Honouring a rival's vouchers is good business and great PR
Using discount vouchers and special offers is a great way for many retail operations to bring in much needed business that can be measured. Certainly Morgan PR clients in Newbury and throughout West Berkshire that we have guided on the use of such tactics have been able to see a good return on investment.
However, have you ever thought about honouring discount vouchers and offers from rival organisations? That might sound crazy, but it could make good business sense. It could also prove to pull in some publicity driven public relations.
We’ve just been reading in the Morning Advertiser, the pub trade newspaper, of how a Punch Taverns inn has erected a sign outside saying “Bring any restaurant voucher and we will match it”.
The report says that The Greswolde Hotel & Brasserie in the village of Knowle, near Solihull has been running the promotion for six weeks now and has seen trade increase by an average of 15% per week. Significantly it has also driven repeat business to the venue too and regular customers have visited more often.
Admittedly it had originally begun life as an offer accepting other Punch Tavern vouchers, but has become more successful after it was expanded to honour any in date restaurant voucher.
The same offer does not seem to be made on the website and we would caution about the risk of your customer service being called into question if someone feels they have missed out on an offer that another customer has exclusively received.
It would also be good practice to capture the contact details of those who visit and use the vouchers, perhaps through a prize draw competition that also invites comments. You know that these customers respond to vouchers and can use these honestly captured details to permission market to them. Clever eh?
Another interesting part of the story reveals that the most popular vouchers from rival restaurants have been two-for-one vouchers, 25% off and free bottle of wine. This suggests these offers would work for most restaurants; of course it could mean that these are the most common offers so do be clever about yours as something truly different might be even more popular.
Perhaps you are considering running such an offer or if you are running such an offer and want to leverage its public relations potential, contact Morgan PR for a free, no obligation discussion about the potential of such a concept for your business.