By: Chris Barr
There is an ongoing battle between the “Big 3” pizza chains who are always vying for first place. Their sales reflect the fact that whenever one of those chains delves into a national ad campaign, that chain will see order increases across the board. The new sales may or may not cover their heavy marketing investments, but they position the brand more strongly either way.
In most cases, their marketing campaigns pay off with huge dividends. One of the ways they accomplish this is to use direct mail to develop new markets. The purpose of this is to draw customers from locations where one or more of the other chains are already established and possibly, thriving.
It is important to ‘scope out’ the competitor’s territory. They are using direct mailing to offer promotional specials that they know to be effective in that particular area. In order to attract customers from each other those three superpowers get a handle on what kinds of direct mailings the others are running with and then improve on those campaigns with even better deals, specials and perhaps even promotional ‘give-aways.’
Not all ad campaigns work as well in every market area. Because of this, those chains will tailor their direct mailings to what they see as a trend in what the others are using. It stands to reason that if their competition is repeatedly running with a certain promotional offer, that particular promotion must be working for them. For instance, if one of the “Big 3” is continually offering two-for-one, then it obviously brings in the business in that particular neighborhood.
Sometimes those chains find it important to use pizza menu mailers to inform residents and/or businesses that a new franchise has opened in the area. At times like that it may not be necessary to use competitive marketing in the literal sense of the word, but rather to offer ‘grand opening’ promotions to get the word out that a new chain is in the neighborhood and open for business. At times like these the mailings are usually bigger and more eye-catching. Those pizza empires have major dollars behind their advertising departments so they pull out all the stops to use promos that grab consumers’ attention.
Direct mailing can be targeted more effectively than broader tv, web, and print publication ads. The corporate marketing offices put out enough of those kinds of newspaper, radio or television promos on a national level to make most of us cry “enough!”. The key to attracting business in a new market area is to gear campaigns specifically to the needs and wants of that particular location. This is just good business logic. Dollars are wasted by advertising in too large of an area so direct mailings reach specific people in highly targeted locations with .
According to current statistics, Pizza Hut is on top with Dominoes a close second. While Little Ceasars is in third place, statistical market analyses in key markets show that they are rapidly on the rise. On any given week consumers will open their mailboxes to find a promotional mailing from at least one of those chains. It remains an ongoing battle, but the use of direct mailing appears to determine who ends up on top.
Chris Barr is an experienced marketing professional and graduate of Christopher Newport University. Chris currently serves as Marketing Director for Taradel.com and may be contacted directly regarding your print advertising needs.
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