Three Tips for Writing Money Making Headlines

I have been playing catch up the past 10 days; the hip surgery put me on the disabled list for 10 days and I couldn't get the docs to let me travel, but eventually I just had to get out to the real world and touch and feel what was going on in the trenches.

I was happy to see that many of the programs we planned in June were being adhered to as were the schedules. 

Unfortunately, the execution on the communication was mediocre at best. Headlines were filled with the names of the center or the name of the program or even just the words, “New Men’s League Starting On September 5^th at 630pm.”

Really?  That's about as exciting as watching water boil.

So I decided to devote just a short blog on how to write a headline which is the most important element of your communication. As I have said in the past, “You may have the greatest program in the world, but if you cannot get people to read, listen or watch what you have to sell; its game over!!

Your headline is the first -- and perhaps only -- impression you make on a prospective reader. 

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. The better your headline, the better your odds of beating the averages and getting what you’ve written read by a larger percentage of people.

Tip #1:  Make sure there is a clear and discernible benefit in your headline. Here’s an example, “How to Learn to Bowl Better in Just 20 Minutes a Week.” If your audience is league bowlers, the headline gets very specific about a benefit that the customer will get by reading the body copy. 

Or “The Secret To Improving Your Bowling Average Revealed.” Here’s one that may even be better; “How I Learned the Secret of Improving My Average by 20 Pins in Just 20 Minutes a Week.”  It’s a little longer than I would like, but it will work well with a picture of the person and then I would write the copy in the voice of the 1st person

Tip # 2:  Stop being cute. Save that for your kids or grand kids.  You might think that the previous headline sounds too “salesy”. Well it is. It is the same formula that Fortune 500 copy writers, world class bloggers and digital marketers use simply because it works.  It’s all about the benefits and the more of them you can show in your body copy.

Tip # 3:  Even though my examples above are more than 6 or 7 words, (there is one that is 7 words) ideally, I try to keep my headlines to no more than seven (7) words.

There is a whole art and science to copy writing and there is a reason that the very successful people who write long copy ads for publications like The National Enquirer both print and digital get paid enormous 5 figure fees…simply because their story works. 

And yours should too.

Take The 100 Bowler Challenge

News in the bowling world has been on a bit of a downer lately with Brunswick exiting the retail part of our industry, new reports that sanctioned league bowlers are now 1.7 million down from 9.0 million in 1980, just 4500 centers or less are still open (down from 9600 centers in 1980) along with the constant bombardment of new entertainment options from competitors with deeper pockets hammering our customers with new offers, new enticements and proclamations of fun, fun, fun…like they have never seen before!!

But not necessarily deeper minds, eh? (That was for you Canadian folks :)

OK, we may be feeling a little down, a little blue, but we have a new season to work with, a whole new ball game and a new determination that this will be the best season we have had in a long time!

Why is that? Well, here are four (4) reasons why you can do it

First, you have already planned your September starts and bringing back last year’s leagues and hopefully adding to those leagues.  

Please re read some of my earlier blogs on this topic; they're pretty specific or if you want my power point presentation, please drop me an email at fredkaplowitz@gmail.com.   

Second, you have to start planning for mini leagues NOW for October starts; at least 3 or 4 new ones to get you to your goal of 100 NEW bowlers targeted at some of these segments:

1.   non bowlers

2.   company or organization people

3.   dropout bowlers

4.   learn to bowl beginner bowlers

5.   youth bowlers

6.   adult/junior bowlers

7.   mommy n me morning bowlers

8.   senior bowlers

9.   fund raising organizations

10.               some 21 to 34 year old “party time types”

Now candidly, I don’t care which ones you pick or what ideas you have to get these leagues participants motivated. I just care if you check the idea out with the target group; create a communication plan that is more than “flier on front desk and email/facebook; that is less than 12 weeks and in some cases 6 or 8 weeks or every other week! 

And that you take the idea outside to the target group.  Work smarter, not harder.  GO to organized groups first instead of trying to patch it together.

And here’s the deal – make a promise with yourself to get 100 NEW bowlers on the floor between September 25^th and November 10^th or so.

100 new bowlers will give you some wind in your sales for new company parties, birthday parties, fund raising events and best of all;  continuation of their short season program in January and February.

Third, it’s not too early to start planning for holiday parties. Develop a great offer, find a graphic artist whose first name is Picasso and get your first direct mail postcard and email out in September. Start phone follows up, re email again with testimonials. 

Target big companies by dropping off a bowling pin with the slogan on the pin, “Pin down your holiday parties at Happy Lanes.” and continue phone follow up.

Be brave and get Picasso to create some beautiful static ads and use one of the BPAA TV spots and tag it with your holiday messages so it appears on your local Comcast spotlight or other digital media. 

C'mon they're maybe $10 to $25 a spot. $1,000 to $1,500 could be just two or three parties to break even.  And it could mean $10,000 to $15,000 in new party revenue.

