Offline/Online Marketing Ideas for Restaurant?

[Jillian Slack]

One of the Dan Kennedy event sets that I have talks about a Kennedy client with a pizza restaurant.

They've had lots of luck with a fabulous idea.

They sell sort of a VIP membership.

The members are automatically charged $__ at the beginning of each month, so the restaurant starts off each month with a significant profit without having ever served a single pizza.

For that membership fee, the customer gets certificates for a certain dollar amount of pizza.

When they come in, of course they'll get other stuff to go with it, like drinks, salads, desserts.

The membership makes them more likely to come in because they've already paid for it and don't want to waste it.

With the membership, there were other perks these customers received like special VIP seating. If the clients come in and the restaurant is busy, the owners always have a few of their best tables in reserve so the VIPs can walk in and be taken care of quickly.

The VIPs also got some other perks that I can't remember, but the point is that the VIPs got even better customer service than the regular customers.

And the beauty of the whole thing is being able to ding their credit card at the beginning of each month and knowing you've got that guaranteed sale. Plus you've got regular customers coming in and you're keeping them happy.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Read Dan Kennedy's "No B.S. Direct Marketing For Non
Direct Marketing Businesses" - and the master of restaurant
promotion is Rory Fatt - Restaurant Marketing Systems

Check out his stuff. You can be a marketing magician for
your clients just copping his stuff.

[Nightengale]

Ditto. This was going to be my contribution. Look up Rory Fatt. He was trained by Dan Kennedy and knows what he's doing.

Michelle

Originally Posted by Gorilla Writer

There is a course by a student of Dan Kennedy designed for restaurant owners and consultants. It could be a big help and make you look good...It's by Rory Fatt - Restaurant Marketing Systems

[Paul Coleman]

Another (kinda sneaky) way to drive subscribers is to make sure the restaurant is listed on the review sites like TripAdvisor. Post a review (glowing, of course), then throw in a comment about (saving money or special holiday promotion or whatever) people can get by joining the email club on the website (include the url).

Love it.

Have you tried Pay Per Click to a Geo Targeted area? You can drive traffic and customers through Yahoo or Google pay per click from the people in only that area of the restaurant.

Thanks. I'll look into it.

Take a laptop in, set it up by the register with their new web site on display to brag about it. As people pay, tell them, "Here's our new web site. Isn't it great? And if you click right here to sign up for our free ezine, I'll give you a coupon for __% off next time you come in."

Wow. That is brilliant. And the workers could say: "It's just name and email and you're done." Great ideas, thanks.

Read Dan Kennedy's "No B.S. Direct Marketing For Non
Direct Marketing Businesses" - and the master of restaurant
promotion is Rory Fatt - Restaurant Marketing Systems

Check out his stuff. You can be a marketing magician for
your clients just copping his stuff.

Thanks Loren. Looks like a goldmine there.

Paul

[Paul Coleman]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Ditto. This was going to be my contribution. Look up Rory Fatt. He was trained by Dan Kennedy and knows what he's doing.

Michelle

Thanks Michelle. That's going to be my training manual.

[Nightengale]

I second what Loren said. I have 4 of Dan Kennedy's "No B.S." books, including "No B.S. Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses." EXCELLENT stuff and I highly recommend you get it. It's only about $10 and change. Get ALL of he "No. B.S." books.

Actually, I highly recommend ALL of Dan's stuff, but if you can't afford to get it AND get Rory Fatt's stuff, get Rory's stuff. It's the same thing but customized for restaurants which is what you want.

Good luck!

Michelle

[Paul Coleman]

Cool. I'm going to start out with Rory's stuff. Sounds really targeted. Thanks.

Paul

[NewbiesDiary]

Originally Posted by jan roos

I am building alist for a restaurant and we started friday night by handing out a little card to each table saying that they should go to the website and enter a chance to win a free dinner for 2 each month plus other really cool specials etc they'll receive via email. Last night and tonight we did it and so far we have 0 subscribers and the restaurant was packed both nights.

I know its still too early to see any results but if it doesnt work I think I'll make cards so that people can enter their email and name right there and then and I'll just manually upload them to the list.

