I just spent a long weekend in Las Vegas combining business and pleasure. That's one of the nice benefits of owning your own business. You go for work and have fun, too.
While making my way around this brightly lighted, small city I learned a few things about marketing. And you got to believe that Las Vegas can teach you a thing or two about marketing since they're still pulling people in. I won't say the city was crowded, but it was far from slow.
The first thing that I learned was compete hard. You might cringe when you have a competitor at the same networking function or in a new retail location close to your store, but the truth is that's nothing compared to the competitive environment in Las Vegas. Think of the competition for your gambling dollar. It's fierce and getting fiercer. Hooters hotel and casino had ads all over town offering $100 in free slot play for newcomers.
The Westin Casuarina, which has a casino was offering $50 for newcomers. The Westin of all places going up against Bellagio and Bally's for your bucks. That's going for it and I like that. Don't shrink from your competition, get in their face. Las Vegas reminds me of Tokyo in this respect.
In Tokyo there are districts featuring fresh fish, used books, or electronics where you'll find hordes of similar businesses going head to head for your yen. If you can't handle competition, then you'll certainly not be in one of these special districts. If you can, you'll actually make more money as the density of similar businesses brings out the true shoppers for those items. Think of all the places in the world now where you can go gamble and have fun and yet Las Vegas is still the #1 place for this type of entertainment.
The newcomer specials mentioned above was just one example. You see the casinos also offering big shows, special prices on food. wonderful shopping, incredible nightclubs, all to top one another. They compete vigorously on multiple levels with their competition. Do you? What can you do now to compete harder? When will you start?
The next thing I learned, which is related to the first point is to offer lots of choices.
The typical first-rate hotel and casino offers 2 – 4 live shows, multiple star chef restaurants, numerous second-rate restaurants, hundreds of different types of slot machines, myriad table games, some sort of alternative entertainment like a wax museum, an exquisite shopping mall, and a sports book with more big screens than a Best Buy. And to think this is only one hotel!
Las Vegas may have more choices for how to spend your money per square foot than any other place on earth. Even the sidewalks are lined with opportunities to buy bottled water, tours of Hoover Dam, discount VIP passes to hot nightclubs, and designer knock-off sunglasses. What this approach does is ensure that no one has a lack of enticement to unload every dollar in their wallet and then some.
How many choices are you offering your customers? Is choice a weapon you use versus your competition? If you want to market Vegas style, then the more choice the better.
Next up, be innovative. In Las Vegas you must always be coming up with something new to get people to stand up and take notice. There's now a lounge there that is frozen. You are served drinks in glasses made of ice atop a bar made of ice. I've heard of places like this featured at snow festivals in Europe, but I've never seen such a place.
Cirque du Soleil now has a show created in combination with the magician entertainer Criss Angel. That's creative. They even offer another new show about Elvis. That's unexpected. What are you doing that's innovative, surprising and creative? If your answer is not much, then you might have one answer as to why the cash register isn't ringing so much lately.
The last thing I'll share that I learned is to be big and bold with your marketing. In Las Vegas you cannot market in a subtle way. You will get drowned out. So, they go the other way and market loudly and proudly. This picture below was taken at the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace to promote a new chocolate restaurant that will open soon.
This was 10-15 foot panel. Next to it were 2 or 3 more similarly colorful panels. At the top of this panel is a picture of a waffle covered with cherries and chocolate chunks and chocolate syrup being drizzled on it. Very enticing. I'd like to go to this restaurant because of this big and bold advertising in advance.
Having just returned home I've not had all this learning sink in yet in terms of how it will change the way I use marketing, but it will. Las Vegas is doing a lot of things right in terms of marketing and we can learn from them. Share your thoughts with me. Have you been to Las Vegas recently? What did you learn? Click on the Comments link below to share.
