# advertising--getting people to know you are there



## bella (Feb 6, 2001)

Hello everyone,
I would love to hear some fun and inexpensive ideas of getting your name out into the public arena. Newspaper and radio advertising are too expensive to do all the time. Do you have any other ideas to let people know that your place exists?
Thanks.


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## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

The best advertising is word of mouth, so an idea would be to do an email blitz, email all your friends telling them about your place and ask them to email their friends, cause they'll tell 2 people and they'll tell 2 people and they'll tell 2 people ......(Waynes World).


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Cooking classes or demos....I get clients from those venues the most.


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## lynne (Oct 6, 2001)

Don't forget the web! More and more people really are checking out sites such as goyourcity.com. A lot of those sites are free and there are many ways to get web pages. It costs $70/every 2 years for your own domain name (ie myrestaurant.com)--you must have your own domain name for submission to most sites. Many of the city and restaurant oriented sites are free or a very minimal charge ($20/year)-- the hardest part is finding which ones are for real.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

You might consider giving out a few sample to some well place people. If they have bazaatr in your area you might want to give a cake, to be display with your business cart of course. Or bring some sample to work or give some for your husband. If you have friend or family that belong to a club of any kind give some sample too. 

But before you do any of that, be sure you are operating in legality.


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## bella (Feb 6, 2001)

Thank you everyone for your ideas. We have been participating in several community "food challenges", bridal shows, and e-mail adventures. We have recently developed a web site and have the address posted in our restaurant. The bridal shows have given us the greatest reward. What started out as a slight trickle for cookie trays, has developed into 12 booked wedding just so far this year. I guess I am just impatient. My chef works so hard that I just want to see good things happen for him.
Thanks again for your response. I truly appreciate it.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Don't forget the hotels. Visit the concierge a few times a year and bring them some inexpensive goodies. Make sure that they know who you are. These people recommend restaurants to many, many people. Get them recommending your place! Also if you have any big companies in your area, find out who does their event planning (this make take a little research). Hit them with menus, press packets, etc. These people are often in charge of planning many, if not hundreds of events a year. From small diners for out of town execs. to large, company wide parties. And finally, one small (almost mundane) thing to do is make sure your customers know that you do special events by placing a small little blurp about it at the bottom of your menu.

[ March 12, 2001: Message edited by: Pete ]


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## bella (Feb 6, 2001)

Pete,

Thank you so much for your ideas. I never thought to hit the hotels with actual goodies. We have supplied them with menus, but I think we will start baking soon.
We are located near our City Hall, and we have taken goodies to several of the offices nd have received some feedback from them, so the hotels may be our next venture.

Thanks again
Bella


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## lynne (Oct 6, 2001)

Don't forget B&Bs--they are often approached for mid-sized weddings and a lot of them DO NOT have licensing for anything other than breakfast. (Thus no fulltime kitchens or staff...) When I find someone who is professional, reliable and good to work with -- I do refer my brides to them. We've gotten to the point that our officiant, musician and weddingcakes are usually the same people -- those folks now refer potential customers amongst themselves...etc.


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