Box Topper

T

TexasRookie

New member
We are currently not topping our boxes. We have planned on ordering some box toppers, but were recently approached by a local apartment complex that would like to buy advertising space on our box topper.

Do any of you sell advertising space in your toppers? Would you sell space? If you did what would you charge for a business card size add?
 
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We dont currently have any ads on our box topper, but we have done so several times in the past. We print 20,000 at a time and charge $500 for an ad about half the size of a business card.

Our topper is laid out with four coupons. When we sell a space it is in the place of one of those coupons. I have never noticed any difference in the response we get between having three offers or four offers.
 
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I would offer to trade marketing with the apartment complex instead of charging them. Have them put your marketing materials in their monthly newsletter, get permission to door hang their complex (with a promise to clean up the next day), and/or have them throw a promotional pizza party in their commons room or at the pool this summer.

We stuff a folded menu in every box, so our tops are left open. The space is offered for use to promote community events, charities and our cross-over marketing. We make the organization print up their own flyers, but we don’t charge them anything to put them on the box tops. I’ve had other business offer to pay to get their stuff on there, but I’ve always turned them down.

I find a 1/4 of an 8.5" x 11" size page works best. 4-up (or smaller) allows them to save on printing/copying costs and lets us fit more than one flyer on each box top when we have something we’re promoting in-house as well (like Facebook).

Right now, I"ve got flyers for a community theater, a canned-food drive and some apartment complex (with which my marketing guys are trying to get something set up… I’m hoping) alternating on my boxes. For a lot of organizations, like the local Symphony Orchestra, flyers are one of the best ways they have to promote their event.
 
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Roy,
I don’t do box toppers because I don’t think I should give something away to people who are buying my stuff already. Why do you think they are so valuable?
 
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You do not have to give anything away…This is the best place to promote other menu items, special events at your place, etc…
 
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Pakula's Pizza:
Roy,
I don’t do box toppers because I don’t think I should give something away to people who are buying my stuff already. Why do you think they are so valuable?
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3 words . . . . Low Hanging Fruit. I find that my existing customers are by far more responsive to offers than cold non-customers. Warm non-customers are different. 🙂 Box toppers are a very inexpensive means of bumping up ticket averages with bundles, new products offers, slow moving but high margin items, and offers to increase frequency of existing customers. Bounce-back offers to team up with direct mail offers . . . designed to get another quick order off the already responsive customer . . . are another use of the top real estate.

When we were more effectively using our toppers, we used them to highlight items, build our brand recognition as a community supporter, and to build larger bundles for families. We introduced rotating new items (like limited time featured pizza of the month), and talked about upcoming events we were doing. We used it to market AS WELL AS relationship building and management tool. As an independent in a tiny town, we have to be seen as people, and being friendly folks is how we will survive.

Top of box is a hugely valuable tool we have been wasting until our recent marketing plan.
 
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Pakula, it’s not that you’re trying to give away free stuff to your current customers that are already buying but rather to get them to order more frequently. From my experience the average customer orders about once a month. I use my box toppers to try and entice these customers to order twice a month or more. I use coupons that have a 14 day expiration date on them.
 
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Roger:
Pakula, it’s not that you’re trying to give away free stuff to your current customers that are already buying but rather to get them to order more frequently. From my experience the average customer orders about once a month. I use my box toppers to try and entice these customers to order twice a month or more. I use coupons that have a 14 day expiration date on them.
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So you print every two weeks? That feasable for me. My printer is around the corner. The thing is, you basically always will have coupons out on the street which basically means your giving that discount to any one who you can’t say no to. (regulars). Being an owner working in my business I can’t even play the, I’m sorry I need a coupon to discount you card. These people know if I want them to come back I’ll hit the discount button on my pos.
 
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Most of us have a discount built into our price structure. The coupons we offer on the box top are offers we are happy to honor all the time. Any why wouldn’t you want to offer your best deal to your best customers? As poisted above, it is about frequency. I will trade a small discount for bumping a customer from 5 orders a year to 10 orders or from once every week or two to 6 times per month.

