Have you ever heard the phrase, “marketers ruin everything”? When you sit back and think, it becomes undeniably true. Whether it’s TV ads, print ads, or even Facebook, marketers love to take advantage of an opportunity and squeeze every possible dollar out of it. Hey, it’s our job!
As 2017 approaches, most FECs (family entertainment centers) and parks are wondering what they can do to make the next year even more successful for their business. Some might even be wondering how they can bring back the numbers that they enjoyed years ago. In today’s technology driven world, your customers can easily opt-in or opt-out of advertisements that they don’t want to see.
Think of television. When a commercial comes on, we opt-out by fast forwarding (because we record much of the content we want to see now) or we opt-out by looking at our smartphones. Can you relate to this scenario? Customers want relevant content that adds value to their life.
Entertainment Center and Amusement Park Marketing Strategies
Here are 5 key strategies that you should be implementing to reach more relevant customers and be unignorable in 2017:
- Have a mobile friendly site: In the world of family entertainment and amusement, the smartphone is the first and most used device for discovering fun. You must have a mobile friendly site to compete in 2017!
- Use advanced Facebook advertising: It’s time to go beyond the “Boost” and start using Facebook’s advanced targeting. Send ads to people who visited your birthday party page but might not have booked, or target employees from businesses nearby to increase your corporate event leads. Facebook ads are incredibly inexpensive right now (it won’t last), so take advantage of it while prices are low.
- Tap into Live streaming: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all released popular live streaming features to their networks. If you have something fun or important to share, what better way to get in front of your audience than to “go live”?
- Embrace 24 hour disappearing messages: We used to spend time explaining the return on investment (ROI) of Snapchat. Everyone wanted to know why it was worth their time to create a message that disappeared in 24 hours. The simple answer is that it drives a sense immediacy. If your message isn’t watched soon, your followers might miss out! Instagram has also opened up this feature, which also lets you tag followers and even link to your website!
- Local search and reviews: When you spend as much time in Internet marketing and data as we do, you start to pick up on patterns and trends. Over the past 12 months, we have noticed a dramatic increase in local reviews on Facebook and Google. Additionally, both companies are pushing more programs and rewards to get their enormous user base to be more active in reviews. While social media can drive chatter and awareness, Google is one of the first places people go when they’re ready to make a buying decision. Your first goal is to move up to the top of the search results, and then wow customers with stellar reviews (which means you need to attract them).
Is your marketing strategy in place for a successful year?
