Tom Feltenstein - 501 Killer Marketing Tactics

Investigate whether your local newspapers offer zone advertising.
Some publications may offer to run your ads only in certain geographical
locations at cheaper rates. This could be a good idea, because buying
the full press run probably means that you’re reaching an audience
that includes many people who aren’t in your trading area.
Also, don’t overlook the small weekly newspapers that are common
in every community. Their ad rates are very cheap, and they are well read
by people who are interested in the most local news.
45. Looking Slick
Magazine advertising requires a longer planning cycle, so it can be difficult
to use it for special promotions unless you are well prepared far
ahead of time. Magazine ads (magazines are known as “slicks” because
of their shiny paper) add to your credibility, but they can be quite costly.
Many publications put out regional editions that can target your market
at a lower cost.
Don’t forget to consider trade and other categories of publications as
well as consumer magazines. Look for places that your competition may
have overlooked.
46. Yellow’s Not Mellow
Advertising in the Yellow Pages can be tricky and expensive, and you
don’t necessarily have to be there unless your competition is. If you do
advertise against your competition, make yours the largest ad you can
comfortably afford because the larger ads appear in the book ahead of
the smaller ones.
Save money by not using bold type. Also, do not be talked into using
color. Studies show that it makes no difference in effectiveness. Every
Yellow Pages ad should have a clear, short headline and should make an
offer or guarantee.
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Your display ad in the Yellow Pages should be carefully thought out
because you have to submit it months before the books are printed and
distributed, and it’s there for a whole year. Read your contract carefully,
and make sure the ad is the best it can be. Study the Yellow Pages and
see which ads you think are the most effective.
47. On Deck
Marketing companies compile coupons from groups of area businesses
into deck cards and mail the entire packet to target areas or groups. These
can be effective and relatively inexpensive, but make sure that your card
is well designed and makes a specific offer, such as a trial buy-one-getone-
free offer. And always make the offer good for a limited time. That’s
what motivates potential customers to act.
48. Wish You Were Here
Postcards are among the best, cheapest, and most effective way to maintain
a conversation with your existing customer list. Most marketing
experts recommend a mailing program in which you send a postcard
once a month for six to nine months. Always make a special offer, and
always make it time-limited.
Postcards are also a very effective way to speak to individual customers.
A simple thank-you with a special offer is appreciated by your audience
and increases loyalty. Every business that knows its customers’ names and
addresses and can track their buying habits should be thanking customers
every time they make a purchase.
49. Letter Perfect
Slightly more costly, direct-mail letters serve a function similar to that of
postcards, but they give you more space to tell the story and make an
offer. Use direct-mail letters for longer-term follow-ups. You can combine
Must-Do Business Tactics ✹ 43

your pitch with a plug for your favorite community charity (but no politics
or religion!). “Don’t forget Toys-for-Tots this Christmas, and come
see us for our preseason specials on photo albums to keep those treasured
memories from getting mislaid.”
50. Things Are Looking Up
There are some very exciting promotional tools that require a little more
work and expense but that really grab the public’s attention: balloons, blimps,
and searchlights. These boost foot traffic for special events and promotions.
For example, try releasing hundreds of balloons with flyers attached
in a crowd of people leaving the theater or a stadium. These unexpected
events will attract a lot of attention in a short period of time.
51. Isn’t That Special
An entire industry exists to supply businesses with every conceivable type
of advertising specialty with your name on it. Many of these can be powerful
promotional tools. Among the simplest and most successful of these
specialties, which you can order yourself from a local printer, are scratch
pads. Scratch pads always get used, and each sheet is a new ad. The pad
often sits on a counter or desk, so the message and your name are being
constantly reinforced, burned into the memory of the potential customer.
Calendars, refrigerator magnets, pens and pencils, plastic drinking
cups, and sunshades for your car dash are just a few of the more common
items offered. Search on the Internet for suppliers, and look for
items that are useful and inexpensive to give away to your customers.
