Just before lunch hour today I found myself walking past a little restaurant today on the same block as my office. The nice lady who is one of the proprietors was shuffling outside with a sandwich board and was opening it up to write today’s specials on it as I passed. I said hello and she asked when she’d see us again. I told her sometime this week, which was the truth, as it’s one of the best places in Denver to get pork chops (browned just right), crispy hash browns and fluffy scrambled eggs for lunch.
They are one of the few places I know of that still uses sandwich boards, a fact I find perplexing. If you have decent foot traffic, a sandwich board is the perfect intercept for your potential customers. It stands between them and where they are going at a time when their stomachs are beginning to grumble, and it plants a seed with a tantalizing message (today’s was corned beef hash and eggs for $5.99 – a gastronomic value if there ever was one).
And it got me thinking … a sandwich board might not be the right tool for every brand, but there are certainly optimal tools for your small business in getting in front of your customers at the optimal time. A brand isn’t just about devising the right message and delivering on it, but it’s also about interacting with your customers and prospects where they might frequent, whether it’s at the grocery or in the mall or when they’re searching online.
Take a cue from Swift’s Steak House and the sweet lady with a pencil behind her ear who serves me pork chops with a wink. Find that place where your customers hang out and put your sandwich board out.
