The New Year is just around the corner and that means it is New Year’s Resolution time. As you probably know, one of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions is to lose weight; will you help your customers on their arduous journey to getting healthy? Or will you New Year’s Resolutions be focused on improving your restaurant?

Take a look at the hottest pizza trends likely to carry over to 2013:

•  Gluten Free options- 1 in 133 Americans are gluten intolerant. To make sure no one feels left out, take a note from Uno pizza offers a number of gluten-free pizza options for those with celiac disease, or gluten intolerance. Uno also offers a number of natural vegetarian topping options and even a 5-grain pizza crust.

• Gourmet Pizza- Delicious ingredients never go out of style. Impress your customers and show off your refined palette. Gourmet Pizza offers specialty pizzas for the discriminating taste bud; including Spicy Delight pizza: mozzarella, hot pepper cheese, onions, tomato, green peppers and cucumbers. While adding cucumbers to the mix seems strange, it definitely perks interest; everybody likes to experiment once in a while.
• Vegetarian/Vegan Options- As you may have already discovered, vegetarians are running rampant! They’re everywhere, and that’s a good thing. This is your opportunity to show how flexible and creative your kitchen can be. Gourmet Pizza Company offers tons of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free pizzas. Check them out—these pizzas look amazing!
• Going Green- We humans are finally caring for the Earth again, and consumers love it! Restaurants like Pizza Fusion are almost completely Earth-Friendly—from ingredients to light bulbs, this pizzeria seriously cares about the environment.
• Paper Dishes- Okay, so this innovation has nothing to do with ingredients, but everything to do with customer satisfaction.  There’s nothing more irritating than getting covered in pizza grease while you’re enjoying your favorite slice. Problem solved: enter paper dishes. Thank you to the innovative geniuses (supported by Red Dot Design Concepts) who created this perfect partner for pizza.

There are just a few innovations that are helping other pizzerias soar into the New Year with gusto…and a little bit of pesto. Make 2013 your best year, the year you add a new favorite to the menu or come up with an idea that changes the pizza industry forever. And don’t forget to keep customers rolling in with the little extras your they love: Magnets, Calendars and Sports Schedules. Happy New Year!

What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

2013 is almost here and that means it’s time for you to seriously start thinking about marketing with baseball and maybe even freshening up your menu items for spring.

Like all sports events, a huge slice of pizza and an ice cold beer complement a game perfectly. However, as major league baseball stadiums fancy up their menus, maybe it’s time you fancy up yours too.

When you think of baseball, what food pops into mind? Probably hot dogs, right? Many major league baseball stadiums serve the staple treats: hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, etc.  However, a number of stadiums are becoming more and more popular for their gourmet cuisine.

Wrigley Field serves patrons Chicago-style hot dogs: featuring sautéed onions, crunchy peppers, juicy tomatoes, sweet relish, and delectable dill pickles. I don’t know about you—but that sounds like the makings for a fantastic pizza.

The Baltimore Orioles serve hot crab cake sandwiches at their games, and the Colorado Rockies serve—gulp—Rocky Mountain oysters.  If you don’t know what Rocky Mountain oysters are…you can look that up on your own. The important matter here is that stadiums are serving up hot, fresh treats that are regionally known to create a sense of community and area-pride.

Why not offer toppings that correlate to the team in your area or at least to your region. Check out Pizza Hut’s latest creation, just in time for baseball season, hot dog stuffed crust pizza (that’s not a joke—sadly it is only available in Canada and Europe).

Here is a short list of regional pizza topping ideas to get you started:

• Lousiana- try gumbo pizza, with okra and andouille sausage, or any assortment of your favorite po’boy sandwich toppings: crab, crawfish, catfish, shrimp, etc.
• Arkansas- pulled pork pizza
• Mississippi- Mississippi mud pie, dessert pizza
• South Carolina- Seafood pizza, or vinegar based bbq
• Texas- BBQ chicken pizza will always please a crowd, or use the flavors of tex-mex to create a fajita pizza with peppers, onions, Mexican cheeses and sour cream
• Florida- gator bites pizza
• Virginia- turkey sausage pizza (for Hokie fans), or a delicious country apple crisp dessert pizza.
• Arizona- chili con pizza or any type of mesquite smoked meat.

Baseball season could be one of your busiest if you play your cards right and advertise accordingly. Check out our College Baseball Schedule Magnets and help support your area teams.

What are some regional or team-inspired items you’ve added to your menu, and how do your customers like it?

•  Halloween
• Day before Thanksgiving ß definitely the starving wives of hunters
• New Year’s Eve
• New Year’s Day
• The Biggest Football Game of the Year (nudge, nudge…you know what I’m talking about)

So attention all you pizza restaurateurs: while the men are away—the wives and children will play.  We hope you have all your dough, sauce and extra cheese ready; because our sites are set on your pizza. And please don’t be afraid to offer some crazy toppings during pizza season.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind a turkey and stuffing pizza around Thanksgiving—apple pie pizza has a lot of potential too. ]]> http://www.pizzacrustblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=208 0 http://www.pizzacrustblog.com/?p=189&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=does-facebook-sell-pizza http://www.pizzacrustblog.com/?p=189#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:59:05 +0000 Becca http://www.pizzacrustblog.com/?p=189 Let’s face it: practically everybody has a Facebook page; including your mom, Great Aunt Tilda and even your favorite restaurants. Yes, it would seem as though social media is the latest and greatest in communication, connection and marketing. However, according to MarketingLand.com social media may not yield the results many businesses expect.