52. Stick to the Script
Create scripts that your staff can use when making sales calls or while
they’re answering the phone. You may want to hire an experienced copy-
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writer to help with this because you don’t want your script to be wooden
or to contain any false notes. Scripts should include key sales ideas, questions,
and suggestions for closing a sale.
Remember one of the first rules of selling: people like to talk about
themselves. Make sure your telephone people are asking customers
about themselves, their needs, and their wants.
53. Take-One Boxes
Any stationery supply store sells brochure display holders that you
can load up with your flyers or other printed materials and place
in locations that are frequented by your prospects. Be sure to offer
a bring-this-with-you special for discounts or free samples. Track
these sales carefully to make sure that your flyers are in the right places.
This is an excellent cross-promotion tactic to use with other noncompeting
retailers.
54. Ride the Airwaves
Radio commercials can be very effective, especially in smaller markets,
where airtime is less expensive and competition among stations for audiences
is less crowded. Ads run 30 to 60 seconds in length and may or
may not include background music.
Use radio as part of a campaign to carry out a particular theme or promotion.
Prerecord your commercials and present them to the radio station
in cassette form or as an electronic file. If your business will plug the
radio station in return, the stations may help with the commercial or provide
it for you.
Radio is all about repetition. It takes up to two dozen impressions over
a very short time for listeners to remember your message. Running one
spot a day over a period of weeks is wasted money. If you can’t run an
aggressive program, don’t bother. Try something else.
Must-Do Business Tactics ✹ 45

55. The Case for Cable
Billions and billions of dollars are poured into producing and broadcasting
lavish television ads. Most of that money is wasted because the environment
is so cluttered that no one remembers much of what they’ve seen,
and most viewers use the remote to avoid watching the ads. However, there
is a very strong case to be made for local cable advertising. It remains a
fairly well-kept secret that you can buy television time inexpensively on
major cable channels like A&E, Bravo, or the Food Channel and have
your ad piped only into specific neighborhoods of your choosing.
Most cable providers will produce your commercial on videotape for
a relatively low cost—as little as $2,000—or sometimes for free in
exchange for your commitment to participate in an ad campaign. Your
cost to air an ad each time can range from as little as $25 to as much as
several hundred dollars. As with radio, you will need to run a solid threemonth
program of constant repetition. The beauty of cable is that you can
segment your market by neighborhood and related interest. For example,
if you run a home decorating business, you’ll want to buy time on Discovery
or The Learning Channel, adjacent to home improvement shows.
Make sure that your ad attractively and clearly conveys the theme and
value of your business, and especially be sure that you let people know
which community you’re in. Television viewers are impressed by TV ads
that feature their neighborhood businesses.
56. The Gifted Approach
Gift certificates are an easy, cheap, effective promotional tool that can be
used in many ways: to reward loyal customers, to honor employees, and to
encourage new trials. They can be promoted during the holiday season or
used as special mailings for customers’ birthdays and other occasions. You
will find many tactics later in this book that rely on gift certificates.
If you have a product or service that is highly profitable and a good seller,
direct your gift certificates toward those purchases to spur additional sales.
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57. Basket Cases
If they are done well and attractively, gift baskets are a great way to introduce
people to your product line and ring up additional sales during holiday
periods. Be sure to include coupons for discounts to get those
customers to return for additional purchases.
Gift baskets can also be used to win goodwill with local charitable
and other organizations, introducing potential new customers to your
brand, your product line, and impressing them with your commitment
to the community.
58. Firing Up the Troops
You will find a number of tactics in this book that are aimed at motivating
your staff. Too many businesses overlook the enormous promotional
potential of their employees. Your employees should be fully engaged in
your promotional plans, and you should solicit their experience, advice,
and feedback. After all, they are your frontline troops. They are seeing
the battle up close.
One way to win your employees’ attention and commitment is to
encourage them to come up with promotional ideas on a regular basis.
Once a month, pick the best idea and try it out. Reward the winning
employee with a cash bonus. Remember, reward good behavior, and it
will reward you.
