How To Brainstorm The Good 'Ole Summertime

It’s the middle of the winter and I am trying to get my clients to think about summer. I know they want to. They know they have to, but… it’s hard when you’re out plowing snow to get into it. 

So here’s what I propose:

Call a staff meeting and make sure everyone comes to the meeting in shorts and t shirts. (Yes they can change in the bathroom before the staff meeting, and after as well).  Serve hot dogs and burgers, Lemonade, Diet Pepsi or regular Pepsi and ice cream. Give out an award for the best t shirt and best shorts to get people in the mood of summer.  Maybe a $50 bill?

Now start your brainstorming session?  What are you going to do differently to get summer revenue?

I know, says one staffer, “Let’s have a bowling league where everybody has to wear a bathing suit and t shirt.”  “No”, somebody says, “that’s stupid.”

Well maybe it is, but the objective of brainstorming is to let all the ideas come out. And that’s your job. To set the ground rules that no one can make statements like:

·         Been there done that

·         Tried it, didn't work

·         That’s stupid

·         Won’t work here, might work somewhere else

·         Sounds like a lot of work

·         Nobody would go for that

Now every time someone says something negative, take $1.00 from them.  And keep score as to who is the most negative.  At the end of the session, you should have a little pile of cash and also find out who the “NO” person is which you can either help to become a “YES” person or offer him/her another employment opportunity in a different environment.

By now, you have hopefully quieted the naysayers and have put that idea up on a white pad (gotta have a white pad or white board!) and someone says, “No not bathing suits, a different mask every week.” And someone chimes in and says “How about a different t shirt each week and we give rewards for the best T shirt?”

And you keep building on it and building on it until you have a league idea that everyone on your staff thinks is cool.  Do you think that just maybe they will try a LITTLE harder to sell it?

You can do this with summer party ideas, fund raiser ideas and open play bowling ideas

Here are three ideas to get you started;

·         Have a summer party OFFERING where everybody comes dressed in white (don’t say their clothes will get dirty because of the oil) and all the decorations are white and gold; banners are pictures of the sun and sand, etc.  Now everybody bowls and food offerings are all summery from burgers to dogs to apple pie and maybe ice cream. Offer a DJ or offer karaoke for the group. Sell to the corporations as your “White Night Summer Bash.”  Now go brainstorm it

·         Offer a specific themed fundraiser to a local nonprofit charity. You give them a ticket to sell to the “Madhatters Bowlathon for ____”  say, you sell it at $10 and they sell it for whatever they want.  The sizzle is that everyone who bowls at the charity event has to wear a hat of some sort. And your center will award $100 to the best “ Madhatters” who bowls. Of course that person will donate it to the charity.  Now go brainstorm it.

·         “I’m Sick of BBBQ’s, Lets Go Bowling Tonight” for $20.13 for 2 hours” for up to 5 people.  Now go brainstorm it.

Oh yeah, better finish the snow plowing first.

I thought you might enjoy this guest post from Mike Brown, of BrainZooming Group.  Its a nice little read for a Friday. Enjoy!

Quit Being Your Own Worst Enemy

Published on March 1, 2013 by Mike Brown in BrainZooming

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There are many ways to be your own worst enemy.

Don’t believe me? How about . . .

• Deciding someone really doesn't want to do business with you instead of letting the other person decide what they want to do.
• Down talking yourself to others.
• Allowing yourself to delay addressing what you know is important to do right now.
• Doing the easy / convenient / familiar /comfortable thing when it isn't also the best thing to do.
• Not staring a new effort because you doubt you’ll finish it.
• Taking negativity to heart from others when there is no reason to do so.
• Allowing short-term issues to get you off track from focusing on what’s important.
• Keeping your concerns too much to yourself.
• Hoping things will get better on their own
• Not celebrating every accomplishment, whether big or small.
• Avoiding tough conversations you need to have.
• Failing to surround yourself with the right people.
• Allowing your health (whether spiritual, physical, or mental) to go unattended.
• Believing social networks are an accurate depiction of reality.
• Continually comparing yourself to who you were THEN but aren't anymore.
• Listening to all the unsolicited advice you’re given.
• Listening to none of the unsolicited advice you’re given.
• Spending too much time listening to the voices inside your head.

See what I mean?

And this was simply a list from looking back on times I've been my own worst enemy or seen others do it to themselves. You may very well be able to add to the list from your own experience. Plus there may be other people out there who really aren't your fans. Think about what they’d add to the list, but why would you even consider giving them more ammunition against you?

