Open For Business - How to Hold a Grand Opening Ceremony
By Adam
March 18, 2010
Small Business & Entrepreneurship
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By Rachel Swiednicki
You’ve done all the legwork, furnished your new small office and are finally ready to open for business. It’s in your best interest as a small business owner to hold a grand opening ceremony; not only will an event like this help you market your new business to residents, it’s also a great networking opportunity for meeting other local business owners and associates.
Grand Opening tips:
Contact your local newspaper, radio station and television station. Issue a media advisory three days prior to your big day. This will allow news outlets enough time to arrange for a reporter/photographer to be at your event.
The media advisory should include: your company logo, release date, location, grand opening date, why a reporter or the public should come down, time of the ceremony and who will be there – the main attraction.
Invite local dignitaries to your ribbon-cutting ceremony: your local MP, the mayor; if your business identifies with a certain field, try inviting a local celebrity – for example, if you are in the restaurant business, host a celebrity chef, a name that people will recognize in the papers. You may have to pay a small fee for this celebrity, but it will pay off in local marketing.
Create incentives for people to attend, such as a percentage off merchandise or services: 10% OFF or Buy One, Get One FREE or Enter to WIN a _________.
Good luck with your Grand Opening ceremony!
Rachel Swiednicki is a professional communicator, with ten years of experience in the communications industry. Eight of those years were spent as a journalist before moving into a career in public relations/corporate communications.
You’ve done all the legwork, furnished your new small office and are finally ready to open for business. It’s in your best interest as a small business owner to hold a grand opening ceremony; not only will an event like this help you market your new business to residents, it’s also a great networking opportunity for meeting other local business owners and associates.
Grand Opening tips:
Contact your local newspaper, radio station and television station. Issue a media advisory three days prior to your big day. This will allow news outlets enough time to arrange for a reporter/photographer to be at your event.
The media advisory should include: your company logo, release date, location, grand opening date, why a reporter or the public should come down, time of the ceremony and who will be there – the main attraction.
Invite local dignitaries to your ribbon-cutting ceremony: your local MP, the mayor; if your business identifies with a certain field, try inviting a local celebrity – for example, if you are in the restaurant business, host a celebrity chef, a name that people will recognize in the papers. You may have to pay a small fee for this celebrity, but it will pay off in local marketing.
Create incentives for people to attend, such as a percentage off merchandise or services: 10% OFF or Buy One, Get One FREE or Enter to WIN a _________.
Good luck with your Grand Opening ceremony!
Rachel Swiednicki is a professional communicator, with ten years of experience in the communications industry. Eight of those years were spent as a journalist before moving into a career in public relations/corporate communications.