The 2009 Pizza Industry Study reports 82 percent of operators ranked direct mail as either “very important” or “important” to their marketing efforts. Only 15 percent ranked direct-mail coupons as not important.
It’s all about the mix – the marketing mix, that is. Here are some great insights and quotes from a Pizza Marketplace article by Richard Slawsky, Editor.
Slawsky reports he had to eat humble pie after declaring door-hangers and other traditional print media a “waste of time” and that e-mail was the future of pizza marketing. The operators told him that while e-mail marketing is a valuable component of any pizzeria's marketing campaign, it is by no means “the” solution.
In fact, forty percent of operators ranked direct mail coupons as very important to their marketing efforts, while 32 percent ranked them as important.
It Takes a Combo Pizza Marketing Plan
“One advertising medium does not produce results; it is a combination of everything working together," said Scott Iversen, director of marketing and franchise development with Topper's Pizza. "It is all about impressions. The more times we can put a Topper's logo, a Topper's product or a Topper's person in front of someone, the better off we are going to be."
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Targeting 1.5 to 2 Mile Radius Success
Latino pizza brand Pizza Patron relies almost entirely on print marketing to attract new customers, company officials said. |
"We allocated all of our resources towards print advertising using items like our Pizza Peso coupons good for $1 off any purchase, box-toppers, door hangers and direct mail," said Andrew Gamm, director of brand development with Pizza Patron. "Our advertising strategy for 2009 was to target the neighborhoods within a 1.5 to 2 mile radius around each of our stores. We have seen great response to our direct mail efforts this year due in large part to the strength of the offers we have been able to develop."
Operators do say they see a shift in the way pizzerias are marketed, though. Pizza Patron, for example, plans to increase its online expenditures, and 2010 will be the first year they include online marketing in their advertising budget, Gamm said.
Domino's also relies on print for new customer acquisition, officials from that company said.
"We still consider print to be a critical component of our marketing mix," said Rob Weisberg, Domino's VP of print & precision marketing. "We see digital marketing growing but do not believe it will replace print."
Is your “secret recipe” a marketing mix like the pizza operators?
Resources:
Print still relevant to the pizza business, Pizza Marketplace, July 27, 2009
The 2009 Pizza Industry Study, an in-depth look at trends and topics in the pizza industry surveyed 475 pizza market executives and operators. The report is produced by NetWorldAlliance.