A recent report by Forrester (in conjunction with GSI Commerce, a company who provides e-commerce solutions) analyzed 77,000 online orders over 30 days to determine what medium brings in the most business. Not surprisingly, direct visits to a company page yields the highest sales and interaction, bringing in 20% of transactions.

In the age of technology, it’s easy to get wrapped up in fad-marketing strategies and forget traditional methods like Direct Mail or a good ole fashioned face-to-face meeting. While social media is an exciting new development that has potential for marketing—don’t rely completely on Facebook or other social media to sell your scrumptious pies!

It’s a good idea to keep your business up-to-date on Facebook and Twitter, but don’t forget the methods that have been working for decades. Direct Mail, box-toppers and other physical forms of marketing never go out of style.

National Pizza Month was created by Gerry Durnell, the founder of Pizza Today magazine. Durnell chose October because it was the first month his magazine was published. National Pizza Month has been observed since 1987 and is celebrated across America and even in Canada.

Are you taking advantage of National Pizza Month? This is a great time to run specials on your favorite pies, or even experiment with something new: ever had shrimp pizza?

Whatever you do, don’t forget the favorites! America’s #1 pizza topping is pepperoni, followed closely by sausage and Canadian bacon.

How are you going to celebrate National Pizza Month?

Have you ever noticed how many restaurants have red in their logo, marketing, or decor? It’s not by accident. Red is the color of passion and instinct. Literally speeding up the metabolism, red makes you feel hungry.

Did you know that babies cry more when placed in yellow rooms, and prisoners are calmer in pink rooms? How is this phenomenon possible and why should you care?

Color has an unconscious effect on human behavior—it’s a fact.

What does this mean for your business marketing? This means you better be paying close attention to the colors you’re using on your logo and promotional items.

Take a look at the following list to see what each color symbolizes, and the emotion each color evokes in most people:

• Red: Physical, energy, stimulation; red literally raises the pulse and grabs our attention.

• Blue: Intellectual, communication, logic, trust; blue aids in logic and concentration—it is best used to induce serenity and calm.

• Yellow: Emotional, optimism, friendliness; yellow stimulates our emotions and lifts spirits (unless you use a pale shade which can make people cranky).

• Green: Balance, health, refreshment; green is a very natural color that implies safety and abundance.

• Violet: Spiritual, luxury, truth; purple has been the color of royalty for thousands of years. It makes people feel contemplative and introverted.

• Orange: Warmth, passion, fun; orange is a stimulating color that focuses the mind on physical comfort and sensuality.

• Pink: Nurture, warmth, love; pink resonates with a soft comfort everyone appreciates (even if it is a bit feminine). Pink is physically soothing, but is also known for physically draining one’s energy.

• Grey: Neutrality; grey is a neutral color that doesn’t instinctively evoke much emotion. Grey, however, is a bit suppressive and is best used to highlight or accent more vibrant colors.

• Black: Glamour, sophistication, security; the color black creates barriers, absorbing energy and light from all other colors. Black creates a sense of weight, seriousness and heaviness.

• White: Purity, clarity, efficiency; white creates the illusion of cleanliness and sophistication. While white creates a sleek and hygienic appearance, be careful too much white doesn’t make your other colors seem too intense or dirty.

• Brown: Warmth, earthiness, support; brown is the color of earth and evokes a warm sense of support and reliablility in most people. Brown is a great color to use to bring a warm neutral into your design without having to use suppressive black.

This list is just a short interpretation of each color, its symbolism and the feelings it evokes. Find more colors and meanings to use in your advertising.

Now that you know what colors means, it’s time to put your knowledge into practice. For example, if you want to create an advertising piece for your pizzeria, you wouldn’t want your predominant color to be blue—because blue stifles the appetite. Instead use bright shades of red or yellow.

However, don’t be afraid to experiment or go out on a limb a little: if your pizzeria focuses on staying “green” or using local ingredients, it would be fine to use bright and fresh shades of green, too.

The most important factor is to be aware that the colors you use to promote your business have an effect on your customers’ emotions—whether they know it or not.

What color combinations do you use to reach your customers?

Can you pin-point a few adjectives that accurately describe your pizza personality? If not—you might be suffering from multiple marketing-personality disorder.

Multiple marketing-personality disorder is often confusing or…let’s admit it…downright boring for your clients to encounter.

How would you view an acquaintance that was optimistic on Monday, cautious on Tuesday and goofy on Friday? You might assume this person suffers from some serious mood swings. One thing is for sure, you wouldn’t trust this person as being consistent; your business image is no different.