Regards

you could maybe have a 'puter on the front counter where they can enter their details on the spot - tell them they have to confirm when they get home to get a special bla bla bla or a 10% off their next meal

or have single optin & you only have to get them to enter their details.

when they are paying is a really good time as they are already at the counter

[NewbiesDiary]

Originally Posted by sjames23

Have you tried Pay Per Click to a Geo Targeted area? You can drive traffic and customers through Yahoo or Google pay per click from the people in only that area of the restaurant.

Postcards as a source of offline marketing work well also.

Mate - you need to fix you signature (speaking from experience here)

[Paul Coleman]

when they are paying is a really good time as they are already at the counter

Thanks Stef. I think that's got to be the best moment to hook people. Especially if the restaurant worker tells the customer how easy it is to sign up.

By the way, thanks for motivating me. Good times.

[NewbiesDiary]

Originally Posted by ic7

Thanks Stef. I think that's got to be the best moment to hook people. Especially if the restaurant worker tells the customer how easy it is to sign up.

By the way, thanks for motivating me. Good times.

yeah it could start like

"did you enjoy your meal tonight?"
"yep"
"how would you like to get a discount off your next meal?"
'yep"
"Great, just enter your name & email addy here and you get a 10% discount"

OR

if they dont have a puter they can put on the counter, just have a guest book where they can put their name & email addy - but the puter's better I think

[NewbiesDiary]

Originally Posted by Jillian Slack

Get their email address IMMEDIATELY and give them an immediate reason to WANT to sign up for the ezine. Otherwise, if you give them a card or something asking them to go online and sign up for the ezine later, you've put the ball in their court and given control to them. You might end up with a lot of people who never sign up.

Give them something RIGHT THEN in exchange for their email address.

"... and if you sign up for our ezine tonight, your drinks are on us."

Something like that.

Take a laptop in, set it up by the register with their new web site on display to brag about it. As people pay, tell them, "Here's our new web site. Isn't it great? And if you click right here to sign up for our free ezine, I'll give you a coupon for __% off next time you come in."

Hey Jillian

I just posted that too - sorry Mate, that's what i get for replying to page one when there's a page 2! hahahaha

[NewbiesDiary]

you could also find accomodation places in your area & cross promote.

If you're in a touristy kinda area you could hook up accomodation, weddings, restaurants, hair & beauty etc etc

[Paul Coleman]

Originally Posted by NewbiesDiary

yeah it could start like

"did you enjoy your meal tonight?"
"yep"
"how would you like to get a discount off your next meal?"
'yep"
"Great, just enter your name & email addy here and you get a 10% discount"

OR

if they dont have a puter they can put on the counter, just have a guest book where they can put their name & email addy - but the puter's better I think

I like the guest book for second best. I think what would work on me would be:

"Sir, would you like a gigantic, ice cold FREE BEER?"

[Paul Coleman]

Originally Posted by NewbiesDiary

you could also find accomodation places in your area & cross promote.

If you're in a touristy kinda area you could hook up accomodation, weddings, restaurants, hair & beauty etc etc

The area is really touristy. Walked all around the restaurant and found a real estate office. There's also a supermarket across form the restaurant.

So I'm thinking some kind of free meal deal with the real estate office. And some JV with the supermarket.

Paul

[AndrewCavanagh]

My basic suggestion would be to talk to some MORE business owners.

There are more than enough good marketing ideas for the restaurant to get you started.

It's unhealthy to become overly focused on trying to land just one business as a client.

If you have 2 or 3 looking like they want to hire you your attitude is different, you negotiate better and you know that it's not important if you end up walking away from one of the businesses.

No client will make or break your business.

You don't need any particular client...you have more businesses that need your help than you could ever get to in a lifetime.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Paul Coleman]

If you have 2 or 3 looking like they want to hire you your attitude is different, you negotiate better and you know that it's not important if you end up walking away from one of the businesses.

Thanks Andrew. My next move is to branch out to other businesses. It's a tourist area, so it is packed with all kinds of businesses.

