October means National Pizza Month, and that means an opportunity to reach out to your customers in creative new ways to sell more pizza—and start building repeat business for the fall and winter months. Here are some ideas to get started:
- “Pitch a Pizza” Contest. Invite customers to “pitch” ideas for their “dream pizza” or most creative pizza topping combos. Start this promotion now, and you will be able to feature multiple winners as specialty pizzas every week throughout October. Include the creator’s name in the description—or, better yet, name the pie in their honor—and award them gift cards as prizes.
- Pizza Passport. Create a digital or paper “Pizza Passport” and give customers a stamp each time they try a different pizza from your menu. After collecting a certain number of stamps, award them a free pizza or special prize at the end of the month. If your pizzeria already has a loyalty program or app, you might be able to create a special “Pizza Passport” feature within the app. Include interactive elements to show how close the customer is to completing their passport. Encourage your loyalty members to share their progress on this passport journey via social media and consider giving them additional points for doing so. (If you go the paper passport route, just make sure it’s easy for a team member to quickly stamp the passport without causing delays at the register.)
- Pizza Art Contest. Partner with a local elementary school and let the kids create (and sign) any type of pizza-themed art they’re good at. It could be a painting, a sculpture or any kind of artistic project. Display the submissions in your pizzeria all month long and post them on social media, then let your customers vote on their favorites. Offer prizes for first-, second- and third-place winners. With parents’ permission, shoot photos and/or video interviews with the three winners for social media. Pro tip: Invite the local news media to cover the contest and spotlight the winners (again, with their parents’ permission, of course).
- Employee Pizza Contest. Don’t want to host a pizza art contest for local school kids? OK, put the challenge to your employees instead. Let every team member submit their ideas for unique specialty pizzas each week during National Pizza Month and offer cash awards, paid time off or other prizes for the winners, which can be chosen by your social media followers.
- Collaborate With a Local Nonprofit. Invite representatives from a local or regional nonprofit—such as a pet shelter or a children’s hospital—to dial up their own ideas for a specialty LTO pizza. Bring them into the kitchen and teach them how to stretch the dough, build the pizza and bake it. As always, make sure to shoot videos and photos for social media. Donate a portion of the pizza’s sales to that nonprofit and let the world know about it!
- Collaborate With an Influencer. Yes, another collab, but collabs have real impact. Just ask the Buckland family, owners of Berwick Pizza in Green Camp, Ohio, who brought in influencer Dereck Malone of Sniping for Dom to collaborate on two pies in August. Malone’s review of Berwick Pizza went viral in early June, prompting the Bucklands to recruit him for a collaboration that resulted in the Spicy Sweet Chili Dorito Pizza, using Malone’s own ground beef recipe, as well as the Jolly Rancher Pizza. Many pizza influencers are pizza makers themselves or, at the very least, they’ve got some out-there ideas for topping combos. Better yet, they have social media reach of their own and can help you get your pizzeria in front of more potential customers. If you’ve got a favorite pizza influencer in your region, invite them to join you in the kitchen to create a specialty pie just for National Pizza Month. And, as always, don’t skimp on the social media marketing!
- Host Pizza-Making Workshops. Offer interactive pizza-making classes where customers can learn to make their own pizza from scratch. Add a fun twist by focusing on a theme, such as “Dream Dessert Pizzas” or “Crazy Toppings Challenge.”
- Slice of Death. Create a roulette-style “slice of death” challenge where one slice in every large or extra-large pizza is secretly spiced up with an unexpected ingredient (like extra chili peppers or a house-made fiery pepper sauce ). Offer a reward for those who bravely take the dare. Just don’t call it the “Reaper Roulette Challenge”—Dallas-based Zalat Pizza has trademarked that one! Click here to read more about that.
- Pop-Up Pizza Lunches. This is neighborhood marketing at its finest. Choose local businesses or nonprofits that make a difference in the community and “pop up” at their offices bearing free pizza and drinks or gift cards. Post photos and videos of the lunch parties on social media.
