How to Market to the Accommodations and Food Services Industry

by Jessica Gleason, Blanks/USA

How do you seek out new customer business? Do you have a list of top 5 clients that you can approach with promotion or branding ideas? Designers and printers can benefit from taking a proactive approach to marketing their services and developing strong customer relationships by narrowing down feasible industries and offering specific, cost-effective print products.

According to InfoTrends, the Accommodations and Food Services Industry is the top client vertical of 2010. Why not start there?

Restaurants and hotels are competing for slim consumer spending and looking for viable solutions. Consumers in this industry are compelled to watch for deals, plan their purchases and stay closer to home. Hotels and restaurants have responded by bumping up promotions and paying attention to local demographics.

The Accommodations and Food Services Industry is in your backyard; it's close to your place of business and off the next exit on your way home. A closer look at this vertical provides an expanded view of different sectors that you can approach: bed and breakfasts, resorts, campgrounds, night clubs, fast food franchises, tourism boards, coffee shops and specialty food stores.

As shown in the above example, Sail Lake Resort and Conference Center uses various paper products to support different branches of a single brand. From Pre Cut™ table tents promoting restaurant features to "Do Not Disturb" Pre Cut door hangers for guest rooms, each piece is part of a complete business solution. Materials for staff include presentation folder kits and Copytabs ™, which support the business' identity.

The sell sheet to the right outlines cost-effective digital paper products paired with general uses. This can serve as a roadmap to your client, sparking their next big promotional campaign or direct marketing plan. Approaching a client with various ideas, whether it's a formulized layout like this, or through a brainstorm discussion will add value to your services.

Of course, it often comes down to cost. Pitching a set of business solutions needs to be backed up with smart printing. Whether it's the ability to accept smaller runs, running more multiples on a larger sheet or cutting down finishing time with Pre-Cut™ products, passing on savings to the client is the best way to stay competitive and gain customer retention.

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Offering prospective clients different ways of using a single product also shows value in versatility. For example, Copy Blanks Postcards can be used for direct mail, notifications, guest surveys and reminders. Becoming familiar with just one product could spark numerous orders.

Take a look at how easy it is to assemble these digital print products. Can you think of five potential clients that would benefit?