If you run a family entertainment center, you know how important regular foot traffic is. But in a world of online gaming, how do you encourage your guests to visit your location more often?
Brick-and-mortar retail is far from over, but it does require more creativity these days. If you’re stuck in a rut in terms of foot traffic, here are four ways you can increase attendance at your family entertainment center.
1. Incorporate a loyalty program
Every business owner knows that the majority of their business will come from repeat customers. So, you should be rewarding your most loyal customers and encouraging them to spend even more money with you.
There are a couple of different ways you can do this. You can offer an annual membership program that provides free unlimited visits and 10% off all food and drinks. Memberships can be an excellent way to make money upfront and gain additional data about your most loyal customers.
You can also reward customers every time they visit your location. Every time they visit and spend money, they earn a certain number of points. These points can be redeemed for free merchandise or free visits in the future.
2. Claim your Google business listing
Since family entertainment centers rely on local traffic, you need to take advantage of online reviews. If you haven’t already, make sure you claim your Google my business listing.
Make sure you regularly check your reviews and respond to all of them. Don’t get upset if someone leaves a negative review. Negative reviews can be an opportunity if you respond positively and do your best to fix the problem.
And make sure you ask your current customers to leave you a review. You could offer a one-time coupon to every customer that leaves you a Google review.
3. Offer special promotions to your community
Take advantage of things that are going on within your community. Do you know that the local schools will be out on winter break soon? Maybe you could offer a four-day camp where kids can come, play games for a few hours, and then have lunch before their parents pick them up.
You could also partner with another local business to host a special event or fundraiser. This could be a good way to increase attendance and generate some positive advertising for your business.
4. Be active online
It may seem counterintuitive, but the best way to increase in-person attendance is by engaging with your guests more online. Your guests are not going to be excited to visit your entertainment center if your Facebook page is a ghost town.
Make sure you post various online-only promotions. This can help increase traffic and will encourage more customers to follow you on social media. The point is to be creative and come up with new ways of building a relationship with your customers.
To your success!
Written by Brian Johnson