Cross promotion is an excellent way to give your restaurant’s marketing initiatives some extra leverage in order to strengthen brand awareness and patronage among your customers and fans. Here are 10 simple cross-promotional ideas that you can put into action.
1. Print marketing messages on your customer receipts.
Use your receipts to let customers know about special offers, new menu items, or to invite them to follow your restaurant’s social media pages.
2. Partner with another local business to share mailing lists and send out joint promotional postcards.
Not only is this a great way to expand your reach to your local customer base, it enables your restaurant to reduce its printing, production and mailing costs by half!
3. Offer up your restaurant’s venue to host local community and philanthropic events.
Hosting special community or non-profit fundraising events in your restaurant not only demonstrates your business’s commitment to giving back, it gives you the opportunity to open up your restaurant to new guests.
4. Host guest chef events with another well-known restaurant in your area.
Partner with another well-known, local restaurant to exchange Executive Chefs for special guest chef appearances. Have the guest chefs prepare special tastings or dinners to give both restaurants’ guests a taste of something new from each other’s establishments.
5. Insert special promotional offers or coupons in your local business’s shopping bags.
Put coupons or promotional offers in local business’s shopping bags and offer to return the favor by sharing their promotional offers to guests in your restaurant.
6. Offer joint promotions or discounts.
Partner with another local business to offer joint promotions or discounts. For instance, create a joint promotion with the boutique down the street to offer all boutique customers a 25% discount on any lunch entrée when they dine in your restaurant for lunch following an afternoon of shopping.
7. Give a joint interview to the local media.
Share the PR with your neighborhood business partners by offering joint media interviews. Using the example of the neighborhood boutique above, if the local TV station is planning to visit your restaurant for a chef food demonstration highlighting the best flavors of summer, invite your boutique neighbor to also participate by showcasing their summer fashions during the segment.
8. Promote joint social media contests.
Create joint social media contests, whereby your restaurant and your partner business both offer joint prizes to your shared social media fan base. Not only does this give you an opportunity to market to their social media fans, it also makes your contests more enticing by giving participants a chance to win more prizes.
9. Share promotions on email blasts.
In your upcoming email blasts, feature a special message from your business partner, and have them do the same, to double your email marketing reach.
10. Bring in free food and drink samples to other local businesses.
Partner with other local businesses by offering to give their customers free food and drink samples. Their customers will appreciate it, and it’s a great way to give these customers a taste of your menu, encouraging them to stop in.
Article provided by Buzztime.
For daily tips, ideas, and concepts for your bar or restaurant, please visit
http://www.BuzztimeBusiness.com/smarts
Trusted by over 3,200 bars and restaurants in North America since 1985, Buzztime integrates trivia, card and sports games with in- and out-of-venue messaging and communication tools. With over 4.2 million player registrations on the Buzztime platform and over 52 million games played each year, Buzztime players spread the word and invite friends and family to their favorite Buzztime location to enjoy an evening of fun and competition.
