Archive for February, 2010
Pizza Menus and Seasonal Advertising Campaigns
Did you know that your pizza menus should change every few months in order to maximize your sales? That’s right – those hard working pizza menus that you send out with every order need to be maintained and updated just like any other advertising campaign.
Pizza Menus Are Just Like Any Other Advertisement
Have you ever received ads for weight loss programs during the summer? Do you receive ads for flat screen televisions during football season? Did you ever notice that those $5 pizza places tend to advertise more when the economy is slow? You probably answered yes to all of those questions.
It pays to be smart in advertising. The early spring months present an opportunity for you to promote healthy menu items as people become weight-conscious. Help your customers achieve their beach figures by including healthy takeout menu options such as salads. During the summer months you might to offer package deals for families and friends. The summer is also a perfect time to hire out-of-school teenagers to distribute your menus and flyers. During the winter months, you may have better results with loaded pizzas and wings (think football season) as hungry sports fans satisfy their appetites.
By adjusting your menu to reflect seasonal holidays, current events, and national pastimes you can increase sales and grow your business. It’s simple to do and can lead to major profit increases. Take a look at the following calendar to plan your 2008 pizza menus.
2008 Calendar of Holidays/Events:
January 1 – New Year’s Day
February 3 – NFL Super Bowl
February 14 – Valentine’s Day
March 17 – St. Patrick’s Days
March 24 – Easter Sunday
May 5 – Cinco De Mayo (Mexican Holiday often observed in U.S.)
July 4 – Independence Day
September 1 – Labor Day
October 31 – Halloween
November 4 – Election Day
November 11 – Veterans Day
November 27 – Thanksgiving
November 28 – Black Friday
December 25 – Christmas
More Advertising Opportunities:
Little League baseball season – offer free slices for home runs, stolen bases, etc
Beach/Bikini Season – promote healthy menu items and weight loss
Graduation Day – offer discounts for new graduates
Mother’s Day – work with a local florist to offer a free flower with every pizza
Father’s Day – create a special for hungry fathers that includes pizza, wings and drinks
Local Festivals & Fairs – be a part of local community activities
Getting the Most Out of Your Pizza Menus:
Your pizza menus should follow time-tested and proven design layouts that present your menu items and pricing in the most effective way possible. Here are 5 design and printing tips to get started:
Always print in full-color on glossy paper – you must look good to the customer! Only use high quality images of your pizza and menu items Hire a graphic design service if you do not have graphic design experience Gather menus from other pizza shops – note what you like and dislike about them Choose a menu printer that specializes in pizza menus and will send you free print samples
Remember: Your menu has to sell for you when you are not there!
By: Chris Barr
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Advertising Your Events on the Web
Advertising your events on the web can be a confusing proposition. Having your own website is great, but driving traffic to your site can be difficult. Dealing with search engines and confusing technology can be time consuming and expensive. Many websites offer event listing services, so how do you find the website that is best for you?
First and most important, determine the target audience for your event. Are you looking to advertise for people to come visit your event or are you looking for vendors for your event? For example, you are promoting a craft fair and you are looking for crafters to rent booth space and sell their wares at your fair. Then you need to find a website that caters to artisans and crafters. If you are looking for people to visit your fair and purchase from your vendors then you need a website that is appealing and caters to potential visitors.
Understanding this early is key to finding a website on which to list your event. Some websites offer services so that you can advertise for potential vendors, but these sites are typically not designed to help you advertise to visitors. If you want people to visit your event look carefully at how the website lists their events. Are the listings cluttered and difficult to read? Are multiple event types contained in the same listings, making it difficult for visitors to find your event? Is your event going to stand out or be lost among pages of unrelated events? Does the website make it easy to search for events and view individual events?
The best event listing sites will provide individual websites that are focused on each event type. This is important as you can choose how to manage your event listings. For example, you are promoting your community’s annual Squash Festival and you have local bands, an arts and crafts fair and food made from squash. With an event listing service that provides a single site for events, your event is listed just once. For an event listing service that provides multiple focused websites, you can create a listing for music, crafts and food. Each listing appears on it’s own website which is focused toward music festivals, craft fairs and food festivals.
The second item to look for is what information you are allowed to include in your listing. Foremost you should be able to enter one or two paragraphs describing your event. A one or two line description is not going to go far in attracting anyone to your event. If you are listing your event to attract vendors, are you able to provide the information that you think a vendor would require? Is the form to add an event cluttered and complicated? If you are listing your event to attract visitors, are you able to provide the basic information a visitor would need to find your event? Are you allowed to provide an email address and website if visitors want more information?
Regardless of whether you are looking for vendors or visitors, look carefully at how your event information will be displayed. Is your information displayed in an appealing manner and easy to read? Many listing websites will display a page of events with a shortened description based on the results of a visitor’s search. Make sure that visitors can click on the shortened version of your event and expand it into a full page display. Does your listing include a map or other features that a potential visitor would find useful? Is an email form provided if a visitor wishes to contact you?