59. Delivering the Goods
Home delivery is not just for pizza anymore. Too many businesses
vaguely see this as an opportunity but don’t want to go to the trouble of
trying it out. It may be true that delivering a bottle of Aunt Hattie’s
Maalox and her favorite shampoo is time-consuming for a busy drugstore
and, by itself, not profitable. But think about the loyalty you create by
doing so. And think about the number of people Aunt Hattie might tell,
Must-Do Business Tactics ✹ 47

and about where she will shop for other products she might not have realized
you offer.
To deliver your products, you can hire unemployed retirees, many of
whom would be happy to make a little money, get out and about, meet
some of their neighbors, and perform a valuable service. And when your
sign is on the vehicle, your business is being advertised with each delivery.
Delivery people should be independent contractors who provide their
own cars, auto insurance, and gas. Hire people who smile and relate well
to others. Charge $1 for delivery, and pay the delivery people the minimum
wage plus the delivery fee and tips. Provide a separate phone line
for delivery call-ins. With the delivery, always include a list of your other
products and a coupon that is good for a discount on some other product.
Save the customer’s contact information and remember to send a
thank-you card, a follow-up letter, and even make an occasional phone
call to see if there’s anything else the customer might need.
To promote this program, provide menus or product lists to offices
and use them as doorknobbers in your local area.
60. Ready, Set, to Go
Most food businesses should have take-out service, and nearly all businesses
that sell consumer goods of any kind should offer call-in service that allows
orders to be phoned in for pickup. Use the same menu or price list that
you do for delivery. Provide a coupon with every order—for example, offer
a free beverage with each $5 worth of carryout food. Use the same methods
mentioned in tactic #59 to promote the new take-out service.
61. Easy Does It
Whatever you do, make, or sell, be sure that it’s easy for your customers to
buy it. It must be easy to find, easy to call, easy to order from, easy to deal
with, and easy to pay for. Look at all your systems, processes, advertising,
promotions, traffic flow, and signage—look at every aspect of your business
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with one thought in mind: how can I remove every conceivable obstacle
or hindrance to creating a customer, building a relationship, making a sale?
Use mystery shoppers (people who pose as customers to test your service
or products) frequently. If you can’t afford to hire a professional mystery-
shopper service, recruit friends and acquaintances, or consider
swapping the job with another business. Your employees will mystery
shop that business while its employees mystery shop yours.
62. Deliver What You Promise
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make in the marketing wars is to
put money, time, and human resources into a promotional campaign
and then forget to train their frontline staff to deliver. Great marketing
can kill your business if you aren’t prepared.
In 2003, McDonald’s reported the first quarterly loss in its history,
right after it had spent more than $100 million on a campaign that said,
“Come in and see us smile.” During this campaign, and as part of my
consulting work, I visited 45 McDonald’s restaurants, and I didn’t see a
single server smile.
McDonald’s spent 4 percent of its revenues on advertising to drive
customers to its stores, only to present them with unsmiling, unmotivated
servers.
If your employees are not happy with their work environment, how
can you expect the customers who come through your doors to be satisfied?
Your employees pass their attitude right along to the customer. It’s
up to you to hire good people and treat them well so that they will pass
on enthusiasm and excitement, rather than boredom and discontent.
63. Shop the Competition
Too many businesspeople neglect to keep tabs on their competition. How
in the world will you know where you stand in your market and your category
if you don’t keep an eye on the other guy?
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Do competitive shopping, but go with an open mind. We all have a
tendency to look for everything that the competition is doing wrong. It
makes us feel better and superior, and it helps confirm that what we are
doing is right.
Here’s a better idea: Send your employees out to do your competitive
shopping. Give them the assignment to come back with 10 things that
the other guys are doing right. Think about that. What could you possibly
learn from paying attention to what your competitor is doing wrong?
What you really want to know is why those customers are in his store
instead of yours.
Your employees will come back with ideas that they can incorporate
into their work. Furthermore, you will get a better result from your internal
customers, your employees, than you would if the boss went out and
returned to tell the employees what she learned. If that happens, the
employees will not have bought into it or internalized it.
