QSR Marketing in 2025: Standing Out in a Saturated Market

McDonald’s. Taco Bell. Chick-fil-A. Starbucks. Wendy’s.

These are some of the biggest names in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry, and prime examples of why this vertical is so cut-throat.

So, how do you make your brand the go-to choice in such a competitive industry?

The key is to promote your brand with impactful QSR marketing tactics that attract and convert consumers.

Learn everything you need to know about QSR marketing and master everything from social media to loyalty to audience segmentation.

Quick-service restaurants, commonly known as QSRs, are casual dining establishments that serve inexpensive meals at a fast pace. Also known as fast-food restaurants, QSRs offer a limited menu with low-cost selections — typically frozen or pre-prepared so they can be quickly and easily assembled on-site and packaged to-go.  

While most quick-service restaurants have dining rooms, these spaces are designed to keep people moving, leveraging a more practical, minimalistic style not necessarily aimed toward comfort. QSRs are perhaps best known for their drive-thrus, where meals can be retrieved from the convenience of your vehicle. 

Some common quick-service restaurants include McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell. 

While QSRs and fast-casual restaurants are both aimed at serving fast, affordable meals, these terms cannot be used synonymously. There are numerous differences between these restaurant types.

See the key differences below.

Though the quick-service restaurant industry took a hit during the pandemic, forcing many establishments to close their doors for good, the QSR landscape has made a staggering recovery — and is expected to thrive in the coming years.

Learn why the QSR industry is booming and what obstacles brands must be aware of to capture market share.

The QSR industry was valued at $303.61 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $468.98 billion by 2034. While convenience and affordability remain key growth drivers for quick-serve restaurants, other factors like mobile ordering, menu diversification, and health-conscious food options are expected to contribute to further growth. In addition, technological advancements like self-serve ordering kiosks and drive-thru voice assistants will be key factors that impact QSR industry success. 

Though the quick-service restaurant industry is experiencing an upward growth trajectory, it’s not without its challenges. Here are the main obstacles QSRs are currently facing:  

• Rising costs: Inflation has led to increased food and operating costs, forcing many QSRs to boost their menu prices while trying to remain competitive in the market. 
• Labor shortages: The QSR industry is known for having high employee turnover due to low wages and limited opportunities for career advancement. And thanks to widespread economic hardship, the labor shortage has become even more prominent for QSRs.  
• Changing consumer preferences: Consumers are shifting toward a healthier mindset when it comes to their food, plus a growing focus on sustainable practices and stricter hygiene standards. In addition, many customers are looking for more diverse menu options, putting restaurants in a tough spot to deliver. 
• High competition: The QSR market is a highly saturated one, leaving countless companies fighting for market share.  

With an optimistic decade ahead, there’s much success to be had for QSR brands. However, with competition on the rise, it’s important that your QSR marketing is optimized to capture consumer attention in a noisy marketplace and drive sales.  

Here are the QSR marketing tactics you need to implement into your strategy to boost results.  

To make your brand stand out in a noisy industry, developing a robust digital marketing strategy is non-negotiable. Learn about the best QSR digital marketing tactics to make your brand stand out and drive conversions. 

QSR marketing is all about reaching consumers in the right place at the right time: near your restaurant when they’re hungry. Location-based marketing allows you to do just that by targeting consumers based on their physical locations and serving them geographically relevant content.  

Drive more foot traffic to your local restaurants using these location-based marketing tactics:  

• Geofencing: Geofences allow you to create virtual borders around your stores using GPS technology, then automatically serve ads to any customer who enters that boundary. 
• Geotargeting: This location-based strategy uses information from consumers’ IP addresses to pinpoint their locations and collect behavioral data, enabling you to send them ads tailored to their location and interests. So, if your restaurant releases a new nutrient-rich menu item, you might target consumers in the area who are interested in health foods or dieting.  
• Geo-conquesting: Instead of creating a geofence around your location, you can establish one around one of your competitors’ restaurants through geo-conquesting. Then, you can send their customers ads promoting your restaurant when they enter the radius.  

Search engine optimization (SEO) is vital for boosting your restaurant’s visibility and driving awareness amongst local consumers. The perfect SEO cocktail includes the following elements: 

• On-page SEO: By optimizing specific pages on your website, such as your homepage, location pages, menu page, and about us page, you can help your website rank better with search engines. Your on-page SEO strategy should focus on implementing relevant keywords, complete metadata, high-quality content, and internal links to increase visibility. 
• Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO deals with external factors that impact your brand’s authority and credibility — chiefly, backlinks. This is when other websites link to your brand’s content, which indicates to search engines that your site is trustworthy and provides value.  
• Technical SEO: In a time when mobile ordering is at an all-time high, technical SEO — or back-end site optimization — is vital for QSRs. That means ensuring things like mobile-friendliness, good load speed, crawlability, and clear site architecture.  
• GEO: Generative engine optimization (GEO) is like SEO but for AI search engines, helping your content appear in generative AI results. To optimize for GEO, make sure your content is easily scannable, well-structured, and provides the most important information in the first few sentences. 
• Business listing management: This is the process of managing your brand’s location information across all of its local business listings. This ensures that your locations are visible to consumers with high purchase intent.  

When marketing to your customer base, personalization is key. Creating campaigns that speak to your target audience’s unique behaviors, needs, and preferences helps you get their attention and boosts their likelihood of converting.

