Hospitality Doctor
Max Hitchins
Ten Trade Tips For December and January
consuming or good value for their kids. You can ‘slipstream’ on Santa as he is recognisable and best known person in the world. Everybody likes him. He brings smiles to the faces of the young and the old. Ask your think tank for suggestions about appealing to kids. 5. Santa On The Street: Have Santa Claus out the front of your business giving away flyers. He could invite passing parents to bring their kids in for a FREE gift from Santa. Perhaps a free ice cream or a free drink. 6. A Boost For Your Best: I am sure you have regulars who buy from you every day/week/month. They spend hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars with you each year. This is the perfect time to reward them and say thank you for their patronage. Perhaps you can buy a very special gift for them. I know a hotelier who buys 50 hams each year to give to his best customers. 7. Database = Dollars: The best asset you have now and particularly in the future is a big database. Each year your goal should be to increase the size of your database. Your strategy should be to endeavour to capture the names of every person who enters your premises. In the future databases will form part of what you sell, whenever you decide to retire from your business. I can visualise when a database could add $1,000,000 to the value of your business. 8. Involve Influencers: Partnering with influencers is now a recognised marketing strategy. I recently read that 17 per cent of companies spend over half their marketing budget on influencers. These Influencers usually post to most of the available social media channels. 9. Promote Parties: In January, write to your database suggesting ‘parties’ in your place. Maybe to watch the Test cricket; Australian Open Tennis; men’s and women’s Basketball and anything else that moves in January.
The festive season offers many opportunities. Below are tips to capitalise on these opportunities. I am sure, providing you focus on #10, you can make one or more of them work gangbusters for your business. 1. Define You Demographics: Think about and develop a good understanding of the demographics of the audience you want to attract. What ages are you targeting? Genders? Income? Interests? Relationships? Stages of life? What might appeal to the different groups? 2. Ditch The Digital: The world has ‘gone mad’ with digital marketing. You can now ‘stand-out’ by going back to paper marketing. So, print some flyers and distribute them within a 1 to 5 km radius of your business. Offer a free mystery gift from Santa’s Sack. Suggest “Bring this flyer in to retrieve your gift.” Make sure you include an area for them to put their name and email address on the returned flyer. Tell them, as well as getting an immediate prize, you will put their names in the ‘Super Draw’ for a very special prize. (Talk to a 5-star hotel about providing a free night’s accommodation as this prize). The ‘immediate’ gifts can be in a free drink, free entree, free coffee or whatever else your think tank might suggest. 3. Bank Notes Are Beautiful: On the reverse side of the flyer have a copy of some bank notes. (People think twice before throwing money away… even fake money). Perhaps this is where you ask for the names and email addresses. Make sure you give the flyers to all the local businesses around you. Don’t forget all the offices that are full of accountants, lawyers, doctors, dentists, secretaries etc. Make sure they all get flyers so as they can retrieve their gifts from Santa’s Sack and be in the Super Prize draw.
4. Capture The Kids: Over the holiday season parents will be looking for something different, special, time
Tasmanian Hospitality Review 48 Dec/Jan Edition
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