Marketing Monthly

Little Hinges Swing Big Doors

Bruce Davis — Tue, 03 May 2022 14:42:20 +0000

Little Hinges Swing Big Doors

Coupons And Premiums Boost Offers To Produce To The Max

Bruce Davis Tue, 05/03/2022 - 10:42

Emerging from the pandemic, many bowling centers and FECs have experienced stronger than normal business, with many facilities full and running long waiting lists. This trend goes way beyond our industry and transcends to other recreational and hospitality businesses that are also trying to service pent-up demand.

While the current rush of business has been great, most savvy operators expect the pace will slow a bit as things go back toward more normal consumer demand. Keeping your marketing skills sharpened will be the best way to continue maintaining and growing your business.

Challenges to growth and addressing ever-emerging competition mean marketing skills need to be employed on a regular basis. In prior editions of IBI, I have detailed the starting points of making good offers: strong headlines and sub-headlines, copy filled with customer benefits, the use of testimonials, and guarantees. These are all important elements for sure, but sometimes it’s the little things that make a big impact.

Think of this month’s marketing suggestions as add-ons that help an offer perform to the max. Two key fundamentals that are often missing from an offer are the inclusion of premiums and coupons. When spending time and money to build and send marketing offers, it is a major error not to consider how the addition of a coupon and/or a premium might result in the offer performing significantly better.

Coupons

No matter if you are marketing through social media, email, text, direct mail, in-house flyer or another method, if your offer can accommodate a coupon you should strive to include one or more.

From a marketing standpoint, the number one reason to embed a coupon in an offer is that it can keep the proposition “alive” at the consumer level longer, because the coupon is seen as a possible value in and of itself. When the offer and coupon stick around a bit longer, the chance that another family member or friend finds it attractive increases. Coupons keep the offer alive for extra minutes, hours, days, or weeks and can be critical to the overall response of your offer.

Keep in mind that the purpose of the coupon is not necessarily to be redeemed. Its purpose is to keep your marketing offer alive and shouldn’t be measured by coupons redeemed. Coupons are part of the support-system for your offer, not the main attraction.

That’s not to say the coupons won’t get used. Sometimes, even if the consumer doesn’t take you up on the specific offer you extended, the coupon might still result in some traffic and spending for you. Don’t be too wimpy with your coupon offer; the more valuable the coupon is the better it will perform to help your main offer produce.

The costs of including coupons in your offers are very low, and chances of improving visits or spending because your offer was alive longer are very high!

Premiums

The use of premiums in marketing is a proven winner. “Purchase the expensive sweeper and get a Dustbuster free!” Or remember the toy in the Cracker Jack’s box? The bowling ball in a Have-A-Ball League? These are all examples of premiums that have helped sell the main product of an offer.

Premiums flat-out work!

They elevate an everyday offer to one that consumers take a second look at, and that second look can mean a much stronger ROI for an offer. If you apply a little creative thinking, you can find a premium to help boost the response to any offer. Learn-how-to-bowl-better booklets, toys for kids, food and/or drink as add-ons, game cards, T-shirts, hats, practice passes, logo merchandise — the list is endless.

The cost of a premium is recovered from the price that you set for the product or experience. Many times, consumers are in a quandary, divided between two or three ways to spend their time and money. The right premium might just be the tiebreaker that helps consumers consider your offer over another.

From attracting customers to segments that are tough to fill, to selling other products at your center, premiums and coupons can boost response. These often-forgotten tools are great marketing gas for your offers, are low-to-no cost to employ, and offer numerous secondary benefits.

Bottom line: they work!

Marketing

Marketing Monthly

Bring 'Em Back for More

Bruce Davis — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 14:57:01 +0000

Bring 'Em Back for More

Selling Bowling | Methods, Strategies, And Techniques To Book More Business

Bruce Davis Tue, 11/16/2021 - 09:57

If you read the marketing section from the October IBI issue, you'll have learned about the three ways to grow your business. If you haven't read it yet, you may want to go back and take a look. It's truly the basis for growing your business and is a great refresher even if you're an old dog like me who has been in business a long time.

One of the three marketing methods to grow your business is to gain more visits from your existing customers. While there are several ways to accomplish this, I suggest you consistently put one method to work for your center that has a low cost to employ, is easy to execute, and, for most centers, works very well.

I'm talking about the tried-and-true bounce-back coupon. Bounce-back offers have been around a long time because, quite simply, they work! They make customers feel special and convey a feeling of gratitude for their business. Once you've settled on a solid bounce-back offer and have produced a substantial number of coupons, instruct your staff to present one to each open-play customer after they have paid for their current visit along with a pleasant greeting like, “Thank you for bowling with us today, here's a coupon for your next visit. We look forward to seeing you again soon!” You may have to hand out a good number of coupons to gain a modest redemption, but the cost is low, and the chance of success is high. Plus, in today's competitive environment for recreational dollars, extending thanks and a valuable offer to return will set your center above businesses that don't put forth the extra effort.

