Haunted Attraction Network

While making a transfer in the Huston airport, Scott shares some of his experience installing his most recent haunt project, "Dark" at Fort Edmonton Park in Edmonton Alberta Canada. He also discusses a couple of other great Haunts this season...be patient while listening.

NEWS/Quick-Takes:

The Halloween season is starting much earlier than usual and the Theme Park Halloween landscape is shifting to keep pace.
See Festival del Terror at 6 Flags Mexico, the early Cedar Point opening of HalloWeekends, and Knott’s.

Follow news from the Haunted Attraction Network for more Halloween updates.

Six Flags Great America located just outside of Chicago is hoping to increase job applicants by offering a free ticket for anyone that interviews.

Main Topic:
Marketing’s Role In Recruiting - Support HR Department

Create recruiting content while filming assets for consumers

Utilize social media, both paid and organic, to get the word out and recognize employees through social media. (Disney does a great job with the “Every Role Is A Starring Role”)

Offer incentives to current employees and returning employees.

Facebook Jobs - https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-page-post-jobs

Wrap-Up:

Free Subscription to Seasonal Entertainment Source: http://seasonalentertainmentsource.com

Visit MarketingYourAttraction.com for blog posts and an archive of past episodes.

Jack The Ripper Virtual Reality Haunted House at HollowZone.com

Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

Scott discusses the importance of treating other haunters and other attractions with respect, especially in the world of social media. He talks about finding the right forum to share suggestions and the importance of professionalism.

Scott chats about the 4 key demographics that haunted attractions target; Kids, Tweens, Teens Plus and Mature Guests. Having worked on haunted attractions from each of these categories, he is able to share insight into all of them.

NEWS/Quick-Takes:
Amazon has YouTube envy: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-15/amazon-wants-twitch-to-be-a-youtube-competitor?mod=djemCMOToday

Theme Park Announcements:
Canada’s Wonderland
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Carowinds
Scary Farm

Skullcandy creates live concert series as part of content marketing push
“Consumers today, young consumers are very savvy, and they’re very savvy about paid influencers. Obviously, we’re a commercial entity, and of course we want to sell headphones, but we want the music to be pure,” Klodnicki said. Of course, Skullcandy can — and does — retarget attendees and viewers with more commercial advertisements after the fact. Skullcandy spends the majority of its marketing budget on digital ads. Unlike Apple and Bose, it doesn’t buy TV or print ads.”
https://digiday.com/marketing/skullcandy-creates-live-concert-series-part-content-marketing-push/

Secrets of the Wicker Man at Alton Towers revealed
“Filmed over several months, the documentary follows the team as they complete construction of Wicker Man, a family thrill-ride with a huge sculpture at its heart that appears to burst into flames as the ride rushes through it. As the resort was preparing to open the attraction to the public, senior members of the Alton Towers team revealed to the documentary how important the success of the £16 million ride is, as they strive to rebuild trust with visitors following the incident on The Smiler in 2015 which saw two young women, Leah Washington and Vicky Balch, lose a leg.”
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/alton-towers-channel-4-wicker-1882935

Main Topic:
Upcharging

How can you charge your guests more and make them feel like they are getting a much better value than guests spending less? How can you create that value?

Airbnb Story: What does an 10 star experience look like?
https://mastersofscale.com/brian-chesky-handcrafted/

Wrap-Up:

Free Subscription to Seasonal Entertainment Source: http://seasonalentertainmentsource.com

Visit MarketingYourAttraction.com for blog posts and an archive of past episodes.

Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

NEWS/Quick-Takes:
This 18+ Horror-Themed Campground Is The Most Disturbing Place To Go Camping: https://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/travel/this-18-horror-themed-campground-near-toronto-is-the-most-disturbing-place-youll-ever-go-camping

Six Flags launches loyalty program:
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/six-flags-launches-preeminent-new-loyalty-program-2018-08-15

Main Topic:
Groupon/GoldStar Discounting

Often necessary on slower days. Build the margin into your price.

Make a discounting plan before you begin. You don’t want to be reactive (IE numbers are low, so we’ll reduce price). There’s not getting around that school and work nights are tough for our audiences. Nobody wants to feel like they spent more than they had to. Audiences come to expect something is listed on Groupon/Goldstar. Thus, it’s both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Our recommendation?
Build those margins into the plan from the beginning and form relationships with discount sites ahead of time. That way, when it is needed, you can pull the lever. Those sites are a last resort.

Don’t forget to negotiate with the sites and try to add value on your own platforms first.

Can you add value to your channels first? IE buy a ticket get a free food item, etc.

If the added value doesn't work, try a targeted discount. Keep this discreet if possible.

Wrap-Up:

Free Subscription to Seasonal Entertainment Source: http://seasonalentertainmentsource.com

Visit MarketingYourAttraction.com for blog posts and an archive of past episodes.

Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

NEWS/Quick-Takes:
Empty Malls - https://digiday.com/marketing/online-retailers-using-empty-mall-spaces-test-products/

The Science of Storytelling -
https://marketingland.com/the-science-of-storytelling-245561

The Expanding Market:
“DXB Entertainments saw the number of visitors to Dubai Parks and Resorts rise 48% during the second quarter and 46% during the first half of 2018. International guests accounted for 38% of visitors during the first half, while annual pass holders made up 25% of visits.”

Another Reason to Monitor your Brand:
“A post on a Facebook page called 'Six Flags Club' has been shared over 100,000 times with over 40,000 comments. The post writes that every single person who shares and comments within the next 12 hours will get 4 free Six Flags tickets. Western Mass News confirmed with a spokesperson for Six Flags Wednesday night that the page is not associated with the amusement park. We're told Six Flags is working with Facebook to try and take the post down.”

