How To Create a Buzz For Your Gourmet Gift Basket Business on a Tight Budget

Introduction

For many gourmet gift basket businesses, advertising and promotion budgets are somewhere between small and non-existent.  However, advertising and promotion are crucial to growing your company.  The "conventional wisdom" is that once business picks up, you can then spend more on advertising and promotion. Unfortunately, this is flawed logic and is almost always a serious mistake.  It is very important to spend as much as you reasonably can on promoting your gourmet food, gift or gift basket business.  While the amount of money that you have available for promotion is obviously important, it is also important not to waste the few advertising dollars that you do have when there are more cost-effective methods of promoting.  Here are some tips that we've learned on how stretching your advertising dollars further and growing your gourmet food or gift basket business faster.


Don't Dwell on What You Can't Afford - Figure Out What You Can Afford!

When starting a new gourmet food or gift basket business, most people trying not to overspend on anything.  With this in mind, one of the places that they "cut back on" is in advertising.  This is actually counter-productive to thge growth and success of your new gourmet food or gift basket venture.  So while it may be very true that you can't afford a 30 second spot during the super Bowl advertising your latest gift basket designs or the new gourmet foods that you're carrying in your shop, there are still many other promotional options that you can do that won't cost you a ton of cash.


Use Your Vehicle As a Travelling Billboard For Your Gourmet Gift Basket Business!

If you have a vehicle of some sort, whether a car, SUV, truck or van, why not use it as a traveling billboard?  You can start with some relatively inexpensive magnetic signs, and if you do much driving at all, you'll be surprised how many people will see your signs.  (Now, if you have a very nice car and you're concerned about ruining the shiny paint job, then you may want to consider using vinyl letters adhered to your windows.  This advertising approach can be quite effective and very low in cost.  Make sure to have your company name, phone number and website clearly visible so that someone could easily "jot it down" in a hurry.


Think "Outside The Box" For Great Promotion Ideas For Your Gourmet Gift Basket Business!

We recently heard of an innovative promotion that one of our most successful gift basket packers completed.  She organized a promotion where anytime someone added their name to her store mailing list, they got a mouse pad with her store name and logo printed on it.  They got the mousepad for free and they also had their name entered into a draw for a series of several lovely gift baskets that would be awarded to the lucky winner throughout the year.  (There was a Mother's Day Gift Basket, a Father's Day Gift Basket, an Easter Gift Basket, a "Get Well Soon" Gift Basket, a St. Patrick's Day Gift Basket and a marvellous Holiday / Christmas Gift Basket.  The total value of the prize was over $1,000 at retail).  Every time someone entered her store, they were encouraged to place their name in the raffle and their names were added to her mailing list.  After only 3 months, she had added over 550 names to her mailing list.  She arranged to have the promotion winner's name announced on a local radio station and got more amazing mileage out of it.  She later confided to us that the actual out-of-pocket costs for the promotion were less than $400.  However, she had successfully generated enormous positive "buzz" with her gourmet gift basket business promotion and many thousands of dollars in revenue were generated not only from the 550 new subscribers to her mailing list but also from those people who had heard about her promotion on the radio!


Don't Forget About Business Cards For Your Gourmet Gift Basket Promotion Program!

Business cards are another extremely cost-effective advertising mechanism that you simply cannot ignore.   However, don't be like all of your competiors and just put your name and phone number on your business card.  Don't forget to also your website address (if you have one), your email address, and a short description of what exactly your gourmet gift basket business does.

Don't be afraid to "sprinkle" your business cards in your travels around town.  Get permission first, but don't be afraid to put them up on the Community Events Bulletin Board of your local book store.  Your local grocery store, gift store, bus terminals, doctors office and local hockey arena or baseball diamond bulletin boards are all possibilities.  The ideas are endless!  You have to figure that somebody will be reading these boards and they might see your business card and have a need for your gourmet gift baskets.

Finally, ensure that you include your card with every gourmet food gift basket that you send out.  The lucky recipient will be so thrilled by your work that she will likely want to use your service the next time that she needs to send a gourmet gift basket to someone!


Local Radio Ads Can Be a Great Way to Promote Your Gourmet Gfit Basket Business!


Have you ever considered advertising on your local AM radio station?  Some of our most successful gift basket packers have confided to us that they pay as little as $10 per spot for a series of 30-second spots.  As well, radio station managers are often very willing to do "contra" deals, where you pay for your ads (in whole or in part) with your gift baskets.  (Radio stations are always promoting something somewhere and gourmet food gift baskets are a fabulous give-away for them!)  Radio advertsing may be a much better way to advertise your gourmet food gift basket company than you first thought!


Have You Ever Considered Local Movie Theatre Ads for Your Gourmet Gift Basket Business?

What about advertising your gourmet food or gift basket comapny at your local movie theater?  Before the movie begins, you see advertisements on the screen.  These cost maybe a few hundred dollars each but a lot of people will see them.  In many cities and towns, you can advertise in bathrooms.  You have to figure that men using the urinals had nothing to look at but the tile wall in front of them.  Believe it or not, some of our biggest gift basket packers advertise in this manner with amazing results.


Make Sure That you Have Great Content on Your Gourmet Gift Basket Website!


If you have a website and don't have the money to spend for advertising, then make sure that your site has good (or better) great content.  Write compelling articles about specific topics related to your gourmet gift baskets.  The major Search engines love these types of articles and your rankings will improve dramatically on all of them.  While it is true that this approach will definitely take a little longer than using "Pay per Click" (PPC), but it does definitely work to spread the word about your fabulous gourmet gift basket business!

Phyllis and Greg Sprout began their company, epicureanfoods.com, in July 1993.  They specialize in supplying hard-to-find gourmet foods and gift basket supplies to gourmet shops, gift shops and gift basket companies across North America. 

They have helped the founders of literally thousands of gift, gourmet food and gift basket companies start and grow their businesses.  Many of these companies remain excellent customers of epicureanfoods.com today.  They can be reached at phyllisandgreg@epicureanfoods.com.