What would be the best way to advertise a brand new pizza restaurant?

My assumption is CASH FLOW IS TIGHT. You need "low cost and no cost" plans.

1.) Ask yourself, how do you decide where to go eat? or how do you decide to try a new resturant? Sample? For me, it's a recommendation from a friend. You need to resource your best fans to spread the word (Word of mouth) Spend some $ on loyality cards, hand flyers, etc. Reward your best customers. Make partnerships with local schools, groups, etc. At first focus on group sales, NOT individual customers.

2.) Do NOT spend $ on: local magazine ads, local newspapers ads, local coupon services, avoid Groupon (not smart for launch) Advertising is NOT marketing. Don't start out discounting your product. NO SEO or SEM yet.

3.) Spend $ on: simple website, comprehensive local search listings, directory listings, someone to cordinate Yelp, Facebook page/twitter promotions. Instead of marketing spend, offer to provide food for meetings, games, organizations. Think: go 'get your influencers'. WOW them.

Summary:
Focus on group sales and partnerships. De-centralize marketing with Word of Mouth. Send $ on establishing your local presence online.

Last:
Attracting advertisers? NO, NO, NO. Your focus has to be on making remarkable pizza and memorable customer experiences.

Contact me for a Quick Look, a Free eval of your website and brand - http://www.a440interactive.com

What makes your pizza and your restaurant unique should be outlined first. That's your value proposition!

Considering you are a new business, consumers expect loyalty discounts and as a tendency majority of people are always looking for deals A cost effective way to get more local crowds is Groupon http://www.groupon.com/greater-toronto-area/ , you can choose your local city and similarly many other coupon portals may exist. I have used twitter to promote a local restaurant and it worked well, in addition to Google Local. As your database increases you can venture into social properties.

Another cost effective way can be craft sheets (distributed as flyers) or in the restaurant for visitors to keep kids busy/ Sudoku for teens and adults with a contest or a draw so that people can have fun solving puzzles/ or coloring and then drop their name in a fishbowl. Make sure you keep this database collection simple, just collect name and email address, and nurture them. Contact us at http://www.measuremarketing.net for more marketing ideas.

If you are just now launching and you have great pizza and service as you make it sound like in your post.

Go to all the local businesses within a sqaure mile and give them all a free lunch.

Not only will it create buzz. Everyone will tell their freinds they got a free lunch and where. Of course their friends will ask how the pizza was. People will Tweet and FB about it. You could even make that an option that if they do that on their phone when they are ordering you will give them a free drink to boot. You could even send out a press release after you do it. (Free advertising)

Could that get expensive. Sure. But it beats the hell out of Groupon.

People will be driving by wondering what the hell is going on at your restaurant. "Geez they must have great pizza! That place is packed!" they will be thinking.

You could also hand out fliers asking them to tweet of FB as a way of saying thank you for the free lunch.

As far as SEO yes it definitely comes into play. But you need to do something big and amazing to create the buzz and get people into your place.

But - if your pizza and service sucks you are doomed from the beginning. This method would just speed up the process. If your pizza and service is awesome it will speed up your success.

Congragulation on your new resturant...

You should have to make some pretty deals like for kid...Kiddy Special Deal

For couples= Love Bites

For Friends Group= Friend shakers...
so & so...Believe me it will definately help u alot...

Regards U.A.K

There are so many great ideas here that I'm sure you'll have no problem designing a campaign to get the word out. I would like to add a few more suggestions if I could, based on my own experiences.

I used to work in a hotel in a city much larger than the one I live in now. Your local hotel clerks can be a huge resource because the groups that come in (swim teams, baseball teams, etc) want quantities of food brought to the door. Ever try taking a group of 20 teens out for dinner? It's madness...so they go for pizza and convenience in a big way.

Along with that, talk to the management FIRST, and see when they are having their next general staff meeting. Offer to cater it. Give out coupons and adverts when you do that. Give them a good experience. When you talk to the manager after to see how it went, if they liked it, etc (rating cards for their opinions would give you the chance to visit them after...to collect your cards and chat up the boss) ask when they are going to update their in-room directories. You should try to get your name in there. Many transient guests rely on that directory as a quick access for recommended sites, services, and businesses.

Another idea, and I don't know if these people are still around anymore, is the "Welcome Wagon" for people who are new to town. They get gifty things and info about local businesses. You should see if the city you're in has anything like that running. Also, check if your city sends out info packets on request, to those thinking about moving there. Some do, some don't. But if they do, having your name there amongst the maps and brochures would be helpful.

How about setting up something with the local moving companies? A "moving day special" doesn't have to be a discounted deal, but merely something that will be substantial enough to feed a group of people after a day of hauling boxes.

Along the same line, you should create "Mom's Not Cooking!" specials for Mother's Day, Mom's birthday, etc. Heart shaped pizza for Valentine's Day. You know the drill. You need to have something to promote for every holiday or special day that comes along.

Someone here mentioned loyalty programs. If the food is good people will be back but there's nothing like a little encouragement to help them along. People DO like loyalty programs. You don't have go give away free food though. Take it to a different level. Have the 'gift' you give be a gift certificate for something at another business....and use that connection to run some cross advertising with them. You have their gift certificates and as such are advertising them, and they can have your brochures around their place. As long as it's not another food place. You have to go generic...gift DVD rentals, gift CD's under a certain dollar amount, etc.

Have you thought about sponsoring some sports teams or local charities? If you sponsor you have the chance to give away not only samples, but t-shirts and hats. More advertising for you, ultimately. When the radio puts the info out your name will also be mentioned.

Local cabs and the transit here have advertising all over them. It could be costly but it's an idea to be checked out.

Give some thought to your local schools. The ones here have pizza days, hot dog days, etc. If you can get into something like that, you could do well with it. The school and staff will certainly get to know you. The kids will be a little tricky, but if they like the food they will remember you and that info will go home with them. You can't openly push your market on the kids, but they are savvy when it comes to what they like. Today's kids are tomorrows consumers.

Good luck!