How to start a gift card and/or loyalty card program.


	Plastic Card City		Tel: 845-507-0220

Plastic Card City Gives Restaurant Owners and their Customers a reason to be happy!

Birthday Marketing, How it will work for you.

According to a survey taken in May 2010 by the National Restaurant Association (NRA), the number one special occasion for dining out is someone's birthday.

Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said they dined out on their birthday, 30 percent said they dined out on their spouse's birthday and 35 percent said they dined out on a family member’s birthday. A large number of people go out for both lunch and dinner on their "special day" and birthdays topped the list above Valentine's Day and all others. This information sends a clear message, you need to start marketing to this special occasion.

To help restaurant owners/mangers take advantage of this data the marketing team at Plastic Card City developed this birthday marketing program. It is a turnkey program that answers a critical question.

How can a restaurant economically attract new customers and keep the ones they currently have?

The trick to making a “Birthday Marketing” program work is making the offer good enough to persuade customers to come to your restaurant. The implementation of the program is simple and one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available.

How a “Birthday Marketing Program" works:

By showing that you remembered or are acknowledging a current or prospective customers birthday you can build a good long-term relationship with customers. Offering a Special birthday gift is a proven incentive to motivate and increase visit frequencies now and in the future.

Plastic Card City will handle all aspects of the program including database creation, concept development, creative, production printing, handling and mailing.

To start we build a mailing list (exclusive to your restaurant) based on a profile of your best customers, geographic area, income, age and other criteria as needed.
Next we design the actual mailing piece. It can be designed by your designers or ours using your images and/or logo. We supervise all aspects of the print production to assure top quality product that will properly represent your establishment.

The birthday mailing items are personalized with the customer’s full name as a personal gift using the data from the mailing list and mailed according to a schedule agreed upon by you and our production team.

How effective are Birthday Marketing programs?

Plastic Card City developed a marketing analysis of receivers of birthday marketing cards including their dining habits before, during and after the birth month. A relatively high response has been noted in some cases as high as 20%.

The redemption rates of 20% percent can be obtained if the offer is strong, like a free entree, a substantial discount or a fixed monetary amount. Experience has also shown that those at age 40 and older have a highest redemption rate than other age groups

The analysis shows that the increased visits and incremental sales would not have occurred without having received the birthday card. The analysis also shows customers' visit frequencies tend to increase for months following the visit that was initiated by receiving the birthday card and offer.

By showing that you remembered a prospective or current customers birthday and that you have a birthday gift for them when they visit your restaurant a relationship can be built that is sure to continue and in addition give you a competitive edge.

For assistance in starting your Birthday Marketing Card program we invite you to speak with one of our program specialist. Call 845-507-0220 or use our Contact Form and we will call you.

All card images used with permission.