@jessie_paul @akm1410 Here’s something which I think is a good example of cheap but authentic marketing. Year 2007 - burrp was virtually unheard of. We had been operating for over an year, a few foodie users knew about us but we didn’t have any mass appeal. Also the restaurants weren’t aware of burrp
@jessie_paul @akm1410 So one day while sitting in a well known restaurant I was wondering what would it take to put up some branding on one of the walls of the restaurant. This was a fancier restaurants, and we were wondering if they’d let us put a burrp logo on one of their walls.
@jessie_paul @akm1410 Of course we didn’t have the money to pay them even if the restaurant agreed. So no way in hell it was happening. The only reason I had gone to the restaurant to have lunch was because of its good ratings & reviews. So an idea struck -
@jessie_paul @akm1410 Wouldn’t it be cool to award these kind of good places a certificate for their consistent food quality and service? So we dug up every place in our listing that had consistently scored more 4+ ratings for the past one year. We found about 800 such places across India.
@jessie_paul @akm1410 We painstakingly went thru each review to make sure 1) they were authentic, and 2) find out what these places were known for. This could be a particular dish they’re known for.
So we decided to create these award certificates for these restaurants. Here comes the best part ..
So we decided to create these award certificates for these restaurants. Here comes the best part ..
@jessie_paul @akm1410 We included actual review snippets and usernames of people in the certificate. So that way, next time when that person went to the restaurant they could point out to their name and say they played a part in getting them their certificate.
@jessie_paul @akm1410 We got the certificates framed, wrote a “thank you” letter to the restaurant, included some more review snippets in another letter and also put in some door push/pill handle stickers - all in one package to the delivered to the restaurant.
@jessie_paul @akm1410 The idea took off. The certificates were proudly displayed by the restaurants on their main entry wall, and the stickers were put on the doors. It gave us instant credibility & recognition both in the eyes of the restaurants and other patrons of that place.
@jessie_paul @akm1410 Many restaurant customers became our users and our reviews exploded. The total cost of the exercise, if I’m not mistaken, was ~1.5 lakh rupees.
@jessie_paul @akm1410 So in ~ 1.5L rupees we were able to showcase our brand, our users and what the restaurant was know for, across 800 businesses in Delhi, Bangalore and Bombay.