Peter Weishar is UCF’s new professor of themed entertainment design.


Main Topic:
SEO for Beginners

Step 1 - Keyword Research
Think about what keywords guests will use to find your attraction. Make sure to think about general categories and other terms that the general public might use. For example, not just haunted house, but also haunted maze, Halloween things to do, etc.

Step 2 - Setup your site correctly
Don’t put your text into images on your website. Make sure you have at least 150 - 300 words on each part of your page and you naturally include the keywords a few times in that text.

Google factors in how mobile friendly your website is and how long it takes to load. Make sure to compress the images.

Google Webmasters Program: https://www.google.com/webmasters

Plug-In for Wordpress -> Yoast SEO: https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/

Step 3 - Get other websites to link to your site:
Social Media Platforms
Community Event Calendars
Contact your local Visitor Bureaus and ask them to promote you on their website
Partner Pages
Local Bloggers, Newspapers, other media outlets
Attraction Directories, search “Things To Do”

Where to go next?
Creating a blog. Adding more content onto your site. Writing guest blog posts for other blogs and linking back to your site. Using keyword tools like Moz.com:
https://moz.com/explorer/
https://moz.com/free-seo-tools
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo


Wrap-Up:

Free Subscription to Seasonal Entertainment Source: http://seasonalentertainmentsource.com

Join a sleep deprived Scott as he shares random moments from Midsummer Scream and The Leadership Symposium for Seasonal Attractions.

The hosts walk through best practices for working with marketing, creative, and media buying agencies for your attraction.

NEWS/Quick-Takes:
Physical products are more valuable than digital products - https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-can-marketers-deal-with-an-oversaturated-digital-space-turn-back-to-physical-products/

Expansion of Dollywood:
“The "new land," a $37 million investment, was the theme park's largest capital investment ever.”
https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/dolly-parton-announces-plans-for-new-dollywood-area-set-to-open-in-2019/51-580078465

Snapchat Story Ads - https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/blog/introducing-story-ads-a-new-way-to-showcase-your-brand-or-product-in-discover/
“With one tap, Snapchatters can jump into a collection of 3-20 Snaps and dive deeper into your new fashion collection, movie release, suite of products, and more.”


Main Topic:
Ad Agencies - Help businesses execute marketing strategies and they range from full service to boutique. Think of them as an extension to your marketing department, which differs from contractors because they have support systems in place.

Full-Service, Creative vs. Consultant vs. Media Buying vs. Smaller Specialities (Social Media, PR, etc.)

Pros: They help reduce cost because you get the benefit of their expertise without needing to hire. Additionally, they provide an infrastructure for those that do not want to manage a piecemeal team. It’s a benefit for smaller companies until you’re large enough to make your own worth it (Disney). For example, Universal uses multiple agencies for different campaigns.

Advice:
Try to avoid lengthy contracts. Agencies try to get you to sign a longer contract, but try to take it project by project.
Costly retainers. Retainers can be high, and be aware that an agency has many clients; they’re not always working on your attraction.
Some will charge an hourly wage and others charge a fee on top of the spend. Example, for $10,000 spent on Google ads, they will take 10% added on top. The agency manages the ads so you don’t have to worry.
Craft your RFP and outline exactly what you need.
What’s campaign distribution?
What specifically do you need?
Sit down with at least 5-10 agencies; treat this like hiring employees (both in terms of testing and in terms of cultural fit).
It’s OK to wait if you don't find a good fit.

There are three broad functions to cover: Media Buy/Placement, Campaign Strategy, and Creative.


Wrap-Up:

Free Subscription to Seasonal Entertainment Source: http://seasonalentertainmentsource.com

NEWS/Quick-Takes:
Alien: Descent vs. The Void

Midsummer Scream: A great convention chuck full of marketing examples for attractions. All the attractions in the Southern California area participate and each is a great example of attractions connection with guests at conventions. Track the hashtag online to see some of the examples. Six Flags brought a scare zone, scare actors, and hosted a main stage announcement panel.
​
Main Topic:
Yelp and TripAdvisor Review Websites
https://hbr.org/2018/02/study-replying-to-customer-reviews-results-in-better-ratings

“Harvard Business Review found that when hotels start responding, they receive 12% more reviews and their ratings increase, on average, by 0.12 stars. While these gains may seem modest, TripAdvisor rounds average ratings to the nearest half star: A hotel with a rating of 4.26 stars will be rounded up to a 4.5, while a hotel with 4.24 stars will be rounded down to a 4. Therefore, even small changes can have a significant impact on consumers’ perceptions.”

Why? “If the consumer notices a manager responding to past reviews, they might decide not to leave a trivial or unsubstantiated negative review, to avoid a potentially uncomfortable online interaction with the manager. Once hotels started responding, they experienced a sharp drop in the rate of short negative reviews. And while longer negative reviews still cropped up, these reviews often contained constructive feedback that could be useful to managers trying to make changes.”

Example of how to handle hecklers: https://tim.blog/2018/07/16/aisha-tyler/

Tips:
Encourage reviews, but focus on one platform at a time (one CTA).
Make sure you have a dedicated team member to managing feedback and reviews.
De-escalate the situation and remove them from the public view as soon as possible.
Assign responses to someone who is trained is guest service and knows how to handle these situations and resolve them.

Wrap-Up:

Free Subscription to Seasonal Entertainment Source: http://seasonalentertainmentsource.com