Thanks for all your help. The owners are actually really easy to talk to.

Paul

[NewbiesDiary]

Originally Posted by ic7

I like the guest book for second best. I think what would work on me would be:

"Sir, would you like a gigantic, ice cold FREE BEER?"

hahahaha - that'd work on my Bloke too - not sure the UK crowd'd like it but! It'd have to bee - "Sir, would you like a gigantic, room temperature FREE BEER?"

Please - I know I'm gonna get grilled - but I couldnt resist!

[Paul Coleman]

"Sir, would you like a gigantic, room temperature FREE BEER?"

D'oh!

That's a deal breaker!

[AndrewCavanagh]

Originally Posted by NewbiesDiary

"Sir, would you like a gigantic, room temperature FREE BEER?"

Be cautious with any marketing idea that involves liquor and especially using free liquor as an incentive to get people into a restaurant or business.

In most parts of the western world there are liquor licensing laws that strictly control what you can and can't do when you promote booze.

Many restaurant owners understand the laws so if you come up with a cool idea involving booze you might want to present it with this line first "I'm not 100% sure if this would pass the liquor licensing regulations but..."

Working with restaurants I came up with a whole pile of really cool strategies that turned out to be illegal (LOL)!

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Dave Ward]

Unless I missed it on the thread I didn't see any mention of facebook ?

One of the most successful things to advertise on facebook are restaurants. So easy to reach your target audience. Go where the traffic is.

If the owners are young, they should go for it.

You can set up a business page for free, and geo target users. Check out this article for more details to help you. Facebook for Restaurants | Benjamin Christie Australian Celebrity Chef.

[JordanFrancis]

I looked into specializing in the restaurant niche, focusing on
list building, and offering incentives to that list to go out and
eat more often.

Some thing about it put me off for now. But while I was chewing
it over, I came up with the following loose plan for capturing
customers. The focus was on a system that could be implemented
quickly and without fuss.

1. Provide opt-in forms which can be placed on tables. A simple
but attractively laid-out design can be done easily. I made a sample
which had space for 4 customers details to be entered, laid out on
A5 paper. Have a headline, provide clear instructions with space for
the details you want. I included "month of birthday" on my sample,
for possibility of sending birthday-themed specials. I also had a tick
box that clearly stated that this person gives permission to receive
emails from the restaurant. No tick, no sign up.

2. Educate the staff. Tell them to point out the form(s) on the table
and give the compelling reason-why for joining their VIP membership,
or whatever they want to call it. For this, I felt they should make it
as much a no-brainer as they could. For example, the waiter could
inform them that IF they sign up NOW, they will get 10% off the
very meal they are about to order. Then, when they take the order,
they can add "...and did Sir wish to receive our VIP join-up discount
today?" and then confirm that they have filled in the form. They can
simply mark that order as such, and include the discount as promised.

3. Get the customers details entered into the system. For this, I would
personally not use a double opt-in system. This is why I include a tick
box in step 1 along with relevant wording which states that person
understands what they are signing up for. Just ensure the "welcome"
email they receive reconfirms what they are getting, and gives clear
instructions on how to remove themselves if they wish. Naturally, you
might wish to retain the original forms in case you ever needed to
provide proof.

The restaurant could do this themselves with an opt-in form you
provide on-line. Or they could fax it to you. Or they could post it,
or you could collect it... this part might be the most arkward part
of the process. Just charge accordingly for any involvement from
you on this part. The sooner the sign-ups are entered into the
system, the better. This is partly why I wouldn't go double opt-
in for this, as the next time they check their email it may well
have slipped their mind.

I had a geek inspired moment while thinking about this. An option
that may work, though not too convinced... is to charge enough
that you can easily throw in a "net book" style laptop, like an Asus
Eee pc, which are small, and then they can simply let the customers
sign-up on their site while they wait for the food to arrive...

Just some thoughts.

[AndrewCavanagh]

Here's one strategy most restaurants can start using immediately.

# 1: Target their best, highest paying clients from each night (there may only be 2-6 a night).

# 2: Send those clients a hand written thank you note from the owner or a member of the staff they know well.

Make it REALLY personal and simple.

