Hey, Nick Fosberg here with another episode of Bar Restaurant Success, and today I’m going to give you an awesome promotional idea to get free publicity, create excitement within your business, and pack your place on an off day.
The month of July is considered to be National Hot Dog month and the 23rd is considered to be National Hot Dog day! So this gives you the perfect excuse to run a hot dog eating competition and differentiate yourself from everyone else.
Just this past May, I ran a one pound burger eating competition and people loved it. I heard over and over, “This is the type of stuff more bars and restaurants need to do!” I listen to my customers because they are the ones who bring in the money and it’s my job to give them what they want.
So here’s exactly what I’m going to do to promote this. First, I will send out a press release to my local news agencies and get them out to write up a story about it to raise awareness. 95% of the time I do crazy things like this, at least one news station comes out to videotape it and put it on the news. So this one press release will bring me a few thousand dollars in free marketing dollars.
The next thing I will do is send out a few e-mails to my in-house list and a text. Then, of course, I’d focus on Facebook ads targeting the most profitable demographics that are most likely to show up and watch or who’d be willing to get in on the action.
So what about the prizes? You don’t have to get all crazy expensive with prizes. The last time I did the burger contest I gave away a $30 trophy and 10 free burgers! That was it!
Remember people like getting into this just for bragging rights and to compete with their friends. They do it for fun minus those champion food eaters of course.
The easiest way to get people to sign up would be to get your staff on board and have them create a signup sheet. Here’s a big tip! Make sure you collect a non-refundable deposit before or people might not show.
If you are one of my private clients, you will be getting access to the press release, e-mail, flyers, and Facebook ads video that gives you everything you need to set this up! If you’re not a private client and would like to know more about how you can have 4-5 promotions done for you each and every month with all the marketing materials designed to your business, just click the link below this video and fill out the coaching application.
