ForumsStarting a Business

Hi Greg and Luckiest,

I'm still here trying to figure out how to bring in more customers. Business is struggling and this sub-prime mortgage/credit mess people have gotten themselves into isn't helping.

I've tried Chamber of Commerce, local school PTAs, direct marketing mailers as well Pennysaver ads. Nothing seems to be working. I've tried reaching out to the local kids sports teams and local business as well. All to no avail.

We even volunteered to be a Toys for Tots collection location and included htis information on our flyers/advertisements/CoC website and city websites. The response was less than hoped for. I did appreciate the people who donated toys but would liked to have been able to get alot more than we did.

Am I missing any other avenues for advertising and attracting new customers? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check this site out and see what they have to offer.

Believe it or not, I did add my store to the Yahoo/Local site and a customer used it to post a really negative review of a DIFFERENT restaurant. Now anyone who looks at this review will think I did something bad even though it wasn't me.

Needless to say, I'm a little hesitant to have any posting where people can make negative comments for other restaurants on my listing.

When I saw that your post was from October I thought that maybe you had abandoned it or got all the answers and the help that you needed. But I saw some recent posts and decided to drop an answer. My name is Amy Wesley, owner and CEO of Nickels and Dimes Advertising. Like the name suggests we do advertising,mainly the creation of advertisements but no marketing which is what you seem to be struggling with. However if you ever need any more brochure or fliers or business cards created feel free to visit my webite, www.nickelsanddimes.biz and send me an email.
I have a question for you. What sets your pizza apart from the must be thousands of competitors? Why should someone eat at your restuarant? What is that would make a customer choose your pizza and wings over say Dominoes or Little Caesars? Do you have a special ingredient that you add? Do you provide a kid friendly atmosphere (although I really don't know if it can get any more kid friendly than Chuckie Cheeses unless you put a theme park in your restuarant)? See where I'm going with this.

Hi intechspecial,

There in lies the rub. As part of a franchise, there already exists a corporate website for the chain. The bad part of this is that the franchisor is so inept and unresponsive, that the information currently displayed is months (if not years) behind the times.

I have to look at my UFOC but I'm pretty sure there is a clause that precludes me from developing my own web site. At this point to, I may just go ahead and do it anyway.

Any suggestion on web development software that I could purchase and use myself? I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination but I'd be willing to give it a try.

Wingman, I didn't realize you were part of a franchise. Have you contacted the franchises marketing group for support? I would assume that you are paying a % into the marketing funds for your franchise. I would be curious what company that you are with. I would assume that they are just as interested in your store being successful as you are. Definately make them earn that royalty you are giving them.

Greg Melton
Branded Concepts

Hi Greg,

The Franchisor is of no help. There is only one person who does the "markleting" and the artwork he uses look like cartoons a first grader would use. Other than that, they simply referred me to Advo for my marketing and advertising assistance. I'm the only store currently located in Orange County, CA so I'm basically on my own.

Being the only store in the area, I am not paying into a corporate advertising fund.

Wingman-

If you call me, I'll provide you a 1-month trial of Mobile Text Marketing for FREE, no strings attached... we can talk about ways of promoting it utilizing your current as well enhanced advertising strategies.

Eric
312.203.4039
www.imagearchitecture.com