Let’s Get Social!
News and Notes
The surge of Covid-19 has started to fade back again. We see very strong figures beginning in February. We have all been through the gauntlet with this virus and how it has impacted our businesses and our lives. What I see is the creative backbone of each of you. Finding ways to develop new ideas, assure the safety of your facilities and bring joy to the parents and the kids they bring. We are excited to see the spring come and with it new faces and old back into the Luv 2 Play family.
One of the topics we hear from you are ideas to spruce up your playground. To keep it fresh. In addition, replacement parts for used portions of your playground. We are working on adding a parts list to the company portal. This will help keep your playground in tip top shape. We will also add additional information on what is on site and items that will need to be ordered.
Inside The Numbers
January 2022 Top 5 Revenue Streams
Parties:
- Norterra: $22,294
- Dublin: $19,981
- Stockton: $16,347
- Sutton: $16,001
- Grapevine: $12,448
Food/Beverage:
- Appleton: $24,234
- Grande Prairie: $13,826
- Stockton: $12,999
- Metairie: $12,602
- Norterra: $11,647
Entries:
- Appleton: $46,839
- Riverside: $36,362
- Metairie: $29,158
- San Jose: $28,590
- Stockton: $27820
*Arcade:
- Grande Prairie: $21,473
- Appleton: $14,749
- Sutton: 12,929
- Stockton: $11,164
- Norterra: $10,968
*Partial numbers, please see your own records for complete analysis
*Active Members:
- Norterra: 497
- Sandy: 319
- Sutton: 302
- San Jose: 305
- Surprise: 299
*As of February 15, 2022
Our Corporate Website is where you can place purchase orders, submit warranty requests, grab “to go” marketing graphics and mingle with your fellow franchisees.
Past Issues of Newsletter are now in the portal. Check them out by clicking the blog tab!
Update: Socks are IN! We have the following sizes in stock and ready to ship.
- Toddler
- X-Small
- Small
- Medium
- Large
- X-Large
- XX-Large
Please use the company portal to place your order. In order to expedite these orders, we are requesting orders of 200 per size, which is 1 box per size.
Also, check out our Franchise Blog, it has timely information and updates on training and development. The blog showcases tips and tricks for increasing revenue and buy in. The latest blog showcases Content Marketing.
Please check this regularly, as new content will be posted weekly to assist each of you succeed! Do you have your own tips and tricks? Please submit them and we can use it in a future issue.
Revenue Stream Spotlight
Phoenix has been on top of engagement. They have worked tirelessly through the pandemic to bring joy to the kids and parents there. The conversation rate from entries to memberships is well over 50%.
From Sophia’s Desk
We all know that hiring qualified candidates and keeping them happy is foundational for building a successful business. While keeping staff happy is always important, it becomes even more so when we are faced with a tough labor market like today. Businesses must work harder to attract the best candidates at a time when applicants seem to have an endless list of job offerings to choose from. How do you stand out from the rest? Obviously, one of the best ways to get better candidates is to offer a better compensation package. Find out what your competitors are offering and if you can offer more. Unfortunately, that may not work for everyone’s current situation. However, doing a little research on benefit programs, and incentives came make all the difference. You may find that offering employees the option of benefits like Aflac, supplemental health, or life insurance can be more affordable, and effective than offering higher wages. Again, this may not work for every scenario, but if you have 10 or more on staff it may be worth looking into. Another option maybe a sign-on bonus. You could include stipulations like the candidate is required to be employed for a certain amount of time (6 months, 12 months) to qualify for the bonus.
Remember to keep an open mind. If you are having trouble finding quality candidates, you may have to expand your search. When creating your job posts try to reduce certain requirements such as educational background and try to focus on experience. You may find after speaking with candidates you may not have previously considered, that they have the same qualities, and the ability to be trained for the position. Get employees to help! If you like your current team members, there’s a good chance you will like there friends too. Ask existing employees to put the word out about any openings and encourage them to recruit for you. Most employees will not recommend a friend unless they feel like they can do the job.
Post on your social media pages. If you have a good number of followers, this is a great way to get the word out that you are hiring. Ask followers to like and share the post with anyone they think maybe a good fit. Be timely in your communication with applicants. They may have several jobs that they applied for, so making sure you reach out and keep the lines of communication open are key in securing a good candidate.
We know hiring can be challenging, especially in today’s labor market, and we want to do anything we can to help. Here are a few simple job postings, and templates you can modify for your use, if you are in need:
Happy hiring!
Questions? Email me!
Marketing 101
What types of Marketing are you engaged in?
✓ Local marketing involves school, teams, city, and other community partnerships. These can include discounts, fundraisers, or special events at your facility. This can also include attending events to promote your location.
✓ Social marketing includes your activity of any social outlet such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, Yelp, Twitter, or Foursquares. Posts, Ads, and responding to reviews are all apart of social marketing. User Generated Content marketing is when you share customer experiences either photos, reviews, or testimonials.
✓ Email marketing is just that emailing the contacts on your waiver list.
✓ Mobile marketing is utilizing a program to send an SMS text message.
✓ Influencer marketing is any marketing in which you have partnered with an influencer who has a following on social or manages a local site that provides information to the community.
✓ Referral marketing is marketing that relies on referrals from other customers.
✓ Partnership marketing occurs when you have a relationship with another business who helps to promote your business and vice versa.
✓ Direct Mailer marketing is when you partner with a local magazine that sends ads or you send you own advertisement via mail.
✓ Play Pass or Fundraiser Card Marketing these partnerships happen when you contact or are contacted by a company who allows you to provide and offer for free advertising the company then makes their money off the sales of the passes.
