Strategy #128
ALLDORM – Advertise in Local College Dorm Rooms
Here are two truths about college marketing: One: On-campus sponsorship is extremely effective. Two: It is nearly impossible to buy advertising space inside of dormitories – no matter how effective we all know it would be. College retail merchandiser, AllDorm, has announced its university endorsed on-campus sponsorship program that will result in In-Dorm-Room Advertising
Here's the deal. AllDorm, a national retailer of dorm room essentials, has spent years building mutually beneficial relationships with hundreds of colleges and universities across the country. The benefits of these partnerships are now being offered to local and national pizzerias for a limited time only. In the Fall of 2003, 350,000 on-campus students covering every state in the nation will be receiving 40" x 27" AllDorm Billboards (Dry Erase Message Boards) free of charge from their colleges. To fund production of the Dry Erase Boards, this company has been authorized by each of its collegiate partners to find national and local sponsorship for the program. Partnered companies will receive: full-color advertisements printed directly onto the boards, university endorsement for the entire school year, inclusion of menus and promotional collateral in the packaging of the boards and market exclusivity on your local campus!
Colleges and Universities distribute the Billboard on dormitory move-in day. The boards are used by students, mainly freshmen and sophomores, for the entire school year. Students use the boards to leave messages for one another an average of 10 times per day (Research conducted at Santa Clara University). The great thing about this product is, unlike door hangers, flyers, and newspaper advertising, which are easily ignored, it is virtually impossible to ignore something you are writing on. Consider this: sponsoring this program on a campus that houses 1,000 students who will see your advertisement 10 times per day for 240 days will result in 2.4 million impressions! May your competition rest in peace.
Effective on-campus advertising makes students hungry for pizza; effective In-Dorm-Room Advertising makes students hungry for your pizza. With the exposure provided by this Billboard, students have no reason to ever open the phone book or search online when ordering pizza; they have no reason to find out about your competition. Hey, you've tried magnets, but they are small and your exposure is limited to a business card-sized area. This product is 40" x 27" and will be placed in an area of the dorm that can't be missed. Which do you think will be more effective? This product makes reaching the college market easy, effective, and shockingly inexpensive. National franchises have no advantage over independently owned pizzerias as partnerships are negotiated on a first come first served basis with emphasis on the best interests of students. To learn more about the AllDorm Billboard, visit www.alldorm.com/reach, email matt@alldorm.com, or call Matt Karnes at 866-255-3676 x 5266.
Strategy #129
KEY PROMOTION – Create A Key Promotion With Magnetic Message Coupons
Nearly every pizzeria owner uses coupons. They are a great way to introduce new menu items and help bring in new and old customers. Most pizzeria owners also use magnets. Magnets are a great way to keep your name and number in front of customers. So rather than spending more money on two separate marketing tools, why don't you consider combining magnets and coupons for a bigger bang for your buck? Key Promotions Marketing Solutions have thought of this and have produced a product that combines the best of both worlds in their Magnetic Message Coupons.
Magnetic Message Coupons can be used in any marketing strategy where you would normally use magnets or coupons, but instead of a magnet reminding them, you are also providing incentives for customers to call. Rather than just a coupon that can get lost, your magnetic incentive "sticks" around giving your marketing effort more exposure. It also can be created to have one, two, three or four coupons or none! You can use the entire coupon area to market your shop, post a menu or list your weekly specials. This product can be used as a box topper, inserted into local newspaper ads or mailed. One idea would be to combine several marketing strategies. You could have a lunch discount near the top and have one of the removable coupons printed like a customer loyalty card where you give customers a punch for each lunch purchased and after five they get a free lunch. Why not do some cross-promoting where customers take one of the coupons to a local video rental store and have them sign it with a rental purchase then have them bring the signed coupons in good for a pizza discount? Now they have dinner and a movie and you could share some of the costs with the video store.
Key Promotions has researched what coupons are most popular and can provide marketing packets listing the top 20 used within the industry. Graphics can be selected from the 20 pre-designed coupons and inserted into a stock format. However one size does not fit all! They will also design a piece using your logo and graphics or whatever you want for your unique look. They cater to all size companies from the large franchises to the single location pizzerias. Order quantities start at just 500, which makes it a great option for the smaller shops. Orders may be placed individually and do not have to be grouped together for production runs. This means faster turnaround times. All this and priced right to fit any advertising budget! For more information call Key Promotions Marketing Solutions, Inc. at 800-701-4546 and inquire about their Magnetic Message Coupons. Fax: 800-701-4548 www.kpmsinc.com.