Something like

Dear Mike,

It was so great to see you and Jan in [restaurant name] tonight.

It's always a delight to have you here.

[short personal statement].

Michael


The staff or owner can write these on the night and post them that night or the next morning.

It's a tiny piece of work but it can help the staff think positively about their clients (they have to think up nice things to say) it costs next to nothing (the price of local postage for 3 or 4 stamps a day).

And it works.

These key clients are likely to eat more frequently at the restaurant because they feel like they're appreciated.

If the best clients in a restaurant come in twice a month instead of once a month the increase in profits can be substantial.

Simple, low cost and effective.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Jillian Slack]

Also, be sure to keep track of birthdays of the family members so you can send a postcard and/or email so he or she can come in for their free dessert. (Or reserve this for your VIP members.)

Another thing that I just remembered about the pizza restaurant client/student of Dan Kennedy's (the one with the VIP program for customers to have a membership where they pay each month) --

Sit down with a calculator and pencil to figure out a strategy like, "If you join our VIP program, it's $25 per month, and you receive $35 worth of cerrificates to spend with us each month. Plus you get freebies like..." (and then throw in the stuff like free dessert for the birthday boy/girl/man/woman, and any other specials you can think of to bring them in and make them feel so special that they'll want to keep coming back).

Depending on how your client's regular prices on their menu, even if their VIPs are spending $25/month and getting certificates for $35/month in food and drink, don't look at it like they're getting $10 in free stuff each month. Look at it like they're getting extra value and they're still going to spend $__ on top of that most months (based on your prices, the average amount people spend when they're in, etc.).

[Paul Coleman]

Be cautious with any marketing idea that involves liquor and especially using free liquor as an incentive to get people into a restaurant or business.

Party's over!

Good point, though. Don't want to get the owner in trouble.

[Paul Coleman]

...simply let the customers
sign-up on their site while they wait for the food to arrive...

That's the method I like the most. Seems foolproof.

These key clients are likely to eat more frequently at the restaurant because they feel like they're appreciated.

If the best clients in a restaurant come in twice a month instead of once a month the increase in profits can be substantial.

That is great. Keep customers "in the family."

VIPs are spending $25/month and getting certificates for $35/month in food and drink, don't look at it like they're getting $10 in free stuff each month.

That monthly stream is a great idea. I think owners will eat that up.

You can set up a business page for free, and geo target users. Check out this article for more details to help you. Facebook for Restaurants | Benjamin Christie Australian Celebrity Chef.

Good stuff. Thanks for that, Dave.

Paul

[Tony M.]

Ideas from my own offline business :

- Google Maps : change the name of your business to include the keywords you are targeting. this way google might just feature you, and you alone on the first quarter of the page.

- Run Adwords ads. If you're clever about it you can target a lot of keywords that no one is bidding on.

- Use video (I use Traffic geyser and it has been bringing a lot of traffic my way)

- pick all of the "competing" restaurants one by one, look for them on the web, and get listed on EVERY place they are mentioned.

Tony

[Paul Coleman]

All good ideas, Tony. Thanks.

Paul

[kurtgeer]

Originally Posted by MaskedMarketer

They gave food away for 2 days for 2 hours each day or something like that.

If you could get hundreds of loyal, repeat customers, then its worth it. Thats what they did. Do you realize how much competition there is near Wall St. for a new business? What they did was daring and it worked...

If the business owner can't realize that then it probably won't work for his business anyways because it takes planning and work to make successful... and money...

Owning "Cherry Hill Drive In Ice Cream" in a small rural market and having a mailing list, which was built on giving away "Free Ice Cream" when you sign up for my list on my website, I though I would like to add this at the bottom of this long post.

I have used this to build loyalty, or repeat business.
I also used the "buy 8 ice cream cones and get the 9th one free"
cards this past year and it went over like gang busters.

It all depends on the owner or you Paul.
What do they want to "give to get".
Loyal repeat customers or a quick hit.

