Okay, good start. I’ll give you some generic store opening ideas. Let’s just consider you’ve done a soft opening, as in you just turned on your open sign, opened the doors, and said “we’re open now”.
Unfortunately, though I wish that would work all the time, the plain and simple fact is… it doesn’t. Soooo, let’s get these people to order some pizzas from you, shall we?
First, PizzaManMike has a good idea with the big blow up pizza. However, what you put in the front of your store is of little consequence as long as you have something. I’ve always told people to get streamers because they’re flashy, they move with the wind, and most importantly, they’re cheap. Now if you want to pay the $1,600 on a big pizza, more power to you. Let me borrow it when you’re done 'cause I think they’re cool as Hell. Now… what this excercise will do is bring attention to the 21,600 - 28,800 cars a day that pass by your new place. (hint for the future - go to your state’s dept. of transportation website and they can give you accurate traffic counts).
The next place you’d want to attack would be the potential customers that do NOT pass by your place on a regular basis. These guys actually have no idea who, where, or what you are. Sooo… make them find out. Good avenues to choose would be bulk mail, direct mail, doorhanging, or newspapers. Each has the strong points and each has their weak points. For example:
Bulk Mail - This is usually a piece prepared by a professional printing company that distributes your coupon along with about 15 other companies. The price is good (usually around $400-$600) but return is rather crappy, netting you an average of about a .5% - 1% return. In your case with approx. 15,000 households, that’s between 75 and 150 orders.
Direct Mail - This generates a pretty good response depending on your artwork and specials, giving you an average of 1% - 3% (150 - 450 orders). However, it tends to get a little pricey at a range of 20 cents - 48 cents a piece.
Doorhanging - This is “old school” pizza shop kind of stuff. It’s not very efficient (the avg person puts out 100 pieces per hour) so if you want to make any kind of dent you need to dedicate a fairly large number of people a fairly large amount of time to see any kind of giant response. Doorhangers will net you 5% - 8% return.
Newspapers - These are relatively inexpensive, however you only attack a certain demographic with this venue, which is usually older residents in their 40’s or above, though you do get exposure to all age groups.
Another idea would be a tactic Garlic Jim’s pizza uses in the Northwest. They put up a table in front of their store with a sign that says “Free Pizza”. If I’m not mistaken it’s pizza-slices they hand out, completely free, with an advertisement, the entire week before they open. I’m not sure if you want to take the hit now… after you’ve opened, but it’s something to think about.
Either way you go with your advertising there’s always one constant: It needs to get done. The only way to get people to try your shop is to get the message out that you exist, and maybe give them some incentive to come in and get a pizza from you. Hopefully, this post will help a little with your quest to become that million dollar store like your boy Paul7979. -J_r0kk
