Jeff Elliot of Cedar Rapids, Iowa writes:
“I am a manager at Planet X, a family entertainment center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa featuring mini golf, bumper cars, space bikes, space ball, rock climbing and arcade games. We serve food and cater to many birthday parties and corporate events.
“Do your Hounds have any clever ideas on how we can celebrate our 10th year anniversary in January 2009? We’re planning our anniversary celebration all of next year. Our website is at http://www.planetxfuncenter.com.”
How about rolling back the prices to what they were 10 years ago?
We have 4 components to suggest:
Blowout Party – One whole day event, free for all 10 year olds.
Public Recognition – Apply for recognition from Cedar Rapids for an official proclamation naming the day “Planet X Day”
Fun Educational Element – Sponsor jugglers to go into the schools to teach juggling…elicits better hand eye coordination, etc. Perhaps with give-away balls emblazoned with Planet X logo. Use the visit as a means of overlaying a physics lesson of gravity and planetary motion.
Charitable Element – Free admission (or such) for adults who sign up to be a big brother or big sister.
The fact that you will be offering 10th anniversary prices means that price should be a large part of your marketing mix. Try giving percentage off coupons for specific quarters of the year. 15% off for first three months. advertise with all local stores.
Recruit local celebrities and politicians and have them compete against each other on various games. Each one represents a local charity or nonprofit. You’ll donate X number dollars to the winning celeb’s charity. They might even be willing to get pledges.
Contact places in your community with people who have handicaps. They will come in groups on buses, etc. will greatly enjoy their accomplishments such as hole in one, and awards can be given for scores or actually climbing the wall. Many are left out or never given the opportunity to participate at businesses such as yours since people are not usually to patient to wait while they accomplish somethings. Senior citizens may also be interested and want to come at slow times for the same reason.
That could give you all kinds of opportunity for people you haven’t reached. Some community service clubs will pay for these outings and enjoy the results.