NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — BowerComm, the marketing firm used by the Kansas State Fair, reported to the fair board on Friday about what it sees as the successes it had in getting people to the Grandstand.
"We say, oh, we're going to email people," said Lori Bower with BowerComm. "Everyone's like, I hate getting spam, but, just to give you an example. Every time we have a concert announcement, Parker was the first one that we announced, on Friday, we send out a press release to the media and say, you can announce this on Monday. They do a great job at doing that for us. We post it on social media and say, hey, Parker's coming. If you sign up for our email list by Wednesday, you'll get in on the presale, which is on Thursday. Then, we remind people one more time on social media, then we send an email out. We also send an email to our list, which is, you know, thousands and thousands of people. Anyone want to venture a guess how much we made off emails? $63,000. When you think, you know, email is not sexy, but it is really powerful. Email is a sales medium."
Social media, other than to prompt inclusion in the emails, really wasn't as effective in converting to Grandstand ticket buyers. Also a real success with email is special ticket packages. The presenters said that the ticket pack for seniors was especially popular. It's also important from a marketing perspective to keep people's memories in mind.
"As we think about, how you can help people feel better about spending more money here, it's through experience," Bower said. "If they feel like it's worth it, they're going to not feel as bad about shelling out $200 per person when they come here."
For his part, State Fair General Manager Bryan Schulz believes that the marketing money has been well spent.
"For a fair our size, up until six months ago, four months ago, we spent $200,000 on advertising, is all we spent," Schulz said. "We were able to raise that to $240,000, this budget, I would like to see it increase significantly."
It may seem hard to believe for Hutchinson natives and those from central Kansas, but it's important to continue to let Kansans from areas well away from the fairgrounds be aware of the fair, especially in the state's urban areas, where population is growing.