So you've adapted your Escape Room for live video or maybe even created a new one (if you've done neither yet then check out our getting started guide or watch the talk I gaze at Escapazon on Youtube!). Now how do you get some players? I've collected my top five tips below....
#1 Email and call your existing customers
You most likely have a list of people who have previously played your games. Maybe you collected them through your booking, check-in, or waiver software. Make sure you contact these people and explain the new idea. Many of them will be delighted to have something to do with their friends while in the lockdown.
You can even try calling instead of emailing. While this may not be practical in the long term it's a great way to get things kick started. And speaking to people on the phone is incredibly valuable for developing your marketing message, you'll be amazed how quickly you'll hone your description of the game so that people better understand what you're offering. Plus you'll be able to start working in answers to the common objections before people even voice them!
#2 Contact local businesses
Right now there are many businesses looking for an alternative team building activities that are compatible with lockdown. If you've been serving corporate customers before you should of course contact them (definitely by phone if you possibly can!). But you can also lookup lists of local businesses and just start calling them and asking who is responsible for booking team building things. You'll hear "no" plenty of times but a "yes" from this kind of customer can be very lucrative so keep on going!
#3 Talk to the local press
You have an amazing story about a local business doing a new and innovative thing to save the company, save jobs and save people from the isolation of lockdown. Contact all your local newspapers, radio stations, even TV stations. It works better to find particular journalists to contact at each place, find out who reports on these kind of things, learn about them, then send a personalized email. Journalists get a lot of unpersonalized templates emails every day so to stand out it really is worth putting in the effort to make it targeted to that specific person.
#4 Post on the enthusiasts groups
The enthusiast groups on Facebook and Slack are full of the exact people who would want to play your game. And now you're not restricted by location you can potentially have players from all over the world. But please be respectful and check what the rules of the group are, for example the main enthusiasts group on Facebook has a special thread for advertising play-at-home games.
#5 Submit it to us!
You can submit your game to use here at LiveVideoEscapeRooms.com and we'll list it for free on our website. Just click the "Add a listing" button above. There's no catch, it's free and will remain free so please do let us know about your game!
Bonus Tip: Adapt your message to your audience
It's worth really thinking about what message you're trying to communicate with your marketing. This will likely be different for the different groups of people you contact. Take some time to think it through for each new group and adapt your message as you get feedback on it.
If you've got any comments on this article or if there's anything I can help with please do email me on tom@livevideoescaperooms.com. And if you haven't already please do join the Live Video Escape Rooms group on Facebook, you'll be very welcome!