The marketing types above are all typical for brands of our type. Each have their advantages whether it be ease of use, cost, reach, etc. When you are engaged in marketing regardless of type it is important to have a way to determine the effectiveness. This allows you to focus on what works.
Check out last month’s newsletter for more information on how to build your local marketing efforts. Develop a plan for schools, daycares, churches, local non-profits, and teams.
Currently, as a brand Luv 2 Play is partnered with SOCi to allow us to drive our social marketing on multiple platforms as well as keep our listing information consistent. Listing information consistency is so important to help customers find us, but also to help keep our customers in the know about how to reach us and when we are open. It is also a vital tool for responding to reviews, it makes responding pain free and provides recommended responses to allow for seamless management. The platform also has a social content suggestion calendar and libraries. We understand franchisees are busy, need an easier approach to being active on social, and being consistent is key. The suggestion calendar and libraries that allow you to choose content that has been created for the brand and utilize at your discretion. SOCi has a great knowledge base that you can look up step by step directions or event watch a video. Just go to support center then select SOCi University for videos or Knowledge base. For more, scroll down and download the app.
User Generated Content is sharing posts and/or reviews from your customers. You do not need to add to it let their content speak for you.
Email marketing can be an effective tool for communicating upcoming events or promotions. Keep this limited to a few times per month so your customers remain engaged. A newsletter is a great option. Sending a Happy Birthday to customers is a great way to remind them to come in for a FREE BIRTHDAY ENTRY and another way to promote parties.
Mobile Marketing (SMS text) is a nice way to communicate special daily deals to increase a slow day’s sales. This can also be a great way to engage customers for their birthdays.
We are currently testing Sendinblue for email and mobile marketing. The premium plan provides emails to 20,000 contacts for just $65/month, but you are charged based on the emails sent not the number of contacts in your list which means you can have a variety of lists to target different contacts. You can send email to just members to promote member events. You can target non-members. You can email just for March Birthdays. Also, you can send SMS text messages all in the same platform. We hope to have even more information in the coming month and are hopeful to negotiate a franchise price.
Do you know who your local mom-fluencers are or the websites or pages parents visit to find out what to do with their kids? Hulafrog, Macaroni Kid are just a few examples. But you should also join your local mom/dad/parent pages. Make sure you know when the voting takes place for best play center or indoor playground, share it with your guests to vote. It is an easy way to self-promote. Partner with them on an event, provide giveaways. There are several ways you can partner with a local influencer.
Have you implemented a referral program? Offer your loyal customers a path toward free membership, gift card, or a free party through promotion. Create a plan for members to refer other members. Give out referral cards to your members. If they refer a member to become a member both get a reward perhaps an additional game card, café credit, or credit towards a party.
Are you partnering with other local small businesses- character company, face painting, party supplier, baker, fitness, salon, crafts? What does this partnership look like? Do you tag them on your page for services? Do they tag your location? Have you hosted a small business event? These are all great ways to partner with other businesses.
Direct mailers usually arrive in the mail in the form of a postcard, coupon, or magazine. There are companies that offer no-cost ads, you can choose an option to create your own mailer or partner with a company like Valpak.
Play Pass, Entertainment Books, SaveAround Books, or Fundraiser cards are options that allow for free advertisement in exchange for providing an offer such as free entry or a discounted entry. These provide a nice option for brand awareness, but you need to make sure to get the specifics outlined so that it allows you and your team the ability to track and accept these options as payment or discounts.
When choosing your programs stick to a few to do well. Do not try to do everything at once because it can become overwhelming. Choose options that you can execute with ease. Create a plan for when to try each and think about the seasonality of your location and timing for each initiative.
Set Up a Time to Chat With Christina
As always please reach out if you have any questions or want assistance to build your program of offerings. Schedule a meeting here: https://calendly.com/luv2playmarketing/planning
Brand Colors
SOCI Reminder
You should have received an email with an invite from SOCi and you probably have already begun to see notifications. If you cannot find this email please let me know and I can have it resent. As a reminder it is very important to be responding to reviews and posting to Google often to help increase your SEO. Below are directions for self-guided resources on how to use the platform. You may also schedule a time with me to review if you have questions https://calendly.com/luv2playmarketing/planning.
For more information on SOCI and other marketing programs, email Christina. Use our marketing portal on the corporate website to submit requests. We highly recommend using the company portal for your communication with our marketing department. This will help us give you the tools you need in a way that has accountability on both sides of the coin.
Party Central
Tips and Tricks from the Field!
Here are some tips and tricks, do’s and don’ts from our Party Director, Lacey Meadows. Questions? Please email her at lacey@luv2play.com, we are here to help and assist.
Training and Development Corner
Ongoing Sales and Operation Training Available
The Super Bowl had a Halftime show that brought some of the great rap legends together. However, this clip by Snoop Dog is very powerful. It displays the forward thinking all people who manage others should be cognizant of.
Check it out.
With the seasonality of our playgrounds, one of the ways you can set a plan in. For questions, please email me at edward@luv2play.com and I will be happy to elaborate or offer one on one or group training.
Luv 2 Play Monthly Conference Call
Each month we encourage all Franchisees to take an hour out of their day to discuss the daily operations with us. We go over staffing, pricing, competition and MUCH MUCH more. It’s our way of keeping a pulse of each of you and to better help you succeed in your business. We would LUV to speak with you. The corporate team of Edward, Lacey, Christina and Sophia are eager to help.
To set up a time use the link below 👇👇👇