we take a look at how AI tools can support and speed up review management for busy marketers. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-sentiment-analysis">AI sentiment analysis</h2>



The manual sifting through reviews can prove to be a daunting task, which takes up valuable time and resources. This is where AI reviews sentiment analysis come in.



First, AI automates the analysis of written text and identifies keywords and tags and categorises them accordingly. It can also sort reviews by their overall sentiment into positive, neutral or negative categories.



In addition, AI can help highlight common themes and also present them visually so that they are available to staff at one glance.



With all this, operators can save time and quickly identify any issues that customers may be facing, such as slow service. So that operators understand where to focus their efforts and resources to improve their service and customer experience.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">AI-generated review responses</h2>



While all feedback is valuable, responding to each and every comment in a timely manner can be quite a challenge. Especially during peak season when the venue is busy.&nbsp;



But with AI-generated responses, businesses no longer have to worry about falling behind. By analysing the sentiment of each review, the algorithm is able to suggest a response that is both timely and appropriate.&nbsp;



And because hospitality operators can train the AI to use their unique tone of brand voice, responses will sound more personalised.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-reviews-generator">AI reviews generator</h2>



As technology continues to advance, AI-powered reviews generators are offering a new way for hospitality businesses to gather more customer feedback.



The <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/how-to-get-maximum-value-from-customer-review-sentiments">written part of the reviews matters</a> more to business than the overall star rating. It’s where the real value and insight can be found from which they can make improvements.



Though it can be a challenge to ask customers to leave a more detailed review. With the help of AI, this process has become more efficient and time-saving for the customer.



AI tools analyse customer input based on provided keywords. From this, they can quickly generate a written review that uses common phrases. Additionally, they also perform spell- and grammar checks to make sure the response is clear and accurate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-summary">Summary</h2>



Ultimately, AI-powered reviews management is a must-have add-on for hospitality operators that lets them take back control over their online reputation and drive customers through their door.&nbsp;



With features such as sentiment analysis and auto-generated responses, they can quickly respond to requests and solve any issues in a timely manner. This gives them the ability to <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/part-2-how-to-win-back-unhappy-customers">win back dissatisfied customers</a> and turn them into loyal ones moving forward.



Make sure to <a href="https://stampede.ai/blog/ai-in-hospitality-marketing-a-complete-guide">check out our full guide</a> exploring AI for hospitality marketing.