Buy Facebook ads, 10 miles from your center and target it to males and females 25 to 55 who own businesses. (Read Facebook ad instructions or ask your kids how to do it :)

Fourth:  Get your staffs’ heads on straight. Put them through more customer service training, enforce your dress code, show them the proper way to handle customer complaints, how to answer the phones, how to be engaged with customers and teach them how to bend down to pick up a scrap of paper on the carpet. 

If you don’t have the staff to do it, go out and hire new staff…hire athletes like HS football players, baseball players, basketball players; anyone who plays or played on an organized team. They’re more dedicated, competitive, goal oriented, understand rules,want to win and understand the concept of “teamwork.” Are you ready for them coach?

Promise me you’ll do this and go out and do it because it will be good for your bowling sole…not to mention your cash register.

As always, I’m here for you if you have any questions.

fred kaplowitz

kaploe marketing group

516 359 4874

fredkaplowitz@gmail.com

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Cartoon Happiness

In NYC, in the Times Square tourist area, a recent phenomenon of “cartoon characters” grabbing tourists to have their pictures taken with them and then asking  for tips has been taking place with great frequency. 

There are literally 50 or so “characters” that wander the area everyday, 24 hours a day,  looking for tourists.

Some “characters" such as Sponge Bar Square Pants, Elmo, Superman and even Batman actually have gotten into fisticuffs over protecting “their” staked out territories and street corners which they claim as their own.

These “cartoon characters”, frequently recent immigrants, can make between $50 and $200 per day on tips from posing with tourists.

When reporters from the New York Times asked them why they decided to get into this business instead of other vocations they could pursue, most of them, in one form or the other said:

“American people like to be entertained…to feel like children playing with  friends. Since they were little, they had friends who were cartoon characters. Makes them feel good.  We make money making them feel good. It’s easy.”

So tell me again, why more bowling centers don’t have cartoon characters or mascots to entertain customers?

Do People Even Know You Have Something To Sell?

Most of us will do the things we are good at, or at least think we are good at,  so it’s easy for us to do the books, stock the vending machines, fix a machine or two, check the inventory and schmooze with the customers; the latter being something we are really good at!

But we don’t do the hard things.  For one, we don’t sell. Forget about creating a marketing strategy and tactics and social media campaigns and program content and all those really hard things, I’m talking about plain old fashioned- get- out- the- door-selling.  When was the last time you got out into the community; yes you, not a hired hand, you?)

I have had more owner operators and managers tell me they don’t “like to sell”; that they are “not good at it” so they just don’t do it. Oh, they can talk to people inside the center or answer the phone and sell a birthday party like a champ, but get her outside of that comfort zone and, oh well; it often isn't a pretty site. 

Now I’m not saying that this malady afflicts ALL bowling center owner operator and managers, but I am saying that based upon the amount of outside selling I see, and I’m in a lot of centers in a lot of cities, the percentage of bowling center management teams that have a cogent selling plan is probably less than 15%.

And I always ask myself the same question, “Why are we the only industry where our individual retail establishments do NOT have a dedicated sales person on premise working our market?”

WHY? The shoe store has a sales person. The clothing store has a sales person. The car dealer has a sales person. The hotel has a sales person.

What do we have? A “desk person/customer service/crew member/team member, etc.” who sprays shoes!

What don’t we understand that in order to make money, you, the owner must take responsibility for selling something?

Everybody has to sell something!!

Why do you think you are exempt from that fact? And when I ask you why you don’t hire someone to sell for you; you say you can’t afford it. You can no longer afford not to have someone to sell. Whether it’s you or someone else, you have to do it.

If you really don’t like selling or feel that you’re not good at it, do something about it. Take a course, read a book, hire a sales person, but don’t just sit back and tell me business “aint so good.”

Because in order to get something positive to happen to your revenue line, you will have to sell more product, It's just that simple. You need to sell more product and while the thought of outside selling leaves you feeling a bit queasy, the harsh reality is you no longer have a choice.

You can only pave over the hard things for so long before people forget you even have anything to sell.

Some folks in the industry, and wiser than I, might say that we are very close to or have approached that point already. I certainly hope not.

Because before you can work smarter, you have to work harder. It’s just the way the world works.

Sorry,

But I Don't Have Any New Ideas

Almost on a daily basis I get calls from proprietors asking me if I have any good ideas. And this time of the year, I get lots more inquiries.

I kind of laugh to myself and think, “C’mon you’re not asking me if I have any good ideas; you’re asking me if I have any new ideas that are so good that they are guaranteed to work.” 

 The reality is the caller wants something that wont fail because that would cost him money or erode his self esteem and that’s a bad thing, they think.

I think not. There is nothing wrong with failing. In fact I recommend you fail at least once a day so you have a BASIS from which to learn.

If you never fail, it means that you are never doing anything.

