Small Business Marketing & Business Acceleration | FrontlineMarketingSystems.com

Million-Dollar Business-Building Ideas…From A Pizza Joint?

Posted on 22. Oct, 2009 by Steve Young in Copywriting, Direct Mail, Small Business Marketing

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The article below, written by Troy White over at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com, is one that had me nodding my head the entire time because it is SO dead on with respect to how much money small business owners are sitting on without a clue as to how to access it…or a long list of excuses that’s keeping them from doing so.

The bottom line is this: direct-response marketing, when employed correctly in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, is one of the most cost effective and potent ways to bring tons of new and repeat customers into your business without having to guess as to whether or not you’re spending your advertising dollars wisely.

You’ll KNOW you’re doing the right thing because you’ll have hordes of customers piling in and the trackable data to show you where they’re coming from.

Imagine that…quantifiable ROI from your advertising investment…who woulda thunk?

AND, you can repeat the process and dial up sales and profits anytime you want once you find a winning ad and offer.

If you need help implementing profit-pulling strategies like this in your business, let me know – we can talk about what might be a good angle and approach for you.

In the meantime, read Tony’s article a few times – there ARE millions of dollars of ideas in it for you!

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Fellow Business-Builder,

This week I want to share an article I first sent to my regular newsletter list.  Usually I write a post exclusively for The Total Package, but this article got some great feedback so I am including it here, and expanding on it with further ideas.

First thing that’s important: I am always on the lookout for unusual marketing ideas people are using to promote their business.  Many times I see these wacky marketing ideas offline, and they can easily be applied online.

To me, the opportunity offline is great if done right.

There is very little competition (decent competition) in the physical mail space … now compare that with your prospect’s e-mail inbox!

To you, this means the difference between 230 e-mails to compete with … or one or two other envelopes in the mail box.

Yes, it costs more … but done like this example below … not much more (four cents a household with some companies).

The key is in targeting the right markets, neighborhoods, demographics, etc.

Here’s how the pizza place did it …

Who’d have thought that a pizza take-out joint
would have such savvy marketers?

I received a letter in the mail (not addressed to me personally, they had blanketed neighborhoods near them – hint).

On the front was a letter with a small bag of flour attached to it with a staple.

The letter began … “Dear Neighbor, Why have I attached a little tiny bag of flour to this letter? Here is why:” And the letter then goes on to talk about their ’secret flour’, the chemical structure of their flour, the high protein content, where they get their flour, and why they pay more for their flour than the competition does.

Not hard to figure out where the idea came from!  The old dollar bill mailer rings a bell, no?

They do an excellent job building their pizza dough and ingredients up,and play down the inferior ingredients the competition uses, which explains why they have “limp, often soggy, pizza crust.”

They talk about how theirs is hand-made daily, in-house, while others farm it out to outside companies who mass produce a cheaper, lower-quality dough that shows up ready to bake.

Then they have a 100% guarantee: “if it’s not the best you’ve ever eaten, we’ll refund your purchase price.  In fact, when you stop by in the next two weeks, I’d like you to have our signature Caesar salad with your dinner (my treat).”

Then they have a coupon at the bottom with the free Caesar salad and Focaccia bread.

This is brilliant.

And why can’t YOU use the exact same idea?

You can … excuses will not be tolerated here.

You may not have a pizza business … but your business IS NO DIFFERENT.

The stupidest excuse I hear out there is just that “My business is different.” “That stuff won’t work for me.” “My clients are different.” “My suppliers are different.” “We sell based on price.” Whine. Whine. Whine.

You are completely WRONG if that is coming out of your mouth.

Look at the Million-Dollar Lobster story which I have shared here before … A commodity product … now a multi-million dollar business.

* You have a product or service to sell.

* You need buyers.

* Your buyers need to understand what makes you different.

* You need to prove to them you are a worthy supplier and they should give you at least a try.

Sound familiar?

• You can attach a bag with a component of your product:(Ingredients, sample cloth, electronic component, piece of wood, dirt, sand, shredded money, crumpled up receipts, seashells, piece of metal, small coins, unusual currencies, kids toys, knick-knack stuff from Oriental Trading, and just about any one of a thousand other things you could include)
• You can have a picture of you delivering the service.
• You can have a picture with a happy customer sharing their feedback (and standing next to your product if possible).
• You can include a small bag with a ripped piece of small paper and have it part of the story on how you were passed on this valuable information, and this is just a small piece of what is left.
• You can include pet food.
• One company used small, little chocolate sprinkles and said “rat feces” inside – for an exterminator.  Worked like a charm.
• You can use that brain of yours and find SOMETHING that will make this strategy work for you.

I spoke with the guy who owns this pizza place (we have ordered from them a few times – as have all our friends when I told them about this offer).

He won’t share numbers …
but he said it has done VERY WELL for them.

And it will for you too.

So, no more excuses. This works exceptionally well …

… Especially in a recession when people are looking for good reasons to buy somewhere else (and it is NOT always about price – read the statistics – the affluent market spent 29% more in the last quarter than the previous).

THEY ARE BUYING … are you selling to them?

Use this simple model, and at least give it a try.

I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks again.

To your success,

Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE

PS: Something important I forgot to mention: The letter came BEFORE the brochure. Yes, they had a typical pizza brochure, but the letter was stapled to the front of it.

Instead of “Oh, another pizza brochure”, which is what 99% of people would have done, they said “What is this letter, with this bag attached?  This looks interesting.”

Goal #1 in your marketing is ALWAYS to get them reading or paying attention.

Once you get them reading, your chance of a sale goes up dramatically.  Once you have their attention, it becomes much easier to get them to try you out, especially when you use ideas like this pizza parlor.

So, how ARE you going to use this?  When?

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The following article is a reprint from the MakepeaceTotalPackage.com website.  You can view the original article here.

Tags: Copywriting, Direct Mail, Small Business Marketing