Cheap advertising

[FablesStudios]

Haunt websites, flyers, parades are coming up and cross marketing with other haunts.

Peter T
FS

[BrotherMysterio]

No.

Yes, I figured as much.

You make a whole lot of assumptions

If you mean as to your business practices, I merely made deductions, which apparently were true.

but there's no point in arguing with someone who already knows everything.

Oh, I fully concur.

Blaze asked if there were any low budget options for marketing. I gave one. It works for me and lots of others... and I've made zero enemies using it. Sue me for contributing to the conversation.

Well, I'm sure the Viagra folks would say the same thing. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

C.

[Skeered]

I plan on being around for awhile so I am not going to ruin my reputation by being a spammer. There is a reason Walmart, Target, Best Buy etc... do not spam. What MrFoos is saying is that Walmart is wrong??? I guess if you don't give a shit about your reputation or are a fly by night crowd then spamming would probably work for the short term.

[mrfoos]

<sarcasm>
Make sense. I mean, when I was in college I would be PISSED if I got a campus approved email about a haunted house in my college mailbox.
</sarcasm>

I'm starting to understand why so many haunted houses fail.


And by the way, I get spam from almost every major store: Walmart, Best Buy, Target, JC Penny. And I have never signed up directly with those guys.

[Skeered]

And by the way, I get spam from almost every major store: Walmart, Best Buy, Target, JC Penny. And I have never signed up directly with those guys.

Baloney. Whatever you have received was the result of your signing up in one way or another with one of these "Reputable" companies.

I'm starting to understand why so many haunted houses fail.

That is the mature business attitude I like to see in people.

[Skeered]

I'm starting to understand why so many haunted houses fail.

I have a college in my town with 10k students. I would rather take that $300 and have extra flyers printed than have a spam list. I have in the past given the flyers to all the dorm monitors and they each in turn passed them out to all the dorm residents. I have a relationship with the workers in the food court areas where I can put them right next to the registers. I can reach most of the campus students this way and do it in a much less invasive way. Not to mention they have a physical flyer in their hand versus a spam filter or del key. Gives the feeling of a much more local and personal touch too versus email.

[Jim Warfield]

Grab the mic to the full dorm adress system and yell about your haunted house. Maybe a very creative, scary voice, sound defect or phony news bulletin first to get everyone's full attention?
Sure. This will work.
Shimer College used their full dorm address system to fill out their basketball team on game night:"Attention! Anybody know how to play basketball? Come on down here and try on a uniform!"
(And that is how they now hold the small -collegiate record for the most continious losses ever! I got to see some of those games! It was HYSTERICALLY ENTERTAINING and memorable!)

[BrotherMysterio]

Baloney. Whatever you have received was the result of your signing up in one way or another with one of these "Reputable" companies.

Or it could also be one of those "third party announcements" options that auto-populate whenever you sign up for new email addresses, social media and networking accounts, and so on. There are so many "legit" ways for major companies to engage in email marketing, that they don't need to do baldfaced, blatant spamming.

That is the mature business attitude I like to see in people.

Indeed.

I mean, when I was in college I would be PISSED if I got a campus approved email about a haunted house in my college mailbox.

Well, that confirmed my suspicions that you really don't understand this whole legit, white-hat marketing thing.

Obviously, if the college sent out a mass mailing about an event that was tied into the college's mission statement, that would be legit, like say for instance something that supported a campus charity or the alumni association, and the student body shouldn't be any more offended by that mailing that any other mailing, like for instance some announcement from the Student Union, or the Entertainment Committee promoting an event.

That truly would be gold, and at $300 a pop, a bargain.

If, however, you just spam everyone, then there is no tie-in to the school - nothing "approved" - and you are just like any other spammer. If so, you realistically only have one shot at sending out an email that could be seen as spam. People are either interested or they are not, but in any direct marketing campaign, you realistically only have a 4% success rate. That's the target. Anything more than that, and direct marketers are usually dancing in the street.

So, we are talking only a 4% response on any emails that actually get thru and aren't flagged by the spam filters. To get any more traction than that, you would need multiple impressions or contacts, and if that was the case, then we are not talking about a one-time mailing, but rather vexatious and aggressive spamming.

Also, the fact that you can buy the email list of the student body from the school probably isn't common knowledge. In this day and age of identity theft, most people are especially sensitive to such things and would be livid to know that their information was made so easily accessible by a trusted institution.

Either way, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

I'm starting to understand why so many haunted houses fail.

Indeed. Questionable, short-sighted, fly-by-night business practices, and all that . . .

I have a college in my town with 10k students. I would rather take that $300 and have extra flyers printed than have a spam list. I have in the past given the flyers to all the dorm monitors and they each in turn passed them out to all the dorm residents. I have a relationship with the workers in the food court areas where I can put them right next to the registers. I can reach most of the campus students this way and do it in a much less invasive way. Not to mention they have a physical flyer in their hand versus a spam filter or del key. Gives the feeling of a much more local and personal touch too versus email.

Having a local college nearby is a true goldmine, and doesn't require any spamming at all. Not only are these all excellent methods to reach people, but there are so many other marvelous ways to market to them thru-out the year, and build an awareness for your event or show.

Not only that, it is also very easy to build an opt-in email list, which is legit, and where the recipients actually look forward to receiving your emails, rather than anxiously looking to delete them.

C.

[Haunted Prints (EOM)]

http://www.spamlaws.com/spam-laws.html

[mrfoos]

http://www.spamlaws.com/spam-laws.html

I just like to point out that it's not illegal to send an unsolicited email as long as you are clearly identifying yourself and your business as laid out in the Can Spam act. Having apparently stumbled into a snakes den of religious anti-spam zealots who resort to personal attacks, I resign... as I'm sure most contributors due under the unrelenting pressure of the Wikipedia moderator generation.

And BrotherMysterio, you remind me SO much of my older brother it's crazy. Can't wait to see the "quote=" and witty retort for each line.