Attracting Customers

On Friday I witnessed a phenomenal marketing tactic.  My wife, who is a teacher and usually doesn’t like eating pizza, suggested we go to Cici’s Pizza.  At first I was shocked, especially since I have tried to get her to eat there before without any luck, then I saw the coupon that said, “Enjoy one free buffet and drink”.  Brilliant, Cici’s gave all the teachers in my wife’s district a free coupon as an “appreciation” gift.  It’s brilliant because once we decided to go Cici’s we also decided to invite some friends to go eat with us.  So, by giving that one piece of paper to my wife they had three paying customers.

It’s incredible how something so simple can create so much income.  A lot of places are scared to give away an entire meal and drink for FREE, no strings attached.  Usually, the deal will be “FREE meal with purchase of a meal and two drinks”.  Customers HATE small print!  So, many businesses attach small prints to everything they do in order to insure they don’t get screwed.  When you do that you lose your customers’ trust.  If you give coupons that will attract one person to come in, they will most likely bring at least one other person with them!  While at Cici’s my wife pointed out at least two teachers she worked with, which each brought at least 4 people with them.  It’s awesome how simple it is.  All you have to do is figure out what will get people to come to you.

What are you doing to attract people to your company?

David