Many websites are available which will list your events. Be wary of listing services that charge a membership fee to post events. Investigate what you are receiving for your membership beyond just the ability to post events. There are also sites that require you purchase a membership or charge a fee to post a listing and who then turn around and charge visitors to view your event! The best event listing websites will provide a free promoter membership and provides free access to the listing for potential visitors.
The last item to consider is your ability to manage your event. Once you have posted your event, make sure you are able to return and edit your event information. Are there additional features you can apply to your event, such as top-of-page for search results, colored borders and backgrounds and images? Most sites will charge a nominal fee for these extras. Also, check to see if the website provides information about the number of times your events was displayed. The better event listing services will provide additional details such as the number of times your event was expanded, the number of times a visitor clicked on the web link you provided and the number of times a visitor used any of the special features.
By: Bill Hooper
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Vehicle Advertising is a Great Investment
Every where you look someone has an ad on something. From the tiniest pencil to the biggest billboard, if it can be printed on it can be advertised on. Companies are being more cautious where they are spending their advertising dollars. They can not afford to waste their money on something that does not work. Vehicle advertising works. For the small company to the large corporation, this type of ad campaign gets noticed.
Vehicle advertising can be as simple as a magnetic sign on the door or tailgate. It can be as big as the entire vehicle. This is vehicle wrapping. Probably one of the most expensive campaigns when discussing vehicle advertising, but definitely the one which will get the most exposure.
Studies have been done and data collected to determine just how good vehicle advertising was. It is amazing to realize that almost every American is in a vehicle every week. Whether they are the driver or passenger, they are in the car. For the advertiser, that is a lot of people.
It is estimated to cost between $2,000 and $4,000 to do a complete vehicle advertising wrap. The benefits are that it will last for about three years. This amounts to a great deal of exposure for the money. One study concluded that if a company were to invest $20,000 for vehicle advertising, approximately 8.4 million people would see the vehicles over a 12 month period. They did some comparing to what an advertising dollar would buy.
The same money would buy 10 spots on the radio. This would attract about 900,000 people. Not everyone listens to that radio station. So the next avenue would be joint campaigns like Value Pak. This form of advertising reaches approximately 600,000 people. The same amount of exposure you would get if you were to advertise on 7 city transport buses for two months. To get only 100,000 more customers to see your ad campaign you could rent a billboard. Dollar for dollar it only makes sense to invest in vehicle advertising campaigns.
The vehicle wraps are not the glaring, in your face, type vehicle adverting you would think. The wraps are tastefully designed. It is something anyone would drive. They can be done on any make or model of vehicle, as well. For some reason, many companies have grown fond of the Volkswagon for this type of advertising program.
Vehicle advertising can be used by large or small companies. Many new ad campaigns are being started by smaller restaurants and businesses. Pizza shops and pet shops are using this type of advertising to let people know about their business. National companies like Nike and Coca Cola are also using vehicle advertising. They have found the response from the public is beneficial to the business. People are actually taking the time to look at the vehicles and read what is on them. Jet Blue used this form of advertising to let people know about one of the new routes. There was an estimated 6.75 million views of the vehicle in one month.
With the exposure one vehicle can produce with a vehicle advertising campaign, you may want to think of where your advertising dollars are going. With this campaign thousands can view your ad every day. You know your message is being delivered.
By: Hal Lewis
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Before Creating an Advertising Plan
Creating an advertising plan is the first thing to do before plunging headlong into any advertising activity. Start by asking a few tough questions, and don’t do a thing till you have the answers. It might seem difficult at first, or even a waste of time; go through the exercise nonetheless, and voila! see what a difference it makes to your advertising strategy.
Question 1: What do I hope to achieve through advertising? That, my dear friend, is the million dollar question. Advertising can yield different results, depending on a number of variables, such as the intensity of the campaign, message type and quality, medium of exposure, length of the promotion and so on. Turn that statement on its head – and you will know what needs to be done to achieve the results that you need. For example, if you wish to build awareness for your brand, or create long term relationships with customers, creating an advertising plan that is high on “quick burst” tactical measures like a “limited offer till stocks last” won’t do. Although, that may certainly help clear slow moving stocks!
Question 2: How do I go about achieving these objectives? This is largely for the advertising agency to answer, and their recommendations will depend on considerations of cost, timing, frequency and urgency of the message, competitive action… and so on. But before they come up with ideas, you need to clearly specify the target audience and its key characteristics. Creating an advertising plan involves deciding media, message and method. There’s a wide variety of media to play with – ranging from radio to direct mail and event marketing. Each has its own charm and pitfalls, which you will be well advised to familiarize yourself with, before making a choice. The message is a lot harder to deal with – many advertisers try to be everything to all people, and that’s the worst thing to do. Keep the message focused, make it simple and ensure that it answers an unmet need or highlights the unique benefit that only your product offers. Once that is out of the way, the campaign execution will follow naturally. Deciding the intensity, frequency and timing of the campaign is an equally important aspect of creating an advertising plan. If your sales cycle is highly seasonal, it is best to time the activity just prior to the beginning of the season and run it through its peak. On the other hand, companies that sell fast moving consumer goods, that are needed pretty much all year round, need to invest in more sustained advertising activity.