We have a different approach to the box top coupons. We print one topper about 20,000 at a time. They are full color and cost us about 2 cents each to print. The most popular offers are $2.00 off your order and free pint of ben and jerry’s with a 16" pizza. Number 3 is free six pack of soda (12 oz cans).

When I count coupons accepted, sales generated and cost of placement, these coupons are BY FAR the most cost effective offers we do.
 
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Pakula's Pizza:
So you print every two weeks? That feasable for me. My printer is around the corner. The thing is, you basically always will have coupons out on the street which basically means your giving that discount to any one who you can’t say no to. (regulars). Being an owner working in my business I can’t even play the, I’m sorry I need a coupon to discount you card. These people know if I want them to come back I’ll hit the discount button on my pos.
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You don’t need to offer a discount on a box topper - far from it.

I box top with menu’s - always (we change our menu’s 6 times a year). From time to time we use ‘box toppers’ as well to:
  • promote specials for certain days, football games, fathers day, mothers day, valentines day etc.
  • promote new products (we feature a different pizza at least 6 times a year).
  • promote other specials such as early week deals (when we are slower)
When I can see from previous years that an upcoming weekend looks weak, I use box toppers to run a special to try and get some more business in.

I’ve never box topped with a coupon (although I’m not saying that’s a bad thing and I know it works well for others).

Re your comment about being the owner, so what? I don’t discount for anyone other than the specials that I offer, not even to friends. If you let people get away with that before than that’s a slippery slope IMO. I don’t get nor do I expect a discount from my friends businesses so why should they from me just because I’m the owner?

The number of people who have rung up my store saying “I know the owner” etc etc the answer my managers now give is, “well if you know him then you’ll know he doesn’t give any additional discounts to people just because they know him!”
 
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We built a strong purchase base for new gourmet pizzas just by box topping, nothing else. Once we did a special deal on a new one when they purchased with any other pizza and this worked well.
Our current box topper is hghlighting our website and facebook, nothing else. It’s funny the number of regular customers who visited our website and then printed off coupons for a free garlic bread or 1.25lt drink from it.
We use box toppers with special offers on Mon - Wed (our quite nights) to get people to buy more regularly.
Think outside of the square and be creative without worrying about giving the farm away.

Dave
 
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Pakula's Pizza:
So you print every two weeks? That feasable for me. My printer is around the corner. The thing is, you basically always will have coupons out on the street which basically means your giving that discount to any one who you can’t say no to. (regulars). Being an owner working in my business I can’t even play the, I’m sorry I need a coupon to discount you card. These people know if I want them to come back I’ll hit the discount button on my pos.
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I have “Hurry Offer Expires In 14 Days!” written on each coupon. I would prefer to put an actual date on them but this is the most cost effective way and still creates a sense of urgency. I’ll honor the coupons regardless of when they bring them in. If it brought them in to order then the coupon did it’s job. My box topper coupons aren’t huge discounts anyways. I get my highest redemption rate on my “Large Pizza, 20 Wings, 2 Liter and Bread Sticks for $25.99” coupon. It doesn’t upset me at all when my regulars, who were already ordering 2-3 times a month, use this coupon. Most of my regulars usually order my large pizza and 20 wings special, so this coupon actually increases their ticket average by getting them to order more menu items than they normally would order.
 
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Roger:
I have “Hurry Offer Expires In 14 Days!” written on each coupon. I would prefer to put an actual date on them but this is the most cost effective way and still creates a sense of urgency.
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Back when I did coupon box toppers we used one of those adjustable date stampers. We left a white box and then would stamp the date three weeks out when the pizza was going out.

I’ve since given up on the coupon box toppers and instead advertise my e-mail list.
 
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Does anyone box top to get order placed before or after peak hours?..For example adding a free extra (soft drink, toast, salad, etc.) for orders before 430pm…
 
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