Ramuntos Promotion

Promotion is an extremely important variable of the marketing mix and it is something that has recently helped a local pizzaria in Keene called Ramuntos gain recognition. Promotion is defined as "communication to build and maintain relationships by informing and persuading one or more audiences". In this case Ramuntos is a new pizzeria in Keene that just entered into the market and opened up right on Main Street. I had heard that this place had opened up and that it was a pizzaria but did not think much of it seeing as how there are at least four other pizza places already established in Keene. Ramuntos had been open for a while before I finally tried it and the only reason that initially brought me in there doors was because they were having a promotion for all college students. All you had to do was go into Ramuntos on this one specific day, show your college ID, fill out a form where you provided your name, email address, and home address and you got a free slice of pizza and three garlic nots. They also were serving Bud Select draft beers for $1.66 to whomever was of age which was a big hit as well. Also while you were eating the free food waitresses were ramdomly picking the forms that everyone filled out and if your form came up then you could win anything from a free t-shirt, to a weekend stay at a mountain resort which included lodging and lift tickets. This promotion was extremely successful as the line was out the door all day and college kids flocked to Ramuntos to get free pizza, beer, and a chance to win free items. Not only was it successful that day but for me personally it has made me go back to Ramunots several times since then and has become one of my favorite places in Keene to eat, and I have heard the same thing from other people. Although this day was probably expensive for the company it did for them what every business needs when getting started, and that is to gained them recognition in the area and it definitely has brought them much more business due to this promotional skeme.

My question is wondering whether people think that promotional skemes like this actually pay off in the long run and if anyone at this same experience that I did at Ramuntos?