Question 3: How do I measure results? And that is the worst one of all! Advertising is notorious for its immeasurability. A campaign’s effectiveness may not show up as a sharp spike in sales, but can you deny the heightened brand recall it creates in the mind of potential customers? Likewise, a direct marketing effort certainly costs more per “unit” than a print ad, but may result in higher immediate sales. Discuss deliverables with the agency before they go about creating an advertising plan for your company. After all, there’s no fun in spending big bucks and turning out a creative campaign if you don’t know what’s really in it for you!
Having answered these questions, you will be ready to start creating an advertising plan. If your advertising requirements are significant, you might like to ease the process by investing in specialized software like Advertising Plan Pro from Palo Alto Software. And if you have more questions, “How to Develop a Successful Advertising Plan” by James Walter Taylor, will certainly provide the answers.
By: Akhil Shahani
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Does Post Card Advertising Really Work?
You’ve decided to try advertising your business with post cards. The idea came to you from the post cards you receive from other businesses. You like the idea because it seems easy to do and economical. However, you’ve never tried this before so you question whether this method will bring you customers.
Let me say this first, “All Forms of Advertising Work!” However, you have to clearly understand how the advertising medium works and realize that each form has it’s limitations along with costs associated with it.
At this time, I also I need to dispel a myth that has been around for as long as there has been printed advertising. Many, many business people believe that if they do a 1 time mass mailing it should be a slam dunk in sales.
Let me be the first to say. “With over 36 years of selling to the public, it simply doesn’t work that way!” If you plan on being in business longer than 1 day, then you must continually advertise to keep the clientele coming to you.
Advertising in any medium has always been about repetition and getting your name remembered. It’s called “Branding”. Study businesses that use television commercials. They are constantly repeating their business message 1000′s of times a day. They are the best free examples to watch and learn from.
So for your business, you can conclude that the more your prospects see your name or message repeated, the easier it is for them to get to know you and what you offer. Then it becomes an easier task to get them to buy from you.
So How Does Post Card Advertising Work?
You create an ad on a Post card. This can be done in your favorite graphics or word program. Then use the mail merge feature in the program to insert mailing addresses automatically. In case you haven’t setup your address book you would need to do this before you do a mail merge.
Print out the cards, stamp them and then mail them out. If done correctly and repeated over and over again your customer base will grow. This is the simple mechanics of post card advertising.
So Where Do I Get Good Addresses From?
Before you can get good addresses, you must first know who it is you are wanting to target before you do your mail out. You wouldn’t offer gun sales to anti-gun activists or religious material to a group of Atheists, now would you?
First, go to the large search engines and do some research to find out who uses your type of product and/or services. Once you uncover who they are, you then know who your target market will be.
As a side note, there are companies that do sell mailing lists that contain groups of people, organizations and businesses. It is all gathered and cataloged and based on personal interests and/or work related. You can buy these mailing lists or start your own.
Secondly you have to determine how often you will be sending your post cards out. The amount of times you repeat your message, to those you target, will determine how well they remember you. Let me show you how I am targeted by companies that I do business with and that get my attention as well as my order.
Example:
ImpactYourArea.com is targeted by companies that make promotional products. Everyday I receive something in the mail from some company. It could be product announcements, new product samples, promotions and/or valuable insight to generating more sales.
Some companies send me information at least once a month. Others 4 times a year. Then there are those companies that send me something only once a year.
Of those three company types which do you think I remember more? It would be those that send me something once a month.
From this example it should be clear that getting your message out repeatedly and often is how your prospects are going to remember you, your product and/or services.
So What Are The Limitations With Post Card Advertising?
Let’s say you plan to send out 5000 post cards in a one time mailing. If you are targeting prospects that use your type of service or product, then statistically you should draw 1-2% in responses. Meaning that roughly 50 people may show some interest.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you have converted the prospect into a buyer. It only means they have shown an interest in your offer and are willing to take it to the next step.
The next step, for them, is to find out a little bit more about your offer. These are your “Tire Kickers”. Of those that responded your chance of converting them is also 1-2%.
So your chances of converting prospect to buyer, from your 1 time mail out could be 4-6 buyers from your original 5000 post card mail out.
Now most would say that the campaign was a failure. However, by the way this medium works it was right on target.
So How Do You Increase Response Rate?
Instead of sending out a 1 time mass mailing of 5000 post cards, consider sending out a smaller amount and do it in monthly increments. Repeat the mail out process once a month for 12-24 months.
So How Much Should You Send Out?
I would start small and build from that. This gives you the ability to spend a little at a time while measuring how each mail out converted. This keeps your advertising costs down and manageable.
Start with 500 post cards a month. Only target prospects you know that would use your product and/or services. Then I would repeat the mail out to the same group over the next 1-2 years.
Even if they do not buy the first or second time after they’ve received your card, they are beginning to get to know you and your product and/or services. As time goes by your chances of converting them to a buyer increases. There is also a good chance that those you target may pass your offer onto someone else.
In conclusion, never allow the idea that advertising once will be the solution to gaining repeat business. Don’t forget that post card advertising does work if you learn how to do it right and you repeat the process over and over.
Copyright 2005 © Woody Quiñones & http://www.Impactyourarea.com
By: Woody Quinones
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