Decorate for high rate!
In my view, a feature is something the inspires amazement, awe, and interest. In other words, features draw attention. Features leave impression; they make you want to capture them, and share in social media. I think every micro-feature can add up to 0.01% to regular marketing profits. It’s pretty easy to count: 200 features make it 2%.
From ground floor to roof, recreation center is art space
Introduce spectacular photo zones, decorate walls and ceilings with style, develop infographics and navigation. Every object can combine amazing design and functionality: lamps, litter bins, handles, furniture, even fire extinguishers.
I borrow ideas for various features as I visit recreation centers, cafés and restaurants in our country and abroad. I also find evocative images at Pinterest and sort them out into several categories:
- decorations for recreation centers,
- features for parks, bars and restaurants,
- serving tables,
- menu designs,
- areas for children,
- navigation,
- bathroom design, etc.
If you’re interested in any of these, welcome to my account.
Theme-heavy decorations
Prior to big events, it’s wise to install thematic decorations to attract Guests. Your decorations should be bright and, what’s more important, early. These decorations can create the atmosphere of festivity long before the festival itself. The Guests will see that you’re ready for celebration, and will be inclined to come to you to celebrate. This way, you’re not selling anything, but you’re making visual hints at what you have in store for the party.
Every year, our park is getting decorated for periods such as:
- January 29 to March 12 — Valentine’s Day combined with Women’s Day. Decorations: mostly flowers and hearts. Color palette: red and pink.
- There’s also February 23 (military themed national day — translator’s note), but we don’t put out specific decorations on that occasion. Military and patriotic themes are expressed through soldiers’ uniforms, or certain parts of them, mainly caps.
- October 15 to November 6 — Halloween and school break
- November 29 to January 28 — New Year and Christmas
Purchasing decorations is an extremely responsible task. Everything is produced in China and shipped to Russia in one enormous batch. Then, we hire professional decorators. It’s more expensive than assigning this operation to our staff, but results are worth the cost.
Encourage photos
Designated zones, thematic decorations, lighting, mirrors — make count every place where your Guests can take photos. Of course, it isn’t a dire necessity, but Guests will certainly be drawn to a recreation center that indulges selfies and photo sets. Beautiful photo zones will add to overall atmosphere of enjoyment, while branded ones will increase your center’s reference rate in social media.
There’s a number of simple tricks you could pull off. For examples, walls are your canvases. You can decorate them, hang neon lights, use distinctive fonts, templates and hashtags, and Guests will likely want to take a photo here and there. Also note that every mirror in your recreation center is, potentially, a miniature photo zone.
When decorating a recreation center for New Year, we don’t just put conifer trees and hang snowflakes randomly around the territory. No, we make a designated thematic area, for example, a whole forest of decorated trees. Guests enjoy walking among these trees, and, of course, take a ton of photos. They’re pretty easy to install, and they attract Guests from all over the center.
You get the idea: don’t decorate everything everywhere you can. Invest in few designated zones, and everyone will want to see them.
