Bowling Industry Making Its Own Waves
Written by: Scott Drummond, PartyCenterSoftware.com
There are some huge waves moving through the bowling/FEC industry right now. These waves have the potential to be extremely positive for both the industry and for the customers. These waves include some sweeping changes to how the bowling center interacts, attracts and retains their customers. Bowling centers for years have known that there is a huge potential in the business of parties and events. It took a few pioneers in the industry to demonstrate that a renewed focus on parties and events could have significant changes to a company’s profitability. Take CJ Barrymores for example. They keep reinventing themselves but if you look at the core of what they are selling it is an event or party. Whether it is a spontaneous party for five friends on a Friday night or a pre planed birthday or corporate event.
Having seen so many successful bowling centers convert to this new style of business is bringing the concept into reality for the masses. Many centers in this year’s Bowl Expo will be exclusively looking for ways to improve and reinvent their current party and event offerings. Some centers will need to make large changes to their facility structure and entertainment offerings while other centers can just make slight adjustments to the way in which they promote and deliver their services. This year will mark a dramatic shift in how the industry views itself and how the customers come to view what they previously knew as “The Bowling Alley”.
Some centers will make minor changes to their name while others will have a completely new brand identity. Part of reinventing your center requires you to shock your customer a little. That is shock them out of their old preconceived ideas about your facility and into your newly developed brand. One of the hardest things to overcome is the stigma of an old dingy bowling center. Just because you bowled back in the 1980′s doesn’t mean that you will have that same experience now. The experience now is much grander and far more interactive. While the first part of the shock is to cast off old notions, the second part is to ignite passion and excitement for your new brand and newly reinvented center. Making sure you are on point and have your marketing fine tuned is key to every employee and eventually every customer being able to accurately and completely talk about why your facility is so awesome… (That is according to your new brand image!)
The best way to educating your customers and employees on your new mantra is to say it often, post it everywhere and make it part of your daily or hourly routine. Get both your customers and your employees excited about this change and about the great things to come from this renewed focus. As soon as you start hearing your customers singing your theme song or chanting your mantra you will know that they understand your vision and have fully embraced you new direction.
These are just a few of the waves that are moving through the bowling and family entertainment industry. As more and more centers reinvent themselves the industry as a whole will see a renewed interest and vigor from our customer base that we have taken for granted for so long.