Bounce back coupons that we find to earn some of the strongest redemption rates are BOGOs (Buy One Get One Free - or Every Other Game Free) or, one of our favorites, “$5.00 Off Of $20.00 or more spent on bowling.” Your coupons should carry some restrictions, like, “Not Good with Other Offers,” “Valid for Open Play Only,” or, “Call Ahead for Lane Availability.” When it comes to selecting a “Valid Until Date” there is often some consternation. If the date is set too far out, coupons can be put away and forgotten about; if the expiration date is too close, you also risk hurting redemption.

Here's a great solution you may want to consider: Once when doing a seminar in Australia I learned a coupon redemption technique they often used that covered the dilemma. They made their coupons “Valid For 30 Days from Receipt of Coupon.” They killed three birds with one stone, and I have used their technique ever since.

Marketing

Marketing Monthly

Selling Bowling

Filling Holes Starts with a Chart

Andy Vasko — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 15:10:40 +0000

Filling Holes Starts with a Chart

Ringing The Register | Creating Bonus Business with Andy Vasko

Andy Vasko Thu, 11/11/2021 - 10:10

Are you too busy working in your business to work on your business?

If so, you aren't alone! Every month I talk to hundreds of operators around the country and hear a common theme of being busy. Proprietors are diligently working the desk, filling in for cooks who didn't show up, oiling the lanes, fixing machines, taking inventory, and placing orders, along with countless other tedious activities to keep their operations open and functioning.

Many people are so busy keeping up with daily operations that they are out of time, energy, and creativity to fill their open lanes and grow business. It's a common theme I hear from around the country; operators are short-staffed, overworked, and just plain tired.

As I reflect on my decades of operating busy centers, I can totally relate to these challenges and feel for you. But I hope you don't give up and just accept your open spots without a fight. Especially when you're busy, it's easier to fill lanes when you have a clear assessment of your center's potential.

Years ago, I started using a lane availability chart to visualize our open lines daily. Having that chart in my face kept our open lanes top of mind and kept me focused on filling the spots. Back in the day, I used a simple Excel sheet to create my own lane availability chart and it worked just fine. I used Column A for days, B for time, and C-AH for numbers 1-32. Under each day, I listed the start time and highlighted the number of lanes being used. Once completed, it was very easy to see all the white boxes representing open lines are opportunities for additional business.

Initially, this exercise can be overwhelming. The number of white spaces can throw you for a loop and that is exactly why it is productive. Once I saw the white-out and reality set in, I moved on to constructive activities to fill the holes.

My personal favorite was scheduling a brainstorming session with staff to gather ideas. As much as I don't love meetings, this is a fantastic way to get your team together and pick their brains. If your center is like most, you probably have many ages and different types of people on your staff who will provide ideas that you wouldn't have thought of on your own. Be sure to employ the 'no negative comments allowed' rule to keep things positive and encourage participation. You may be surprised where your best suggestions come from.

I remember when I hosted one of these meetings and my cook suggested a teen night on Sundays because nothing was happening on Sunday nights in the summer. The result was an average of 80 kids paying $8.00 each for a 2-hour session June through August, with a back-to-school party on the last night.

I started calling these meetings Finding Gold sessions and gave a reward for ideas that produced business. Good for the center, good for the staff, and great for everyone's pocketbook.

Lane availability charts, if you're not using them - START!

If you have any questions about this, give me a call or email me, I'd be happy to walk you through it. [email protected] or 1-877-841-4590.

Note: Technology has moved at lightning speed since I got out of operations and perhaps online reservation systems, or newer automatic scoring features, could provide you with this at the touch of a button. I recommend looking to suppliers of these products to see if it is an available option.

Marketing

Marketing Monthly

Ringing The Register

The Marketing Process

Bruce Davis — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:35:51 +0000

The Marketing Process

Marketing Basics With Bruce Davis | Lessons To Remember

Bruce Davis Fri, 11/05/2021 - 09:35

Want to get the most out of your marketing outlays of money and efforts? The most effective way I know to gain optimum ROI for your investment is to always follow a three-step procedure when working to develop a marketing plan or promotion. The three steps outlined below not only need to be followed they need to be followed in the order presented.

Step 1 - ID The Target of Your Marketing

First you need to dial in on the target of your efforts. Clearly describe the people or organizations you hope to attract. Take time to dig into traits, characteristics, and current behaviors of your marketing target. No matter if your target is made up of individuals, couples, groups, or companies, you need to take time with your staff to discuss all the things that the specific target might find attractive as part of your offer. Building an offer to appeal to everyone or a large segment of the population usually results in a watered-down offer that appeals to no one.

