Guerrilla marketing can boost sales

 

10 -Offer $1-off menu items after the lunch rush. "This is an incentive to draw customers in, but you still have to think about labor," said Phil Wilkins, McDonald's operator and author of The Weekly Entrepreneur. "The last thing you want is not to be able to staff the demand."

 

9 -Give them free food. "Provide customers with mouth-watering samples of new menu items or items you want to push," said Peter Koeppel, founder and president of Koeppel Direct, a media buying and marketing company. "Then invite them to try out a full meal."

 

8 -Create punch cards. Wilkins said they are cheap to produce — modern PCs and printers can crank out 500 homemade cards at the click of a mouse — compared to plastic loyalty cards.

 

7 -Meet the locals. "There is nothing more powerful than meeting the owner of a business," said Bob Phibbs, international marketing consultant and author of You Can Compete – Double Sales Without Discounting. "If you connect with 30 percent of your neighborhood over a week, that's huge. Connecting a name to a place makes your restaurant stand out."

 

6 -Offer business owners gift certificates for their employers. They look like they're from the boss, but really they're a coupon. Stuff "Great Job! Have Lunch on Me" certificates in paychecks. "I used this at a couple larger employers with great successes," Phibbs said. "It drove trial. Increased recognition.

Increased catering business and the GM-owner looked like a hero while it didn't look like we were

couponing the business."

 

5 –Accept competitor coupons. Let the other guys bear the burden of print costs and media buys.

 

4 -Establish a free-lunch drawing and deliver the meal. Phibbs said operators can really put on a show when delivering the meal. "When you arrive and are stopped by the receptionist-gatekeeper, inform them that you have to deliver it personally," he said. "As you walk through the building, people will notice the balloons/food and ask you about it. Hand out your menus. When you arrive, snap a photo of the winners next to the company logo."

 

3 -Partner with non-competing businesses. "Tap into their existing client bases," Phibbs said. An example would be partnering with a dry cleaner. "Pass out coupons that say, 'Got sauce on your shirt? $5 off your next dry cleaning order at __." In return, the cleaner might hand one out that reads, "Celebrate in your freshly cleaned suit. Free glass of wine with dinner at __."

 

2 -Host events. In Louisville, Ky., Nancy's Bagel Grounds donates floor and wall space to local artists six times a year for "Gallery Hop," where locals take a trolley around town and enjoy local art.  As many as 1,000 art enthusiasts drop by, and many leave with coffee or bagels in hand.

 

1 -Send e-mails – loaded with food photos – just before lunch. "Gather customers' business cards and e-mail them special offers that will bring them back to the store," Koeppel said. Who can resist a food picture on an empty stomach?