Notes from the floor.
How entertainment venues get found, get booked and get guests back. Written by someone who ran an arcade for ten years.
Latest posts
How AI search decides whether to recommend your venue
A growing share of people asking what to do this weekend get an answer with three venue names in it and never see a search results page. Here is what decides whether one of them is yours.
Aug 6, 2026 · 5 min readFive tips on marketing your escape room
Escape room customers are the warmest buyers in location-based entertainment. They are not researching for months, they are looking for something to do tonight. Five ways to be the one they find.
May 14, 2024 · 4 min readFive reasons your venue needs an automated booking system
Taking bookings by phone costs a venue with six stations about 15.5 staff hours a week, and every unanswered call is ad spend you already paid for. Five reasons the software wins.
May 12, 2024 · 4 min readSEO versus social media in location-based entertainment
The answer is both, but the split is not arbitrary. Tourism in your city decides which one gets the ad budget, and locals never google what there is to do in their own town.
May 11, 2024 · 3 min readYour hours have to match your audience
Staffing is the biggest line item in most venues, and a lot of it gets spent on hours when the customers are at work. Open when they are free, not when you are.
May 10, 2024 · 2 min readYou need a marketing plan
Without a plan, every marketing decision is made by whoever called you that morning. A plan is what lets you say no to the hockey arena and know you are right.
May 10, 2024 · 3 min readThree reasons entertainment businesses fail
The failures are not random and they are not bad luck. Three things kill entertainment venues, and all three are decided before the doors open.
May 10, 2024 · 3 min readPaid content versus organic content
Organic builds the community. Paid does the selling. They are different jobs and posting the same thing through both is how venues waste an ad budget.
May 10, 2024 · 3 min readMarket your experience, not your technology
Nobody has ever booked a birthday party because of the refresh rate. The venues that market the experience outlast the ones that market the hardware, and I have the receipts.
May 10, 2024 · 3 min readYour online presence has to match what people walk into
Customers decide what your venue is before they arrive. If the building does not match the pictures, the review they leave is about the disappointment, not the visit.
May 10, 2024 · 3 min readYour staff are your branding
The person behind the counter delivers more of your brand than every ad you will ever run. Hiring the cheapest available human undoes the rest of the work.
May 7, 2024 · 3 min readWhy your venue needs paid advertising
Two rules: advertise constantly, and never cut advertising because sales are down. The second one is where most venues lose the year.
Apr 9, 2024 · 3 min readTailor your tools to your marketing, not the other way around
Your brand has to be bigger than the platforms you happen to use. A story about radio, grandparents, and a fully booked March break in a small Canadian city.
Mar 15, 2024 · 3 min readPrice as a luxury, not as the cheapest option in town
Your customers are spending limited free time as much as limited money. People treating themselves do not shop for the cheapest option, and pricing like they do costs you the customers you want.
Mar 13, 2024 · 2 min readFind out what's broken. Free.
I run the same diagnostic on every new venue, and I'll send you the report whether or not you ever hire me.
Same day · Run by me, not a bot · Sarnia, Ontario