Monthly Archives: Grand Opening

Grand Openings: Mastering Your First Impression

Grand openings are often a long-awaited celebration of the development of a business. Watching your dreams materialize on grand opening day is a memory that will last you a lifetime. It’s rewarding to see your hard work and diligence finally pay off.

However, as with any first impression, mastering a successful grand opening is key. Establishing your brand identity in the marketplace is crucial for your ongoing reputation. At these special events, your business is officially gaining attention and drawing in new customers. It’s the perfect opportunity to make a strong impression on your community and competitors alike.

Grand openings are appealing to potential customers, especially as people are more inclined to get out of the house, find an event to attend, and maybe even choose a new favorite business.

How Grand Openings Set You Up For Success

Grand openings are not only an entertaining way to introduce a new business, but they are a gold mine for marketing initiatives. If used effectively, grand openings are a great tool for promoting the unique qualities that set your business apart from others.

Investing in an impressive grand opening event may appear daunting, especially when you’re just starting out. However, the benefits are worth it.

The Benefits of a Successful Grand Opening

Generate Long-Lasting Talk —

Hosting a grand opening may cause some buzz around your company and the event. Some companies write press releases to announce the opening, using the press as a way to reach their audience and generate great conversations around new products and services.

Grand openings also create buzz through social media and word-of-mouth communication. For example, there’s nothing more satisfying than potential customers hearing about your new restaurant opening downtown, inviting their friends for a special dinner, and then becoming regulars.

Media Coverage —

Events like these are a great way to generate good publicity. Sending out press releases is a way of enticing local newspapers, radio stations, tv stations, and potential customers to spread the word about the big event. This puts your business under a much-needed spotlight and often leads to more customers, more positive press, and all-around company success.

Connect with New Customers —

Announcing a grand opening targets customers who are looking for new places to eat, shop, or run other errands. You may also use media coverage and advertising to target those who aren’t necessarily looking for new businesses to frequent but may be open to the idea once they hear about your event.

Creating a welcoming event that introduces the business to the community may end up attracting a lot of new customers. The buzz around a new business even without a grand opening oftentimes is already helpful in the success of the business. However, launching a grand opening may attract even more customers and attention.

Keep a lively environment to captivate the interest of new customers at an opening. Providing free samples and placing banners or signs outside the establishment prove to be great methods of engaging the public.

Network with Other Businesses –

Grand openings give you the opportunity to introduce your business to other local businesses nearby. The event serves as a way to meet neighboring business owners and cultivate relationships with them. This may be important to the future success of your business.

For example, these business owners may be able to recommend your business to their own customers. Tap into this resource and you have the potential to gain a long list of new customers, and with luck, loyal ones who will frequent your establishment.

ON Advertising is One of Phoenix’s Top Advertising Agencies

ON Advertising consists of brand strategists working synergistically to develop and support successful market influence. Our full-scale consideration of each facet of marketing and advertising operates with clear goals and objectives laid out for each client and their unique needs.

Our team of thinkers, creatives, and observers blend their talents together to help develop a brand that works for you. Whether you are seeking additional advertising advice for your marketing strategy or any other retail project, we can make it happen!

A man writing Grand Opening on a chalkboard outside of the retail space

5 Grand Opening Ideas That Put Retailers in the Spotlight

Opening a business is one of the most exhilarating, yet nerve-wracking, experiences for any business owner. You repeatedly ask yourself, how are you going to attract customers to your business and how are you going to retain them? Well, one way you can achieve this is by introducing your target market to your business with a grand opening event. But, what exactly does that entail?

ON Advertising is one of Arizona’s top full-service marketing agencies whose services range from advertising and digital marketing to public relations and video production. We handle almost every aspect of your marketing strategy to ensure your business is front and center of your target audience. Our event planning team has helped hundreds of businesses turn grand opening ideas into reality. Read our blog post below to learn about some ideas that will help put your retail store on the map.

Offer a Pop-Up Experience

One way you can attract attention towards your business is to offer a nearby pop-up experience for your grand opening. Consider planning something special to get your name out there. You may even use brand ambassadors to hand out flyers to your target audience in a place where they frequent. Seeing and taking part in an experience in-person offers a better chance for people to recall your business when they require your products.

Hand Out Some Swag at Your Grand Opening

Surely, you have one or two shirts hanging in the closet from a business trying to get their name out there. You probably have more branded pencils than you can even count. Offering swag to prospective customers is an excellent way to entice people to check out your store because who doesn’t like free stuff? People are attracted to it like a magnet. Moreover, they will have an easier time remembering your business as they use your pencils, comb through their closet, or use your tote bag for groceries.