A bonus to true target marketing: once you tighten who your target is, you will be able to save on costs to reach them as well.

Step 2 - Build the Message of Your Offer

Once the target of your efforts is well defined and their traits, characteristics, and current behaviors are identified, you can then proceed to the task of building the story of your offer. Your story should tell the individual or group target what is in it for them to spend their time and money with you. No matter if your offer is carried by an online post, an email, a flyer, a video, or other means, it is crucial to develop a storyline that can come across as though you were having a conversation with them about the benefits they will receive if they take you up on your offer.

You wouldn't talk to someone in bullet points so avoid using bullet points pointing out features unless your target is very familiar with you and your business. Remember, people only buy for one of two reasons: either to solve a problem or create happiness. Let them know your offer can do one or both.

Step 3 - Determine the Best Way(s) To Get the Message to Your Target

Once your target is selected and your message is crafted, then and only then should you begin to determine the most efficient way(s) to deliver the message to the target audience. Never start out with a pre-determined choice of media. I repeat, never start out with a pre-determined choice of media. Be sure to keep this step as Step 3.

It is often best to employ a multi-media approach when sending an offer. With that said, if you stick to the best target and media matches you can find, you will be able to avoid wasting some of your marketing budget on media that your target isn't a fit with. If this sounds like a delicate balance, it is. Doing a quality job of researching your target market will pay back big dividends and is worth the effort fine tuning it.

A solid offer made to the wrong target audience through the wrong media will no doubt fail, while a weaker offer sent to the right target audience through the right media will no doubt get some response. Strong offers sent to the proper target through proper media spells success!

Marketing

Marketing Monthly

Lessons To Remember

Growing Your Business

Bruce Davis — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 20:51:48 +0000

Growing Your Business

Marketing Basics With Bruce Davis | Lessons To Remember

Bruce Davis Mon, 10/25/2021 - 16:51

When presenting marketing seminars I often ask the audience, “How many ways do you think there are to grow your business?” Typically, the replies range from dozens to hundreds and beyond. Perhaps that's why so many business operators feel that marketing is too complex and time-consuming, and often hand it off to someone else or worse yet, simply avoid working on it.

Years ago, life was different and as bowling operators, we didn't have to work too hard to attract customers, but today is a different day and we're selling to the expectations of very different consumers. To regularly attract customers and profits, you must prioritize generating revenue at the top of your daily to-do list.

Getting back to my previous question, “how many ways are there to grow your business”? Most marketing professionals will answer this quite quickly: three.

There are only three ways to grow your business - adding more new customers to your business, creating more visits from existing ones, and generating more money from each visit. To have a truly positive effect on your operation being proficient at all three and keeping them in sync with each other is vital. If, for example, you lower the price of a product, you'll want to be assured you can gain enough additional visits and/or gain sufficient new customers to keep your growth plans intact. Real marketing success comes to those who make great offers and execute them so well that all three of these growth elements work in harmony.

1. Create New Customers: The goal of finding new customers isn't shocking news to any business operator but it is more crucial than many think. On average a business loses 20-30% of its customer base each year; bowling and entertainment businesses are no exception. While some customers may leave due to dissatisfaction with the center, service, or its products, much of the loss can be due to factors beyond an operator's control. A substantial portion of the population, 20-25%, move each year. Others develop health concerns, become injured, or die. Let's not forget the consistent league bowler who decides to take that proverbial year off, while others face a job loss or schedule changes, while still others encounter life issues that alter their buying habits.

On average a business loses 20-30% of its customer base each year; bowling and entertainment businesses are no exception.

In today's world, few customers find you and come in on their own, so having a plan in place and working it is key! Keep in mind, this first way to grow your business is the most challenging and expensive of the three we will cover; often three to four times more costly than having success with the remaining two. Caution: Without consistent work in this area, no matter how herculean your efforts are in the other two, your growth efforts will stall. In future issues, we will offer some proven ways to find new customers for your operation.

Bottom line: Loss happens. If you're looking to grow your business and find balance in your marketing efforts, developing and implementing a plan of action to replace who you've lost is critical.

2. Increase Number Of Visits From Existing Customers: Increasing the number of times your existing customers visit you is the second key component of growing a business and its profits. A bowling-based business has a variety of obvious ways to do this from offering leagues, tournaments, and special events to hosting fundraisers, parties, and company outings.

Make it easy on your customers. Consumers need your help to be matched with relevant offers they find appealing. Present opportunities to those who have already shown an interest in what you're offering. In the future, we will explore numerous methods you may want to employ ranging from bounce-back offers, local couponing, emailing plans, telemarketing, texting to direct mail, and other strategies to help centers earn more return visits.