Strategy #130
LITEHOUSE – Success Served with the Sauce
In the early years of Papa John's rise to success, they set out to make their pizzas unique by including those little cups of garlic butter sauce with delivery orders. Even I got caught in the trap. Not that I preferred their pizza, but the sauce made the pizza addictive. Some other pizzerias saw the hook and started adding similar sauces with their pizzas. Now you can, too, but guess what? There are far more choices and marketing strategies than just adding garlic butter sauce. Offering different sauces for pizza, wings or breadsticks opens up new flavors for your customers to try. To extend the idea of making the pizza a meal, you can also introduce a line of sweet dips to balance the savory flavors. The idea is that the savory dips can be used while eating the pizza, then the crust could be dipped in the sweet dips as a touch of dessert. Vanilla and cinnamon vanilla sauces are some great ideas for this strategy. Now with the proliferation of chicken wings and chicken tenders being offered at pizza restaurants, this idea just expands the demand for high quality dipping sauces. You can use the same basic wings, but in different varieties by including different sauces. Another idea is to offer a sauce with an order of carrot or celery sticks. This can serve as a light snack for the health conscious customer. To add to the fun of a pizza outing for kids, you can include Lil Dippers – dipping sauce designed for kids. These dips are intended to offer to kids while they're waiting for their pizza, coupled with carrots or celery or other fresh veggies. This keeps them satisfied while waiting, and gets some healthy veggie's in their tummies. In addition to enhancing the flavor of pizza or as a sauce for wings, you can use sauces for salads or turn them into a revenue generator. Rather than just dropping a cup of sauce in the corner of a pizza box or on the side of a plate, offer the sauces as an additional purchase. When customers place their order, have your employees ask if they would like to add a side of one of your sauces for a small amount, say 50 cents or any price point you want to assign to it. Litehouse gives you choices beyond the traditional ranch dip – other favorites include a cheesy cheddar, a jalapeno ranch, a Parmesan Italian, and traditional marinara sauce. You can also get a chipotle ranch, with the smoky flavor of the roasted jalapeno, and a bleu cheese for bleu cheese lovers, which is also perfect for buffalo wings. For more ideas or pricing, contact Litehouse, Inc. at 208-263-7569 or visit them on the web at www.litehousefoods.com
Strategy #131
JU$TCHEX – Yes to Checks, No to Problems
Dominos, Papa John's, Pizza Hut and nearly every other pizza chain takes checks. According to a survey conducted by PMQ, more than 60 percent of pizzerias accept checks. If you don't, you are probably loosing customers. If you deliver and don't accept checks, you are limiting your customer base to just those who have cash on hand. Why? Probably because the memory of NSF checks lingers in your mind. Research has shown that only about 1 percent of checks are bad, so why does this prevent about 40 percent of pizzerias from taking checks? There is a company out there that has made it easier for restaurant owners to sleep at night without worrying about loosing money from NSF checks. A new Internet-based service called JUSTCHEX lets you get to the bank account of anybody that writes you an NSF check so you can get paid. Fast, simple and secure. Now you can turn the risky liability of bad checks into an asset that brings in additional revenues. Asset? Well besides having a long list of chain and independent pizza operators that swear by it you can put it to the test yourself. You go online and enter the checks and collect 100 percent of the face value, your bank fee plus and average of an extra $17 per NSF check. Enter 10 NSF checks and you're guaranteed to get paid 100 percent of the combined face value of all ten entries. Recouping more money takes the sting out of returned checks. Some of the advantages here is that you still have possession of the check rather than having it disappear in the mail going to a collection company. You keep all of the fees, which means additional revenues when a check does bounce and you control the speed at which the checks are processed
"I am extremely pleased with the convenience and ease of using justchex.net. I now have total control on how I want to handle returned checks," says David Parker, a Hungry Howie's Pizza Franchise owner. "Other companies that I have used had the returned checks sent directly to them from the bank. I couldn't update my POS system until the checks were posted on their web site or they mailed me a listing. If the customer was one of my regulars and I wanted to collect the check myself it was a hassle to get that check back from them. I can choose to charge for the bank fee or not, charge the minimum or maximum stated allowed fee when they get submitted for collection. I can also check status of the checks submitted for collection at my convenience and the e-mails notifying me of updates to my account is a real time saver."
The technology built into www.justchex.net includes the option of online funds verification giving clients the same tools as the best electronic check recovery firms. JUSTCHEX is an IBM Business Partner and the site is built to comply with the laws and operating rules that govern the NSF check recovery process. To test the site visit www.justchex.net and click REGISTER, or email them at sales@justchex.net, or call 866-587-8249 for personal assistance.
