September 2011 Blog Posts (13)

There are only three scenarios or perspectives from which we can view our

business.



The first scenario or perspective is from the past.  We look at how the

business was and wish it would go back to that: 2 shifts of league

bowlers, waiting lists and the only two problems we had was overbooking

and slow bowlers. In this scenario, we do everything we can to take our

business BACK to what it used to be.  Trouble with this perspective is

that the particular jigsaw… Continue

5. Facebook ads

Would you like to reach tens of thousands of people in your market? Would you like to do it for under a dollar per thousand placements? Depending on your market, you may be able to run facebook ads to promote your business that will do just that. You see, those ads that appear on the right side of your personal… Continue

4.     What the heck is an Edge Rank and why is it so important?

One of the most important features of facebook, and least understood, is the Edge Rank Algorithm. This is what determines if the posts you make to your page actually show up on the wall of your fans. 



You see there is too much info being posted to show up on every facebook page. So facebook only posts to your fan’s wall those things that it gives the most ‘weight’ to. Many centers I work with are…

Continue

3. Insights to your facebook page

Did you know that the ‘insights’ link on your page has a wealth of information about your fans and your page? Of course you must have a business page to start with.



 If you page lists your ‘friends’ on the left side and not your ‘likes’ then you have a personal profile page.… Continue

2.     Facebook takes time & money

If you think that running a successful facebook page is easy, then you are probably doing something wrong!  It doesn’t take a lot of money – but it does take time. It will take your time (which is valuable) or some staff time on a regular basis. Which leads me to the following:  you wouldn’t hand the keys to your center to the highest average bowler in the house assuming because they spent a lot of time bowling that they must know the…

Continue

1.     It’s called Social Media…not advertising media

Your facebook page is not about you – it is about your fans. By fans we mean those people who click the ‘like’ button on your page.  Your website is all about you – people go there and expect to hear about your business.  But your facebook page is a social media tool and should be treated as such.

Give your fans interesting info about your center, bowling, your community – even funny videos are good to post…

Continue

Much has been written about the jaded society we live in; the unending need

for new stimulation and the desire to be first with the most new toys.



Yet, there seems to me to be an unfulfilled desire by people looking to

find some new "satisfaction" in their purchases. People have come to settle

for customer service that is just OK or to settle for a dinner that was OK

or even a movie that was ho hum.  They might mot complain. They just won't

come back



What… Continue

Bruce Davis celebrated his 70th birthday last week with some buddies at his

cottage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  This beautifully wild and

pristine  area was conducive to some great brainstorming and the Kids Bowl

Team, who also spent some time there, dug in and came up with a great NEW

open play promotion for your center - it will  dramatically increase your

open play lineage.  Guaranteed.  The good news is,  its not a discount

program. And it all starts October… Continue

Recent reports indicate that movie attendance over the summer was down

about 1%.  More startlingly is the fact that movie attendance this year was

just 570 million visits; the lowest number since 2007 when attendance was

573 million visits.



Simply put, the economic stress on our country has deprived the middle

class of discretionary income used for movies, gifts, restaurants, and

guess what? Bowling?



Our core audience of 67 million people who went bowling… Continue

I am frequently asked if I have any new ideas about marketing bowling.



More times than not I am able to provide an answer for my clients.



But then it got me thinking. Where do I get these ideas and when do they

hit me?.



So I started thinking and made a list  of where ideas come from, in the

hopes that maybe you can look at these and develop new ideas as well.



1. Ideas come from a problem. You have to solve it so you need to think of

different… Continue

Its almost here.



The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.



What will your fall leagues look like?



Here's some last minute things you can do to get closer tot he "thrill'

than the "agony".



1. Did you call every league bowler from last year; not just secretaries or

captains?



2. Did you ask every league bowler if they knew of anyone else that might

want to bowl in a league this year?



3.  Did you contact the dropouts from the… Continue

I have received lots of questions  asking about Facebook marketing. Seems

like their results aren't what they expected. So I did  a little research

and came up with 7 questions you have to ask (and answer) before starting a

Facebook campaign



Question 1.  When is the best time to post?. The posts that receive the

highest interaction rates are those posted on weekends and off peak hours

(2pm to 5am) receive the highest interaction rates.  Thursdays have the

lowest… Continue

We tend to pay attention to the things we can relate to, things we can see

and things that are familiar to us.

These "attention" triggers get us going.  We know our frame of reference,

know how to solve the problem; or address the situation that has arisen.



We either judge it, try to fix it, take pride in it or ignore it.



We do this all in a blink of an eye.  We know what to do with these

triggers. We do what we have always done; we take some action within… Continue