Ad Aware
10 smart ways to enhance your FEC’s message
by Mike Bederka
SOME FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS DON’T HAVE TO ADVERTISE AT ALL. For these fortunate facilities, guests gleefully line up without being exposed to a single TV commercial, web link, or radio spot.
However, most other FECs rely on ads and other types of marketing. A successful campaign can drum up hearty business, but it can also drain your life savings if done haphazardly. FEC experts offer these 10 tips on how to be smart with your advertising dollars and efficiently market your venue.
1.Text Away
Saletta Coleman spends less than a penny each time she reaches out to her young audience. The cheap and simple technique: text messaging.
“They aren’t anywhere but online and on their cell phones,” says Coleman, director of sales and marketing for Martin Luther King Jr. Park and Family Entertainment Center, of her young potential visitors. “Anyone who hasn’t figured that out is really behind the eight ball.”
She posts a sign-up list at her Chicago venue. In exchange for their cell phone numbers, guests have the chance to win prizes. People on the list, now more than a thousand names strong, receive once or twice a week updates on upcoming events, Coleman says. They can opt out from the messages at any time, lessening the worry of spam. Also, texting easily allows cell phone users to share the info with their friends not on the list. “It’s like a virus,” she says.
2. Pre-promotion
Roger Allan opened FunWorks FunZone this past June, but the general manager’s marketing efforts started well before that.
A slice of the FEC, located at a mall in Clifton Park, New York, moved into a kiosk at the food court about six months prior to the facility’s full opening, promoting gem mining and “stuff your own animal” on a small scale. After the 2007 holidays, he upgraded to a temporary in-line store across from the FunWorks construction site where he featured a larger retail display and added an inflatable.
Allan didn’t attempt to make “loads and loads of money” with the pre-promotion. Instead, he wanted to describe Fun- Works’ concept and raise awareness to future customers.
“It worked very well,” he said. “By the time we opened, people knew who we were.”
3. OnTarget
In 2008, Swing-N-Things Family Fun Park in Olmstead Township, Ohio, made the push toward online advertising and pulled back on everything else: radio, print, and television. With traditional advertising, the facility couldn’t specifically identify what the marketing dollars generated, explains Scott Brown, director of sales. However, online options allow Brown to track specific things like upticks in group sales or birthday parties.
“You don’t need to sacrifice all your radio, TV, and print, if you like it,” he notes. “With Google AdWords, you can spend a dollar a day, 30 bucks a month. You can definitely go in and dabble. If you see it paying dividends, you invest a little more.”
Google allows people to choose words or phrases related to their business and create a sponsored ad that appears on the side of the search page, increasing exposure. You only pay if someone clicks on the ad.
4. Go Guerilla
Allan doesn’t confine his attractions and staff to FunWorks’ four walls. He partners with a local hockey team and brings his inflatables to select home games. Kids attending can come out and bounce around before or after the game, or between periods. “We get a coupon and a flyer into Mom’s hand,” he says. His town also hosts a large Fourth of July celebration. Here, too, Allan sends an inflatable for the event, giving his employees time to work the crowd.
The only cost for these two promotions: a little bit of payroll for staff.
“Never, ever, underestimate the value of guerilla marketing,” Allan enthuses.
5. Social Marketing
If you haven’t found your way to Facebook, MySpace, or YouTube yet, your employees surely have. These free social networking and video sharing web sites offer huge potential for FECs, Coleman says. Missing out on them would be a huge mistake.
“I don’t know how you’re going to survive in the industry if you’re not one to embrace technology,” she says.
Coleman has a “little army” of staffers maintaining the facility’s Facebook (www.facebook.com) and MySpace (www.myspace.com) pages. She gives them content to post and periodically reviews the sites to make sure everything appears the way it should. With YouTube (www.youtube.com) in mind, Brown filmed this past New Year’s Eve party for a future promotion. Later this year, people will be able to click on a link and watch all the fun guests had. Videos like this take little time and effort, and facilities don’t have to worry about fancy production. Just keep everything casual, Brown advises.
Five More Advertising Tips
1. Avoid the hard sell. Ads that shout “Buy now!” or “Ask your parents!” can turn off guests, says Raquel Felicio of the Brazilian Association of Amusement Parks.
2. Ask for a deal. Many radio stations offer an agency discount to anyone, says Roger Allan of FunWorks FunZone. He saved 15 percent recently just by saying he was his own agency.
3. Use coupon codes. They help track and gauge ad effectiveness, Allan says.
4. Be selective. Watch out for companies that want you to advertise on their web sites, says Scott Brown of Swings-NThings. FECs can run up a large tab if not careful.
5. Check the calendar. BuyTV and radio spots during the first quarter when prices generally dip, Allan says: “You can grab fire sales.” |
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