So now that we have a full footprint in the new year, let’s all try to treat ourselves better. Look past your near-term challenges, and buttress yourself with the long-term successes you’ve created before and the new ones ahead. It’s time to  be your own best fan! - Mike Brown

What You Don't Know About Adverting Can Kill You. (Part 3 of a 3 Part Series)

This Is The 3^rd Part Of A Three Part Series On Adverting

For many of us, we think that advertising should produce instant results.  In some cases it does; when you send out a direct mail postcard or letter and ask for someone to email or phone or take some action, you would usually see immediate results.  If you sent out an email and asked for a “call to action”, you might see instant action.

On the other hand, old school advertising like cable TV, radio, Billboard and Newspaper/magazine is not only far more difficult to track, but to expect instant results is only setting yourself up for failure.  And those that do, put a stake in the heart of their future marketing plans.

The purpose of advertising is to create a sale; however, before advertising can create that sale, it has to emotionally change your perception, inclination, propensity and desire for a specific product either from neutral or negative to a positive in order to generate an “I want this product” moment in the prospects heart and head.

One of our problems is that we never give these advertising “flights” enough time.

We say that newspapers don’t work, but then again we expect one little ad to create a run on the center. We say TV didn’t work because well, candidly, you placed the media on the wrong networks and you didn't get enough frequency to make an impression.  You pulled the radio off the air after a week, because you didn't see a lot of people coming in.  Congratulations, you wasted your money.  You need to invest monthly or every other month on radio and cable for a two week minimum. That’s Fred’s rule # 117 on advertising. “Commit to frequency and commit to consistency or don’t do it.”

Or worse, you just did not bother to advertise. 

Too many proprietors are using email as their one trick pony and forgetting about everything else.  Every time you send out an email, remember about 10% will open it and only 2% to 3% of those people will click through to the offer.  So why aren't you disappointed with email as an advertising medium.  Simple, you think it doesn't cost anything so any customer you get is a PLUS.  There’s always a cost and the cost is you might be sending too many irrelevant emails to the wrong audience, especially if your data base is not segmented properly.

Finally, many of you just won’t spend the money it takes to invest in the marketing of the business. You’ll spend it with the lawyer, the accountant and even the electrician before you’ll spend advertising dollars.                                          

And I just can’t figure out why you would have a couple of million dollars tied up in asset that you don’t bother to tell anyone about?  

Why are we one of the only industries that does not market itself, locally, regionally or nationally?

Somebody help me.  What am I missing?

Advertising Your Existing Product (part 2 of a 3 part series)

This is the second in a three part series about advertising.  In our last blog we spoke about the budgeting process for NEW programs and product you would want to introduce. In this blog we’ll discuss how to set advertising for EXISTING programs.

Let’s recognize several facts first.

1.      Every product has a life cycle. Depending on where your product is in its life cycle will be an important factor in how you will spend to promote it

2.      Will your product or program be modified, changed, renamed this budget year or will it be pretty much the same?

3.      What did you spend last year to support it and did you get any sales lift when you did that?

a.     Is the sales trend for the product down over the last two years

b.     What specifically did you do and how much did you spend relative to the sales of the program

c.     Did you do the same thing the year before last?

4.      If you’re including a flier as part of your advertising expenditure, please don’t.  I am talking about direct mail, electronic media and any digital media that you actually PAID for.

Let’s examine a typical scenario for Cosmic bowling.  Many centers are reporting that their Comic Bowl has been off for several years. 

No surprise, considering that the 23 yr old person you are trying to attract has seen the same product for 10 years and it just doesn't give him the same sense of excitement it once did.

So now, you want to jazz up your product, maybe add a band every other week or once a month, create theme nights and get a Master of Ceremonies that rocks the crowd.  

Let’s say you have done all that and it’s time to promote the product.  Outside of Internet (emails and Face book) you might want to consider electronic media as well as direct mail.

Over the last three years, your cosmic bowl has done $75,000, $65,000 and now it’s trending at $55,000.  So you have lost $20,000 in top line revenue which should translate into 75% to 80% of net (especially if you are past your break-even point).  

What would you spend to get back to that $75,000 or more plateau?

Me?  I would spend at least $5,000 over the course of the year, during key time periods to get that number moving in the right direction. Why $5,000? 

