To-Go Fliers

One evening I observed that the takeout orders for the restaurant were steady, while the din-in was slow. This is nothing unusual; on other days it is exact the opposite. What I did notice is that every order went out had a menu stapled to the order. Bingo! It hit me. Why not include a to-go flier adverting kids’ night on the takeout orders. I talked with the owners and they said “if I make up fliers, they would staple them to the to-go orders”. At first I thought, “hmm, shouldn’t the owner pay for the fliers?” After all it’s his business. Then I really thought about it. How many companies allow you to advertise directly to their customers? None! So I took it upon myself to create the to-go fliers, with printing and cutting it cost about $0.07 for each flier. That’s about the price of a high quality business card.

I figured to have 600 fliers made at $0.07 a flier. It would cost me $42.00 dollars a month for flier advertising. So I had a 600 flyers made, and surprisingly that’s only a little more than a three weeks worth of flyers. So, I decided each month to have 600 flyers distributed. I told the owner I had enough made for the first five months and if it works, would he consider splitting the cost on the next run. He said he will think about it, and that is all I can ask for now.

As the months wore on and we approached the slow season (January-March) management opted to cancel kid’s night.  I have not given up on the to-go flier idea.  I have presented the idea to my Friday night restaurant and the owner asked, “Are you advertising kid’s night or just you.”  I told him it would be both. I would advertising about kid’s night with both our contact information.  His reply was “Yah, go ahead.”  When I asked how many should I have made, he informed me they do about 200 to-go orders on Friday and Saturday nights and about 100+ orders during the week; So about 1,000 fliers a week.  I jumped at this opportunity to advertise. Advertising would start at the end of January when times are slow and because the restaurant is close to home, be marketing to local community. My goal is to reap the rewards later in the year by increasing my party business and to pickup business in the slow months too.

Restaurant entertainers should have a to-go flier in their arsenal of marketing material and present it to restaurant management.  Don’t miss out on an opportunity to advertise to 100’s if not 1,000’s of people each week. Make it a win-win for both you and your restaurant.

Become Part of the Advertisements

Entertainers need to be alert because opportunities arise and they simply overlook opportunities at restaurants. My Thursday night restaurant was reprinting their menus and I suggested they add me to the activity page.

Many restaurants have a simple plastic insert that allows management to add a specials or holiday events into the standard menu. I suggested they consider having an insert page incorporated into the new menu design.  The owners, wanting to save cost, decided to advertise my services directly back of the menu.  This was more than I expected, but will take the free press. On the back cover of the menu it reads:

Every Thursday Night from 5:30-7:30

Come see Magical Balloon Dude Dale

Our Amazing Balloon Artist

The restaurant included pictures of me performing in their franchise brochure to help sell the restaurant birthday and field trip parties

The owner has decided to revamp their website and have added me to the main page. They have even gone as far as providing a link to my web site and created a slideshow of kids with balloons.