If You"re Not Lady Gaga, You're Nobody

Ever notice that to get noticed today you need to almost border on the ridiculous? Or on the outrageous?. 

Take Lady GaGa (pictured on the left) for instance. Not that Lady Gaga is ridiculous, but she is certainly someone who stands apart from her competition. 

Her "brand,” if you will, is a unique blend of musical talent matched with daring costumes and bejeweled elegance. Her demeanor suggests “new, exciting, creative, and relevant" to her target audience.

But let’s get back to ridiculous. And I mean that in a positive way. Ridiculous can be outrageous which can be exciting, fun, and most importantly “attention getting.”

Ever notice that the more ridiculous/outrageous looking people are (Madonna, Boy George) the more we pay attention to them. The more ridiculous/outrageous things they say (Bill Maher, Rush Limbaugh), the more we pay attention to them.  The more ridiculous/outrageous things they do (Evel Knievel, Chris Brown), the more we pay attention to them.

All these folks found a way to differentiate themselves from the crowd which makes them almost household names. They found a way to break through the clutter and GET THEIR MESSAGE HEARD!

So how will you find your ridiculousness; ridiculousness that is both outrageous and relevant.  If you look around, some of the hybrids and some of the FEC’s strive for that in their architecture, their design and in their service and service attendants.  

Their goal is TO BE outrageous; to create buzz and to obviously stimulate your curiosity so you will visit their business and then keep coming back.

You could start there. Or consider some of these ideas (maybe they will stimulate some other thoughts):

Or you could start with an outrageous mascot that is always available for kids parties and adult parties.

Or outrageous service people dressed in top hat and tails.

Or service people wearing white gloves, baggy pants with suspenders  and a bowler hat while wearing white gloves. 

Or valet parking cars.

Or serving 2' ft long hot dogs, 36" pizzas or 2 lb. cheeseburgers.

Or reserving parking spaces for Moms whose kids are having birthdays.

Or getting customers to play a NEW game of bowling, readily available from your scorer manufacturers like Brunswick, Qubica and others.

Or creating marathon bowling events every Friday and Saturday night for prize moneys.

Or becoming a real Rock N Bowl Club with live bands every weekend.

Whats it going to take to get your business to stand out and become a household name in your community? 

What is it going to take to get your message to be heard.  

Because sad to say, and as many proprietors have told me, "We have to find a way to get our message out because what we're doing just isn't working any more."

Blogs Outrank Social Networks for Consumer Influence

A recent poll by “Technorati” magazine indicated that the #1 way to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions is by blogging.  

The report found that blogs are now the third most influential digital source behind retail sites and brand sites.

Consumers said that blog ranks higher than Twitter for shaping their opinion and higher than Facebook for making purchasing decisions.

Why are blogs so influential?  Because bloggers tend to be very honest and sincere in their reviews of products and services.

By talking about both the positive and negative aspects of a brand, they become a trusted source of information.

And as you know trust drives action, and thus consumers look to bloggers before they buy.

Trust is the currency of influence and consumers are looking for trusted digital friends to give them advice on what to buy and where to go.  That's why bloggers who offer such advice are influential - because consumers trust their guidance.

So if you want your influence to grow, you need to become a trusted source. You can only do this by providing compelling content on your blog and then amplify it through social media. 

People will listen.  And you will become their go to resource for specific advice.

Here is one suggestion to get you started thinking in the right direction...

You do this by establishing an "entertainment blog" and telling people what there is to do in and around the area.

Report on other activities for families and kids and include your center as well, making sure to be very subtle in the advantages of coming to your "Happy Lanes" instead of a local competition.

If there is a great activity in town; encourage people to go to the (I.e.) championship HS football game AND then come to "Happy Lanes" to celebrate.

Talk about health and fitness and calories burned by activity  Talk about local charities and what  and where fund raising events are happening (like at your center).

I know you are sitting there, scratching your head and saying, "Now Fred, you've said a lot of out of the box things in your blog, but now you want me to tell people about my competition?  R U NUTS?"

Yeah, I want you to become the expert on entertainment. Yeah, I want people to look to you first for advice and Yeah, I want people to trust you.  Because trust breeds action which = sales at your center!!

As far as the second question goes, its a toss up :)

The real question is do you even have a blog?  If not, what are you waiting for? 

Do you need assistance in creating one?  

This Is Change. This is Marketing.

If marketing is about change, then it stands to reason that change, in marketing terms, is the process in which the seller gets a potential consumer to buy his product or gets an existing customer to continue to buy his product.

A third element, however, is in play and its one we don’t really think about; that element being the ability to deliver a buying experience that has the buyer talking about it to his friends and recommending the product.

So how do you get that these elements to line up?

First, you need to know what your prospect wants.  You find this out by asking your present customer why he bought your product and why he continued to buy it.

Second, you replicate the appeals of the product, as described by your existing target, to an identical target audience, or as close as you can get, and create an offer that is compelling. And you test it. And you test different variations.

Third, you find the top two offers and communicate each to half of your target market.

Fourth, you need to communicate this in many ways. Individually, massively, and frequently in every possible affordable way.

Fifth you need to stand back, measure and see if your research and analysis as well as your communication did its job. Which appeal did better?  Why?

If you didn't get any "change" in the target consumers’ behavior or get anyone talking about it positively, go back and reanalyze your research, your analysis, your offers and your execution.

This is the process of getting and retaining new customers.
Don’t be afraid to fail. Or succeed.

This is it. There is no other way.

The best average in the major leagues, since the dawn of the 20^th century was .381, held by Jesse Burkett of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900. He was wildly successful even though he failed to get on base more than 60% of the time.

If you truly want change; if you truly want your potential customer or existing customer to buy from you, here is the mantra, “Never, never, never stop the marketing process."

And if you don’t get it, find someone who does to mentor you.

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