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.
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
