Escape room owners put a tremendous amount of effort to make their ideas a reality. They spend months planning compelling games and building interactive spaces for many people to enjoy. However, many rooms work below capacity due to failing to attract enough customers.
This article is aimed to provide some of the best marketing ideas that will help you boost your escape room business. Implementing them will instantly increase your chances of standing out from the crowd. Our tips will not only help you rival the competitors and local franchises but will also improve your brand vision, both online and offline. Have a read through and add them to your to-do list!
Google My Business
Google is a significant part of every business, especially the small or startup businesses that are mainly aimed at the local audience. An optimized Google My Business listing is what will make a difference and let people know that you are out there.
Users can scroll through the panel and see a summary of everything important about your business. From photos and videos to customers’ feedback and opening times, you are allowed to display all that matters to create a good first impression. You will even be able to list upcoming events and link to your bookings page at no extra cost!
So don’t waste more time and try to get the maximum of Web Extensions to help your customers land on the right page on your website. Use Call Extensions to increase the number of calls you receive and Maps to promote your location.
Google is the best tool to make your business visible and easy to find so add working on your listing to your top priorities.
Did you know your customers can now book tours directly from Google search results? Read more about Reserve with Google and connecting it with Regiondo.
Online Advertising
Once you’ve established your company and worked on your presence on Google, you will need to start building some brand awareness. If you are just at the beginning of your journey as an escape room owner, the online advertising platforms come in quite handy.
Promotion with Google Ads and Social Media Ads is a great way to begin. You can easily create your first campaigns and track their performance at any time. The full control you have over every aspect of your Ads will let you do some flash sales and gain a better understanding of your audience.
You can even consider Linkedin Ads to promote some games suitable for team buildings. As we discussed in our last article, escape games require us to practice teamwork and problem-solving which makes them perfect for all types of corporate events.
Learn more about getting free advertising for your business here.
Create a Compelling Blog
Everyone has heard about Escape Rooms, but just a few people know what they are all about. Starting a blog that educates and intrigues new people is a great idea. You will have the freedom to cover all topics that you want in a way that puts you at the forefront.
Collaborate with guest bloggers based in your area. They will talk about the experience to a broader audience which will help you build brand awareness. You can offer them some free visits in return. This way you will promote your brand without revealing or spending too much and also establish some good relationships that might be useful in the future.
Learn more about using content marketing in the leisure industry.
The Power of Positive Feedback
Nowadays it’s all about building customer trust and loyalty. We don’t go to a new company or place easily. It all begins with hours of research and carefully read through consumer reviews websites.
If you are looking to become one of the key players in your area, then start working towards collecting more feedback straight away. A bunch of 5-star ratings always pays off so don’t be doubtful about it.
Use every possibility to approach customers after their visit and want to know about their experience. Engage with their problems and always respond to negative comments. Apologize and sympathize with them to demonstrate your customer-oriented approach and excellent service.
Did you know you can connect Regiondo with Review Express to collect more reviews automatically? Every time a customer buys through your Regiondo shop, they will get an email from TripAdvisor to leave a review. Learn more in this article.
Vouchers & Deals
Offer discounts, free mini-games, and gift cards. It is not about the before and after price, but the deal itself. Modern people are so into getting the best possible price and saving on everything. Just be careful with discounts as you might not fulfill your spaces profitably. Define booking limits and set a cap.
Allow a few months before you start to actively make offers. We advise this as you will need some data to accurately estimate how many spaces you can ‘afford’ to sell for less. Create corporate bookings and group discounts for all teambuilding events and make sure to promote them. Selling vouchers on your website and third-party platforms is the perfect way to fill rooms during low-demand times and periods.
Create engaging video content to give a glimpse into the exciting world of your game. Use a professional photographer & videographer to capture the best moments and share them in the most visually engaging way.
Encourage shares with giveaways and contests that you regularly organize on your online channels. As we already mentioned, Social Media Ads are very powerful when it comes to building brand awareness too! So make the most of them by promoting your best posts.
Your presence on social media will demonstrate that you are engaged with the customers’ experience and want to keep it constantly great and exciting.
Build a Functional Website
Create a website with a built-in booking system for escape rooms that reflects the experience you offer and is easy to use. Websites remain one of the most effective ways to get more bookings and track how you are performing. That is the foundation of your business and the place where everyone would land through all other marketing channels. And creating website from scratch is easy with easy-to-use website builders.
Google, brochures or social media adverts will all take potential customers to your website so it needs to be effective. Consider your audience to create a website that will satisfy their expectations. Make it user-friendly and call-to-action based. Navigate visitors through your brand values and escape room theme to make them intrigued.
Learn about website best practices for tour and activity companies.
Use Data Wisely
The more time you run a website, the more data you have for good analysis. So track web visitors and leads, and don’t let them go! You can easily define which days, months, and times of the year are more successful and create a custom marketing strategy for those.
Build remarketing and email marketing campaigns. Send customers an email before their visit to prepare them with some tips. Also, get in touch straight after the game to make sure they enjoyed themselves. Highlight their best moments with pictures and videos that you send them when asking for feedbacks or social share.
Learn more about using data to make better decisions.
Branded Products
Designate budget and area in your venue where you can sell branded items. Design personalized products with your logo on them. Give some of them as a gift for a certain spend. It is a great idea to take pictures of all players and offer them printed on mugs, T-shirts, keyrings etc.
This will require some professional equipment but the investment is definitely worthwhile. Don’t forget that having your logo on all items you sell is a free promotion that will be a great boost for your brand name.
Build Business Relationships
Start collaborating with local Tourism and Leisure companies. This is a win-win strategy for promotion that you will find quite useful in the long run. It is not much of a hassle to display some flyers or brochures at your reception desk to promote other businesses in the area.
They will do the same for you and help you gain the customers’ trust. This is quite a good strategy as it would promote you directly to audiences already interested in local tourism activities and events.
Conclusion
A good marketing strategy is crucial for the success of every business nowadays. Escape rooms are no exception to this rule. To make your business grow and build relationships with customers requires more than a great experience and outstanding props.
Think outside of the box and find your way to stand out from the crowd. Adopt the strategies for success that will popularize your escape room business and stick to your values. Lastly, always spend time on researching what other similar businesses do and don’t be afraid to experiment with new marketing techniques.
This post is part of our series about starting and growing an escape game business. You can find the rest of the articles below:
