There are plenty of reasons to schedule a grand opening event. Whether you’re launching a brick-and-mortar location for the first time, opening a second location in a new city, moving into a new facility, or turning an online business into a physical location, grand openings may provide a great opportunity for you to cement your position in the community.
Knowing how to make the most of your grand opening isn’t only about having a single great day for your business. It may be the first step in creating a long-standing business that becomes a part of the community.
Set some goals
Before planning your grand opening, decide what you want the event to accomplish and how you'll measure the results. Introducing your brand is important, but a successful grand opening event may also generate new customers, sales, leads, email or text subscribers, website traffic, social engagement, reviews, or future purchases. Choose a few goals that make sense for your business rather than trying to track every possible metric.
After the event, review the results against the goals you established. Tracking attendance, new customers, sales, and other meaningful outcomes may help you understand what worked and what to improve for future events. Studying what worked and what didn't may also help you determine whether the time and money invested in the grand opening produced results that support your broader business goals.
Determine your budget
The cost of the event should be included in your annual marketing budget. Consider the extra costs like staffing, refreshments, decorations, entertainment, giveaways, and advertising. Some business owners may choose the thrifty route while others might go all out. Try to strike a balance that won’t impact your ability to keep marketing efforts going throughout the year.
Apply for permits
There may be several legal requirements when throwing a successful grand opening event. For example, your municipality likely requires you to obtain a banner or sign permit for any grand opening banners you plan to display. This permit may also limit what your banner has on it. If you’re serving alcoholic drinks at your event, you’ll need a temporary alcohol license as well.
Establish local partnerships
Look for some opportunities to partner with other organizations that already have relationships with the customers you want to reach. For example, a new restaurant might team up with a nearby brewery, a salon might partner with a boutique, or a home-services company may work with complementary contractors. Local charities and nonprofits may also be valuable partners, particularly when your grand opening supports a community cause.
These types of alliances may create opportunities for cross-promotion, shared event costs, and exposure to new customers without requiring either business to handle all the marketing alone. Consider co-hosting an event, offering a joint promotion, or simply promoting each other's business before and during the grand opening. Look for partnerships that make sense beyond opening day so the relationship continues providing benefits for both companies.
Book the date
Is there an opportunity to capitalize on a time-of-year community event or holiday? Some examples include opening during the “Back-to-School” shopping days in August, planning a “love” theme around Valentine’s Day, or taking advantage of the Small Business Saturday buzz after Thanksgiving.
There are even calendar observances trending on social media that you may work into a theme. Think #nationalbeerloversday, Positive Attitude Day, or Avoid Stress Week.
Promote your event
Consider some modern, cost-effective ways of promoting your business and building anticipation for your grand opening. Those may include:
- Create a website or dedicated landing page. Include the opening date, location, hours, event details, and any special offers. Make sure your Google Business Profile and other local listings are updated so customers searching for businesses in your area see your brand.
- Build anticipation through email, text, and social media. If you've already collected customer contacts, send announcements and reminders leading up to the opening. Use social media countdowns, short-form videos, and behind-the-scenes content to give potential customers a look at what's coming. Make the event something that people will want to post about on Facebook and Instagram.
- Reach nearby customers through digital advertising and local partnerships. Local digital ads may help put your business in front of people in your target area while cross-promoting with complementary businesses may introduce you to an established local audience. Traditional tactics such as flyers, local radio, and newspaper advertising may still be useful when they fit your target market.
Prepare
You don’t want to be scrambling on the day of your big grand opening! Be sure all decorations, giveaways, and other in-store assets are set up well in advance. Have you properly trained your employees? It goes without saying that each employee should be an expert on your products and services.
10 grand opening ideas
Small business owners have used the below grand opening ideas time and again to successfully engage their communities with their new operations:
1. Soft launch
A soft opening may take the form of simply opening your doors without any of the usual fanfare and commotion. It might also mean hosting a “friends and family” night or a charity event before your formal opening. These and other similar options let you smooth out any kinks in your operations before you try to reach a larger audience. A local charity event also comes with the numerous business benefits that accompany giving back to your local community.
2. Pop-up
Chances are you’ve been to a memorable, exciting pop-up in your life,or you have at least heard of this unique setup,but maybe you’ve seen them promoted as one-off events by established businesses. New companies, though, may just as easily use the “get it hot while it lasts” vibe of pop-ups for grand openings.
Set up a stand somewhat near, but not necessarily right next to, your storefront to promote your grand opening. Hand out your promotional products, whether brochures, discounts, or other items, to passersby and encourage them to swing by your storefront for more. See if there is an opportunity to partner with other local businesses to use the area in front of their storefronts as pop-up sites. Arrange for them to offer discounts on their products or services for people who buy yours or vice versa.
3. Giveaways
Branded giveaways can make a grand opening more memorable and give guests something useful to take home. Set up a table outside your storefront and give out branded magnets, pens, or other everyday items to passersby. Doing so may help you subtly spread the word about your brand.
If you aren’t in a position to create your own branded items for giveaways, try hosting a social media giveaway of highly desired items that aren’t yours. Established businesses do so time and again with bottom-line results that more than cover the cost of purchasing these highly sought-after items. Try partnering with other businesses to assemble a gift bag of items for one lucky winner.