Don’t do this once and forget about it. Make it a regular program.
Send your staff out once a month or once a quarter, whichever is appropriate
for your business.
64. Making History
How many times have you said to yourself, “I need to do a promotion, but
I can’t remember the details of the one we did last year that worked so well”?
Keep a notebook or a folder on your computer that includes every marketing
promotion you have ever run, along with a close analysis, a cost
sheet, and a copy of the promotional piece and other materials. Yes, it’s
work. By the time a promotion is over, you’re sick of it and ready for a break.
But nothing tells you what works better than what worked well. We tend
to want a cool new idea, something that’ll get us excited. Instead, you could
take an old idea that worked well, tweak it, and do it again. You may be
bored with it, but your customers may not be. Sometimes the same promotion
at the same time of year works better than the cool new idea.
What’s the goal, to increase your sales or relieve your boredom?
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65. Move the Goal Posts
A famous study done in the early twentieth century tried to find a system
that would motivate new employees to reach certain performance standards.
What was learned should be incorporated in your business.
A group of new, unskilled employees were given a production quota
that was hard to achieve in a set period of time. Predictably, the group
missed the mark. A second group, also unskilled, got progressive goals—
the bar was raised a little more each week. As the workers’ proficiency
increased, the goals were raised. At the end of the same period of time,
the second group had met the ultimate goal.
Every business operator should attack each of his goals with the same
measured approach. Home runs are great, but the game is really won by
singles, doubles, good fielding, and relentless pitching, inning by inning.
66. Seven Steps to Success
There are seven steps to creating a killer marketing plan. You should
check yourself against these steps every time you run a promotion or
other marketing effort:
1. Gather data.
2. Analyze them.
3. Set goals.
4. Develop a strategy.
5. Implement the plan.
6. Track the progress.
7. Evaluate the result.
67. Fish When the Fish Are Biting
Most businesses focus on fixing what they think is wrong. If you try to
increase sales on Monday and Tuesday, when business is going to be slow
anyway, you squander the opportunity to fish when the fish are biting. If
Must-Do Business Tactics ✹ 51

weekends are your busy time, run your promotions to improve this existing
opportunity, when people already have an urge to spend.
If Mother’s Day is your busiest day of the year, run a promotion. Unless
you’re truly swamped, why wouldn’t you take advantage of the opportunity
to introduce new customers to your business? A busy day like that is
a terrific opportunity to promote something else. Make sure to have flyers
and coupons to give to each customer to keep them coming back.
68. Give Them a Break
Give your staff a break between promotions. It’s hard to keep getting
pumped for one promotion after another if you don’t have a rest. Your
customers need a rest also.
Make sure your promotions are timed properly, or you’ll set yourself
up for failure. Motorists aren’t interested in an air-conditioning tune-up
in the dead of winter.
69. No Risk, Big Gain
Turn the tables on the risk factor. Your customers are accustomed to bearing
the risk. Surprise them by bearing it yourself. It pays in first-time trials
and loyalty. People will buy merchandise with a spotty record for
quality if they know that they can always return it. If you are the first in
your field to assume the risk, you gain a big advantage over the other guys.
Most businesses veil their guarantees. They make customers ask and
squirm. If you emphasize the no-risk guarantee and give customers something
valuable as a bonus, you’ve got the makings of a sale, and of a repeat
customer.
70. Lieutenant MAC
One of the most difficult tasks in coordinating promotional activities is
managing the personal selling required at the customer level by staff and
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management. Communication from the support team down to the staff
often takes a circuitous path and, like the childhood game of whispering
down the lane, results in miscommunication or no communication at all.
One way to fill this gap is to have a marketing activities coordinator,
or Lieutenant MAC. This is an individual whom you employ on a parttime
to full-time basis to administrate, manage, and report to you on any
marketing plan and the tactical maneuvering it requires. This person is
specifically assigned to drive your carefully conceived plan so that it runs
as smoothly as it would if 100 percent of your time could be spent on
marketing alone.
