Increasing the Bottom Line
Marketing your waterpark through programming
is an enterprising option
BY LORI FULLER
My boss wants me to increase the
bottom line this summer at our aquatics
facility." Does this sound familiar?
Families are demanding quality programs and facilities, but the seemingly
overburdened taxpayers don't want to pay
for it. This current trend is challenging us
to develop multimillion dollar facilities, or
renovate/expand existing facilities and
operate them at a profit. This takes us out
of our box of taxpayer subsidized services
and into another dimension called
enterprise departments.
Commercial businesses have always
operated this way and know all the tricks
to bring people in to their facility. "Image
is Everything" is not just a camera slogan,
it is the key to success. To compete, you
must develop an image and put it in front
of your residents every chance you get.
Who wants to go to a pool whose image is
that cut-and-paste flyer you sent to the
schools last week?
The difficult thing about an image is
that it is practically impossible to define, so
where do you go to get one? Image is in
everything you do. It is in the cleanliness
of the facility, the quality and appearance
of your staff, the attitude and professionalism of your staff, in all the advertising you
do and the programs you run.
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The advantage we have over commercial
enterprises is our programming expertise.
This is where you begin to develop that
image. Unfortunately, many operators are
still looking at programs separately from
recreational swimming. They are both at
the same facility; they both contribute to
the bottom line, therefore, they are one
and the same.
Failure to utilize your recreational
swimming times to promote your pro-
grams could mean the failure of a program.
Likewise, you can utilize your programs to
promote your recreational swimming and
generate tons of additional revenue.
To increase that bottom line, you must
be efficient. Holding programs all day is
not efficient. Let's be realistic. Programs
are a lot more work for a lot less profit
than just opening the pool and providing
lifeguards. Therefore, you will make your
profit from your admissions by utilizing
your programs to promote them and
develop your image. We all know costs are
nearly the same to have 100 people in your
facility each day as they are for 1,000
people. Our goal is to put as many people
in our facilities as possible without
sacrificing safety or quality. This, more
than anything else, will increase the
bottom line.
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There are several ways of utilizing
programs to get people in the door:
external advertising of the programs,
internal advertising, public service
announcements, giveaways at programs,
and image development through programs.
All of these contribute to the most
important marketing tool: word-of-mouth
advertising.
With both internal and external
marketing, it's important to determine a
theme and stick with it. Make sure your
name, logo, and theme are on each and
every piece you do. Name and image
recognition are key to top-of-mind
awareness. If each advertisement you put
May/June 1999 /35
out looks different, consumers will not
identify them with you. Even worse, they
will be confused about your image and
subconsciously be turned off without
knowing why.
Calendar of Events
The first thing on your agenda should
be to develop your calendar of events.
Make this a combination of ongoing
programs like swimming lessons and
excitement generating special events like a
season opening party. Special events should
be balanced between before- and after-
hours events and those during regular
hours which will generate admissions.
Once you have your program calendar, you
can begin marketing the programs, which
results in the marketing of your facility.
External Marketing
When developing program budgets,
most of us include a certain amount for
promotions and build this into costs. This
allows for promotions that are not
included in the facility marketing plan.
Although you are marketing a particular
program, your name and logo are out in
front of people who may or may not be
participating. External marketing includes
flyers to schools, ads in newspapers and on
radio, marquee announcements, advertise-
ments in school yearbooks, band programs,
etcetera.
Internal Marketing
Internal marketing refers to marketing
to a captive audience within your organization. These may be participants in other
park and recreation programs, season pass
holders, or participants in your programs
from last year. Sending them information
via direct mail about upcoming events to
increase that top-of-mind awareness for
those participants. Not only are you
increasing their awareness of your programs, but you plant the idea that you
always have something exciting going on
and this is a place they want to be all
summer long.
I usually mail things directly to these
people in the form of a calendar of events.
This is an excellent opportunity to develop
that image. An attractive, professional
piece will be posted on the refrigerator all
season long constantly reminding people of
the image you are projecting. I may send a
few things to them individually, but if they
are flooded with information from you it
becomes an annoyance.
Bulletin Boards
Once you have guests in your facility,
use the bulletin boards to generate
excitement and attendance for upcoming
events. Pictures are worth a thousand
guests. Take pictures of your programs and
special events and post them in a conspicuous spot. There is nothing like pictures of
happy people to make guests want to be
there for the next event. This is another
reinforcement of your image that your
facility is a fun, exciting place to be.
Public Service Announcements
Public service announcements are a
great way of advertising your programs.
Once you develop a relationship with your
local paper, you can get free publicity.
Utilize your programs in three ways:
1) pre-event PSAs letting everyone know
when your event is happening; 2) post-
event with pictures of the event and details
about how many attended; and 3) statistics
and lists of winners in the sports section of
the paper.
If you give reporters the opportunity to
take pictures and make yourself available
when they call, they are usually very
accommodating with promoting your
programs, thus taking your facility along
for the ride. The more things the public
sees about you in the paper, the better.
Your goal here is to make the public aware
that there is always something exciting
happening at your facility.
I try to send one PSA per week.
