GrandOpeningHelp.com

Grand openings and ribbon cuttings don’t have to be limited to businesses that have retail locations. If your “real estate” is your website and you work out of your home, this great public relations opportunity is available to you as well, although you will have to plan it a bit differently than someone with a brick and mortal location. A few years ago I attended a “ribbon cutting” for a client’s new website and had a great time meeting people all over the country on a teleconference bridge line.

Since I’m only a few months away from a new website myself, I wondered how to powerfully take advantage of this wonderful promotional opportunity. I made some posts to some discussion lists to which I belong, and the ideas listed in this article are the results of my information requests.

Here are some ideas to spice up your virtual grand opening/ribbon cutting:

Technology

At a minimum you’ll need a teleconference bridge line. My favorite one at the moment is Live Free Conferencing, http://freeconferencing.liveoffice.com/, because you can record the call at no extra charge, the bridgeline holds up to 250 callers, the moderator can mute the entire call if needed, and they offer the ability for muted callers to ask a question via their webcontrol panel.

If you’d like more interaction with your visitors, you will want to use webconferencing/virtual conference room software. There are a number of these services out there, so I recommend that you do a search and try and few before deciding on your provider.

If you’d like to invite a group of people to your event, you can use an invitation service like Evite.com, or sent out an HTML invitation to your contact list through your email broadcast service like aWeber.com, EzineDirector.com, ConstantContact.com or an audio postcard through a service like AudioAcrobat.com. In order to have your attendees register for this event, you will need to create a contact form on your website that feeds into your shopping cart or autoresponder service.

Event Activities

1. Virtual ribbon cutting. You can do this via a web cam and actually cut a ribbon that’s draped over your monitor which is displaying the home page of your new site and show it via your webinar service/virtual conference room service. Or, you might find an animated graphic of a ribbon cutting and show that via your virtual conference room instead.
2. Have people register for your event and give out door prizes. You can spotlight your business colleagues by requesting door prizes for them. Electronic info products are the easiest door prize to award, as you don’t have to mail a physical package to the winner. If some of your door prizes do require mailing, however, you need to request a mailing address from everyone who registers for your event.
3. Hold a teleseminar during the grand opening that’s partially educational, partially promotional. You can make a special offer to all those who attend the live call.
4. Give a virtual tour of your new website via webinar/virtual conference room software.
5. Host a roundtable session at your event that permits attendees to give a 30 second commercial of their businesses. Schedule this at the end of your event so that it doesn’t detract from your offerings.
6. Hold a scavenger hunt on your site during your grand opening. This hunt creates a reason to have people visit the site and visit multiple pages. Create a 3-5 page report or something that’s easy to compile that showcases your expertise and is of value to your visitor for the prize. You might use roll-over images to give clues or find a funny graphic or and hide it in various places throughout your site in obvious and not-so-obvious locations. You could also place audio snippets around your site as well and put clues in those audio files.
7. Sponsor a message board and/or chat room on your site. At specific times post a series of questions, polls, etc. that will make your visitors interact. Ensure that the questions are relevant and of interest to your target market. This will instantly create popularity for your website, as well, for keywords pertinent to your target market.
8. Give away prizes every hour (or every 10-15 minutes for shorter events) and tell your visitors that they have to be present in the webinar room/on the teleconference line to win. Between giveaways, talk about your experience, your offerings, and offer free on-the-spot help for a problem faced by your target market.

Online Publicity/Promotion

1. Post the date and time of opening of your event on CraigsList.com, on the boards for your city/area and surrounding areas.
2. Send out invitations through Evite or though your email broadcast service.
3. If permitted, post the particulars about your event on various lists/discussion groups to which you belong.
4. Send out press release regarding event through online press release services.
5. Create a post about your grand opening/ribbon cutting on your blog and invite attendees to post their comments on your blog

Offline Marketing

1. Join your local Chamber of Commerce and they will offer to hold a ribbon-cutting for you. For virtual/at home businesses, most chambers will do this in their office rather than your home. Many times a photo or article about the riboon cutting will appear in the local press and in the chamber newsletter.
2. Plan a couple of local talks and/or book or product signings to coincide with your grand opening
3. Send out postcards inviting people to your new website and grand opening and offer them a free gift for dropping by.
4. Send out press releases to your local media regarding any “in-person” events you sponsor during this grand opening time

Grand openings are held to generate good will and begin relationships with business colleagues, current clients, and prospective customers. Now, as the owner of a virtual business, you can foster that same good will by sponsoring a virtual grand opening for your new business or new website and get your new venture in gear.

Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at Get More Clients Online.

This post was submitted by Donna Gunter.

If you are starting a new franchise and you want it to be a success from the beginning you are on the right track. And if you want to effectively get the community and people aware of your new franchise, a grand opening is a must! A grand opening is a great way for you to attract people to your new franchise and get business started right away. It is a great way to get your franchise going faster and stronger than if you didn’t have one.

Tips to conduct a successful grand opening for your franchise:

1. Pick a time and date that will benefit you the most. Since you will want as many people as possible it should be during a time when most people can attend. So, Sunday at 10am is not good since a majority of people may be in church. During the week is better and during a high traffic time.
2. Invite people in the community such as the mayor, city council or other government officials. This will not only get them there but others who respect those you invited.
3. Make it look like something is happening. You may have many great things planned inside for your grand opening, but if nothing is out of the ordinary on the outside how will people know. You should have grand opening signs or banners, balloons, ribbons, and things of that nature. That way you will attract those who may have heard and those who are simply passing by.
4. Plan a great opening day with giveaways, door prizes, games and refreshments. You may even have a ribbon cutting ceremony, guest speakers, D.J’s or other forms of entertainments for all. Have something for everyone, something for the adults and also something for the kids! You want to make the day memorable. That way people will want to come back and they will also tell their friends about. Word of mouth can really boost your business!
5. You may even be able to get a little more publicity if you ask for it. You can contact newspapers, television stations and other means and invite them to your grand opening. If they do attend chances are they will add it to their feature in the news or newspaper, this is a great promoter for business. For the best response you should invite these individuals two to three weeks in advance and then call them a few days before the event to remind them.
6. Plan your grand opening event for about a month after you actually open. This is a good idea that way your franchise is running and you will have worked through any glitches of problems before you invite everyone to “check you out”. You will also have a well trained staff that can cater to the customer’s needs. Customer service will be key to your success!
7. Don’t forget to invite your personal support group. Invite your friends, family and previous influential contacts. Not only will they provide support for you but the community likes to see that you are human.

Give your franchise the best grand opening by following these simple tips!

For more information on an automotive franchise visit BumperDoc auto body franchise and start your path to business ownership.

This post was submitted by Samantha Mccartney.

While there are no firm statistics, professionals have noticed that the majority of businesses that close within the first two years did not have an official grand opening event. Those same pros continue to surmise that if you create a successful grand opening, you’ll set the pace for the weeks and months ahead. This has never been truer than it is today, as we see company after company closing its doors or downsizing. But what can be done for your particular business? Which types of grand opening ideas can draw the attention of customers as well as the media?

Bring in the Big Guns… or Cups or Tacos or Puppies or…

Here’s a phenomenal grand opening idea: Create a giant inflatable balloon of your product or logo and place it on the rooftop of your business. For instance, a Mexican restaurant could place a giant, inflatable taco on its roof with a banner that reads, “Now Open.” A local veterinary clinic could put a massive, inflatable puppy or kitten on their rooftop with signage declaring, “Grand Opening!”

Why giant inflatable balloons? Because they attract attention of all sorts. People busily going about their routines don’t even notice most of the advertising that comes their way. According to the Newspaper Association of America, Texas A&M University and the Journal of Concerned Scientists, Americans are exposed to well over 3,000 advertising messages each day from a variety of sources. Our senses are on overload and, therefore, most of the ads we view are blocked out.

However, place a 30-foot-tall giant taco up on the roof (higher than most of the other clutter like billboards, storefront banners, etc.) and drivers down your street suddenly wake up and smell the guacamole.

