I wanted to share a little bit of pride in my staff and our operation in recent weeks. And, a bit of simple marketing philosophy. First, I want to say that whatever you do, however you do it, spend time and money getting your name, brand and message in front of people. Do it often, do it cleanly and respectably, but do it. Sure, you can get caught up in what kind of piece to generate, the minutia of offers and food costs of coupons, and layout and design. GET IT OUT THERE. We printed a 4"x6" postcard that was good . . . it wasn’t our masterwork of marketing design, but it was good. We put it in the mail and got our message out there. Great Googly Moogly!
Our sales went from reasonable and pretty flat to climbing to explosive in the 10 days since sending that card out. We’ve had maybe 1% redemption of the actual coupons, but I can tell you sales have climbed, people have bought more and more of our featured add-on brownie bites and fried cheese (not using the coupon offer), and the sales of signature pizzas has climbed noticeably (again not using the coupon offers, though). So, our offers weren’t popular, but we sure got people’s attention with the food items mentioned and featured. GET YOUR MESSAGE OUT THERE. Our daily sales average has bumped 22% (over previous 3-week period) since the card hit the mail. We could have a record month in sales if we can keep the momentum up. We paid for the cost of printing and first mailing within the first three days’ sales increases.
This card was on the heels of my being a featured guest on a local cable access TV show. It also followed some positive word of mouth through our Chamber of Commerce, and the opening of a competitor in the marketplace! Not a pizza place, but any food place is a competitor in our small pond. Our staff has risen to the occasion. We hired a new guy for weekends, and he is learning fast and gaining consistency . . … the key.
Sure, do your best work and try to get the best return on your promotions . . . but whatever you decide to do, get your name out there and get it out there often. Bounce-back offers are great to keep the ball rolling (we dropped that ball this time through) . . . make it a visually attractive piece, and make it connected to your shop and get it out there. We are designing out next marketing piece this week, and continuing to spread the direct mail to more neighboring mail routes, Chamber of Commerce and motels at the interstate exit 10 miles up.