Realistically, the media will not put the
same PSA in week after week, so if you
have four sessions of swimming lessons,
they may put them in once, or add it to
their weekly calendar of events. In order to
be in the paper weekly, you must have
something new each week. Plan your
calendar with this in mind. You can,
however, get the most out of your PSAs by
doing a follow-up article. If the paper
doesn't take pictures, take your own and
send it to them with a short article about
the event and who won the Youth
Triathlon, or how many people participated in the Summer Snow Party.
Giveaways
It costs virtually pennies more to have a
few more people in our facility, therefore,
giveaways of free admission to the facility
cost us very little. If you track it, you will
probably find they bring in money because
people never come alone, and once they
are in your facility, they buy food at the
snack bar or a toy in the gift shop.
Giveaways increase awareness of your
facility to people participating in your
programs. They increase the value of your
program if you give a free pass to everyone
who participates, and they give your
facility the appearance of something that is
in demand. You may choose to give away
free passes or $1 off coupons to all the
participants, but you need to take into
consideration how many of these you will
be giving away. It may not be worth it to
give away 500 free passes, especially if you
think many of these participants will come
anyway. In that instance, a $1 off coupon
would work better, or perhaps a coupon to
admit one child with a paid adult would
be better.
A good time to give away passes and
coupons is during spring programs such as
"Breakfast with the Bunny" or "Dare
Program Party." I like to give away tattoos
of our logo to children participating in
mid-season events. When you buy them in
bulk, you can get them for as little as 6
cents a piece. The kids love them and they
stay on for up to a week!
You can use your programs to give
passes away, but you can also give programs to other organizations as a means of
publicity. I am always getting requests for
giveaway items for school fund-raisers,
silent auctions, incentives for good
behavior, etc. I usually give away a family
admission, but sometimes I give a birthday
party package or admissions to the "Back
to School Party" or teen dances. These are
ways to generate interest and excitement
with a new audience and increase awareness that something is always happening at
your facility.
Community Sponsorship!
Ever wonder why Motorola sponsors the
Western Open or why TWA has its name
on a stadium? It's not because they are
interested in sports. It's because they want
people who participate in those activities
36/ Illinois Parks and Recreation
to associate their business with that image
and get their name out as leaders in
community development.
We obviously can't do such large
sponsorships, but we can do programs for
the sake of improving our image and do
some community service in the process.
My favorite program is the "Water Safety
Program" in the schools. I go to local
schools and give a 45 to 90 minute
presentation on water safety and what to
do if someone gets into trouble around
water. While teaching valuable skills to the
kids, I am generating a lot of excitement
for the waterpark. Also, each child who
participates gets a $1 off coupon.
Another community service program we
are trying this year is "Duck Races." A
small duck race will take place every
Tuesday in the waterpark's lazy river. This
generates admissions for the day while
creating excitement about the Service Club
fund-raiser to be held on Labor Day in the
lazy river. We get the benefit of added
admissions all summer long, and the
Service Club gets to use our facility to
raise thousands of dollars. We are providing a community service in a fun, interactive way, which again helps our image.
What types of programs will be successful in promoting your facility? Only you
can decide what will work in your
community. They should be a combination of new programs as well as tried and
true programs perhaps with a new twist.
Either way, they should be aimed at your
target market and make a statement about
your image.
Parks and recreation staff are a creative
bunch. Given the opportunity to create
some excitement and develop new
programs, staff will get excited and you
will find the community joining in and
spreading the word that your aquatic
facility is the best place to be all summer
long! And, what to do with all that
additional revenue? Add a new attraction
and make that your focal point for next
year's image builder.
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Creative Aquatic Center Programming
Ideas from Around the State
Cypress Cove in Wood ridge is holding a "Name the Mascot" contest all
summer long with the winner being announced for the 2000 season. They also
provide a very successful snorkeling program with a longtime instructor who is
very popular. Cypress Cove touts a "Jive and Dive" concert series on the first
Tuesday of every month and featured restaurant days that allow local businesses
to gain exposure and hand out samples and menus.
Wood River Aquatic Center takes the Grand Opening Party even further
by holding slide races, a belly flop contest, numerous relays, and diving for fish
eggs on the first Saturday the kids are out of school.
Pekin's Dragonland holds family nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays where
families get in for $5. They use themes such as the Flintstones and Christmas in
July to make activities more exciting.
The Salem Parks and Recreation Department's former director reports a pool lock-in as very successful in previous years. This hit the hard-to-reach teen market and got them excited about the pool.
Rockford's Magic Waters holds a Wet Wednesdays program after closing
(6:00 p.m.) every week. The idea is to attract working parents and teens. There
are reduced admission fees, a deejay, and radio personalities. This program attracts 1,000-2,500 per week.
Roxana Park District holds family nights as well as monthly game days to
attract additional admissions to their community pool.
Collinsville's Splash City will sponsor Junior Guards for the 11 to 16 age group, which was highly successful last year. Also, we are trying Family Barbecue Sundays with games and activities to go along with a Barbecue dinner
available from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to entice people to arrive and stay later
on Sundays. Another successful program last year was our Sand Castle Contest,
and of course Grandparents' Day is always fun. Both of these programs are
designed to generate daily admissions as are the newly added Public Safety
Appreciation Day and the Service Club Recognition Day.
— by Lori Fuller
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LORI FULLER
is the Aquatic Manager at Splash City Family Waterpark, a facility
of the Collinsville Area Recreation District.
May/June 1999 /37