By Shirish Kotmire, CEO, Smaaash Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

The thrill and the sheer fun of being in an active entertainment setup in a modern and jazzily designed gaming centre is unmatched. Spending Sunday afternoons with our families or celebrating birthdays in bowling alleys and arcades with yummylicious food and beverages, is something that almost everyone can relate to. The activities ranging from 360-degree cricket, bowling, air hockey, arcade basketball to several others, cater to almost everyone’s preferences- making it the perfect option for a day out. While enjoyment over family and friends bonding together, is a strong hook for people to visit entertainment and gaming centres, it’s important to develop a robust marketing & communication strategy to drive in as many customers as possible and maximise sales. 

In the digital age, you cannot just rely on newspaper ads, word of mouth recommendations and gigantic billboards lined along the horizons of cities. Instead, adopting digital and other customer engagement tools is essential to ensure repeat visits and beat competition. Here are 5 strategies to make your marketing game stronger and attract individual and groups of consumers to adult gaming and entertainment centres. 

    Digital marketing- 

• Gaming & Party enjoyment Experience coverage in a real-time environment: Online posting by actual visitors to the gaming centers on Facebook, Instagram of real-time events as they happen are an attractive way to ensure customers overcome the inertia of traveling to a phygital entertainment center. Energising the active entertainment set up with surreal lighting and ambience, along with complementing food and beverages which are specifically curated for the target segments just adds to the reasons to visit.
• Website & search engine optimization- While websites are common, in the case of gaming centers this is more information dissemination. about the centre, location and facilities. Using Search Engine Optimisation and keywords to ensure ranks higher on the Search engine results for specific requirements so that the website receives more traffic. Social Media- Having a good social media presence through campaigns is innate to any marketing plan especially if it involves the millennials. Campaigns highlighting RTBs(reasons to visit) have to be eye-catching and appeal to the basic human instincts of competition, thrill, speed and greed. Facebook and Instagram can be used to post reels showcasing the overall experience, post real time events, promotional offers, themes, announcements of sports and music events etc.  
• SMS and Whatsapp: With the advent of new visual options like video whatsapp which are more apt to communicating entertainment options and enticing potential new customers as well as creating reasons for repeat visits thereafter.

    Group Events & Influencers– If you see your favourite influencers enjoying a great day at an entertainment centre nearby, wouldn’t it make you more likely to visit it? Influencers having a massive social media reach amongst the young and trendy followers that consume their content and look up to them for recommendations to improve their own style and social ratings. For young groups, being at a gaming center is becoming a lifestyle statement and creating an aspirational element is critical to attract more visits from existing and new customers. However, identifying influencers who can be used to create awareness about gaming and entertainment centres amongst target segments to generate footfalls for corporate events, birthday and kitty parties as well as sports events, to ensure more visits. Other than lifestyle influencers and content creators, influencers who have large groups following can be targeted who can project the bonding and enjoyment of gamers with F&B. 

Technology & VR Games- With the current generation heavily engaged with VR and AR platforms, there is a need to address this requirement in a very innovative and creative manner. Designing the right content and experience for the customer and differentiating with mobile options is paramount especially in the light of the demand created by 3D movies. Enhancing it to 5D, 7D and 9D is not only a sure-shot way of attracting new users but also giving newer options to existing users to drive repeat visits.

Gaming, Food & Beverages Reviews and Rating– Users nowadays check online reviews and ratings which serve as social proof of a place. Ensuring your customers write reviews and give ratings upon their visit is essential because then positive reviews especially about Gaming, Food and alcoholic beverages (e.g. Choice between 20 shots) can be projected as unique experiences and blended into marketing campaigns. Reviews and ratings ensure that genuine experiential claims are made by customers rather than the company making high claims about itself. Moreover, seeking and actioning negative reviews can be used to improve services and make the overall experience better. 

Collaborations– With the confluence of High income, spending & experience seeking groups of guests at gaming centres, collaborations with well-established brands that offer products & services which align with the objective of acquiring new & existing consumers for the brands, but by ensuring exposure & trial. These brands get an alternate launch media in the form of gaming centres, leading to improvement of revenues by cross selling opportunities. For example, if gaming and entertainment centres collaborate for F1 events, the same can be enhanced by collaborating with brands like Exxon Mobil, Castrol, MRF, and Apollo Tyres, these popular brands can enahne their own presence and the gaming center gets sponsorship revenues. Gaming centers can even hold competitions sponsored by these complementary brands, with prizes on winning such games, drawing in more customers. Even collaborations with popular food products desiring to sample & ensure trial, can help enhance the overall experience and can be used in lead generation marketing campaigns. Who doesn’t want new options in good food and beverages (including alcohol) while enjoying a good day!

Overall, a strong marketing strategy is needed to maximise your customer base and increase profits. There are several ways to better the marketing strategy of gaming and entertainment centres, a few of which are mentioned above!