Tweet
There has been several threads started about how to market your haunt. I love marketing and seeing ideas fall in place, so I wanted to put some ideas out there for you to consider that have made our haunt continue to be a great success.
I have been running Spookywoods for 23 years this year and I started like most haunts do, with no money and no budget. To not bore you with details and cut to the point of my post. I have found that if you can create a Family Event on your property there in lies the key to great success in cross promoting your haunt. There are several important facts to consider with the master plan.
1. Getting any business to help you as in sponsorship or promotion is far easier if the event is family focused.
2. Sponsorship are a breeze compared to selling a Halloween Haunted Event. It's getting better, but still very hard in my area being in the Bible belt.
3. If you can create an event that kids go to you have started to brand at an early age of where to go for fun.
We have created a full day of fun on our farm with a corn maze, pumpkin patch, gem dig, tram rides, corn pits, and jumping pillow and more. This draws the families like bees to honey. Once you got the crowds coming you can cross promote your haunt and before you know it you will have the best marketing machine you can have, word of mouth. The kids will be introduce to the haunt at an early age and when they are old enough to attend your place will be already known as the haunt to attend.
This year we are hosting a new charity event called the Amazing Pet Adventure at Maize Adventure. We are a for profit business, but this one day event is to raise moeny for the Guilford County Animal Sheter's Trauma Center. This event will draw thousands to our farm on Saturday Sept. 25th the first weekend our haunt opens. Perfect timing to get the word of mouth about the haunt out to the community.
Our corn maze is pet friendly and when you can create a passionate tie in to your business it goes way beyond marketing, it turns into the right thing to do. We have landed some major sponsors with this one day event to raise awareness and businesses are jumping at the opportunity to be a part of this community event. I encourage all of you reading this to find a way to use my event to inspire you to do the same thing in your community. I will be more than willing to share all my experience to help save an animals life and build your haunt through cross promotion.
Our Kersey Valley Christmas event is going to continue this tie in with animals. Every rescue shelter in our area is going to have a Christmas tree with photos of the animals in need. Our guest can take any photo and pay for the needs of that animal and the photo turns into an ornament to hang on their own Christmas tree. Of course they can also adopt that animal as well.
Visit this site for more information on the Pet Adventure event. http://www.maizeadventure.com/
We place several sets in key areas that are seen by our day time crowds that cross promote the haunt. One of these is the back of our 12 x 16 movie screen used in our waiting area of the haunt.
Everyone has to walk by this billboard coming and going to the Corn Maze.
Here is the view from a bridge in our corn maze. You can see the Spookywoods Castle once you are over the height of the corn and it becomes the topic of discussion with the customers. I hear comments like, "Spookywoods is so cool, we all should come back at night".
The view from another bridge in the corn is of the Ghost Town Tram Ride. It is still under contruction, but once complete the entire tree line will have facades that can be seen from atop the bridge.
I have been running Spookywoods for 23 years this year and I started like most haunts do, with no money and no budget. To not bore you with details and cut to the point of my post. I have found that if you can create a Family Event on your property there in lies the key to great success in cross promoting your haunt. There are several important facts to consider with the master plan.
1. Getting any business to help you as in sponsorship or promotion is far easier if the event is family focused.
2. Sponsorship are a breeze compared to selling a Halloween Haunted Event. It's getting better, but still very hard in my area being in the Bible belt.
3. If you can create an event that kids go to you have started to brand at an early age of where to go for fun.
We have created a full day of fun on our farm with a corn maze, pumpkin patch, gem dig, tram rides, corn pits, and jumping pillow and more. This draws the families like bees to honey. Once you got the crowds coming you can cross promote your haunt and before you know it you will have the best marketing machine you can have, word of mouth. The kids will be introduce to the haunt at an early age and when they are old enough to attend your place will be already known as the haunt to attend.
This year we are hosting a new charity event called the Amazing Pet Adventure at Maize Adventure. We are a for profit business, but this one day event is to raise moeny for the Guilford County Animal Sheter's Trauma Center. This event will draw thousands to our farm on Saturday Sept. 25th the first weekend our haunt opens. Perfect timing to get the word of mouth about the haunt out to the community.
Our corn maze is pet friendly and when you can create a passionate tie in to your business it goes way beyond marketing, it turns into the right thing to do. We have landed some major sponsors with this one day event to raise awareness and businesses are jumping at the opportunity to be a part of this community event. I encourage all of you reading this to find a way to use my event to inspire you to do the same thing in your community. I will be more than willing to share all my experience to help save an animals life and build your haunt through cross promotion.
Our Kersey Valley Christmas event is going to continue this tie in with animals. Every rescue shelter in our area is going to have a Christmas tree with photos of the animals in need. Our guest can take any photo and pay for the needs of that animal and the photo turns into an ornament to hang on their own Christmas tree. Of course they can also adopt that animal as well.
Visit this site for more information on the Pet Adventure event. http://www.maizeadventure.com/
We place several sets in key areas that are seen by our day time crowds that cross promote the haunt. One of these is the back of our 12 x 16 movie screen used in our waiting area of the haunt.
Everyone has to walk by this billboard coming and going to the Corn Maze.
Here is the view from a bridge in our corn maze. You can see the Spookywoods Castle once you are over the height of the corn and it becomes the topic of discussion with the customers. I hear comments like, "Spookywoods is so cool, we all should come back at night".
The view from another bridge in the corn is of the Ghost Town Tram Ride. It is still under contruction, but once complete the entire tree line will have facades that can be seen from atop the bridge.
Comment