Because if I do it right and actually hit that $75,000, I will have added $20,000; spent $5,000 and have $15,000 left…approximately three to one ROI. And that’s what I shoot for when I budget clients’ marketing programs.

Now if your product isn't being changed and you just want to get the message out, then spend enough to buy you at least three two week flights (either on Cable or radio) in November, January and March to achieve a FOUR frequency every campaign.  

This should give your sales a lift during peak times of the year.

 (Remember to "Fish where the fish are.")

Bottom line: Support your winning programs with enough advertising to create and reinforce top of mind awareness as well as a strong call to action - think promotional offer-  for the program among existing customers and prospects. 

Further, modify you losing programs, but support them more to a greater degree because you have new BENEFITS of the program you MUST communicate to get the customer and prospect to take action. Need a strong call to action here as well.

If you follow some of these guidelines, I believe you will see a sales lift.

Then again, you can choose to stick with just Internet marketing…and pray for rain on the weekends.J

Budgeting The Advertising Component (part 1 of a 3 Part Series

Many clients have asked me how much they should be budgeting for advertising and promotion?

My answer usually goes like this, “You need to spend whatever it takes to achieve your revenue goals on NEW programs and spend whatever it takes to maintain your EXISTING programs.”   I can only get more specific if I know what each program is and work from the ground up, rather than just throw out 3% or 5%, which many businesses do just because it is easy.

Let’s say that you want to be very aggressive about building company parties and you are currently doing about $10,000 in this category.  Your goal, you say is $50,000 – a five fold increase.  Now what would you spend to get that $40,000 when you know that x% will be for food costs and x% will be for labor costs.  Hypothetically, after I factor out these costs, I have $20,000 left. 

What would you budget to meet your goals?  

I still don’t have a good answer because I now have to examine who is my best target; (Fred’s theory of low hanging fruit) when would be the best time to market this product; and what are the most efficient ways to reach the target with MY message which is "a compelling offer."

I now devise a plan to go after this segment in the September to December cycle and then again in the January to April Cycle.  My media plan is to use direct mail postcards and letters as well as email and linked in.  I have a data base of 1000 companies having more than 25 employees around me (in a 7 mile radius) and I am also able to discern who has had a party at the center and who hasn't had one in the past year. (I'll no doubt test some offers against current customers vs new customers and try different offers before full launch/roll out.)

Based upon this knowledge I sit down and figure out artist costs, postcard costs, direct mail costs, postage, telephone costs and some indirect labor costs. I total all these costs and come up with $5500.  I set my budget at $6500, knowing that I will need to save some for “an opportunity.”  

After the first flight of advertising goes out, I gauge my results and if I am ahead of or behind my budget.  If I am ahead, I make no modifications, but if I am behind on my “yield”, then I must reduce my spending on the second flight (Jan to April) or develop some new tactics that are not as costly and proceed.  

Adding more dollars to the second flight is like a gambler doubling down to recover his earlier losses.  Unless the world changes or you have a revolutionary product, avoid the double down wherever possible

The budget for your “existing programs” is similar but different enough that you need to be aware of the subtleties. I’ll cover that next time.

Now I have simplified this process somewhat, but I wanted to demonstrate what a “real” budgeting process is and how one must go about it to be “On Plan”.  And isn't that what marketing is all about?  Because if you don’t have a plan with real goals and strategies and tactics to back it up, you have as Paul Simon would say, “A winter’s day in a deep and dark December.”

Or you can just choose 3% and wing it :)

How Long Can You Be Invisible?

As much as I like statistics, I was surprised to read the recent Kantar Media Intelligence Report published in December 2012 about US advertising expenditures:

“Total advertising expenditures in the third quarter of 2012 increased 7.1 percent from a year ago and finished the period at $34.5 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing. information. Total spending for the first nine months of the year grew 3.8 percent to $101.3 billion.”

The biggest increases came in television media which grew 9.1% for the period January 2012 to September 2012. Cable TV expenditures were up 5% while network TV was up about 9% (even factoring out $1B in political/election advertising)

Radio advertising too, was also up about 2.4% and billboard advertising was up 4%  

On the other side of the coin, internet advertising was off 3.1% for the same period.

And here is another interesting fact, Apple, Microsoft, Verizon and Google (the kings of the internet) spent billions on TV advertising.  Do you find that strange?  The biggest names in digital media, software, hardware and services spend the majority of their ad bucks on TV!!!

