Plating the perfect strategy
ServSafe—a part of the National Restaurant Association—is the industry leader in restaurant education and safety training for food handlers, restaurant managers, and bartenders. They have the most in-demand programs and certifications. But they weren’t getting much traction with their digital marketing spend. After having some initial struggles with their existing media agency, ServSafe and the National Restaurant Association reached out to Envisionit for an updated media strategy to help bring in some serious dough.
The approach
Revamping the menu
ServSafe was already running paid search ads, but there were some clear opportunities to revamp and reinvigorate the campaigns and introduce new media channels. We knew that we could make their products even more prominent in kitchens and restaurants all over America.
Prepping the kitchen
We had some intuitions that the current campaigns needed some optimization. So we did a full business assessment to make sure we were right. We got to know their brand, the landscape they were operating in, and ultimately found some exciting new opportunities.
Sharpening the knives
They needed a sharp focus on market targeting and keyword targeting. With our experience in the restaurant and hospitality worlds, we knew who to target and what they were looking for. And we found new opportunities to expand ServSafe’s presence in paid social.
Chopping it all up
ServSafe offers a variety of products for a wide range of different positions in restaurants and bars. So we had to develop both paid search and paid social campaigns that could reach each different position like managers, food handlers, beverage handlers.
“When ServSafe came to us, we knew we could offer them the digital efficiency they were looking for. Their industry-leading products just needed a solid media strategy behind them, and we were able to help ServSafe achieve some incredible results.”
The work
Getting the oven hot
The initial paid search campaign was in need of few adjustments. Targeting specifically needed to be rejiggered. And the National Restaurant Association wasn’t doing any paid social, which was a huge opportunity for them. So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Assembling ingredients
We restructured the existing paid search ads and layered in more ads in order to test new targets in specific states, and we adjusted bids towards competitors—also known as conquesting. And for some of our new markets, we translated our ads into Spanish.
Plating the food
For paid social, we developed ad copy for ServSafe products about being the industry leader, the flexibility of ServSafe, and the high success rate. We also pulled images directly from their online catalog to showcase the certifications they offered and to ensure brand consistency.
Serving it up
The targeting we developed got pretty specific with industry positions to breakout our updated campaigns. We hit managers, food handlers, beverage handlers, and more for specific products.
The results
A perfect pairing
ServSafe was impressed with our revised strategy. The perfectly layered approach accomplished their objectives, and because of it they saw some incredible results. In late 2018, the return on ad spend (ROAS) for paid search hovered around 300% for both Google and Bing. They saw over 36,000 clicks for the PPC campaign. And paid social brought in an astounding 2,636% ROAS. They’re now looking to start campaigns with even more of their products in 2019.