Gain Press Coverage

Your business can make good use of this second grand opening idea: Use inflatables to bring the press to your location. Inflatables are an exceptional way to garner media coverage. While yet another Mexican restaurant grand opening might not be considered news, a restaurant with a giant taco on its roof that drew in massive crowds is. Likewise, while a photo of a restaurant storefront isn’t an overly exciting picture, that massive taco is definitely a photo opp just waiting to happen.

Bring the Crowd Inside

Unless you’re hosting a sidewalk sale, having a crowd of customers outside your
door won’t do you much good. You have to bring the people inside your business. Grand opening idea number three is to use smaller, sealed inflatables as giveaways.

For example, sticking with the same Mexican restaurant theme, you might say the first 100 customers get a free, miniature, inflatable taco. You could create practically anything you want: inflatable mariachi singers, inflatable sombreros… the list is endless. Because everybody loves to get something free - and because they can be branded with your business name and address - sealed inflatables make the perfect giveaways.

As a business, you can’t neglect the importance of your grand opening. Use ideas that create a buzz in your community and that will attract the press. When you do it right, you’ll find that word-of-mouth advertising kicks in and the business just keeps on coming!

Stephanie Meacham is Vice President of Landmark Creations who has designed and manufactured custom inflatables since 1986. Looking for business grand opening ideas? Visit Landmark at http://www.landmarkcreations.com today.

This post was submitted by Stephanie Meacham .

Make the Grand Opening Sale Special

No matter if this is your first or your 100^th store grand opening; people will expert some type of sale.  In fact most store grand openings use sales as a tool to lure in customers, but be creative in your sales marketing and reap profit and create loyal customers.

Many businesses try to discount the entire store thinking this will give them the greatest

exposure and the largest variety of customers.  This works great if you’re a convenience store and not specializing in a horizontal market. If you’re a specialty store, you want to make sure you attract customers who will use the products you’re selling and develop loyal customer base.  Understanding your consumer demographics is as important to your grand opening, as well to the success of your business.

Sale items should be clearly marked and should show savings.  Make it easy for the customer to see the saving you’re offering.  If you offer repair services, show a comparison chart of your rate compared to competitors.

Become creative in your grand opening sales.

• Offer useful products on sale that will brand a particular product or service to your store. The goal is to generate sales, but also create loyal customer base who will retune for future sales.
• Offer discounts on multiple product if purchased the day of the grand opening.
• Offer discounts on related products purchased together - Snow shovel, salt, and door mate reduce greater if purchased together.
• Offer free assembly or delivery on large ticket items, if purchase at grand opening.

Making your store grand opening profitable is not difficult, it just take serious planning.  The sales planning you do now; will pay off in future sales.

Trying to figure out what marketing ideas will work and won’t, is always a difficult choice for a business.  Trial and error are how most people start a business while cleaver people do some research and find clever, innovative marketing ideas to help them achieve their financial goals.  Here is a document on Creative Marketing Ideas that can help small businesses improve their marketing along with improving their current marketing positions.

This post was submitted by Dale Obrochta.

Going beyond the typical nuggets and fries

Going out to eat should be enjoyable, but also healthy for the entire family. Many restaurants are now catering to children and kid’s meals are becoming the competitive difference between success and failure.  In the past, kid’s meals were boring in design, presentation, and had few options; but today’s meals not only taste better, but are healthier. Restaurant owners need to address their kid’s meal design and presentation.  Parents are seeking out restaurants that are proving kid friendly service and healthy kid’s meals. So it is important that a restaurant highlight the benefits of the kid’s meal at the grand opening.  Educate parents that your kid’s meals are better for their kids than chain fast food restaurants.

Here are some 7 tips on showcasing and presenting a kids meal at a restaurant grand opening.

