We have a new pizzeria and have been open less than a year and things are going ok…a little slower in the summer.
I have a partner and we both disagree on advertising and discounting. He wants to do none, and I would like to do some. He, like believes only in word of mouth, but I think we have not “exposed” ourselves to a large percentage of our market and would like to drive in more bodies to try our product…suggestions please
Put on your banana skin shoes Brother cause you are walking a slippery slope. Partners that can’t agree on simple stuff like whether to advertise or not are bound to end up out of a partnership. That said…
You HAVE to advertise unless you and your partner have millions of dollars to toss to the wind. If thats that case Im in need of some capitol but I digress. Word of mouth is not good enough in the pizza biz unless you are the only one out there in your area. You MUST use every avenue that you can think of to initiate the customer flow that you can afford. That could be as simple as printing up some flyers and paying a kid a penny a piece to deliver them door to door around your store or going out yourself and shaking hands with people around you and offering them a “free” slice to try out your product.
Bottom line: If your pizza is the best in the entire WORLD, its still going to take a very long time to get the word out if its just WOM from your regular loyal customers. There is no such thing as an easy business marketing approach with out a bank full of money.
Just my 2 cents worth. Though a penny is worth 4 cents now if you melt it down and trade it in as scrap copper so I guess that makes it my 8 cents worth:-)Well ya know… (BTW melting pennies is illegal so I would not suggest it).
I have owned two pizza restaurants now over 8 years. We are regarded as the best in town and we are not cheap. One location is delivery, the other is a seasonal location with carryout only.
Fundamentally, discoutns/coupons are part of the pizza business, especially the delivery side of it. (Do you pay sticker for a car?) The consumer has been trained to expect it.
Just remember to price the discounts into your menu. Focus your marketing on differentiators not price. Make sure the discount is getting you something you need.
Good luck.
Advertising is a must!..If you and partner disagree on this I suspect bigger problems will follow…Good luck…RCS…
I think you MUST advertise! you dont have to discount, the best thing is to combined items