Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Angie,

A lot can depend on who your business neighbors are, but since you're a restaurant vs a pick-up/delivery location I suggest the following:

Schedule your grand opening for Thursday night. Begin advertising as soon as possible that for every pizza the varsity football team eats that evening (you'll have to cough up the pizzas....sorry about the pun) you'll make a donation to a local food bank (or something like that). Don't forget to have the players get pledges from family and friends also.

Since many people will come to the event to watch them eat (those people will buy food) you'll have ready customers to offset some of the cost. Parents of players will have to buy drinks (high profit margin product for you) in pitchers for the players.

It needs to be Thurs night because varsity games are on Friday..usually. Getting the cheerleaders involved in promoting the event outside will also help. (MD winters might encourage you to do this sooner than later)

Promoted properly this will be an annual fundraising event.

Hope this gets the creative juices flowing.

Michael

Before getting fancy, lets start with the basics: who is your audience, how are you different (competitive analysis) and why should people choose you over the competition, what are your key target audiences, what does your target audience value the most (just to get us going). You will need this type of detail to have a chance for success; as well your promotion make sense because there is an underlying strategy.

Next, lets consider timing. To get the maximum “bang for your buck” it is important to have sufficient time to market your grand opening. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Depending on your budget you may consider advertising in newspapers, radio exposure, flyers etc – each of these may require 1-4 weeks of preparation time (time to create the flyer, design the ad etc) and take another 1-4 weeks to have your target audience see it. In comparison to word of mouth, paid advertising is good because you control the frequency, reach and message – plus you can turn it on/off when you want.

Pre event – ok, so now lets assume that you have ‘informed the people’ with ads or word of mouth campaigns. The next most important tool to consider is your web site (you have one … right?). The web is an important coordination point for many reasons; the reason I like the most is that it allows you to retain part of your “media cost” investment – meaning that if people don’t come to your grand opening at least they may remember your web site. So, if you direct people to your web site you have an additional chance to harvest names/leads for future marketing campaigns (such as email newsletters… you have one of those too… right?). The web site is also a great tool to build excitement, for example, you could say that you have ‘public’ specials posted there (perhaps even coupons) but the day before the event you are doing some extra things only for ‘online’ customers – such as special prizes, invitations to XXXXX, or contests.

So, now this is the “Grand Opening” – is this a one day event, or is it going to last all week? Perhaps you could have rolling specials for each day of the week or month. The key here is to ensure that you engage your target audiences (from your research as noted above) with specials, offers, and information that helps them become “long term customers”. One concept I really like is the “stamp card” (for each purchase you get 1 stamp, perhaps on special or opening days you get double or triple) – it is great because it rewards loyalty and long term purchases. Caution – don’t get cheep here! The worst thing you can do for your business is to cheep out and offer an ‘ok’ deal. Sure you might make a little more money, but that is a very short term perspective. And, if no one comes then you will never know what went wrong (this is a cardinal rule I learned after many years of working with small ‘cheep’ companies). If it is a wild success that is great – now you have a larger customer base and can ‘pull back’ a little next time.

During your grand opening you need to be exceptionally aware of your customer’s experience, attitudes and concerns. Be on site, provide surveys, do follow ups and offer more prizes to get feedback. While your pizza may be loved by many, some may have a personal problem with certain tastes – but if you wow them with service at least you will have a second chance.

Gotta go now, but this should get you going. Good luck.