Introduction and methodology

Methodology 

This section was important because it shows we gathered the information that shaped our final recommendations. It helped us stay focused and made sure we organized our suggestions that were backed by real research.

In the beginning of the semester, our team reached out to the client to learn more about their goals. The challenge was clear: Byrne's Grilled Pizza wanted to boost customer engagement and digital marketing, specifically with social media. From there, we came up with a few research questions as the main purpose of the report is to examine the following questions: How can they better connect with customers? What strategies work for small, local restaurants?

As a group, we used both secondary and primary research. For primary research, we made a survey that customers filled out. For secondary research, we used University Library and Google, which gave us access to business and digital marketing articles for finding our sources. Some of the keywords used to conduct the research were social media, rewards programs, search engine optimization, and target audiences. After conducting the secondary research, Byrne's Grilled Pizza is successfully able to suggest different methods to lure customers in. 

Each person on the team focused on a different topic for the literature review. Henry looked into customer engagement strategies, Matt covered digital marketing, Penny focused on seasonal and limited deals, and Zdenka researched loyalty programs. Having each of us work on one section helped us be on track while not overlapping each other's topics.

For the local study, we targeted college students and young adults that are likely to eat at restaurants like Byrne's Grilled Pizza. We used Google Forms to make our survey since it's easy to navigate and share with others. We sent it to our class through emails as well as with other people on social media. We got over 20 responses. To make sense of the data, we looked closely at written responses to find common themes.

Our research approach gave us a solid mix of expert insights and opinions from potential customers. The combination helped us come up with recommendations that made sense for both the restaurant and its customers.