Franchise Your Print Advertising

A great way to get your name out is to eat a lot of pizza. Well, technically it wouldn't be just you eating the pizza, your town or community would be eating the pizza. But have you ever noticed that whenever you get a take-out or delivery pizza there's usually a brochure or flyer attached to the top (these are known as boxtoppers)? Why not take advantage of a widely distributed product to advertise your business?

Everyone is looking for ways to save a buck here and there, especially those in the pizza industry - the profit margins on a pizza pie is about as slim as a pepperoni slice. And everyone of those boxtoppers costs them money to print. Contact your local Franchisee to make them an offer they can't refuse (you are going to want to go with a chain that puts out a lot of product to get a large cross-section of your community), you will pay for the printing of a boxtop - they come in various sizes but the most common is 5.5x8.5 and 8.5x11 - and half of the piece will be an advertisement for your business and the other half will be an ad for the pizza place. They will probably demand approval of the copy on your ad since they don't want to get in trouble with their corporate chieftains for promoting something shady, like a florist (kidding). But seriously, copy approval shouldn't be a stumbling block for either parties. Then you will just need to get the ad designed - they may even offer to lend use of their graphic artist for the project. While you are on the hook for the cost of the printing and they are providing the delivery, you might suggest splitting the cost of the graphic design.

One thing that I highly recommend is sending the Franchisee that you are working with a copy of the proof (either a hard copy or a pdf proof) for approval before you okay the printing. First, this builds your relationship as a partnership. Second, you are making sure that the franchisee doesn't see the final product and back-out of the deal because they didn't like the design.
Another tip is to only print enough for one month. Ask the franchisee how many orders will go out in a particular month and they will give you a fairly accurate number. If they don't know, then you probably don't want to do business with them - every good pizza store owner I have ever met knows exactly how much they sell on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis. Don't go overboard on the printing, perhaps you might even want to try a week to see how well it works for you.

Don't limit yourself to pizza franchises. I recently worked on a project with a karate school and a fast food chain that sounds a lot like McDowell's (okay, it was McDonalds). McDonalds was happy because they had coupons to hand out in their to go order bags and the karate school was happy for the new infusion of people hearing about the school for the first time.

It's a great way to promote your business and save money on delivery at the same time. Let me know how this tip worked for you.

Visit our website at www.GagePress.com.