Here’s what I find strange.  As an industry, bowling has stopped advertising; whether it is on TV, radio or even billboards. Every now and then I find a proprietor or two who has invested in “measured media”, specifically electronic media.  Rarely, if ever, do I find groups of proprietors pooling their money to invest in a media campaign.

The Cincinnati group may be an exception.  They run a have a ball program every year and have done so probably for the last ten or twelve years using radio and I think some local cable.  Their results have been consistently outstanding with many proprietors in the group reporting over 100 new bowlers annually as a direct result of this effort.

So how come other local groups haven’t done it? Is everybody so in love with the internet and email (which only 10% to 12% of YOUR customers open) and Facebook that we have completely forgotten about the one media that Americans spend more time with than any other? TELEVISION!  Is the “new media” alone improving your business?

Now I’m not down on internet marketing. Far, far from it.  I write blogs and emails and place face book posts for my clients every day and make sure that they are the very best they can be. So I am a believer! After-all  this is exactly what I am doing writing these words, but I also believe that TV is still a staple and bowling is still a visual experience, so why can’t local groups get together and put on a media campaign?

Is it because they can’t get consensus on what to do?  Is it because they are concerned that the center who doesn't advertise will also benefit? Or is it the fact that they "have done it, been there and not sure” if it worked.  So why bother again, Right?

Probably all valid reasons. 

But not good enough reasons for your center to remain invisible to the THREE OUT OF FOUR AMERICANS WHO DON’T BOWL.  You’re missing 75% of the people out there who haven’t been in your center in at least a year (probably more) and while it is always more efficient to get your existing customers back, you just can’t abandon the “new customer pipeline”.  Certainly, you will agree, that some investment in that distribution channel has to be funded.

Are there any takers out there who want to tap my 30 years of marketing and media experience to help put together a local proprietor group marketing effort?  

Or do you want to stay invisible?

Here's 9 Strategies for Your Best Summer Ever

When you think of summer marketing, most proprietors first thought is to floor 13 to 17 week summer league bowlers and in typical fashion they offer what worked last summer, deduct what didn't work and come up with a few new ideas.

After they get their leagues on the floor (sometime from late April to mid June, depending on their locale), they then begin to concentrate on some deeply discounted open play programs and hope it rains.

Now I know that sounds simplistic, but trust me, I have been in over a thousand centers in this country and that’s pretty much the way it goes. And that's all there is until July when fall league start ups rears its head.

So in this blog, I am going to list nine (9) different strategies that you could implement over the summer; in fact you have at least 9 different strategies to choose from as a way to approach your summer business.

But before we get into the summer choices, have you examined and analyzed the last three years of your business, looked at the trends, seen what kinds of leagues, programs and offerings have been successful?  Do you have a real understanding of where your business is coming from? What segments? What time periods/day parts and what kinds of “consumer offers” are being accepted?

Secondly, in building any league schedule for the summer, do you have offerings for these key segments?

·         Competitive league bowlers

·         Social bowlers

·         Seniors

·         Adult child bowlers

·         Children

·         New bowlers (couples, adult/child, seniors, children)

If you don’t have an offering that is relevant for each of these segments, then you have no chance of getting them to bowl.

Now with that being said, here are nine different ways to build summer leagues:

#1 Traditional 12 to 16 week summer season

#2 Traditional and short season leagues only

#3 Short season leagues only

#4 Traditional and short season leagues plus corporate parties

#5 Traditional league offerings and corporate parties

#6 Short season leagues and corporate parties

#7 Only corporate parties and fund raisers

#8 Open play only (walkina nd organized)

#9 Open play and corporate parties/fund raisers

I can categorically tell you that I have seen each of these strategies work in various centers over the course of many centers. Your challenge is to decide which of these strategies fits your market the best and which will create the most revenue

Therefore you must answer these types of questions before deciding what strategy to pursue:

·         What is your competition offering?

·         What other summer activities are you competing with and of these which ones can you partner with to create a great consumer offer (i.e. Six Flags, Water parks, Casinos, etc)

·         How many companies are in your area and do you have a sales effort that can be geared up?

·         Do you have a data base to reach non league people with short season programs?

·         Do you have a commercial data base of fund raising organizations, religious groups and fraternal groups?

·         Who is going to do the various tasks to implement these programs and how will you monitor their  progress?

·         How much will you spend to reach these various segments and what is your anticipated return?

Or you can do what you did last year and pray for more rain? 

Please let me know if I can help.                                                                                                                    You can reach me at 516 359 4874 or email me at fredkaplowitz@gmail.com