Marketing Insights: Top it with your logo

Your pizzas aren’t the only things in your operation
that should be topped. Every cup, surface area and even your staff and
customers could be fabulous vehicles for a compelling marketing
message.

Your pizzas aren’t the only things in your operation that should be topped. Every cup, surface area and even your staff and customers could be fabulous vehicles for a compelling marketing message.

We sometimes forget that advertising doesn’t have to be the traditional coupons, flyers and newspaper ads. Think of every surface as a billboard and utilize these opportunities strategically.

Begin by determining if your goal is general awareness or a specific call to action (such as a coupon for a specific item). Next, find a truly talented, professional copywriter and brief them on your marketing objectives.

It may be tempting to try and write your own copy but trust me, copywriting is a gift and few are able to do it well. Five times as many people read headlines as read the body copy of an ad. So with the headline, you’ll have spent about 80 per cent of their advertising dollar. If it’s clever and gets the point across, you’ll have a great slogan to plaster on as many surfaces as your creativity can muster.

Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

Top your Pizza Box:
It may cost a bit more, but a colourful pizza box with your logo and slogan will pay for itself fairly quickly. Every person sharing that pizza will be reminded of your brand. Lids on pizza boxes are often closed during the party to keep the pie warm. When the box is put out to the curb on garbage day, it’ll broadcast your brand to everyone driving past.

Utilize Post-It notes to communicate special offers and new product launches. The coupon/note can be stuck to a fridge until the customer is ready to redeem it. It’ll be a constant reminder of your operation.

Consider attaching a dog biscuit to the top of the pizza boxes going to those customers you know have a canine family member.  Remember, 70 per cent of people sign their pet’s name on greeting cards. If you make this simple gesture, you’ll win their hearts.

Top your Floors:
Floor decals offer an opportunity to put marketing messages in a slightly unusual place. As your customers are standing in line, you could have several decals communicating featured products or special offers.

You may want to consider having branded floor mats made. These mats could be placed strategically at other businesses you develop partnerships with such as hotels and university residences.

Top your staff, family and friends … with tops:
T-shirts provide a fabulous way to get your message out. Make the shirts of the best quality you can afford. If the shirt is trendy and attractive, it’ll stand a much better chance of being worn.

Have your staff wear the shirts and then offer the shirt as a loyalty reward (buy ten pizzas get a free shirt). Every shirt walking around town will function as a moving billboard.

Top your trays and cups:
People read cereal boxes because we often eat cereal alone and it’s a way of amusing ourselves as we eat. The same psychology works with tray liners and cups.

Make sure you put the right type of message in the right place. A customer sitting alone in your establishment reading a tray liner would be best served by a promotional offer or new product announcement. Anything that leaves your operation such as a portable cup with lid or wrapper should have your logo, slogan and website. People won’t have time to read lots of copy as someone’s strolling by with a cup. Place your messages strategically and make it big, simple and colourful.

Top your vehicle:
If you have delivery vehicles, try some flashy decals to wrap the cars with awareness messages on the sides and a call to action on the back. Only those travelling behind your car or stopped behind it at a stop sign will have time to read copy with an enticing offer. Those who see your car from the side will only have a second to view the marketing message. Place your simple messages here.

Vehicles are a great place to promote a website. If you don’t have delivery vehicles, decorate your personal automobile – it’s a mobile billboard.

Top their cell phones:
Splash Interactive in Toronto, Ontario, recently created a campaign for a retail client using a simple RSS feed (the kind you normally use to subscribe to blogs and podcasts) to send marketing messages to consumer cell phones. It was permission-based, since all customers had signed up for this feed and the message simply landed on their phone indicating what today’s special was with a discount coupon. The consumer simply flashed their phone screen at the counter with the coupon displayed and voila – traffic was driven very effectively to the retail store.

There are many talented technology consultants who can help you make this sort of thing happen quite inexpensively. Tap into their expertise to make it work for you.

Think of your operation as a three-dimensional TV commercial. Look at what goes out, comes in and stays there. Look at everything in your operation (yes, even your dog and your family members) as a potential surface for a marketing message. It’ll be the most profitable garnish on your menu.•