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Marketing in Scary Times

By John Poe

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In a few years before 9-11-01, Haunted Houses were doing record numbers. It really didn't matter how good it was, who was producing it, or how long in operation. You put together and attraction and the crowds came. On 09-11-01 things changed, for the worst. People became scared to be out in large gatherings and some, suffering from a form of traumatic stress disorder, refused
to come out at all. Now, one year later, you would think things had improved. Then the sniper attacks occured in Maryland. Why would this have an impact you ask? People have lost that sense of security in their own country. Therefore, some of your entertainment suffers. Many find haunted houses too much of a reflection on things that have occured. So advertising has gone from putting a sign out in front, or a few fliers, to ads in papers and even on TV and radio.

How does the average haunted attraction get the exposure they need? How do they target their audiences? Most importantly how do they bring in the numbers? We are speaking of the average "Mom and Pop" or Jaycee's Haunted House. One that doesn't have thousands to dump into advertising. You have essentially spent most, if not all, of your money on the haunted house itself. A very simple and easy way is P.S.A.'s or Public Service Announcements. PSA's are something that all TV, Radio, and Newspapers are required to offer to non-profit groups. Well how do I get into that category? Simple, find a local ESTABLISHED charity. Approach them and offer a percentage of your profits in return for volunteer help and their endorsement. The percentage is between you and them, but generally is not very high. Here you have freed up funds for staffing, as they are always eager to help, and now have access to PSA's. All you have to do is submit letters on their letterhead asking for PSA's, to your local TV, radio, and newspapers. The PSA's give you free ads, you get volunteers to work for you, and they will, in turn, push the word on you attraction. It's really a win-win situation.

Many haunted attractions use concession stands, as a way to help bolster numbers and earn a few extra dollars. There is a way to get a great deal of advertising through this. Get in contact with a local Pizza Delivery. Offer them the chance to come to your location and sell their Pizza's and in return they place a flier on evry pizza they deliver. They will be more inclined to help push your fliers because the more people who show up at the attraction, the more people who will buy their pizza there. An average of pizza's going out, in a single night by average local companies, is between 200 and 500. That's a considerable number of fliers getting to your target audience, families and teenagers.

Many haunted attractions use concession stands, as a way to help bolster numbers and earn a few extra dollars. There is a way to get a great deal of advertising through this. Get in contact with a local Pizza Delivery. Offer them the chance to come to your location and sell their Pizza's and in return they place a flier on evry pizza they deliver. They will be more inclined to help push your
fliers because the more people who show up at the attraction, the more people who will buy their pizza there. An average of pizza's going out, in a single night by average local companies, is between 200 and 500. That's a considerable number of fliers getting to your target audience, families and teenagers.

Then there are the upper level ads...TV, radio, newspapers, and haunted house papers. These are certainly more expensive than those previously discussed, but, they are seen and heard by far more people. Many of these require that you pay extra for the artwork or the recorded item to be presented. Some do not require this extra fee, which helps considerably. TV hits huge numbers of people, if aired at the right time on the right channel. Radio also carries a huge audience that, as with TV, are basically captive. Newspapers are a little less expensive and hit big numbers, but require a bit of hunting to find the ads. Then there are haunted attraction papers. In the Metro Detroit area you have 2, the Fear Finder and the Gore Guide. Fear Finder puts out approx. 250,000 copies of their paper and is generally stuffed with ads. The Gore Guide works on a smaller level, for 2003 there will be 25,000 printed, and runs a limited number of ads. Both directly impact your target audience, due to the fact that people getting these are looking for attractions to visit.

Of course this all falls on the weather and other factors, but there is little more that you can do to bring them in. Some, in the past have made huge and controversial statements. One used semi-nude workers, which shocked people, got a lot of coverage and left the place packed from open to close very night. I remeber one placing mannequins, dressed and presented as angels, impaled on spears in front of the attraction. This too garnered television, newspaper, and radio coverage. It angered alot of people but brought record numbers of paying people to the attraction. Both ideas worked great for the first year or two and then it became less and less of a big controversy and the numbers began to dwindle. Those 2 now rely on Haunted Attraction papers to bring in the numbers. Whichever you choose, remember to make your ads look as professional as possible and eye catching. Plain bland ads generally get passed over for the more extravagent.

Have fun and Happy Haunting.

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John Poe is the Editor/Publisher of The Gore Guide, and Webmaster of GoreGuide.com as well as owner/operator of Balphomet / CarnEVIL of Terror. For more info on the goreguide and his upcoming projects




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