7 Must-Use Techniques to Put the Grand in Your Grand Opening

Opening a new business, whether part of a franchise or a unique endeavor, is exciting for both the owner and future customers alike. Welcome your first customers with a grand opening celebration that knocks their socks off!

Grand Openings can generate fantastic publicity (and future sales) for your business, provided you use some ingenuity and creativity.  The Flutter FETTI Team has put together seven must-use techniques to put the “GRAND” in your Grand Opening:

1. Advertising:

Hometown newspapers and mailers to larger newspapers, billboards, and social media campaigns will help tremendously in gaining more attraction and interest in your grand opening. Invest in companies that can do the marketing side of things such as putting leaflets together and search out a stellar social media manager if that aspect of publicity isn’t your strong suit. Facebook ads, Instagram stories, and sneak peek tweets on Twitter can go viral in your local area. Use that to your advantage!

2. Invite Local Celebrities:

Inviting the mayor, congressman, and any other person of higher authority (even the chief of your local police department, fire chief, and local news personalities) can help in attracting more people to attend and get involved with the presence of the local “celebrities”. Inviting radio stations is also a great way to broadcast what is going on at your event and to share the event with people! Don’t forget to reach out to your city’s professional athletes, well-loved mascots, and prominent citizens as well.

3. Swag:

Prepare and distribute goody bags for all your guests. Creating free take homes that contain pens, tote bags, water bottles and any other items related to your business, all with the printed company logo. Include a generous coupon for their first purchase or include something inexpensive that you’ll be selling. If you’re opening a service business, this could be a coupon for something like “Buy 2 of our services, get 1 free”. Giving out “swag” to your guests makes them feel part of the event and gives them something to take with them that will remind them of your new business!

4. Raffles:

Raffles and competitions are great ways to get your guests involved with different activities that are entertaining and fun! It will encourage interaction and communication with the other guests and great an upbeat environment. Giveaways are an excellent way to share gifts and enables guests to win prizes. You can increase anticipation of your grand opening by starting a social media campaign a week or two before your official open date. Give extra entries for “shares” on social media, and present the grand prize at least an hour after the opening to encourage attendees to stick around and see what you’ve got to offer.

5. Don’t Forget the Kids:

Making sure children have entertainment is mandatory, especially when there are many of them! Consider renting a bounce house, having someone do face painting, and incorporating many other fun activities will give the kids enough entertainment to keep them happy and entertained. Also, where there are kids, there are parents and grandparents and ultimately potential customers! Provide the children with goody bags full of candy and small toys that are suitable for all ages.

6. Food/Drink:

Catering for your guests and providing a good level of hospitality is essential; the guests will be delighted and more likely to show up if refreshments will be served at no cost to them. Having a locally inspired and tasty selection of food and drink is a must! A range of different foods is also a great idea, furthermore taking into consideration any dietary requirements that the guests may have, such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, allergen free, and any other requirements. Parents will especially appreciate this attention to detail and feel that you genuinely care about their family.

7. Ribbon cutting with confetti blast:

Presentation is key in making the grand opening memorable. As the ribbon cutting ceremony ends, leave a lasting impact with a burst of confetti and streamers! From hand flick confetti sticks to continuous flow cannons,  the Flutter-FETTI team will help provide the excitement that most other businesses wouldn’t even think of! No matter what your budget or venue size, we’d be delighted to partner with you to pull of the most memorable grand opening ever!

Grand Opening Ideas

• 14″ Confetti Sticks – Send these to the Media and ask them to come join the celebration of your grand opening
• 18” Airless Confetti Launcher filled with custom colored Flutter FETTI.  Pass these out to your VIP’s so they can join in the ribbon cutting.
• Master Blaster Launcher – filled with 2” X 40’ tissue Streamers which will fly 85’ high into the air when the ribbon is cut!
• 3” Gerb Continuous Flow– For an over the top celebration use our 3” Gerb which will blow a pound of Flutter FETTI 75’ into the air per second.

Contact our confettiologists toll-free at (877) 321-1999 for personalized service on just the right products to use.

Do you work in the Event Planning industry? To receive our Wholesale price guide, please call 877-321-1999.

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