71. The Multicultural Wars
Diversity marketing—reaching out to specific ethnic groups—is basic Marketing
101. In your hiring, your visual ads (whether print, TV, or Internet),
and your radio ads, you need to show consumers that you’re reflecting
your customer base. If you show only white people in your ads, or only
men, or only women, you are telling some customers that they are not
important to you, that you don’t value them and don’t want their business.
Ethnic self-identifiers live in a world that already excludes them. That’s
not a message you want to send consumers. Diversity should be in every
aspect of your marketing. Note that diverse markets—African American,
Hispanic, Asian—are growing faster than the traditional white market.
You have to match marketing with your operations in order to be successful.
Make sure that your staff understands and buys into why this is
so vital. The worst thing you can do is drive diverse markets to your front
door, only to offend them or turn them off once they’re there.
Must-Do Business Tactics ✹ 53

✹ 55 ✹
Marketing to Your
Internal Customers
In the previous chapter, I outlined some basic ways to take the temperature
of your staff and get them engaged as your partners in business.
Here are a few more general tactics for hiring and retaining good employees
and for inspiring your managers and staff to focus on the marketing
lifestyle. In later chapters, you will find some tactics that are intended to
reward staff as part of specific promotional techniques.
72. Recruit 24/7
Best For All business types
Objective Hire better staff members and keep them longer
Target Staff (internal customers)
You should be recruiting all the time, even when you don’t need anyone,
because sooner or later, you will. Many years ago, the manager of a
small rural hotel was sitting quietly at the front desk late one night when
a couple arrived. They seemed somewhat tired and bitter, and the man-
5

ager assumed this was due to the harsh weather conditions outside. The
gentleman, a man of some stature—maybe in his mid-fifties—
approached the desk and asked the manager for a room. The manager
kindly replied, “Sir, because of the harsh conditions outside, we are filled
to the brim! Let me check if one of our suites is available.” He checked,
but there was not a single room available in the entire hotel. The gentleman
glanced at his wife and let out a sigh.
The manager stood up and said, “Sir, there is not a room that I could
find for you, but I can see that you are tired and in need of some rest.
Please take my room for the evening, and make yourselves comfortable.”
Not waiting for a reply, the manager stood up and walked the
couple to his modest but well-kept room. The gentleman told him, “You
know, one day I am going to call you, and you will be the manager at
my hotel.” The manager nodded politely as he brought the luggage into
the room.
A few months later, the manager received a phone call from the gentleman
asking if he would be interested in moving to New York to manage
his hotel. The gentleman, it turns out, was the owner of the greatest
hotel in New York City—and now, because of his superb hospitality, the
former manager of the small hotel is the manager of the Waldorf-Astoria.
Have some business cards printed up with your contact information
and the following statement: “You were really terrific. If you’re ever looking
for another job, please give me a call.” The next time you encounter
great customer service and think, “I wish my employees were like that,”
hand that person one of those cards.
One of the best places to recruit is from your competitors. Visit the
other businesses in your category and neighborhood. Study their staffs,
and when you see someone you wish was working for you, discreetly give
that person one of your cards.
You should recruit seven days a week, constantly. Don’t wait until you
need somebody. That’s when you make choices out of desperation rather
than inspiration.
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73. Pay More than Your Employees Expect
What if you were to offer someone more money than they asked for?
Wouldn’t it be logical to assume that you would have an employee who
gives you extra effort? Take this hypothetical example. You’re ready to hire
Candidate A, and you’ve budgeted a maximum of $55,000 for the position:
“What salary are you looking for?” you ask her.
“$50,000,” Candidate A says.
“Would you settle for $52,500?” you reply.
In the end, you’ve convinced your new employee that you believe she
is so valuable that you are willing to pay her more than she’s asked for.
You’ve also managed to keep her pay level below your budgeted total.
