A True Brand Fan
Tips to create simple marketing messages that work
By Ryan Wille
Photos: Courtesy of the Quad City Botanical Center
It takes a lot of effort and planning to stand out in today’s world full of people constantly being treated as potential customers. Studies show the average person is exposed to roughly 4,000 marketing messages every day, and the number is growing.
While many people can relate to a limited budget and limited time in this industry, the truth is that effective marketing rarely requires either of these. The most effective marketing opportunity is the ability to build a relationship with members of a community. As experiential-based organizations, our job is to focus not only on what happens at the time of marketing but also what happens after—the human experience, which is the reason many chose these roles to begin with. Marketing is the first step in engaging the public in a manner that turns them from a guest, learner, or visitor into a fan, volunteer, or donor.
Taking this approach in marketing and promoting the Quad City Botanical Center in Rock Island, Ill., has paid dividends since pivoting out of COVID. Many visitors have been turned into the most coveted type of customer, program participant, or learner—a true fan.
Each measurable outcome has had record highs, with guest and learner satisfaction earning the organization a NetPromoter score in the high 80s year after year as the fanbase turns into advocates for the organization’s mission.
Fishing For Answers
There are two main pieces to marketing and ultimately creating a fan. To use a familiar fishing reference, those two steps are the “hook” and the “release.”
As one might assume, the “hook” is the moment a member of the community is drawn to something and decides to get involved. This could be a special event, a new exhibit, a unique plant in the collection, or simply a basic attraction to a garden’s mission of bringing people and plants together. For anyone reading a marketing message, your job is to set the hook.
Something to ask when creating a marketing piece is it something you are attracted to, or something the community will be attracted to. This simple question can prevent one from going down a dangerous road of prescribing interests to people and not listening to what the community wants and expects.
Many times, the answer to this question leads to two simple approaches—simple and welcoming. Simple is vital because of the number of marketing messages people are exposed to each day. Welcoming is necessary to convince people there is something for them at your facility.
With today’s technology, most people can create a busy logo or put trending music in a short video to compel users to share it, but it will be forgotten as soon as users view the next short video. Simple things stand out, so take advantage of this. Marketing messages should not be busy, confusing, or designed because an artist likes to see it on a laptop screen; messages should make people feel good.
Also regarding the hook, never be afraid to ask people what they want, or what they think. They will tell you and have fun doing it. Ask people in programs how they heard about the message. Stop a random guest in the hallway and ask if that person would rather see postings on social media about park-equipment upgrades or videos of a pond being stocked in the spring. You will be blown away by the reactions of customers—in a good way. This is a surefire way to create a higher level of connection between an organization and its guests. Realizing that people are willing to provide their opinion will immediately produce an increase in guest satisfaction. Just make certain to listen to the results of the questions.
Once people are hooked into the organization, there is only one chance to make a smooth release back into the pond of consumers. The goal here is to release guests feeling better than the moment they became hooked. If you can accomplish that, you have just created a fan.
Keep It Simple
The job of parks and recreation professionals are to create an environment that makes guests and learners want to return. This can probably be accomplished in a variety of methods, but the simplest ways prove to be the most effective:
Listen to the results of surveys.
Treat every guest like you want that person to come back.
Teach everyone at least one thing they didn’t know when they walked into the facility.
Ask questions.
Show appreciation.
Ask guests to return.
Highlight another seasonal event guests might enjoy.
Thank them for their support of the program.
Stand out by being simple, being a human, and genuinely treating guests or learners like you want them to return. That is the most affordable and most meaningful way to create fans of a brand.
Ryan Wille is the Executive Director at the Quad City Botanical Center in Rock Island, Ill. Reach him at rwille@qcgardens.com.