I sent out a PR and got blasted from up to 50 MILES just to get one of my
"Best Chesseburgers in town" a few years back and I still have folks coming back now and then, because they REMEMBER us.

Best of luck on your venture

[Jamie Boyle]

Yeah I aree with ShayRockHold on throwing a contest. Contests are a great way to build exposure for your business and give your customers a chance to win something while collecting a list to market to at the same time.

Good luck with the restaurant marketing!

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by kurtgeer

Owning "Cherry Hill Drive In Ice Cream" in a small rural market and having a mailing list, which was built on giving away "Free Ice Cream" when you sign up for my list on my website, I though I would like to add this at the bottom of this long post.

I have used this to build loyalty, or repeat business.
I also used the "buy 8 ice cream cones and get the 9th one free"
cards this past year and it went over like gang busters.

It all depends on the owner or you Paul.
What do they want to "give to get".
Loyal repeat customers or a quick hit.

I sent out a PR and got blasted from up to 50 MILES just to get one of my
"Best Chesseburgers in town" a few years back and I still have folks coming back now and then, because they REMEMBER us.

Best of luck on your venture

There's a way you can go one better than the loyalty card idea. Once they get the ninth one free, they have to start over, just like someone who just walked in for the first time.

Instead, you could think about letting them trade in that filled punch card for a permanent VIP card giving them a discount on every purchase. You could time-limit it if you like or make it a lifetime membership.

It could be a laminated card with a bar code or such, or even a fancy embossed card with a magnetic strip...

[kurtgeer]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

There's a way you can go one better than the loyalty card idea. Once they get the ninth one free, they have to start over, just like someone who just walked in for the first time.

Instead, you could think about letting them trade in that filled punch card for a permanent VIP card giving them a discount on every purchase. You could time-limit it if you like or make it a lifetime membership.

It could be a laminated card with a bar code or such, or even a fancy embossed card with a magnetic strip...

Hey John

Thanks for the idea.
Most of the folks who come in with their cards ready for the free cone get a new one to begin again.
I only set aside the 10% discount for special promos and certain VIP's

[Paul Coleman]

I sent out a PR and got blasted from up to 50 MILES just to get one of my
"Best Chesseburgers in town" a few years back and I still have folks coming back now and then, because they REMEMBER us.

Thanks Kurt. I really want to use the press release to get the bigger local papers involved.

Yeah I aree with ShayRockHold on throwing a contest. Contests are a great way to build exposure for your business and give your customers a chance to win something while collecting a list to market to at the same time.

Absolutely. I think a contest would get the momentum going.

Great ideas guys!

[haridasz]

I know you asked for ideas.
But please allow me to stray.

It seems like you are offering to many services at one fixed price.
A better way to do it (IMHO) will be to categorise your services.
for eg 1. Gather Leads 2. SEO etc

Gives you to get everything organized and upsell step by step.

cheers
hari

[Paul Coleman]

Hi Hari,

Good point. I like the idea of a base service per month, and then offer different packages of promotion on top of that. One could be a Press Release Package, one is an SEO Package, etc.

Paul

[donhutchinson]

Paul,

Wondering how your restaurant program/programme is working for you.

What ideas have been implemented? What's working best so far?

Don

[Paul Coleman]

Hi Don,

Well, I took the advice in this thread and decided to build a business portal. It will be a kind of home base to sell marketing services to every different kind of business. I am still building the portal because I've been super busy with online IM.

I went out and talked to three business owners, and two are interested. I don't do any selling, I really just chat about the web. I can already see that this Offline Gold stuff works. So I'm going to get the portal complete and launch out there.

Paul

[Chris Lagarde]

Kevin - great idea. Lots of people understand the give-and-take of filling out a survey and getting something in return. The survey gets them online and thinking about the restaurant---the offer to join the email list immediately after filling out the survey is brilliant.

[Chris Lagarde]

Hi Paul,

I too have segmented my offline offerings (email marketing, website design, seo, etc). Recently I held my first offline seminar. Afterwards my buddy (who attended) told me I should have started off with a chart showing the following:

SEO Email Social Media Video Marketing (etc.)

and then highlight the segment I was planning on discussing (email marketing along the lines of David Preston's Stupidly Simple Cash Cow method). By doing this, it opens the attendees eyes to other services I provide without me making a blatant sales pitch.

