Free Advertising!

This is a difficult campain, but it will not cost you for any supplys. If you can put a lot in to it you can actually make some money out of it.

What you will need to do is advertise to restaraunts:

Free menus for your restaraunt! You will receive 5000 menus that you may give to your guest, and they are ready to mail for your convenience.

You will need to go door to door asking business if they would like to buy a business card size ad for $75 that will be seen by 5000 people.

You will need to have a printer company set up a menu. The center part will be empty. This is where the restaraunt menu will go. On the front you can put a picture of the restaraunt with the name, address, phone number, and web address if they have one.

On the back you will make it like a post card. Restaraunt address in the top left, and a blank square where the stamp should go. In the center the restaraunt can put mailing labels of those that they want to send the menu to.

In the area surrounding the "menu" you will have business card size rectangles. You will fill these in with advertisers. Look at different advertising and approach these business that you are seeing.

Car lots tend to be high advertisers. Collision/painting shops are another one. Avoid restaraunts if you can. You do not want a restaraunt advertising in another restaraunt's menu.

Ask the printer what the largest size paper they can print (18"?). You will fold the menu up. You will have a front page, and the mailing back page. When you first open the menu you can have two 1/4 page ads, and when you completly open the menu you have the menu, and all of the advertisers on this page. When you get this built up, you should be making money off of the advertisers. Imagine if you could get 30 advertisers paying $75.00 each!!!!! What is that? $2500.00???

Do not fold them. Let the restaraunt fold them themselves.

Here is the bonus. You are the largest advertiser! You get seen by every customer of this restaraunt, and it does not cost you a dime!

IF you do alot of these you may have to hire an employee to do all of the leg work! This will not work for everyone. It is labor intensive to process everything together.

What do you think?

that is great idea!

why would the restaurant want to bother though?

Restaurant owners (mom and pop) do not have the time to leave the restaurant to go see a print company, decide on a format, and then they probably could not afford to have 5000 menus made.

How much does a 1000 business card cost? Why do I see people with plain white card with lackluster print? Why do they not spend a little more to make it standout more, or to look more professional?

If you provide the menus to the restaurant for free, then I would imagine that you would have some takers.

Why do Italian restaurants have a picture of Italy on the "placemat".

Why do McDonalds put that piece of paper on the tray? I do not think that the tray liner was made in a hermitcally sealed clean room. I do not believe that the tray liner is going to protect me from germs that are on the tray.

It is all about the marketing.

The Italiant restaurant is not owned by an italian, but they have bottles of italian wine on the shelves to make you "feel" like you are in an authentic restaurant in Rome.

Can you approach businesses, and get them to order advertising space from you? Are there restaurants out there that have a need for free menus? Can you advertise your business on the menu for free by offsetting the cost to other businesses? What is the reputation of the business that you are putting the menus in to. If it is a real slow business then you might be wasting your time. If it has good traffic then how much of the customer's attention can you catch while they are waiting for their food, or will they read while they are eating? If you had a coupon in the menu ad would people respond?

This worked for me in the past. I would have to say it is not for everyone.

Maybe someone would be better off spending $2000.00 on a phone book ad, $2000.00 on a radio promo, and $2000.00 on a TV promo, and $2000.00 with "in the movie theater" advertising promo.

If I had $8000.00, then how many people can I hire at minimum wage to stand at various street corners holding up my ad signs?

Hmmmmm!