MKT302 - Quiznos' Digital Strategy: Analysis of Failures & Success

This report analyzes the digital marketing strategies of Quiznos, a sandwich restaurant chain, highlighting its struggles compared to competitors like Subway. It discusses Quiznos' target audience, current offerings, and positioning, noting a historical over-reliance on print media and a lack of engaging digital presence. The report critiques Quiznos' website and social media platforms, particularly Facebook, pointing out low engagement levels and a failure to adapt to current digital marketing trends. It contrasts Quiznos' approach with Subway's successful strategies, such as offering kid-friendly promotions and maintaining a strong social media presence. The conclusion emphasizes the need for Quiznos to revitalize its digital marketing efforts to bridge the gap with competitors and effectively reach today's online-centric consumer base. Desklib provides students access to similar solved assignments and resources.

Marketing and Management

Introduction
Quiznos Sub Sandwich Restaurants are famous for their Toasted Sandwiches and other
build-your-own subs as well as soups and salads. Their headquarters is in Denver, Colorado
established since 1981. They filed for bankruptcy back in 2014 as they were running out of
business meanwhile Subway and Potbelly were making their way to the top. Quiznos had
around 5000 stores in the United States back in the early 2000s and they were at their peak
but then later on, around 2000 of their outlets were closed dues to recession and competition.
This report shall discuss the marketing strategies of Quiznos and their flaws (Davenport et al.
2014).
Current offering, positioning and target audience of the brand
Coming back from its bankruptcy, Quiznos started making some changes in their advertising
strategies. They started splitting their budgets between print media and digital marketing.
They have been more inclined towards the print media advertising rather than digital
marketing. The benefits derived out of these digital platforms have pushed a lot of brands
towards success. Although recently they have been trying to emphasize on digital media more
than the print media, their strategies have not been up to the mark and they are losing the race
to their competitors. Their target audience includes male and female from the age of 18 to 34.
The primary target audience is the middle class white collar segment which is the largest
segment of class in the United States (McAlister et al. 2016).
Digital marketing strategies, analysis of the website and social media platforms

Quiznos have to understand the needs of their customer and figure out a better way to reach
out to their potential customers like other companies have been doing in the recent past.
Framing a better marketing strategy on how to make the most out of the digital media should
be their primary concern. This report shall discuss about the areas where Quiznos have been
struggling as compared to other companies like their social media campaigns and strategies.
The Quiznos website is not really that attractive as compared to Subway’s website. Quiznos
did not really focus on the fact that their website needs to be attractive, user friendly and
offers deals that draws potential visitors. In today’s world, the digital marketing tools need to
be used in the maximum possible ways. The marketing strategies followed by Quiznos are a
little dull and lacks that appealing factor that a product needs as far as the reach is concerned
(Parente, D. and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson 2014).
While analysing their social media platforms like for example, their Facebook page, Quiznos
are not really that active with their branding on the social media. The number of likes
Quiznos has, the difference is a story in itself. Analysis their Facebook page, Quiznos has just
around 1.4 Million likes shows how far behind Quiznos are in terms of digital marketing and
reaching out to people. Quiznos needs to make sure they are not staying behind and generate
that buzz.
Reasons of failure in their digital marketing strategies
The shifting of print media era to digital marketing was going to be a major factor for most of
the brands out there. Quiznos had to make sure they are not staying behind but they could not
manage to generate that buzz that other brands did.
A company needs to explore all its options when it comes to marketing their products. They
need to offer new schemes to their customers so as to keep them hooked to their sandwiches

and other food products. The new brands on the other hand kept their customers attracted and
offered various deals with their subs. Quiznos will have to recover a lot and follow the
current marketing trend so as to utilise their resources in a better way. Digital marketing is a
very brilliant tool only if it has been used in such manner (Lee et al. 2015).
Comparing Quiznos with Subway and their brand awareness
The marketing strategies followed by subway are quite sharp and targets their audience
unlike Quiznos. Subway makes sure that they are posting enough to reach out as much as
possible. If you compare the number of likes Subway has got on their social media page with
the number of likes Quiznos has, the difference is a story in itself. While Subway managed to
get approximately 25 Million likes on their Facebook page, Quiznos has just around 1.4
Million likes.
For instance, Subway has been offering toys for kids in their every meal. This attracts a lot of
kids obviously alongwith their parents which seems to be very smart move and Quiznos is
not doing anything of this sort. Subway’s marketing team has a brilliant way of making a
comeback offering something new to their customers where as Quiznos is still using their old
tagline.
Conclusion
Conclusively, it is quite evident that Quiznos are way behind in terms of their digital
marketing strategies and they need to work a lot on their marketing strategies. People
nowadays are spending more time online than going out. The customers are not going come,
you have to reach out to them and Quiznos need to learn that from Subway. They need to be
more active on their social media platforms so as to cover up the gap they have been dealing
with.

References
McAlister, L., Srinivasan, R., Jindal, N. and Cannella, A.A., 2016. Advertising effectiveness:
the moderating effect of firm strategy. Journal of Marketing Research, 53(2), pp.207-224.
Parente, D. and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, K., 2014. Advertising campaign strategy: A guide
to marketing communication plans. Cengage Learning.
Davenport, S.W., Bergman, S.M., Bergman, J.Z. and Fearrington, M.E., 2014. Twitter versus
Facebook: Exploring the role of narcissism in the motives and usage of different social media
platforms. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, pp.212-220.
Lee, Y.K., Kim, S.H., Seo, M.K. and Hight, S.K., 2015. Market orientation and business
performance: Evidence from franchising industry. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 44, pp.28-37.