Grand Opening Ideas for

Record Breaking

Success

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Opening a new location is a

ton of work. Get noticed and

get customers to make a

right hand turn into your

business by focusing on

these 7 areas to attract

attention.

• Offline Marketing Tactics

• Partnering with Surrounding Businesses

• Bringing in Schools and Charities

• Getting the Word out with Media and PR

• Creating Buzzworthy Events

• Running Contests and Giveaways

• Boosting Sales with Upsells

Boost Grand Opening Awareness

by:

• Secure Attention Grabbing Advertising

– Americans drive over 3 trillion miles a year

– Your target market drives by your location every

single day

– Inflatable balloons, window graphics, flags,

pennant strings, the list goes on!

Offline Marketing at Your Location

• Make sure the inside of the store is a fun environment too!– Hang your P-O-P, get a

professional photographer to come out, set up bounce houses and food or samples for customers

– Make sure your customers remember you and talk about you after they leave – word of mouth is vital for your new business

Partnering with Local

Businesses

• Think Local!– Get food trucks to come out for your event

– Hire local businesses to sponsor your event• Florist, DJ, artists, product promotions. Make sure

they’re local

• Collaborate!– Network with local businesses

– Run cross promotions – coupons, flyers, etc• Promote with car clubs, how-to classes, movie theaters

• Quick Service Restaurants can partner with just about anyone

• Give local businesses a

reason to work with you

– There has to be give and

take

– Give them special offers no

one else has

– Be mindful of their parking

needs and other issues

that might arise

– Feature other businesses

just like you would want to

be featured

Schools and Charities

• Local schools

– Ask the school band and color guard to come

out and perform

– Offer student ID discounts

– Give a percentage back to a local school

• Local churches

– Pass out coupons

– Advertise on their bulletin board

• Get involved in your community– Invite the local fire

department or police department

– Invite local politicians to come out

– Local charities can help spread the word about your new business, offer to help them with donations or a give them a table at your opening

• Get involved with the media

– Send out a press release

– Invite local food critics or bloggers to come

out for special pre-grand opening event

– Ask the local news to come cover the event

– Invite a local radio station to broadcast from

your grand opening

– Make sure you have a media kit ready with

facts and figures about your business, give

them something to talk about

Media / PR Tips

• The customers within a 5 mile radius are your hot target market

– Target people within 5 miles of your location, that is who will see you the most

• Do something press-worthy

– Offer the first 100 people in line a year-long freebie

– Don't forget your ribbon cutting ceremony!

• Social media– Make sure you have a presence on

social media

– Run contests through Facebook: Like our page and win, Share this picture and win, etc.

– Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, the list goes on

– Have a hashtag

– Encourage your customers to post pictures and videos from your event, they’re your best advertisers!

Creating Buzz

• Hand out flyers at local events

– Have special offers on the flyers

• Schedule different events for everyday of the week, Grand Opening Week!

– $1 everything on 1st day, $2 on 2nd, etc.

• Give your guests something to remember your event: cups, hats, balloons, anything to get the word out

• People love free stuff!

– Have a big drawing for everyone

who's in line and waiting for your

business to open

– Do prize drawings every hour

– Offer free food to get people in your

doors

– Promote contests and giveaways

on advertising flags

Contests and Giveaways

• Run a social media contest– Picture caption contest – best one wins a prize!

– Get a percentage off when you post a selfie at the grand opening

• Eat X-amount of spicy wings and get meal comped and picture on the wall

• Coloring contest for kids - display them and have a random drawing for free dessert

Other Ideas for Boosting Sales

• Make sure your staff is trained

– It may seem obvious but make sure

your staff is trained and ready to go

– You don’t want your guests’ first

experience to be a bad one!

• Account for the time of year

– Themes for each season

– There's a reason why consumers

love pumpkin in the Fall and ice

cold lemonade in the Summer!

• Encourage impulse buys– Have a section for impulse

purchases right by the register, people will betempted to buy more things while they wait in line

• Upsell, upsell, upsell!– Warranties, desserts, large

drinks, BOGO deals, the list goes on. Boost your average sale!

• Frequent buyer programs– Your customers love to

save money and will come back to you if they know they are getting a deal

A record breaking grand opening means pulling out all the stops to create a

memorable, buzz worthy event.

For more attention grabbing ideas, visit AirAdPromotions.com

Takeaways