Sampling Product Could Be Your Best Marketing
By Stephen Millar | pizzanews.com.au

Sometimes we don’t realise that the most cost effective way to market a new product to customers is in many cases one of the cheapest, but yet most effective, and that method is sampling. Sampling gets the fruits of your labour to Too often we forget why our customers buy from us. If we want our customers to buy our product and get sales to increase we need to do more than occupy space on a blackboard, or distribute menus and fliers. Homework needs to be done to get sampling right.

It is important that you know your market before your attempt to embark on introducing any new product.Analysis of the area you service is important to gauge your product strengths and weakness compared to the competition in your same area. It is for this reason we need to apply some research to determine our marketing plan to introduce a new line.

Know your market: create a spreadsheet sheet of your competitors, which are any food outlets in your area that your customers will spend their hard earned income on …not just other pizza shops. List what is offered and what appears to be their best selling items.This will help you to determine if the product you are about to launch already has a loyal following in another place and/or what is not offered anywhere that may be something that is wanted and not supplied by another.

There are a couple of ways that customer sampling can take place that will reward you in the long. One is to bundle deals and offer add-ons. Bundling keeps your costs down because you are presenting a discounted product bundled with a full priced item, which will boost average tickets, create the sense of a bargain in obtaining more goods at a discounted price to customers and allows them to try something new with minimal risk.An example may be to offer“Buy one large Meat Lovers special, and we will give you our new Cheese Bread for a limited time at half price.” Another example could be to make an offer like “Buy two (insert regular menu item here) at regular price and get (insert new item here) at half price.” Make sure you state that the offer is for a limited time only.This is good for introducing new lines and gauging the response of the popularity of new products without committing to the offer as being a regular feature.

Sell the regular item at normal price so that customers perceive the special half-off item as receiving an extreme value for an exceptionally short time and they will believe that they are the winners. Build customers’ confidence in your product, branding and service. Always rotate though your menu with this method. Re-introducing some of the slower moving products in this bundling method may help kick start them back into the sales rotation or let you know what you need to remove from the menu. Another sampling method is the risk reversal approach where you give away free samples either out in front of your premises or at a busy location.This can have an outstanding impact on your business in that the customer sees this as an opportunity to trial a new product.There is no risk to them to purchase until they taste it and decide if it is something they may want to add to their roster of foods they will pay for when ordering.

With this, as with the other discounted sampling, the product has to be of the highest quality that you will deliver on a consistent basis…it is this standard which is the benchmark that they expect when they purchase. Present the sample in the same manner that you will make it each and every time. If you over top your product samples that might be what the customers are basing their purchases on.This will create a nightmare and a massive failure if you don’t get it right Another marketing tool that tends to go unnoticed is sampling through an invitation letter to the householder inviting them to try a new product, or simply inviting an old customer back who hasn’t visited you in a while.You can invite a new customer in to try you out with a slight discount to increase your customer base by marketing to new clients and areas.You can create a letter template to mail merge an invitation to your customers to sample your restaurant and simply change the address and name on each one.This doesn’t have to be a mass mailing… simply sending 10 out each week can have superb return rates over the course of a year. Examples of different types of invitation letters that can be trialed could be to new house owners in the area, Street of the Week customers, targeting of low sales areas, and new estate areas.

The Silver Bullet Marketing (SBM):This very significant marketing tool that works.The Pizza Consultants use tools that work to build customers views of product, brand and service to build sales. They have created a system that works for those that contract them to build their business.

An example of this is another extremely successful campaign that includes the selling of a loyalty card within your delivery area for unbelievable deals. Be warned…if thoughtful planning isn’t implemented then the success of this marketing strategy will sink you.Things to consider are that you have the oven capacity and staff capability to see that you can handle the success of the marketing strategy.You can contact the Pizza Consultants to learn more about this strategy.

Another SBM strategy that can incorporate sampling is off-site marketing (i.e.: schools, businesses and outside community groups).Within this plan there needs to be rules so whomever is sent to do the sampling knows exactly what procedures are to be followed, what has to be been done to achieve the required result and what are the major goals are.

With the off-site sampling the goals usually include attempting to recruit in new customers from an area where your sales are low, give them the chance to try the food you are attempting to get them to come to you for and creating brand awareness.With this in mind,take a few of your best selling items (pizza, etc.) and cut it into small bite size samples and determine a target location. Make sure you have some sort of signage to let people know who you are (car wraps, wobble boards, etc), and that you have menus and/or business cards to pass out. Magnets are a super idea to hand out with samples too.The advantages of developing an offsite marketing plan are that it can be an increase in your current customer base, higher profile awareness within your community and service area and an increase in productivity by utilizing your staff during slow times.

It is important to note that sampling is a ‘steady as you go’ plan where it may take some time to build new customers, systems, branding, awareness, and trust for your business, but done right it can create exponential sales growth for both new products and increase your customer base. Sampling should be heavily considered from your first start up. It not too late to put sampling into place, but if implemented from day one this plan will grow with you. It is important is that you revisit this strategy regularly for it to work and don’t be afraid to make adjustments along the way. Plans are made to be reviewed and adjusted as it proves that you’re conscious of change should it be needed. For more information and strategies from The Pizza Consultants, be sure to look for their advertisement in this issue of PMQ’s Pizza Australia.

Stephen Millar is Associate Editor of PMQ’s Pizza Australia. In addition to his years of experience in the pizza business, he runs International Pizza Consultants, a consulting firm geared toward pizzeria operations and management, with Brandon Farrell of Stones Pizza.If you need to know more then don’t hesitate to call him at 0413