The Internet Has Changed Nothing

Has it really changed your business, brought you new league bowlers and increased the frequency of open play bowling from 2.2 visits annually to 2.2 visits PLUS.

Ah, I don’t think so. All it has done for many proprietors is give them a little less expensive way to communicate to existing customers.

In reality, if you take away the internet, you still have to plan, develop strategies, tactics, timetables, budgets and assign and delegate tasks to you, your wife, your kids, your employees and the dog to get stuff done...and monitor and modify. You still need to make sales calls; to develop special events, bring  fund raisers and community activities into the center that will generate "top of mind awareness" and bring your brand into a better sphere of activity.

You see the internet and all the social media platforms from Facebook to Pinterest to Twitter to Instagram to good old email; they are all mere tools to communicate your marketing objectives.

In fact the activity of social media is a key strategy with its own set of tactics, timing, and follow up.

Without the strategy and tactics and bolt on implementation, you are not going to move thee revenue needle because you sent out ONE email blast about Cosmic bowling this weekend. 

Was the email part of a bigger strategy?  Was it part of a total campaign that integrated Facebook, direct mail, in center selling, old media (TV or radio) and your blog with emails? Was it relevant to the target that you sent it to or did 78 yr old Bert who bowls in your senior league on Tuesday get one too? L

Here is s the bottom line. You still have to do the marketing; still have to test offers against various segments; still have to train and retrain your staff every day and continually build the marketing and service culture; still have to “do something weird” now and then to break on through to the other side.  

I have heard you say that you get a million emails, see a bazillion TV commercials and hear hundreds of radio spots and maybe read newspapers either on line or in print and can’t remember one of them.

So now YOU expect one little Email to make your Cosmic bowling great.

As Chris Carter says on Monday Night Football, “C’mon Man!”