If you want people to have a positive attitude, give them a little more
than what they expect. If you attract quality people, you can afford to do
that. Hiring and developing the right people is a challenge. It’s more than
just a negotiation of trading labor for income.
74. Conduct Personality Assessments
for Your Job Candidates
More and more companies are using personality assessment testing to
identify those employees most likely to succeed in their organizations. A
well-conceived, professionally administered test can discern certain personality
traits that can predict success or failure in a particular job. For
example, if you are hiring someone for a customer service position, you
want to make sure that individual is highly sociable, confident, and comfortable
interacting with customers. On the other hand, if you are hiring
someone for a production job or an accounts payable position, you want
to choose a person who is more focused on activities and projects. He or
she doesn’t have to be gregarious.
Personality assessment testing can help you reduce turnover, because
if you hire the right people and put them in the right job, they are more
Marketing to Your Internal Customers ✹ 57

likely to succeed. These tests can help you hire people who are conscientious,
show up to work on a timely basis, and are committed to promoting
the company’s interest.
75. Create Help Wanted Ads that Tell
Candidates What They Want to Hear
Look to attract people in marketing like you’re going fishing. You can’t
catch fish without luring them with attractive bait. Tell your job candidates
what they want to hear. When a person considers a sales job,
one of the first things they look for is income potential. Craft an ad that
says the income potential is above a certain dollar figure, and make it
as high as possible. The idea is to write an ad that is more a marketing
piece and less a mere statement of what you want. For example, let
job candidates know that they will have good compensation, a nice vacation
package, and health insurance from day one. Use phrases such as
“bold income potential.” Companies in the automobile industry will
often post an ad with a headline that reads, “Make 100K!” The idea is
to develop your outward communication to attract people. Your recruitment
ad campaign should position you to attract the cream of the crop
of the business you’re in. Be careful when describing how much experience
you are looking for in a candidate. If your ad says, “three years
experience,” you’re eliminating those individuals with less experience
who could vault to the top of their profession with some good training.
Instead, state the qualities and capabilities you expect. If you have a
solid training program, you can bring highly capable new hires up to
speed quickly.
76. Create a Unique Training Manual
Best For All business types
Objective Train and motivate internal customers (employees)
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Marketing to your staff is not just about telling them what to do and how
to do it. Every year American companies fill our landfills with truckloads
of unread, unabsorbed training literature and videos. Be creative and
avoid making a job out of doing the job. Here are a couple of examples
to start you thinking.
At Hard Rock Café, they’ve taken the training manual and turned it
into a comic book. The company is marketing to, and hiring, young people
who are visual and who want to have fun. The company even
recruited some of its employees to help write the content and draw the
comics. As a result, the staff of Hard Rock Café has a direct interest in
the training and motivation of new hires.
An unexpected side benefit: the comic book training manuals have
become collector’s items, and some Hard Rock employees keep them on
their coffee tables at home because they think they look cool.
Maybe a comic book isn’t your style. Nordstrom, which is considered
one of the world’s best retailers for staff competence and customer service,
keeps it simple and dignified. Every new employee receives a “handbook”
that consists of a printed card:
“Welcome to Nordstrom. We’re glad to have you with the company.
Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set
both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence
in your ability to achieve them. Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1–Use your
good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules. Please
feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division manager
any question at any time.”
77. Back-Office Data
Best For All business types
Objective Create a statistical picture of where your business has been
over the last three years, to use as a baseline to measure how well your
promotions are working
Marketing to Your Internal Customers ✹ 59

Target Managers
At least once a year, take your spreadsheets and other bookkeeping data
and plot them on graphs. Look at the trends. I recommend plotting a threeyear
trend. If you do only two years, the results may be skewed by unusual
events like a blizzard, road construction, or some other nonrepeating factor
over which you have no control. This helps you see where the predictable
peaks and valleys are for scheduling your promotions. You may
think you know where those peaks are, and you may be right, but more
often than not, business managers find hidden surprises in these charts.