Consider leveraging audience segmentation to group consumers with similar characteristics so you can tailor your messaging to these groups accordingly. For example, if you have a group of customers that tend to order vegetarian meals, you might target them with ads promoting your meatless options.

In this digital day and age, having a social media presence is crucial for any brand — and QSRs are no exception. With a strong social media strategy, you can boost brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty across your target audience. 

Here’s how to build a strong social media marketing strategy for your QSR. 

1. Choose your platforms: Visual-first platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat are excellent for QSRs because they enable you to showcase appealing imagery of your menu items and overall dining experience.  
2. Create your content strategy: A good rule of thumb for restaurants is to leverage high-quality food imagery like photos and videos while also showcasing your teams, community involvement, and user-generated content to highlight authentic moments and experiences.  
3. Activate local partnerships: Partnering with local food influencers and launching cross-promotional campaigns with other brands is a great way to gain access to a larger customer base and increase trust. 
4. Create engaging promotions: Drum up engagement for your brand by offering exclusive deals, running contests, and creating gamified experiences. These memorable brand experiences leave a positive impression on consumers and keep your brand top of mind.  
5. Run paid ads: Paid QSR social media ads are excellent for targeting consumers in your geographic area who fit within your target audience — in other words, the people who are most likely to convert.  

Customers are always looking for brands that offer them the most value. With loyalty programs, value promos, and memorable brand experiences, you can give them the best possible experience with your brand.

Loyalty management is an essential part of QSR marketing. With an engaging loyalty program, you can foster lasting relationships with your customers, resulting in greater customer retention, improved brand reputation, and increased sales. 

There are various types of program structures you can choose from when establishing your loyalty program, such as: 

• Points-based: Points-based programs allow consumers to earn points with every purchase they make at your restaurant. As they continue to rack up points, they’ll unlock rewards they can redeem, such as discounts and free food and beverages. 
• Tiered: In a tiered program, the more customers spend over time, the higher the tier they achieve. With each tier, customers gain access to better and better rewards. 
• Subscription: Customers can purchase a paid subscription to your loyalty program and receive exclusive perks like free delivery and food items. 
• Value-based: These programs contribute a portion of consumer purchases to a charitable cause that corresponds with your QSR’s values.  

While certain loyalty program structures are inherently gamified (like tiered and points-based programs), consider taking that gamification to the next level by incorporating elements like badges, leaderboards, challenges, and interactive games to foster even greater engagement.  

There’s nothing customers love more than a good bargain, and a deal for them is another sale for you — one that may not have happened otherwise. When you offer value to your customers through deals, discounts, and exclusive offers, you drive more sales volume for your restaurant while increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Types of value promos you can offer include:

• Buy-one-get-one deals
• Limited-time offers
• Seasonal specials
• Bundles
• Combos

In a highly saturated market, you need to find a way to make your quick-serve restaurant stand out. That’s where experiential marketing comes in.  

By creating unique and memorable brand experiences customers can’t get anywhere else, you can form a lasting impression on your target audience and keep them coming back. The key to building an impactful experience is thinking outside the box to create campaigns that excite, surprise, and delight customers. 

Here are some experiential marketing examples for QSRs: 

• Pop-up restaurants: Bring your restaurant to your customers with pop-ups to attract new customers and create buzz about your brand.  
• Product samplings: Got good food? Offer free samples to get consumers hooked. 
• Guerilla marketing: This tactic uses extravagant and unconventional methods of drawing attention to your brand, like flash mobs, art pieces, and other flashy displays. 
• Interactive in-store experiences: You can bring the experience into the store with things like interactive ordering kiosks and themed nights. 

Forming meaningful relationships with consumers requires a little pathos. Here are some ways you can connect with your target audience on a deeper level.

Customers trust brands whose values align with their own. These days, many of those views center around environmental responsibility, including responsible sourcing, sustainability, and animal welfare. So, if your brand employs any of these practices, it’s time to flaunt it in your quick-serve restaurant marketing.  

Does your brand leverage recyclable packaging? Talk about it. Does your meat come from free-range cows? Make it known. Do you source your ingredients from local farmers? Shout it from the rooftops. These are the things your consumers care about and want to see from brands.  

Another great way for QSRs to connect with consumers is to get involved in the community. When customers see your brand contributing to local causes and supporting community initiatives, you create goodwill and foster a positive reputation for your brand.  

You can get involved in your community in ways big and small, such as: 

• Donating to local charities 
• Holding fundraisers 
• Sponsoring local events 
• Organizing volunteer days 
• Collaborating with non-profits 
• Funding community assets 

Want to get your marketing off the ground but not sure where to start? Get expert guidance by investing in a QRS marketing agency. 

There are a few things you should keep in mind when selecting an agency to support your brand. Here are some must-haves when it comes to choosing your marketing partner: 

• Decades of experience with QSR and food and beverage brands 
• Strong understanding of marketing on the hyper-local level 
• Mastery of digital and traditional media 
• Case studies exhibiting client success with clear metrics 
• Strong analytics, performance measurement, and optimization skills  

The QSR industry is destined for growth — but it’s also highly competitive. That’s why you need to invest in high-impact quick-service restaurant marketing tactics that will set your brand apart. And with a trusted QSR marketing agency by your side, you can do just that. 

With 100+ years of experience supporting brands and their partner ecosystems, Ansira is the proven marketing provider you can trust. Get in touch with one of our experts to learn more.