Offline Marketing – A Business Model To Consider?

Posted by: Jakki

Once every eight weeks we take our Yorkshire Terrier Biscuit to the dog groomers. The dog grooming process takes about 2 hours and in that time we normally go for a meal at the local pub.

The pub in question is part of a chain of pubs and as such their food operation is much the same as any other food franchise in that you can expect the same menu at each of their outlets and their food is prepared and served to a certain format.

We happen to like the food it is always hot and tasty and they generally offer 2 meals for £10. Now I can honestly say I have never had a bad meal there, which is more than I can say for other pubs and restaurants where one meal could cost £10 or more.

Now there are two things that make this pub stand out, aside from the good food Once every eight weeks we take our Yorkshire Terrier Biscuit to the dog groomers. The dog grooming process takes about 2 hours and in that time we normally go for a meal at the local pub.

The pub in question is part of a chain of pubs and as such their food operation is much the same as any other food franchise in that you can expect the same menu at each of their outlets and their food is prepared and served to a certain format.

We happen to like the food it is always hot and tasty and they generally offer 2 meals for £10. Now I can honestly say I have never had a bad meal there, which is more than I can say for other pubs and restaurants where one meal could cost £10 or more.

Now there are two things that make this pub stand out, aside from the good food and that is:

1) We want to eat after 2pm when all other pubs in the area have stopped serving food until the evening

2) They have an email marketing campaign.

Offline businesses have been quite slow in the UK in taking advantage of the internet to keep in touch with their customers.

But this pub chain has slips on the bar that you can complete with your email details and in exchange you get the chance to win a free meal.

Now do you think they are also going to be sending me details of other promotions they are running?

You bet they are!

How much has it cost them to do that?

The cost of printing the paper slips, that’s it…and you will have given them permission to contact you on a regular basis – priceless.

So, why don’t more offline businesses do this?

Many have websites already, but they still haven’t been shown how to keep in regular touch with their customers.

Two particular businesses that in my opinion are prime for this are:

1) Restaurants – no-one goes out for a meal on their own, so imagine if they collected their customers’ emails and birthdays. They then offer you a free meal for your birthday. You could take one, two, three or more paying customers with you, would that be worth one free meal? Most definitely. They could have offers on slow mid week days. The opportunities are endless.

2) Hairdressers – most women go to the hairdressers on a regular basis, so what if the salon kept in touch with them and told them about their latest offers on hair products? They could offer a discount for introducing a friend, bearing in mind that we tend to stick with our hairdressers once we find a good one that discount could reap plenty of repeat business.

The market is wide open to work with offline businesses, so why not give this business model a go?

I can recommend a particular course by an American guy who is doing particularly well with this model and only works about 10 hours a week at the most for a recurring income. If you want to know more check out his website at http://30minutepostcards.com/ (not an affiliate link)

In my opinion it needs a bit of adaptation for the UK market but if you think this could be something that would interest you then it is a very comprehensive course.

Either way you have two examples to get you started above.

2 Responses to “Offline Marketing – A Business Model To Consider?”

1. Lane Lester Says:
   September 3rd, 2010 at 2:10 pm

   I’ve recently started building websites for local merchants, and one of my clients is a restaurant owner. I’ve sent her the link for this article, because it has ideas she can use.

2. Kate Says:
   September 3rd, 2010 at 11:07 pm

   That’s great Lane, I hope she finds it useful

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