It may be time to sit down and have a good, long think about how your clients perceive you and your business via your marketing:

• Do you use a tone that reflects your personality positively?
• Do you use colors that evoke the feelings you want?
• Does your marketing product correlate to your personality or profession?

Tone:

Tone is the mood you convey to your audience based on the words you choose and your verbal demeanor. In other words: how you speak to your audience says a lot about your character.

Firstly, what is your tone? Can you think of 3 adjectives to describe your business-personality? If not, here are a few terms to consider:

• Ambitious
• Cheerful
• Candid
• Confident
• Fun
• Grateful
• Loyal
• Opinionated
• Responsible
• Serious
• Warm
• Witty

Your audience will be able to tell if you’re forcing a fake personality, so it’s best to stick with a personality and tone that flows easily.

Don’t worry; it shouldn’t be hard; the pizza business allows you plenty of space to be yourself. Pizza can be fun. Pizza can be healthy. Pizza can be gourmet. The key is turning your pizzeria’s strengths into dynamic dimensions of a magnetic business-personality.

View a more extensive list of positive personality traits to help you define your business personality.

After you’ve decided on a personality and tone your business can adhere to, you need to consider your audience:

• How old is your audience?
• Where does your audience live?
• What does your audience want from you?

Answer these questions to decide how best to approach your patrons. Avoid trying too hard. Focus on creating great pizza, be yourself (unless you’re as square as a pizza box) and avoid trying too hard.

While significant attention should be paid to the subtle ways your tone affects your business, try not to stress yourself out by trying to reach everyone. The main point is to remain true to your values while also appealing to your clients.

We would love to hear some ways your personality shines through your marketing, please feel free to comment below.

For those who have yet to play with it, Pinterest is a virtual “pinboard” that allows you to organize and share information…mostly visually…through a range of boards you create.  You do have to get an invite in order to participate, but those are easy to come by…just ask a friend who is a member to invite you.

Over the past few months Pinterest has been the subject of a lot of media attention, but is it worth the effort for you?

The pros:

• Food is a very popular subject on Pinterest and your board is likely to get some traffic.

• It skews strongly toward females, who make most of the dinner decisions.

• It is hot/hip/in. It puts the pizzazz in your pizza!

Disadvantages

• Pinterest is intensely personal and it is going to require your most valuable commodity…your time.

• No one knows how long it’s going to last…it was not all that long ago that FourSquare was the rage.

• If you are adding it to a social media mix you maintain personally, you have to decide if it’s right for you.

If you decide to take the Pinterest plunge, we recommend you work with it personally first.  Who knows?  You might enjoy it.  Marketing should not be an extension of your workday; it can be an enjoyable extension of connecting with good people.

Find out more at www.pinterest.com

Is Magnets USA using Pinterest? Not now.  We are in the process of looking at it to see if we can find appropriate ways to use it as part of our social media, but we don’t want to “force” it. Social media, like any other form of communication with your customers, needs to be sincere and not every type of social media is right for every business.

FOOTBALL FEVER: It’s still a few months before kickoff, but check out our superstar lineup of new shapes for our football schedule magnets. It’s our most popular sports schedule and we keep upping our game.

ReStore is a retail store for Habitat for Humanity.  They raise funds to build homes for underprivileged people by selling old home furnishings and construction materials that are donated, usually by people remodeling their homes. It not only raises money for a very worthwhile cause, it also keeps old materials out of landfills.

Magnets USA worked with ReStore’s adverting agency to help find that answer to people throwing away items.  The result was an innovative dumpster magnet telling people, don’t throw it away, throw it OUR way.

This project recently earned recognition from the American Advertising Federation for creativity.  The client has enjoyed the benefits of a very successful campaign that has both brought in donations and help spike sales.

That’s nice, you might say, but what’s that got to do with selling pizza?

Plenty.  It’s a reminder that opportunity to communicate with our customers is all around us.. It’s also proof positive that we are more than a calendar company. We have the ability to help you think through challenges and opportunities and market your restaurant with flair.  Creativity doesn’t have to be limited to the pizza you make.

So go ahead, get creative.  And let us help you take your marketing to the next level.

Located in Roanoke, Virginia, Magnets USA is committed to helping restaurant owners build market and brand through business cards, flyers, and the finest personalized magnetic identity products in the industry.  Our products are made and marketed in the USA.

When you hear that, you know you have made an impression.

As a restaurant owner, you have a need to make a professional impression nearly every day. Whether you are talking to a new supplier, with a potential landlord or a person who wants to partner with your parlor to help you sell more pies, your business card is a valuable business tool.

Probably the most important marketing piece you will ever produce is your business card. It is often the first thing your clients see from you. Yet so many people overlook the amazing opportunity that is presented by the humble business card.

At Magnets USA we formed a special task force to look at how we could embolden your business cards. Our new special die-cut business cards are a low cost, high impact way to market your practice.

We also offer professional design services to give your business card the right look and balance.

Click here to find out how you can make a big impact every time you hand out a business card.