The major objective you, as a restaurant owner, want to do is have your logo, phone number or food in people’s minds when they are hungry. I really started thinking about this one night when I went to the refrigerator to find something to eat and saw an Anthony’s Pizza magnet stuck on my door. You could not ask for a better chance to persuade someone who is hungry that they want pizza or pasta or Italian food than when hunger is on their mind. Anthony’s accomplished the mission because about 45 minutes later there was a knock at the door and the Old Venice Pizza guy handed me my food. Yeah, I know, you are asking, “How did Anthony’s do their job when Old Venice got the order?”
I have acquired this silly habit of collecting magnets. I stopped to look at the image of a pizza on Anthony’s magnet. Anthony's is probably 1000k's away. Old Venice is 10 minutes away.
That is what we are here to discuss today. How can something as simple as a refrigerator magnet be one of your best tools in your marketing toolbox? There are many answers to this, such as using magnets as a loyalty program, as a business card, to make your number easily accessed…to make customers call you when they walk up to the refrigerator faster than Pavlov’s dog’s mouth waters when it hears a bell.
When I started digging for more info on magnets I called up Mark Milgate at Mister Magnets to see what he knew. “Consider this, studies have shown that the average family opens their refrigerator at least 13 times per day,” Mark told me. “On average 93.7 % of the people in Australia instinctively stick the magnet to their fridge without a second thought. That simple act ;has already accomplished what most

least 10 orders (at at least $30 each), which meant at least $300 in sales at a cost of about $6 or $7 food costs. Another added benefit was that the magnets could be recycled to other customers when they were redeemed.
Magnets can also serve as you very own VIP program. You can hand out special VIP magnets with bonus offers, such as free bread or a buy-one-get-one-half-off offer that customers mention when ordering. Then only issue these to your most frequent customers. “VIP magnets work harder than the traditional promotional magnet,” Mark said. “They reward your loyal customers by giving them VIP privileges, and it makes the magnet more practical and usable. You can even have V.I.P. numbered customer magnets. Again this is a great way to reward your customers and making them feel special. By giving them a magnet that has their customer number you are able to personalise the promotion and service and if you have a POS system, you can integrate their VIP number to their customer record and turn it into a combo VIP/Loyalty program.”

Menu Magnets
One of the more popular designs I have seen in shops around Australia is the menu magnet. These have several advantages. First, not only are you there in front of them, you can expose your entire menu. The key here is to state a “prices valid through ____” sentence because if you change menu prices in a year and a customer calls with the expectation of a particular price, then that is what they expect to pay. Just like with a coupon, you don’t to have to honour an outdated marketing piece.

Distribution
When issuing out magnets, think big. What you want is your magnet on every refrigerator in your area. “Magnets should be stuck on top of every new customer’s pizza box, attached to flyers, direct mail, placed on top off cash registers, counter tops, given out with change and placed on surrounding businesses counters,” Mark said. “One of the most