Break your sales down as much as you can—by time of day, transaction
size, weekday versus weekend, product or service, and so on. This will
show you where you’re hurting and where you need a boost. It will also
help you measure whether you were successful in your marketing goals.
Look at your product or service mix. What are your best sellers?
Which items contribute the highest profit? If you’re going to do a promotion
to attract new customers, the best things to promote are your most
popular products or services. Your existing customers already like them,
so new customers will probably like them as well and are more likely to
become repeaters.
What is your most profitable product? When you design staff incentives,
you want to encourage your employees to sell your most profitable
items or services as opposed to those items that increase the ticket but
that you hardly make any money on.
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✹ 61 ✹
6 Grand Opening/
Reopening Tactics
Overview and Timetable
A. Before Developing Opening Activities
As you plan your grand opening or reopening, analyze your trading area
for marketing opportunities. Your success depends on local residents supporting
your business for years to come, and it is vital that you be as relevant
and meaningful to them as possible.
When formulating promotions, be sure to pay close attention to current
activities that are going on within the community. As you develop
your plan, pay attention to these objectives:
Stimulate trial
Increase frequency
Create excitement
Build your image
Specific programs will follow this overview and timetable.
B. Basic Activities and Materials
Giveaways are an important part of a successful opening. Have on hand
balloons, hand puppets, buttons, and so on. Distribute “Be My Guest”

cards—door openers for people who are hard to reach—to local retailers
and VIPs to generate a trial visit after your opening.
Display an “Opening Soon” banner at least two weeks before your opening.
Display a “Now Open” banner during your first two weeks of operation
and a “Grand Opening” banner throughout the grand opening celebration.
The banners should be at least two-color and large enough to create visual
awareness. Outdoor pennants add excitement and are easily noticed, but
you may want to order two in case of vandalism or damage from weather.
C. Timetable
1. Get Ready
Ninety days before opening:
Conduct and analyze a trading area background study.
Begin staff recruitment and training.
Sixty days before opening:
Develop grand opening promotional plans and staff incentives.
Order premiums (giveaways).
Order “Be My Guest” cards.
Complete staff recruitment and training.
Order generic grand opening displays.
Buy grand opening media (if applicable).
Thirty days before opening:
Develop public relations activities.
Fourteen days before opening:
Display “Opening Soon” banner outside.
Confirm all grand opening activity and incentive programs
with your staff.
Plan VIP event and distribute “Be My Guest” cards.
2. Get Set
At opening:
Host the VIP event.
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Start two-week operational dry run prior to grand opening.
Display “Now Open” sign.
3. Go
Fourteen days after opening:
Begin grand opening activities.
Display all grand opening generic and
promotion elements.
Display grand opening banner.
Execute all activities.
4. Keep Going
Twenty-eight days after opening:
Evaluate grand opening activities.
Remove promotional display elements.
Continue monitoring operations.
Set six-month marketing goal.
Develop six-month marketing plan.
Two months after opening:
Implement six-month marketing plan.
Evaluate and monitor plan regularly.
78. VIP Pre-Grand Opening Cocktail
Party and Press Conference
Objective Generate PR, increase awareness, create excitement, build
your image
Target Prominent members of the community, celebrities, politicians,
and the press
In addition to inviting members of the community, extend invitations to
the families of your staff as a gesture of goodwill. Consider this event a
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final operations checklist that ensures that all staff and all equipment are
properly prepared and that you are ready to open for business. You’ll need
a photographer; you may be able to get one to take photos for free in
exchange for the invitation.
If you are in a nonfood business, you should hire a caterer to provide
the best and most interesting food and beverages you can afford. If you
are in the food-service business, try to offer your finest, including wine,
if applicable. At the same time, keep it simple so that you don’t put too
much strain on your new facilities and staff.
Materials Press kits, company biographical information, “Be My Guest”
cards. Optional: Flowers for female guests.
Timing
Four weeks prior:
Set program goals and determine costs.
Prepare press kits.
Determine the people you wish to invite.
Three weeks prior:
Send out invitations with “Be My Guest” cards to VIPs.
