It may seem like madness to advertise in March, when every advertising channel is choked with NCAA basketball tourney pitches. But it’s in these situations that restaurant chains have proven clever in getting the word out and scoring sales.

Ruby Tuesday promised to award $1 million to anyone who submits a perfect bracket (which, given this year’s insanity, likely won’t happen). And Pizza Hut said it will buy pizza for an entire college campus of a No. 16-seeded team that upset a No. 1 seeded team. (Hasn’t ever happened and didn’t this year, but the bet got a lot of buzz.)

Papa John’s paid major funds to become the NCAA’s “official pizza of March Madness.” But it also went to the other extreme and spent next to nothing on a social media campaign centered on a Facebook offer for Final Four tickets.

And have you seen the masses thumbing their smart phones during games? Between “smack texting” their buddies’ teams and cheering on their own, many are using those devices to order food—because you know they’re not cooking. What restaurateur doesn’t want a chance to feed that need?

With an online ordering platform tied to a simple social media campaign, you can create a little tourney time madness in your own restaurant by making it “a layup” for customers to order from you. Give us a call and we’ll coach you through it.