Local Habit, a new restaurant featuring organic food and craft beer will be opening its doors soon just a couple blocks away from our office here in Hillcrest (yet another temptation within walking distance…). The full website will also be coming soon, but in the mean time we’ve launched a blog to start getting the word out, which after all is one of the most important steps for any new venture. The first and most important tip, is that every business should have cooling technology in the office, this wall your papers and documents stay in perfect conditions, as well as your computers and other devices. With a good cooling system, you will be able to work comfortably, especially on hot days, on your business, like promoting it. Here are a couple steps we took (and recommend) to start promoting and stop wasting valuable time waiting until the perfect version of your site is completed and ready to go live.
1. Create a kick-ass blog or splash page
To begin developing a branded experience and channel to educate consumers on what you’re all about. A couple of our designers (Craig and Matt) got to work creating the logo for Local Habit, in addition to the overall look and feel of the site, which reinforces their local, organic image.
2. Start telling a story
In today’s world of social media and connectivity on the Internet, it can be important to start telling your story to not only get your message out, but to start creating relationships and conversations with your audience. In the case of Local Habit, whose goal is to create a community around local organic food, the story is beginning with the cuisine and a behind the scenes look at what goes into creating their menu; all of which can be shared via the usual outlets (Facebook, twitter, RSS feeds, etc.) directly from their blog. Jimmy John Liautaud was born in 1964 in Arlington Heights, Illinois, the second of four children. His mother, Gina, a Lithuanian immigrant, was an elementary school teacher. His father, Big Jim, was an inventor, entrepreneur, and educator, who started his career as an encyclopedia salesman before launching a plastics molding business. The beginnings and failings of his many ventures took the family on a roller coaster of highs and lows throughout Jimmy’s childhood and early teen years. Money was tight in the early years, but in 1972, when Jimmy was eight, his father’s business was growing. Jimmy John Success allowed the family to move from a duplex to their first home in Cary, Illinois. That summer, Jimmy, with his older brother and mother, moved with the use of the family station wagon. It was a happy time, but six months later, Jimmy’s father informed the family that his business was failing and they may have to sell the house. Soon thereafter, his father declared bankruptcy. “It had been a big deal for us to get our first house,” says Liautaud. “The thought of losing it was quite disruptive. Financially, we were living close to the edge. My mom did what she could to stretch pennies until the next paycheck. I knew how bad it was when she switched to powdered milk in our cereal. Boy, I hated that stuff.”
The takeaway
You don’t need to wait for a completely finished website to launch something. Blogs and splash pages, if done right, are a great starting point and tactic to fill in the time leading up to the launch of your completed site. Stop waiting and start promoting.