4. Offer freebies
What are three things people universally love? Food, entertainment, and freebies. You usually don’t have to break the bank. Check with local restaurants and ask if they would be willing to offer a bulk food discount in exchange for free advertising. The same goes for a band or another entertainer. You’ll beef up your grand opening offerings and support other small businesses. For freebies, consider useful promotional items and promote your store.
5. Harness the power of social media
Advertising your grand opening should take place not just on the street but on social media too. You may also hold your grand opening event entirely on social media, especially given the continuously growing popularity of Facebook and Instagram livestreams.
Your social media strategy doesn’t have to stop once you get customers in the door. Give people something worth sharing during your grand opening. A photo-worthy display, branded backdrop, product reveal, short demonstration, or behind-the-scenes moment may give attendees a natural reason to take photos or videos and post them to their own social media accounts. Customer stories and other authentic moments may also help show what makes your business unique while extending the reach of the event beyond the people who attend.
6. Local celebrity appearance
If your area is home to a local celebrity, find out what it takes to get them to appear at your grand opening. They could be a local artist with a strong following, a community thought leader or activist, or a prominent governmental figure. No matter who you get to appear at your event, ask permission to include their photos on your promotional materials.
7. Goodie bags
Sometimes, marketing your small business is all about evoking nostalgia and joy. That’s why offering goodie bags to your visitors may be a great grand opening idea for your small business. Goodie bags may channel the early childhood excitement of leaving a party with a bag full of candy, though you will want to replace the treats with branded items. As long as you include a mix of practical, unusual, and fun items related to your company, your goodie bags should make the desired impact.
8. Use traditional media
Traditional media remains a great way to publicize your event. People still watch TV or listen to the radio, so not promoting your event on these channels may overlook potential customers. If you have especially strong relationships with local journalists, you may be able to get your grand opening broadcast live as well. If the reporting is strong enough, residents might head over to your event right as they hear or see how it’s going.
9. Publicity stunt
Though a significantly riskier brand awareness strategy than the other grand opening ideas listed here, a publicity stunt isn’t entirely off the table. If your out-there antics go viral, you could find yourself with a substantial customer base from not just your own backyard, but all over the internet. Pressboard has some examples of publicity stunts from which you could potentially take some inspiration.
10. Fundraiser
Try throwing a fundraiser for a locally important cause. To be clear, you shouldn’t raise funds for your own operations during this event – instead, you should raise money to donate to a local organization.
Your event promotional materials should name the organization for which you’re fundraising. They should also explain how event attendees may be able to donate to the cause while, ideally, getting something in return. That something could be branded items that keep your company on the minds of your attendees. People who go to your event could be more likely to buy from you since you’re investing in your local community.
Don’t forget to follow up after your grand opening
After your grand opening event, you should tactfully keep up with attendees to develop long-term relationships. Email marketing and automation may help on this front, especially if you fill your emails with discounts. The goal is to target a potentially high interested audience – people who were at your event – and convert them to actual customers.
To start this process during your event, collect email addresses by offering some sort of perk. That could be a future discount, a chance at a prize, or a free subscription to your newsletter. Don’t spam your customers; you want to thank them for their time and business. Post images of your event on social media and write a post-opening press release.
Can SmartBiz Bank® help with your grand opening?
You may find that you need some working capital to help fund your grand opening. Whether it’s investing in enough inventory, hiring enough staff members, or funding marketing campaigns, an SBA or other type of term loan may be an important part of helping launch your brick-and-mortar location. Find out if you pre-qualify today.
FAQs
What are some good grand opening ideas for a small business?
Good grand opening ideas give people a reason to visit while introducing them to what makes the business different. Options may include a launch-weekend event, limited-time opening promotion, giveaway, product demonstration, workshop, community fundraiser, or partnership with another local business. The best ideas usually depend on the type of business, target customers, and budget.
How do you promote a small business grand opening?
Start promoting the grand opening several weeks in advance using a mix of social media, email, local listings, signage, your business website, and partnerships with complementary businesses. Create anticipation with a countdown, behind-the-scenes content, and details about what customers should expect. Make sure the date, time, location, and other important information are consistent across every channel.
What should you do before a grand opening?
Before a grand opening, make sure the business is operationally ready as well as prepared to welcome customers. Confirm required licenses and permits, train employees, stock necessary inventory or supplies, test payment systems, prepare signage, and verify your online business information. It's also helpful to establish a promotional plan and decide how you'll measure the event's results.
How much should a small business spend on a grand opening?
There's no universal amount a small business should spend on a grand opening. The budget should account for the business's available cash, expected attendance, location, type of event, and overall marketing goals. Avoid spending so much on the opening that it limits the cash available for normal operating expenses or ongoing marketing.
What is the difference between a soft opening and a grand opening?
A soft opening is a limited or less formal launch that gives a business an opportunity to test its operations before a larger public event. A grand opening is a more publicized launch designed to generate awareness and attract customers. Some businesses use both, holding a soft opening first to identify and resolve operational issues before the grand opening.
How can you attract customers to a grand opening?
Give people a clear reason to attend, such as a limited-time offer, free samples, a demonstration, a special event, a giveaway, or another experience connected to the business. Promote the event across multiple channels, encourage local partners to share it, and make the event easy to find online. Collect contact information when appropriate. This may allow you to continue communicating with attendees after the grand opening.
