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!”