Get Neighboring Businesses Involved in Your Grand Opening

Another way you can attract customers to your store is by getting nearby businesses involved in your opening festivities. You can invite them to come to your event and offer extra discounts and incentives for visiting. For example, perhaps the employees of another business can get 10% off their first purchase if they shop with you. Additionally, building a strong bond with neighboring businesses can help lead to strong marketing opportunities to push your business even further.

Promote Your Grand Opening on Social Media

Let’s face it, everyone is on social media. This means your business needs a presence there too. Creating an event page or posting on social media about your event is a great way to attract customers to your website and grand opening event. It’s a relatively easy thing to do, with lots of potential for attracting your target audience. Users who respond to your event page can even help you determine how many people you might expect at your event.

Incorporate Live Music on Your Big Day

People are attracted to music, and booking a band to perform at your grand opening event can be a great way to increase awareness. It also creates great background noise and gives attendees something to watch as they take a break from shopping. Not to mention it’s much like your partnership with neighboring businesses, where you both promote one another to increase your brand exposure.

ON Advertising Can Help You Hold ANY Event

Our team has been involved in just about every type of event imaginable. We’ve assisted in small networking events to large grand opening celebrations. We develop strategies and concepts from scratch to ensure your event runs smoothly and your goals are met. Contact us today and learn how our event planning team can assist in your events.

A healthcare grand opening event where a groundbreaking took place for a new healthcare facility

How to Have a Successful Grand Opening Event

Are you launching a new business venture? Expanding your reach by opening an additional location? If so, one way you can get the word out is by throwing a grand opening event. It’s an excellent way to generate enthusiasm for your business and build a healthy relationship with your community. However, the process and strategy to throw an extraordinary event should not be overlooked. ON Advertising’s event planning team has helped hundreds of businesses turn grand opening ideas into reality. That is why we’ve listed a few things to consider when throwing this type of event.

The Type of Grand Opening You Throw Is Dependent on Your Industry

Just about every business can throw their own celebration to honor their big opening. But, depending on the industry you serve it may look different from events in other industries. For example:

Retail: Typically, grand openings give the public a chance to interact with the retail space, i.e. engage with employees, products, and services. Activities may include ribbon cuttings, giveaways, and special promotions
Hospitality: Similar to retail, businesses in the hospitality industry will work to bring consumers into the location. ON Advertising has helped set up activities involving groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings, and mix and mingles with food and drink
Real Estate: One of the most important goals of a grand opening event for real estate firms is to attract potential tenants and investors. A common practice for this industry is to conduct a press exclusive event, meaning members of the press get first access to the property so they can spread the word on its features. This helps leverage potential tenants and investors to seek the property out to see if it fits their needs
Healthcare: When it comes to opening new healthcare facilities, it’s important to create buzz around the property. This involves a mix of press coverage, social media, and even partnerships with local businesses and non-profit organizations.

Set Goals for the Grand Opening Event

Before planning an event it’s critical to set measurable goals, such as getting a certain number of contact information or reaching specific sales numbers. Additionally, planning out intangible goals, like raising brand awareness, are an important factor in a grand opening event. Hence why partnering with an event planner is important. They will be able to assist you in developing goals that are attainable and offers ways you can reach them.

Plan As Early As Possible

Grand opening events require a lot of time and attention to detail for them to work. Depending on the size of the event, you could be working with several vendors to create an enjoyable atmosphere for guests. For example, if it’s an outside event, you’ll need to book a venue as soon as possible because they typically fill up quickly. Furthermore, coordinating with catering crews, parking staff, security, and other vendors can be a lengthy process.

Before The Event, Establish and Maintain a Presence in the Area

If your location is under construction before your business’s launch, it’s critical to make your presence known long before the lights are turned on. This may involve “Coming soon” signage and sharing flyers, brochures, and business cards to people in the area. Sharing details such as the date of the grand opening, details on the event itself, and what to expect from the business can create excitement for community members.

When planning a grand opening it’s important to use marketing resources to establish your presence in the area. In addition to flyers and coming soon signs, you can use other advertising methods to bring awareness to your event and business.

Radio
TV
Direct Mail
Social Media
Email marketing

Work Out the Kinks Before The Big Day

This is the first impression many people will have with your business, so it’s important to make their experience as positive as possible. To ensure your grand opening goes off without a hitch, you need to get your ducks in a row. The time for trial and error is not during your grand opening. With this in mind, make sure your employees are trained for business and your vendors are prepared weeks in advance to entertain and serve your guests.