The Big Takeaway: The most efficient way to accomplish a bump in visits is to work off of a good customer database. Working to build and maintain a strong database is a essential in today's competitive world. What are they waiting on, an invitation?” The answer is YES!

3. Generate More Money From Each Customer Visit: This is not a suggestion to simply raise prices. While I'm all for charging higher prices, it should only be done once you and your team have gone through the process of reviewing, adjusting, and setting prices according to demand on a regular, perhaps quarterly, basis. But that's a separate conversation for another day.

What we're talking about here is discovering ways to generate more money by increasing additional sales and/or transactions from current customers. From food and beverage sales to gift cards, retail merchandise, upselling, and everything in between, your marketing planning should be exploring ways for your operation to entice customers to spend additional money with your business. One trend many industries have been profiting from are processing and booking fees when customers make online reservations. Consumers have become accustomed to these fees when booking flights, hotel rooms, excursions, dinner reservations, tee times, and so much more.

Brainstorm with your staff on how your center can generate more dollars per visit. Challenge your team to use their experiences with other businesses to apply to this challenge. Over the years I've often been surprised with creative suggestions from some of our unlikely staff members. It's all about perspective and including your team in the process.

Generating more revenue per customer visit will be an important part of what this section, Bowling Industry Marketing Monthly will feature in coming issues.

Final thoughts: Before you begin this process, I recommend you establish a form of measurement to know how you are doing against any upselling plans you employ. Ask yourself, “What is your current revenue per customer visit in each of your categories?” If you aren't certain, your very first step should be to find the answer to that question so you can accurately measure your results and concentrate on the most rewarding methods.

This month's Marketing Monthly was a long one. Moving forward I will try and keep them a bit shorter but still chock full of important marketing lessons.

Marketing

Marketing Monthly

Socializing Your Way To Profits

Bruce Davis — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 21:10:59 +0000

Socializing Your Way To Profits

Selling Bowling | Methods, Strategies, And Techniques To Book More Business

Bruce Davis Tue, 10/05/2021 - 17:10

A few years back an operator of a chain of well-run, up-to-date, and busy centers called me with a dynamite suggestion for an interview for my marketing club members. He said there was a lady in his center having great success building new leagues from scratch for him. She was not an employee but was one of his dedicated league bowlers. He was excited to report to me that she had recently formed numerous adult leagues of 4-to-a-team filling 24 teams once, 32 teams the next time and that she already had 28 teams ready to go for her next league, plus she had 6 full teams on her waiting list! I was anxious to find out how this super salesperson was able to do this and report back to my members, who might use the information to fill some holes they had in their schedules.

Takeaway #1: It doesn't take a marketing or sales type person to get results, you can get good results simply by using someone who wants to introduce the fun of league bowling to others!

I gave her a call and when she answered she came across as very mild-mannered and quiet, in no way did I take her to be a "sales type"of person. I asked her what sales techniques she was using to convince all these people who were mostly new to league play, to sign up for her Pizza, Beverage, & Bowling 16-week leagues. She politely told me that was not a salesperson type at all, she just liked bowling and offering others the fun of league bowling. She found it was very easy to get people to join her leagues by simply explaining all the fun that was involved. When I told her she was an amazing 'social seller,' she responded that she prefers the name Social Butterfly.

Where Did She Find The People?

The prospects were easy to find, they were already at the center open bowling during the center's busy times. All the Social Butterfly did was walk through the open play traffic and talk with customers about how fun it is being a part of one of her leagues. It's important to note that her leagues were priced at $18 per week per bowler which was more than center management thought she should ask for. She presented her league to people about 6 to 8 hours a week and most often filled a league in a week or two. Of course, she found people who brought friends and family to the league because she asked interested people to get friends and family members together and join.

Takeaway #2: This technique is relatively easy, the cost is low, and you're only spending a concentrated effort on people who have already shown an interset in bowling and/or liking your establishment. When soliciting customers in- house you may have to ask a lot to get a few, but overall, a well worth it endeavor!

Your Social Butterfly

I encourage you to find your own Social Butterfly to talk with customers about joining a special hole-filling league you are offering. Find someone who enjoys league bowling (maybe a current league customer) and ask them to "work" a couple of hours a night during your busy open playtimes. Give him or her some flyers and a clipboard and let them be social. This approach is low risk with a possible high reward. The marketing targets are already in your center, so the difficult and expensive marketing work is done. Be sure to make good use of your monitors, broadcast over the PA, display cards and flyers including around the center and bar, and consider making a QR code for more information.

Marketing

Marketing Monthly