Increase Traffic to Your Indoor Playground!
Starting your own business is fantastic. When that business is an indoor playground or family entertainment center that also brings joy to your customers, it’s even better. However, like every business out there, you might find yourself wondering how to increase traffic to your indoor playground?
Customers are the lifeblood of every business, and you not only need to bring in new customers but also promote repeat customers. Here are a few strategies we’ve seen used that can increase visitors to your indoor playground.
Special Events
Whether it’s a Halloween trick-or-treat-themed event or a family-friendly Christmas party, hosting special events throughout the year is a great way to attract more people, bring in new customers and promote repeat customers.
Loyalty Programs
There’s a reason why so many businesses have loyalty programs – they work!
Whether you opt to give regular customers points that they can use to purchase food or beverages or stamp cards that accumulate stamps every visit and give the owner a free visit after six or ten trips to your indoor playground, giving people an incentive to visit your family entertainment center is a great way to promote repeat customers.
Discount Days
Most businesses have slow days, and indoor playgrounds are no different. If you want to increase visitors to your indoor playground on those days, consider running a special discount for visitors who come to your playground on those days.
Weekday mornings are a great time to run these kinds of discounts because moms with younger kids are always looking for new activities. While their older kids are at school, they can spend time with other moms with young children in a safe and fun space.
Birthday Packages
Most parents are constantly on the lookout for convenient, fun and safe places to host birthday parties. Creating a special birthday package that includes meals, cake and décor makes it easy for busy families to have a fantastic birthday at your indoor playground and will increase visitors to your indoor playground.
Day Camps
If you’re wondering how to bring in more customers to your indoor playground in the during holidays, consider running day camps. Hiring a few extra staff to keep kids busy with crafts and activities and pre-selling these packages is a great way to ensure your family entertainment center is busy throughout the various holidays.
Most parents are always looking for new ways to keep their kids busy during the summer and other school free days, and if you can combine a fun day camp with childcare, you will have a winning formula.
Offer Special Discounts for Schools and Churches
If there are local schools or churches in your area that your indoor playground is affiliated with – or you just want to promote your business to families who attend them, a special discount is a great way to go.
Many schools and churches look for fundraising opportunities throughout the year too, and if you can offer them a percentage of the sales, you can probably get them to do your marketing for you.
Tickets and Tokens
If your indoor playground has an arcade or gaming area, the answer to the question of how to bring in more customers might be to award players with tokens and tickets that they can use to purchase prizes from your concession stand or store.
There’s a reason why this strategy has been used so much – it really works, and it helps to promote repeat customers who are just trying to collect enough tickets to get that prize they’ve had their eye on!
Get In the News
If you want to bring in new customers, one of the best ways to attract them is to get your business in the news.
If your indoor playground is a new venture, make sure you invite the local news to your grand opening or show them around before the big day arrives. If you’ve been running for a while, host a charity event or free family party, and make sure local newspapers are invited too.
You could even offer a free giveaway on a special holiday or run a contest with a fantastic family-friendly prize. Anything that is newsworthy and gets your indoor playground in the local papers – or on TV – will bring more people through your doors.
Do Something Special
Families are always looking for new and interesting things to do on weekends, holidays and after school, so creating special events that combine family fun with unique activities is a great way to keep them coming back to your family entertainment center.
Host a “circus” day with clowns and jugglers, or team up with a local petting zoo to have animals in the parking lot. If you keep your events interesting and unique, there are that many more reasons for families to keep coming back to your indoor playground.
Deliver the Best Possible Experience
It might sound obvious, but if you are wondering how to bring in more customers, you might want to take a closer look at what you are offering.
Families who visit indoor playgrounds are looking for well-made and well-maintained play spaces. They want interesting and exciting themes, and they also want comfort and convenience, so things like food service on-site and free wifi for parents and older kids are a must.
Aside from the theme and the look and feel of your indoor playground, safety is also a huge factor, so make sure you’re always making safe choices for kids and their families and that everything is in good repair.
A Friendly Team
When families visit your indoor playground, they expect the experience to be fun and exciting. Your team is a big part of delivering that experience. Make sure that your employees are easy to identify by having a uniform and name badges. Hire people who genuinely like to work with kids too. The last thing you want in your indoor playground is a grumpy employee who doesn’t want to be there!
Hiring high school or even university students to work in your indoor playground is a great choice because they’re generally friendly, and many really enjoy being around younger kids. Plus, they have the energy required for a fast-paced role like this!
Market Your Business
One of the most straightforward answers to the question of how to bring in more customers is to keep marketing. Many businesses start strong, but then they let their website get stale, or they stop posting on social media. People need to be reminded that your business is still there and a great choice for customers if you want to promote repeat customers or bring in new ones.
If it’s been a while since you did any marketing, set a goal to do two or three things every week to promote your business. Whether it’s a contest on social media or handing out flyers at a local school, every little bit counts!
Offer Extended Hours
There are some indoor playgrounds that limit their hours, only opening mid-morning and closing early on weekends. However, if you want to be the go-to destination for families in your area, you need to be as accessible as possible.
Opening earlier, being open on weekends and holidays, is a great way to attract families who are looking for something to do outside of “standard” hours.
Give Back to the Community
Another great way to increase visitors to your indoor playground is to make your business part of the local community. People tend to support small businesses that they feel support the community they operate in.
Why not host a half-price event for anyone who brings a donation for the local food bank or sponsor a prize for a local charity event or raffle?
Have the Most Exciting Equipment
When it comes to the most successful indoor playgrounds and family entertainment centers, it’s usually the ones with the most exciting equipment and amenities that really do well.
While you don’t have to change your equipment all the time, adding new attractions and features to your indoor playground space is a great way to generate interest and excitement. The same goes for arcade games and other activities. Switch them out from time to time, and add new and exciting options regularly.
Consult a Specialist
If you are just starting to plan your indoor playground or family entertainment center or planning an expansion to accommodate more people, contact the Indoor Playgrounds International team.
We’ve been manufacturing, shipping and installing award-winning indoor playground equipment for a very long time, and we know what families want and need.
We’re always happy to help you to design and plan a space that will attract customers, bring in new customers, promote repeat customers and become the entertainment hub for families in your area.
We can even help you to figure out how to bring in more customers or give you insight into what similar businesses around the company have done to attract customers and keep them coming back. So give us a call. Let’s talk about how you can create a magical place that kids and parents love!