It’s football season, and nothing goes better with football than hot, fresh pizza. Throughout the next several months, you will see football-themed sports marketing everywhere you go. Are you capitalizing on the potential in your pizzeria? Whether it’s high school, college, or professional football, chances are you have a lot of fans among your customers. Creating timely and relevant promotions can put your pizzeria top of mind this time of the year, so we want to help you with 10 sports marketing ideas for pizza restaurant owners to try this season.
10 Sports Marketing Ideas to Try
Sports marketing lets your business have fun, show off your brand personality, and connect with your customers. Although we’re focusing on football promotion ideas, these sports marketing suggestions can work year-round with any sport.
1. Game Day Discounts
Let’s start with the simplest sports marketing promotion you can run—a discount on pizza, wings, and/or appetizers on game day. Maybe it’s a special price on a large one-topper or a bundle meant to serve the whole family (or a large gathering). Select the product and price, then get to promoting! With a cloud phone system, you can create special on-holding messaging to promote your game day special. If the deal is available for online ordering, you can pair it with a football-themed promo code like PREGAME20 for 20% off your pregame appetizers or TD10 for your $10 large pizza deal.
2. Be THE Place to Be
If your pizza restaurant has big-screen TVs, make a big deal about how your pizzeria is THE place to watch football. Don’t just assume they know they can watch the game at your restaurant—make the connection loud and clear by posting signage, sending emails, and having great dine-in specials.
3. Support the Local Team
Whether it’s a high school, college, or professional team, your pizzeria can have a lot of fun supporting the team that your local customers love. You may show your spirit by decking out your pizza restaurant in team colors. Or perhaps you give a discount if the customer wears the team logo on their hat or shirt. Or you could offer a special deal every time the local team wins, or a percentage off for every touchdown they score. Sports marketing is your opportunity to relate to your fans, so choose a team they love and have fun with it.
4. Football-Themed Packaging or Box Toppers
The football season gives you a great excuse to change it up regarding your packaging or box topper. These visual cues help your customers associate your pizza restaurant with their game-day meal. In 2016, Pizza Hut came out with this super creative football-themed box. While you don’t need to go crazy, adding a football or a fun catchphrase can grab a customer’s attention. Meanwhile, your box topper can promote your game day specials and capture the excitement of the football season.
5. Fan Contests
If you’re looking for football promotion ideas that are fun and interactive, why not try running a fan contest? Perhaps there is a huge discount for the person who shows up in the best gameday face paint (as judged by your staff). Or maybe you could run a trivia contest to test people’s knowledge of the local team. Or why not take it to social media, asking your customers to share a photo and explain why they are the biggest fan in your city? The possibilities are endless, and these sports marketing ideas work because they engage customers.
6. Share the Schedule
Direct mail is still viable for local pizza restaurants, but the key is sending something that people will keep instead of tossing in the trash. One idea is to create a flyer or postcard magnet with the team schedule. Whether it’s the NFL team that everyone loves or the high school team that is the talk of the town, by sharing the schedule, you have a greater chance of people hanging on to your direct mailing and referring to it all season long. Make sure to include the important details (like your name, logo, phone number, website, and hours) and include a few coupons to sweeten the deal.
7. Sponsor a Local Team
If your community has a football league for young kids, consider sponsoring the team to support their fun and get the word out about your pizzeria. Your sponsorship may include perks like your restaurant’s name printed on hats or jerseys, a sign at the sports venue, or an advertisement in the printed schedule. Sponsoring a team was one of the options in our article 12 Community Involvement Ideas for Franchises, and it works great for football season too.
8. Samples at the Stadium
While you may have to obtain permission first, another sports marketing idea to try during football season is handing out samples at the game outside the stadium. This is a great way to give locals a taste of your pizza at the high school football game on Friday night (knowing that those players will be hungry afterward!) or entice tailgaters at the college game to order your pizza.
9. Feature a New Menu Item
Another fun and exciting sports marketing idea is to release a new and limited-time menu item. For example, Papa John’s is getting into the excitement of football season with a football-shaped (and decorated) pizza this year. Or you may create a special appetizer available only until February (the Super Bowl happens on February 12). Another idea is to partner with a local player, find out their favorite topping combination, and offer that pizza as a special for a limited time. For example, people can order “The Jonathan,” which includes double pepperoni and mushrooms, because that’s what Jonathan, the local football star, loves.
10. Join the Conversation
Regardless of what other sports marketing promotions you do this football season, we encourage you to join the conversation about this beloved sport on your blog, emails, and social media pages. For example, Hungry Howie’s uses content marketing by writing blog posts about football. You can also celebrate local team wins on your social media page, highlight your team spirit in your emails, and use your cloud phone system to remind customers about the game and your game day specials.
Sports Marketing Is an Opportunity
The football promotion ideas on this list are all about connecting with and relating to your customers, so take advantage of the opportunity! Sports marketing is all about uniting over your love of the game (and boosting sales in the process!). Try out some of the ideas in this article, and you’re sure to score big this football season.