Well, I was getting ready to create the above slide to my Offline powerpoint seminar presentation, when I came across Maria Gudelis' recent WSO "How the HECK did Maria Gudelis generate $50,000 her FIRST WEEK in Offline Consulting?!?".

She's done it already AND expanded on the idea! She's only charging $5.00 for it which is ridiculously cheap. Frankly, I don't care if she's using the low price as an inducement to get me on her email list...it's great information, and it's easy enough to unsubscribe, if I so choose.

What she provides is a Mindmap which outlines all the ways an offline business can be helped with online marketing. It's a great tool to show Offline clients. It can also be adopted for my Offline seminar as a starting slide.

With the stong interest in Offline Consulting lately there has been a deluge of subpar WSOs on the subject. It's nice to see a quality Offline consulting product among the many mediocre, to outright scam offerings. WSO link below if you're interested.

How the HECK did Maria Gudelis generate $50,000 her FIRST WEEK in Offline Consulting?!?

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by kingcatdaddy

Hi Paul,

I too have segmented my offline offerings (email marketing, website design, seo, etc). Recently I held my first offline seminar. Afterwards my buddy (who attended) told me I should have started off with a chart showing the following:

SEO Email Social Media Video Marketing (etc.)

and then highlight the segment I was planning on discussing (email marketing along the lines of David Preston's Stupidly Simple Cash Cow method). By doing this, it opens the attendees eyes to other services I provide without me making a blatant sales pitch.

Well, I was getting ready to create the above slide to my Offline powerpoint seminar presentation, when I came across Maria Gudelis' recent WSO "How the HECK did Maria Gudelis generate $50,000 her FIRST WEEK in Offline Consulting?!?".

She's done it already AND expanded on the idea! She's only charging $5.00 for it which is ridiculously cheap. Frankly, I don't care if she's using the low price as an inducement to get me on her email list...it's great information, and it's easy enough to unsubscribe, if I so choose.

What she provides is a Mindmap which outlines all the ways an offline business can be helped with online marketing. It's a great tool to show Offline clients. It can also be adopted for my Offline seminar as a starting slide.

With the stong interest in Offline Consulting lately there has been a deluge of subpar WSOs on the subject. It's nice to see a quality Offline consulting product among the many mediocre, to outright scam offerings. WSO link below if you're interested.

How the HECK did Maria Gudelis generate $50,000 her FIRST WEEK in Offline Consulting?!?

Wow - thanks kingcatdaddy! I am 'blushing'

The advice in this thread is incredible and I have almost every Dan Kennedy product/book - powerful stuff (you can even pick up some of his older stuff yet CLASSIC on ebay!)

Yes 'social media marketing' is hot for the offline clients - I even changed my 'title' to V.P. Social Media Marketing in my company as it strikes interest to everyone, even reporters! (got featured on a radio show 2 weeks ago!)

For the pizza restaurant - go after repeat biz for them and 'social media spread the word".

Another thing that would make it 'fun' for the owner and the customers...is actually taking 'fun video ' of them - nothing sells better than appealing to their 'ego' and offering their "moment in fame"

One reason why lots of us as 'customers' of restaurants don't return to same restaurant after a while is it gets boring, same old same old and frankly, we dont' feel 'appreciated' as customers!

so If it were me, I'd get the pizza owner to

1. Get a flip video camera (the non-hd one) - anyone can use it - I even taught a 61 year old biz owner who was a total non-techie, non-youtube user...and she got 10 videos up in 2 weeks for her business!

2. Get a YOUTube channel, charge for a cool background on their profile/channel - cool pics of pizza and the owner or something

3. Get the owner / trusted/fun employees to take video of

- the owner telling his/her story - why I started my pizza biz for 'you' the local community
- video how pizza is made in the kitchen...secrets to making delicious pizza's
- video a beautiful pizza steaming hot being delivered to your customers table and everyone excited..then video after when they are finished showing the empty plate and testimonials from the customers how much they enjoyed it!
(note - you are selling the 'lifestyle, fun" aspect of going to x pizza place for a night out, a break, a time to relax and simply enjoy the good ol'times!)