• Display juice options on counter - Show off kid’s drink options just like bars show off popular liquors. If seen, parents will buy it.
• Quality sandwiches - Kid’s eat more than PJ, hot dogs and burgers. Create real meals in bite size bits.
• Include soup and salads with kid’s meals - Kid’s like to eat what their parent eats. Provide them with a full course meal.
• Provide kids utensils - Many kid’s like to eat with silverware, provide small forks and spoons. Customize the utensils, so if they vanish from the table they’ll have your advertising information on it.
• Food presentation for kid’s - Design the meal so it is ready for kid’s to eat. Cut sandwiches into quarters, provide drinking in spill proof glasses and provide kid’s appetizer for kid’s waiting.
• Kid’s free appetizers - Waiting in a restaurant can be excruciating for a small child and need an appetizer to settle them down. Offer complementary Cheerio’s as a treat while parents and family wait for the meal.
• Kid’s appetizer platter - This platter would contain oranges and apple slices, crackers, cheese, Goldfish crackers and Cheerio’s. Everything is health and finger friendly giving parents an alternative meal for picky eaters.

Magical Balloon-dude Dale has been a professional balloon entertainer who works with restaurants in developing kid’s nights along with increase family participating at a restaurant.

A Game of Chance

The goal of the game is to add fun to a grand opening and give people a reason to buy products.

Grand Opening Promotional Card Game Scenario

A customer enters the store and walks directly to a table. On the table is a deck of fanned out playing cards. The customer selects a card. The card selected will determine the customer’s discount bag — hearts 10% off, a club 15%, a diamond 20%, and a spade 25% discount on selected items that can fit into the bag. If a person draws a wild card then a 50% bag is given. Use only one deck of cards, remove the cards as the promotion progresses. Once down to the last couple cards, reshuffle the deck and start all over again.

Items needed

• Deck of ordinary playing cards
• Shopping bags of different sizes
• Sharpie Marker

Setup for Grand Opening Card Game

Discount bags will need to have discount % written on each bag.

Grand openings are your welcome mat to the community and local businesses.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a franchise or a small business, a successful grand opening can increase the bottom line the first year.  Successful retailers will go all-out to make their presents known in the community.  They try to involve all aspects of government, newspapers, TV, radio stations, and community groups into the grand opening.  These companies have learned that the community along with local business can impact the success of a business.

My personal experiences working and planning a grand opening.

As a promotional entertainer I have worked for major retailers like Target, Ace Hardware, A.J. Wright, Cold Stone Creamery, and Barns & Noble to smaller companies like Parcels+, Lindy’s Chili & Gerties Ice Cream, and Panda Express. They all had one thing in common - they worked very hard to get the public involved in their grand opening.

Here are 18 grand opening tips and ideas for planning for your grand opening that I have seen or heard about over my 24+ years of entertaining.

Tips, Ideas, and Insight for Planning a Grand Opening

1. Create a budget for the grand opening. Creating a budget that will allow you to have a successful grand opening, but is separate for the monthly advertising budget.
2. Select a grand opening date immediately. By selecting a date you can now properly prepare, plan, and schedule special guest for the grand opening in advance. You can inform customers, vendors, and staff months earlier and create a buzz about the “big grand opening event”.
3. Check local government regulation regarding advertising signs, inflatable, or marquee that you use to advertise your grand openings. Some communities have regulations and permits maybe required to have a large purple inflatable gorilla, advertising a grand opening in parkway.
4. Make it a business-to-business grand opening. Send out special coupons to local businesses - networking with business and create business accounts. Allow owners to enter the night before the grand opening to preview the store.
5. Create customer loyalty from the beginning. Offer special incentives for returning customers who shopped prior to the grand opening. If a customer brings in a receipt dated prior to the grand opening date, give the customer a special prize or discount for being a loyal customer.
6. Hire a promotional entertainer. Promotional entertainment is about gathering crowds, getting a message heard, registering people, and for that you need a professional entertainer.
7. Have maximum staff on hand. Make sure your sales staff is fully knowledgeable about location of products, store hours, and store layout.
8. No waiting at registers. Plan for crowds to come and buy. Have all the registers open and have entertainment available to entertain the waiting customers. When people are happy they don’t mind waiting in line. Have a comedian, promotional entertainer, or band to entertain the customers waiting in line.
9. Network with adjacent business. Because you already have the grand opening date scheduled you can work with local business to create flier swap weeks in advance. Local takeout restaurants can give away fliers with each order in exchange for giving out their fliers to your customers.
10. Contact local government and the Mayors office and request they participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony. Politicians love to make public appearances for local business and you should invite as many as possible. (more…)