You see, pretty good ideas are easy to come up with. It's the really great idea that takes blood sweat and tears and that's what some of us are not willing to do; to stick it out; to refine; to test and make it work.

Yet its easier than ever to come up with that great idea. With so much information available in cyber land, all you have to do is start asking questions about how to solve your particular marketing problem and you’ll get clues or even cookie crumbs that will lead you to alternative solutions.

Years ago I took an advanced economics class with a dude named John Kenneth Galbraith who taught the Harvard case study method in how to solve problems and come up with new ideas/solutions. 

It sounds impressive, but was pretty simple. It went like this (in its much abbreviated version. of course).

Step 1. Define the problem so clearly that it is singularly focuses on just one element.

Step 2. Do enough research that you can come up with at least three idea solutions to solve that specific problem?

Step 3. Choose the solution you are most passionate about and present it to a group of No BS people in and out of the industry. Then prove why that particular is the best solution by comparing its advantages and disadvantages to the other two solutions.

See, you can develop new ideas.  But you'll have to break a sweat too

"The Doctor Said I Had To Go To Rehab. I Said No, No , No."

You probably recognize the title of this blog as being the title of an Amy Winehouse song. Amy was a troubled, drug addicted, alcohol dependent singer with a beautiful voice who never did work the rehab successfully and eventually died by sabotaging her tortured mind and body, even in rehab, with even more drugs and alcohol.  

She just didn't want to get positive measurements that might have reinforced the process and motivated her to battle onward. So sad to see someone so self destructive.

Now As I go thru this rehabilitation process to build up my legs, a result of a hip replacement surgery, I realize that measurement of the “progress” of the process is more important than the process itself.  And it is the measurement and documentation of the process that motivates me to be better tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that.

How many reps did you do today? What number of leg lifts (using 5 lb. weights) did you achieve vs. today’s goal, weekly goal, and program goal?  How fast did you walk? How far did you go? How much further can you go tomorrow?

During a normal course of my business day, I would never think about measuring how many steps I took, how far I walked or how fast I walked. (although I understand that that “Fitbit” a new fitness measurement gadget that you can synch to your computer will tell you all those measurements and more.  For those who want this data, it’s all there for you!)

But when we are injured or trying to recover or trying to bring a business back from death’s door, more often than not, we become obsessed with our progress. We just want to measure everything to see if we are getting better. 

Yet I have met many proprietors who only measure their total revenue, their bowling revenue, and their food and beverage revenue. Not revenue per lane, not food and beverage revenue per game or shoe rental revenue per game, just revenue and certainly not lineage measurements. (“I can’t take lineage to the bank,” they say).

And then there are other proprietors who measure almost everything. From shoe rental income per lane to price per game, to yield per lane to number of beers per lane to, well…you name it and they measure it.

The real question is, “what are you doing with your measurement data?Are you using it to set goals, strategies and tactics? 

For example, if you knew that your revenue per game was $5.12, you might want to compare that to revenue per game for the industry. If that number was much higher than your number, you might establish an objective”to increase revenue per game by 10%.”  

Your strategy would then be to offer more packaged food and beverage items with bowling on an hourly basis. Tactically, you could introduce a program like “Wing It N Fling It”, where you offer two hours of bowling, shoe rental and a 20 piece chicken wing platter for $54.95 for up to 5 people.  

If those people bowled 10 games, your revenue in this deal would be $5.49 per game. Add in two pitchers of beer at $8 each and your revenue per game goes to $7.10 per game.

So the real question is not so much what you are measuring, but rather are you measuring the right stuff that will give you actionable programs to meet your goals?

Think of it as your rehab work before the season starts!!

The 4th of July

Do you read self help books? Do you read books about marketing? Or management? Or motivation? Or innovation?

When I pose this question (and I do it frequently) to friends, business associates and people I meet on planes, trains and buses, I am very often amazed at how many people proudly admit that those types of books are a “bunch of BS and are nothing more than plain common sense” and they don’t need a self help book for that.

“Nope”, they say, “I don’t read these types of books.” Rather they state they are content in “being who they are” and “knowing themselves” well enough that they “don’t need any help.” 

Or the best excuse is, "I'm too busy to read and learn anything new."  Boy, wouldn't you hate for your heart surgeon to tell you that?

Is it the fear that holds them back from finding out that if they read these types of books and have to admit that they don’t know something they would get lost in the void?

Better to go on doing what they are doing and continue flailing round waiting for the “business to come back” then learn some new ideas, implement suggestions from experts, take some courses and get better at running their business? 

Maybe self help isn’t comfortable and maybe it is even a little painful, but don’t you owe it to yourself and the people that work with you and for you to get them to reach for a higher bar; to achieve more than they ever thought they could and be the best they can be?

Please, on this 4^th of July, declare your independence from the status quo, from business as usual and head to a new landing spot, away from the stagnant waters in which you may very well be swimming.