Send press releases, kits, and “Be My Guest” cards
to press.
Obtain photographer.
Contact caterer to furnish food and beverage for event.
One week prior:
Order flowers (optional).
Plan food or other offerings.
Go over details of food and beverages with caterer or chef.
Discuss program with employees.
One day prior:
Contact press to remind them of the event.
Contact photographer to remind him or her of the event.
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Wine and food arrive for the event.
Review program with employees.
Start:
Flowers arrive and are arranged (optional).
79. Sample VIP Invitation Letter
(On your letterhead)
Dear (VIP):
Just a short note to introduce myself. I’m ______________, the owner of
______________ at 1234 Main Street. As you may have noticed, we are
getting ready to open in a couple of weeks. In fact, we are already planning
our grand opening activities, and we would like you to join us.
On (day of week), (date), (time), the evening prior to our official
opening, we are planning a cocktail party and press conference to introduce
you and other prominent members of the community to our store.
We would be very pleased if you would attend. A “Be My Guest” card is
enclosed, which you need only present at the door. You are welcome to
bring a guest. Just give me a call at (phone number) to let me know how
many will be attending in your group.
I look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Title
Grand Opening Day Activities
The following programs are held on the designated grand opening day,
which should ideally be a Saturday, when people are out shopping and
doing errands anyway. The purpose of this program is to stimulate a trial
visit and create an air of excitement.
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80. $100 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Construct a ribbon by taping one hundred $1 bills together or attaching
the bills to a standard ribbon, and drape it across the front door of your
restaurant. Contact a local dignitary to officially open the restaurant by
cutting the ribbon, and present the ribbon to a local charity. Promote the
donation given to the charity, learn as much about the charity as you can,
and promote it through your press releases and PR.
81. High School Band
Ask the local high school band to participate in the opening ceremonies.
In exchange for its appearance and cooperation, offer a contribution of
$100 toward new instruments and uniforms.
82. Radio Remote
If possible, arrange to have an on-air radio personality in front of your
store. Offer “Be My Guest” cards for his or her family, too, to encourage
participation. Give the DJ T-shirts and coupons to give away.
83. Celebrity Appearance
Arrange to have a dignitary or celebrity appear to hand out photos and
autographs. Make this arrangement with one of the VIPs at the VIP dinner
party. It pays to get friendly.
84. Caricature Artist
Arrange to have a caricature artist on hand to draw caricatures of your
customers. If customers don’t want to buy them, arrange a discounted
price and buy them yourself to hang around the store. To promote future
visits by the “models” and their friends and family, make sure customers
see you hanging up the caricatures.
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85. Magician
Hire a magician to go around performing magic tricks. He should, with
regularity, pull coupons from behind the ears of customers to promote
future visits.
86. Million Dollar Legacy
Best For Most business types
Objective Increase awareness, increase community goodwill, create
excitement, generate PR, build your image, and stimulate trial
Target Church groups, community leaders, existing and potential customers
This is a clever, thought-provoking tactic that draws a lot of attention on
a limited budget. Let local residents determine what the community will
need in 100 years. Your business will deposit between $200 and $300
with a local bank. At average interest rates, the account will yield about
$1 million in a hundred years. The bank should be able to determine the
exact amount of the deposit that will be necessary to ensure a $1 million
yield. Make the account a trust, payable to the person, group, or cause
selected by the community. Have the bank draw up the trust, and make
sure the exact yield is not guaranteed.
Use advertising and in-store materials to promote the event to members
of the community. Make it clear that, as a newcomer to the community,
you’re depending on the people to decide who will receive the legacy.
Your advertising should explain how the program will work: Community
members are invited to vote for the delegate—the person who
will decide who will receive the trust after 100 years—with a limit of one
vote per visit. Locals must come to either your business or the participating
bank, ask a staff member for a ballot, vote for the chooser, and
place the ballot in a sealed ballot box.
The counting of the ballots should be done by a local accountant under
the supervision of local elected officials. Include newspaper editors and the
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