Grab—and Keep!—Their Attention
How to make the most of today’s high-tech, highly distracted customers
by Ronnie Moore
Today’s technology-driven world affords endless and exciting marketing, entertainment, and educational opportunities. It also propels new challenges as guests are more technically savvy; expectations are high, connectivity is commonplace, multitasking is the rule, and attention spans are dwindling. FUNWORLD talked to industry executives about the impact these opportunities and challenges have on marketing. How do you entice guests into your park or attraction and maximize the experience when they get there, when it’s hard enough just to get them focused on one thing in the first place?
MARKET for Today’s World
Industry experts agree marketing today means more money spent on electronic media than on newspaper, television, and radio ads, billboards, and other traditional venues. Using email, e-newsletters, and web sites as marketing tools to attract guests and pre-sell admission and merchandise is an invaluable way to meet potential guests where they live—on their cell phones, Blackberrys, or computer screens. “Be creative. Try channels that may not be as comfortable as traditional marketing techniques but are a sign of the times, “says Bjørn Håvard Solli, assistant director at TusenFryd, Norway’s largest amusement park. “Use social media, like Facebook. Use email lists to get people to your Facebook page; they add your page to their list, and they invite their friends to view it as well.”
“But keep in mind that Facebook is a social medium, and that means less overt selling and more conversation, information, and connection,” says Erik Andersen, TusenFryd’s marketing director. “Although posting some commercial messages is fine, use your Facebook page to communicate with your customers not just about your park but what’s going on in the community and in the industry. It’s about building relationships. This is not an online ad; don’t promote every time you update the page. If you are too pushy with commercial messages, people will lose interest. They will also lose interest if your page is not updated once or twice daily. Old news is death to a loyal Facebook following.
“You need dedicated staff to track your social media efforts and research your competitors’ social media pages,” Andersen continues. “Your web site is very important, as well. Your staff needs to be monitoring it carefully, updating it, answering emails, and using a system to track your site’s activity and effectiveness. This includes the amount of ticket and merchandise pre-sales, who is buying, how many hits your site receives, and what percentage of your business is coming from traditional venues versus your web site and social media.”
ADAPT to Today’s World
Facilities have learned to alter the way they deliver entertainment to accommodate today’s multitasking world.
 Ron Magill, zoo communications and media director for Miami Metrozoo, says, “I take people on safari in Africa, and they don’t want to sit peacefully and watch a leopard in a tree anymore. They need more action; the next ‘thing.’ They don’t take the time to enjoy the moment. They worry more about what they’re missing than enjoying what they’re experiencing.”
Adapt by incorporating auditory enhancements and visuals into the guest experience. Magill continues, “We can’t always depend on an animal to move or ‘perform’ quickly enough, so guests can also push a button to get more animation or see and hear something on a plasma screen, along with the live experience.”
Adapt by keeping written communication brief and by using more graphics and animation to draw guests in and keep their interest. “Whether it’s print or Internet ads, signage, web site pages, or exhibit information, your guests need abbreviated text that’s exciting and easy to read,” Magill advises. “That said, spend your budget on animating a visual’s graphics rather than on a copywriter to write more text.”
Carrie Chen, director of education and conservation at Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, recommends thinking about how you can shorten written and spoken presentations. Place the most exciting information first, she says, or present multiple messages in self-contained “chunks” so if guests join a presentation halfway through or leave before it’s over, they can still learn from and enjoy it.
“Observe,” she says. “If guests are looking bored or leaving a 15-minute presentation after five minutes, it may be too long. Better to chunk the presentation into three five-minute segments; each segment can stand alone in its information or story. Each teaches something and has a beginning and an end. In our case, guests can learn what a hedgehog is even if they don’t stay for all the detail.”
 INTERACT with Today’s World
Amy Helton, head of marketing for Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas (and is there a more distracting city in the world?), stresses the importance of guest interaction and immersion into the experience. “No more traditional museum environment with wax figures behind velvet ropes and a ‘do not touch’ culture,” she says. “We’ve known this for years, and we’ve had to morph into an interactive experience in which guests can dance with Beyonce, audition for Simon Cowell, or ‘meet’ the president of the United States in the Oval Office. Interaction means more touching, more contact between our exhibits and our guests, and this means more maintenance and preservation efforts. But it’s a small price to pay for the value of giving guests an amazing experience. No more standing back and simply observing.”
INITIATE, ENGAGE, and OVERCOME
Today’s World
Chen emphasizes that when staff are present—carrying an animal, demonstrating equipment, or chatting with guests— communication is initiated, guests ask questions, and they engage. “It’s about relationship,” she says. “It’s harder to be rude to a live person by answering the phone or remembering the need to text than it is when looking at a graphic or a plasma screen. We are a small institution; we don’t have a lot of wiz-bang technology. But we see the power of personal relationships, and if that relationship is strong, if guests are engaged with other guests or with staff, they might just forget their cell phone, even for a minute or two.”
The experts agree short attention spans, constant connectivity, and distractibility may be overcome when there is connection between guests and staff, guests and their families, guests and the experience. How can your offering be the one thing your guests focus on when they’re pulled in so many directions? “For us it’s the animals,” says Barbara Long, vice president of special projects for Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. “We see kids mesmerized by a sea lion, putting their hand on the glass, and the sea lion follows the hand. Parents joyfully watch their kids. Kids have to be pulled away from an animal they’re touching, and this connection to nature is so powerful that families use their cell phones to take pictures to make memories, not to text or make a call.”
Bottom line: It takes marketing, entertainment, and education to adapt to a technology-driven world. But when guests are in your moment, they are connected, engaged, and mesmerized.
Ronnie Moore is a speaker, trainer, and writer specializing in communication issues. She is the author of “Why Did I Say That? Communicating to keep your credibility, your cool, and your cash!” and “Tricks that Stick,” a writing companion. www.whydidisaythat.net |
