10 Print Ideas for Your Restaurant Grand Opening
A well-thought-out marketing plan for your restaurant grand opening is essential. Social media can help drive brand awareness, but digital marketing isn t the only way to get customers through your door. Plus, as a new business with a small following, you won t have the reach you need without paying for ads.
As you prep for your grand opening, keep these print marketing ideas in mind. This traditional marketing medium allows you to not only drive customers on grand opening day and thereafter but shows that you re part of the community. Reaching customers at home with personalized direct mailers, for example, is a great way to introduce yourself to your neighbors and get them through your door.
Not sure about print? Find out why it s critical for hyper-local marketing.
1. Mailers
Mailers are one of the best ways to saturate the neighborhood with information about your new restaurant. According to a report by Toast, only 20 percent of restaurants are using direct mail ads, which means you have a better chance of reaching them without having to compete with other restaurants in the area.
Send postcards with your business name, address, and date and time of the restaurant grand opening. Don t forget to include a coupon or discount that can be used on that day or the weekend of the event, to give them an incentive to swing by.
2. Flyers
Hanging flyers in high-trafficked locations can attract customers to your grand opening as they re out and about. The most important part of your flyer strategy is location. Focus on places where your target audience is likely to be. For example, if your restaurant will offer quick and easy lunches, hang your flyers in coffee shops, at transit stations, in office parks, and on cars in office parking lots.
Get Started: How to Make a Great Flyer: A Complete Guide
3. Signage
If you re located on a busy road, future customers are driving past your building each day. Without knowing who or what you are, however, you re missing out on this marketing opportunity. To take advantage of your opportune location, design a banner, window poster or yard sign to promote your grand opening.
To get the information across quickly, to ensure drivers see and understand it, include only the most important information, I.E. your restaurant logo and Grand Opening! with the date of the event. You can replace this with a year-round banner that will hang well after the grand opening is finished.
4. Menus
Give your customers a way to remember the great meal they just had, and all the other dishes they didn t get to try yet, with a takeaway menu. Even if you don t do delivery, this is a great way to stay on their radar well after they leave the restaurant.
Leave menus at the front of the restaurant and hand them out as customers leave. You can also drop them at nearby office buildings for professionals looking to find lunch options nearby.
5. Table Tents
Table tents are a critical print item for your restaurant grand opening. This print item can be used as a tool to showcase specials and promote higher cost items. You can also use table tents to advertise your best or most unique dishes. Being a new restaurant, customers won t be familiar with who you are, so take the time to share your story on a table tent.
Increase engagement with these simple printed assets by adding QR codes that lead customers to discounts or offers for specific menu items. There are few better ways to get customers to come back after the grand opening than a coupon.
6. Coasters
Add a little more flair to your restaurant s bar by creating custom coasters for your business. Design something that shows off your restaurant name, logo or slogan. You can even encourage patrons to bring one home so they ll think of your restaurant every time they grab a drink from their own kitchen.
Get Started: Design your own coasters now!
7. Gift Certificates
Get customers to share about your restaurant with gift certificates and offer a special deal during your opening weekend to sell more. For example, give customers a $5 credit off their next meal if they buy a $20 gift certificate. This gets the current patron to come back and ensures that you ll be entertaining new customers in the not-so-distant future.
8. Loyalty Cards
A great loyalty program can be a powerful tool for driving repeat business, rewarding customers to continually dining with you. While there are plenty of online tools you can use to facilitate intricate programs, start simply. Design and print loyalty cards that get punched or stamped with each purchase or meal.
Not only is this more cost-effective, but 71 percent of Americans said they would be less likely to join a loyalty program that collects personal information. Make it easy to participate to get the most from your loyalty program.
Get Started: Design your loyalty cards!
9. Custom Take-home Containers
Almost every restaurant offers take out boxes for leftovers. Differentiate your business by adding a custom design to your boxes or branding each one with a sticker that has your logo on it. If possible, you can also offer takeaway waters, sodas or coffee and tea with custom cup sleeves that advertise your restaurant.
10. Business Cards
Every good businessperson understands the importance of a business card. Before the grand opening, design and print your business cards. As you meet people leading up to the big day, or talk to patrons as they come and go, you can hand out your business card. Not only does this help promote the restaurant, but giving someone your business card is more personal than handing them a flyer.
Get started! Design your business cards!
Make Your Restaurant Grand Opening a Success With Print
Make your restaurant grand opening a hit with print marketing. Use this traditional marketing medium as a way to reach customers where they are and introduce yourself as a neighbor. Once your grand opening has passed, use the same tools throughout the year to continue attracting business and retaining customers.