Skip to main content

Million-Dollar $ecrets To Getting More Customers--Gaslight Grill / Country Club Hotel & Spa, Richard Hawk


  A NOVEL IDEA--CREATE A PRE-RECORDED JAZZ SHOW--AIR IT WEEKLY ON A LOCAL RADIO STATION--THEN FEATURE THE BAND FIVE NIGHTS EACH WEEK AT YOUR VENUE!



Dick Hawk, the owner of the Gaslight Grill in Overland Park, Kansas is an entrepreneur's entrepreneur.

From owning a five-star luxury hotel in the Ozarks to an insurance company and now a beautiful restaurant--he's demonstrated how to do it right.

The centerpiece of the restaurant is "Lyn Zimmer and the Jazz Band"--heard five nights a week at the Gaslight Grill's back room.
















Not only are the guests "way above average..", (a phrase Dick Hawk uses often) but the food and service are excellent.

The Gaslight Grill advertised with me on our classical station which aired his Dick Hawk's Jazz Show as well several other stations I worked with at Entercom--such as KMBZ.

One of our afternoon personalities had enjoyed going to the Gaslight Grill and hearing the music. We ended up having him voice commercials with Mr. Hawk that were very effective in bringing in new customers.

Probably one of the most enjoyable and effective promotions we did was to have a "party" once a quarter with our afternoon team of Mike Shanin/Scott Parks--inviting the first 120 listeners who emailed the Gaslight Grill to attend.

They would get over 100 within minutes after one announcement! The listeners got free food trays and special drink pricing--all while enjoying Lyn Zimmer & the Jazz band in the back room.

Mr. Hawk was also very innovative and generous--offering listeners who stopped by his restaurant a $25 gift card for making a donation to our annual KMBZ Coats For Kids charity.

Several things Mr. Hawk did that has made him successful:


  • Provide a unique dining experience in an upscale area with live music weekly.
  • Created and recorded a musically-driven Jazz radio show that airs weekly--inviting listeners to stop by and enjoy the food and music.
  • He would do his own radio ads--as well as narrating the show with his very unique voice/style (sounds very down to earth, friendly).
His competitors didn't have the live music, quality of food-nor radio personalities talking about him on a regular basis.

This was huge--as "fans" of the personalities' radio shows would come in just because their favorite personality said it was a great experience at the Gaslight Grill!

Getting listeners through a free party from one radio announcement is standard proof of radio's power today--150 emails sent in five minutes.

This is why tying radio messaging in with social media can be so powerful. You have an on-air passion in real time combined with real-time tweets/posts that can empower a customer very quickly.

If you enjoy these posts--please "follow me" and share with your friends. 

If you'd like more great marketing ideas, CLICK HERE to subscribe to our FREE monthly Marketing & Business Update e-newsletter!













Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Million-Dollar $ecrets To Getting New Customers--Dean Blay, Mr. Remodeler

  "John...the ad ain't drawin' flies..." Dean...what happened this time last year? "The ad didn't draw flies.." Then what happened the following month? "Well...we did get more sales..." For over twelve years I worked with one of Kansas City's best-loved home remodelers', Mr. Remodeler, Dean Blay. Dean had voiced his own radio ads on our classical station, a music of your life station and several newstalk stations. Sadly--his voice was silenced this past July due to his death. But Dean Blays' memory and radio ads will long be remembered. Dean had a deep...slow delivery and country accent when he read his radio ads. When I first started to work with his advertising--he would give us a cassette tape from his Phone Mate machine with his ad on it. He was too nervous to record in our studio! When he finally did come to our production room, we turned on the reel tape recorder and left the room so our engineer wouldn't mak
Post a Comment
Read more

Million-Dollar $ecrets To Getting More Customers--Dick Ray, The Master Plumber

"In order to do it right--you'd have to get a backhoe and dig up a ten foot section of the front yard...remove the pipe and replace it with a new section. Or...you could hire a guy like me to do it. And I'm not cheap..."  I'd come to know Dick Ray Jr. through handling his father's advertising account on our classical radio station back in the 80's. Owners of Shawnee Mission Plumbing, Heating & Cooling since the 50's--their quality service and reputation are unmatched by many competitors in the Kansas City market. Today, Dick Ray Jr. continues that quality since his parents passing years ago. What distinguished their advertising--was the familiar voice that intro'd all of their ads...."This is Dick Ray the master plumber..." In a casual midwestern drawl , he'd meticulously talk about his time in the Navy, the quality of products they carry--and the fact that nobody...BUT NOBODY has more parts on his truck, than Di
Post a Comment
Read more

Have Marketers Put Too Much Emphasis on The Benefits of Social Media?

Is it me...or I'm I confused as to how a business that predominantly caters to 15-30 year olds can be worth $13 billion? That's one suggested valuation of Twitter heading in to their IPO. What's more--as they begin to add advertising popping up on their Tweets and Tweeters--how can I, as a potential investor know what kind of revenue they can produce to justify their valuation? What's more--what kind of sales can I expect from that age demographic?  Granted, that age demographic probably Tweets more than the rest of us--but can the advertising investment be justified considering their disposable income? If I sell cars to the 18-34 year old crowd--are they really going to Tweet their best friend at the moment the test drive ends and ask if they should buy it or not (according to one posts' theory)? Surely, we all want advice from our friends in the purchase of certain items--but have marketers over-emphasized the benefits of using social media
Post a Comment
Read more