Street Smart Guide To Small Business Marketing
Have A Grand Opening
Have a Grand Opening to Start Your Business With a Bang:
 The
excitement of opening a new business is incredible. A grand opening
event can be a great way to harness that excitement to get your name
out there, especially because the media is quick to offer free press on
your opening day.
It's important, however, to make
sure that a grand opening is carefully planned and implemented, and
executed at the right time.
Teasers and Warm-Ups: Start Your Grand Opening Marketing Long Before the Actual Event:
Long before your opening, there are many things
you'll want to do to prepare for a Grand Opening event. Day 1 of
business starts long before the day of your grand opening! Here are
some suggestions:
- Print business literature, put up your website, and begin your business before a launch date.
- Have a "soft" opening before your grand opening event, and pick a specific day for your official grand opening.
- Generate a list of potential customers ahead of time and contact them.
- Do a "countdown" to the event online or in your business window.
- Notify the media and press weeks ahead of time.
- Get other businesses, key city individuals, and professionals involved in the event.
Go Big or Go Home:
If you're starting up a business, it's important to
start out on the right foot. Hosting a grand opening isn't just
something that "has to be done." Use the opportunity to exceed
expectations, and do your very best to get as many people to attend
your event as possible. While friends and family will surely offer support, consider inviting the following:
- Politicians.
- Chambers of commerce.
- Economic developers.
- Other nearby businesses.
- Local media.
- Potential customer groups.
Don't
forget to invite as many people as possible—even, sometimes, those who
lie outside of your target market. Since small businesses often rely on
word of mouth advertising, the relatives, friends, and colleagues of
everyone in attendance may very well be a potential customer that may
get word of your business because of someone who attended your grand
opening.
Choose an Appropriate Day/Time:
If your business caters to other professionals, a
weekday might be more appropriate than a weekend to hold your grand
opening. If your business is open to the public, maybe a weekend would
be the best time. Retail stores often choose the holiday season for a
grand opening, which is likely to generate huge sales during a time
when customers are looking to purchase gifts.
Consider,
ultimately, what is best for both you and your customer. Local events
that will compete for people's attention, the weather, and the time of
year may have a large impact on attendance.
Serve Food and Beverage—Get People to Stay a While:
 Many
small business owners who host grand openings are so concerned with
getting people to attend that they forget to plan how to keep visitors
engaged so that they stay long enough to get a sense of business.
By offering food and beverages, for example, you can entice guests to stay long enough for you to mingle and actually talk with those in attendance—a key marketing strategy.
Stretch the Grand Opening Out Over a Period of Time:
There's no rule that says a grand opening sale has to be a one day event. (Although some cities and towns do have rules governing when or how long you can have a "grand opening" event.)
If appropriate, plan a series of events and stretch them out over your
opening week or even month! You can hit a number of potential markets
this way as well if your business offers products and services to a
number of different customer types.
Keep the Excitement Going After the Grand Opening:
After the "blue sky" associated with the Grand
Opening, it's important to have marketing ideas in place to keep the
excitement up and the business coming. Often, small business owners
will experience a slump a certain amount of time after a grand opening,
which is normal.
You can avoid or minimize this slump
by creating a reason for grand opening visitors to return, such as a
future-purchase coupon or advertising a future event on your grand
opening day. The important thing is to draw on the excitement from the
grand opening, take the most successful elements of it, and implement
those same strategies in new ways to keep business booming in the
future.
What's Next
Next In This Guide
Part 20:
 Give Free Samples
- Often, customers don't know what they're missing unless they try it
out for themselves. Offering free samples is a great small business
marketing strategy for obtaining new customers.
Previous in This guide
Part 18:
 Creating Marketing Fliers That Work
- When you're making marketing literature for your small business, you
can use an effective flier to help advertise and sell your products and
services.
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