...so you see where you are going here with your client...making something they can 'brag' about...heck - this could even get them free publicity as well...

..Imagine the pizza restaurant customers bragging the next day at work- did you see me on Youtube last night at x pizza restaurant? ....

Now hit them up with a 'social media package' to buy from you so you also create the twitter page for them - , a blog with the vids as well embedded from youtube, they can 'twitter' about each new video and customer. or secrets to making a great pizza video series...you get the drift of this -

I charge $1,500 for the social media package and depending on what they need monthly - my monthly fee ranges from $100 to $2,000 per month.

HOpe that helps!!!

Cheers, Maria

[Frank Bruno]

Originally Posted by Jillian Slack

Get their email address IMMEDIATELY and give them an immediate reason to WANT to sign up for the ezine. Otherwise, if you give them a card or something asking them to go online and sign up for the ezine later, you've put the ball in their court and given control to them. You might end up with a lot of people who never sign up.

Give them something RIGHT THEN in exchange for their email address.

"... and if you sign up for our ezine tonight, your drinks are on us."

Something like that.

Take a laptop in, set it up by the register with their new web site on display to brag about it. As people pay, tell them, "Here's our new web site. Isn't it great? And if you click right here to sign up for our free ezine, I'll give you a coupon for __% off next time you come in."

Thats a good idea and I support the idea in theory. But in reality the customer still has to verify their e-mail address to complete the process to get them on the list if your using any kind of legitament AR script or service.

The customer can't or won't login to their e-mail account to verify their e-mail address using your in store laptop. Just not going to happen.

I'm using a small 1/4-1/2 page flyer to give to customers with every order for my local clients to get a free food coupon for signing up to their list and it seems to work well so far.

Frank Bruno

[Adaptive]

Hi Paul,

Fun, laid back, free WiFi... sounds like an enjoyable gig!

San Diego is a travel center. How can you get hip, young, WiFi enthusiast travellers to check out the pizza place? Something at the airport, train station, youth hostel? Do Lonely Planet or Rough Guides have web sites where you can run ads?

Also, how about the local college market?

The single best pizza place invention I've seen is TV's at each booth playing cartoons to keep the kiddies entertained.

Regards,
Allen

[Paul Coleman]

Well, I was getting ready to create the above slide to my Offline powerpoint seminar presentation, when I came across Maria Gudelis' recent WSO "How the HECK did Maria Gudelis generate $50,000 her FIRST WEEK in Offline Consulting?!?".

Thanks for the tip. Purchased! That is a great idea for an overview.


Maria, great tips. I especially like the idea of fun videos. I think everyone would get involved. Good times.

Fun, laid back, free WiFi... sounds like an enjoyable gig!

Yep, I lucked out on this one. The owner is awesome. Very good points about the youth crowd.


UPDATE: Maria, just looked at the mind map. Wow! I now officially work for NASA. Anyone who presents this will instantly be considered an expert. Good stuff.


Thanks, you guys are amazing!

Paul

[Melody]

How about letting them try out mobile marketing? You mentioned building a list of customers - they can do the same thing by letting their current customers optin to a mobile subscriber list. Rather than sending out emails or snail mail - they can send out lunch specials and happy specials to their customers mobile phones. All double optin - all CAN-spam compliant.

Send me a PM - I would be happy to give you a free account for your customer to test for 90 days - and yes, there is ongoing residual if they decide to sign on

Melody

[Paul Coleman]

Hi Melody,

How does the opt-in work for Mobile Marketing? Sounds like powerful stuff.

Paul

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by ic7

UPDATE: Maria, just looked at the mind map. Wow! I now officially work for NASA. Anyone who presents this will instantly be considered an expert. Good stuff.
Paul

Originally Posted by Melody

How about letting them try out mobile marketing? You mentioned building a list of customers - they can do the same thing by letting their current customers optin to a mobile subscriber list. Rather than sending out emails or snail mail - they can send out lunch specials and happy specials to their customers mobile phones. All double optin - all CAN-spam compliant.

Send me a PM - I would be happy to give you a free account for your customer to test for 90 days - and yes, there is ongoing residual if they decide to sign on

Melody

Paul - glad to get you that expert status!!!

Melody - I can't wait to interview you on the blog talk radio show about your mobile marketing solutions and how it can relate to our offline clients.......can u extend that test trial for one of my clients as well....AND...does the messages - can they be mp4s / mobile vids as well??

Cheers, M

[Melody]

Originally Posted by ic7

Hi Melody,

How does the opt-in work for Mobile Marketing? Sounds like powerful stuff.

Paul

It's powerful but really very simple - thanks to a new technology, our platform allows an unlimited number of text ads sent for one flat monthly rate, using a shared shortcode (368 638) and specific keywords assigned to each merchant.

For example, txtr1 is rapidly becoming the most popular of our 'keywords' because it is short and easy to remember. The business name (or keyword) is added to 'txtr1' to create the unique optin for each business, so a pizza restaurant might use 'txtr1 pizza" for their optin list. To subscribe to the restaurant's list, the customer would simply text 'txtr1 pizza' to 368 638, and would then receive a message back asking them to confirm that they wanted to join the list. Customer hits the number '1' then 'send' and they are added to the list. They can opt out at any time.

In restaurants we use table tents just like you see for happy specials etc. Typically the ad will say something like "Sign up for our VIP club, and get a free appetizer tonight!", with the optin instructions. They can then show their confirmation message to the server, and they get their appetizer for joining!

If you are interested - let me know!

And anyone else working with offline businesses - I will be happy to extend the same offer!

Melody

[Melody]

Originally Posted by ic7

Hi Melody,

How does the opt-in work for Mobile Marketing? Sounds like powerful stuff.

Paul

Originally Posted by Maria Gudelis

Paul - glad to get you that expert status!!!

Melody - I can't wait to interview you on the blog talk radio show about your mobile marketing solutions and how it can relate to our offline clients.......can u extend that test trial for one of my clients as well....AND...does the messages - can they be mp4s / mobile vids as well??

Cheers, M

Hi Maria!

Yes, this will be fun! I have been in sales and marketing for almost 30 years and this is definitely one of the more fun projects we've put together. We just signed up a Lexus dealership this week, here in Cincinnati, and the local Arby's group is doing a trial at several locations - the first location they are testing is their WORST store - they were hoping it would bring in 10 customers last week - it brought in 25, so they are thrilled.

As to a trial for your client - just PM me the keyword you want and it will be done - and of course - your radio show listeners will get a very special deal ;-) as well.

This is a real 'bare bones' service - strictly text and only broadcast - no special features - it is really best for restaurants, bars, auto services (think lube places!) and internet marketers - any business that wants to send out a fast message to a big group frequently....at minimal cost. It's not the perfect solution for all businesses - but it is perfect for the group it's aimed at!

Melody

[jan roos]

Originally Posted by NewbiesDiary

you could maybe have a 'puter on the front counter where they can enter their details on the spot - tell them they have to confirm when they get home to get a special bla bla bla or a 10% off their next meal

or have single optin & you only have to get them to enter their details.

when they are paying is a really good time as they are already at the counter

We did get people'l email addresses right away and entered it into the restaurant's computer directly with huge success until Getresponse banned the IP address. I guess they have to have each subscribers IP address by law so there went that.

Actually by handing out the cards we are doing pretty good with the list since the word is spreading.

I've also made the restaurant owner around 3K in sales so far from the list which is a great feeling. Now I have the experience and a feel for it to go and hit restaurants hard once I get back from vacation back to South Africa.

My advice for you is to build the list any way you can and then market to that list, Test different offers since some offers don't pull in any body and then some offers pull in 30 tables from a list of 168.

Cheers

[hotlinkz]

Identify their U.S.P. and see if it qualifies for interviews with local TV and radio media.