Scale Your Paintball Business With Digital Marketing

Few outdoor activities offer as much pleasure and excitement as paintball, a sport that officially started in the 1980s and has recently skyrocketed in popularity. Stats show that 2.67 million Americans played the thrilling game in 2023 alone, revealing a healthy rise from 2021 on.

Yet paintball business operators face several challenges, from sustaining a profit during off-peak seasons to the substantial costs of maintaining paintball equipment. At the same time, the digital world we live in and the many online entertainment options available to thrill seekers can weaken attendance and hurt profitability.

What’s the solution? Selling the joy of the sport through an innovative, strategic and multi-layered paintball marketing plan that plays into our digital obsession.

Whether you’re just starting in the paintball industry or have been welcoming enthusiastic players for years, it’s crucial to consider the leading digital marketing strategies for paintball businesses and how to implement them for a stronger online presence.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a cornerstone of digital marketing. With the potential to bring in $42 for every $1 spent, it’s considered one of the most effective methods for speaking directly with customers in a personable and engaging way.

Additionally, email marketing may:

• Expand brand awareness, which is particularly important for new paintball businesses or those with immediate, direct competition nearby
• Foster enhanced communication with your customer base to receive feedback for improvements to your field and offerings
• Fuel traffic to your website

Enrich Customer Communication with Email Marketing

Email marketing may be a solid digital marketing strategy in any industry. Still, it’s especially appealing for paintball business owners who want—and should—engage in a dialogue with new and repeat customers.

To that end, you may want to consider leveraging email marketing to:

• Announce promos – One of the draws of email marketing from the client’s perspective is the chance to learn about exclusive, upcoming promotions. This might be a discount to celebrate the arrival of warmer weather in spring or an invitation to try out your latest paintball equipment at a reduced price.
• Encourage upsells – Your customers’ experience with your business starts before they’ve donned their layers and safety masks: during online booking. Streamlining this aspect of the process doesn’t just benefit your customers (and potentially boost customer satisfaction)—it also allows you to use email booking reminders to upsell your services, such as annual or lifetime memberships or a customer loyalty program. What’s more, email booking reminders can decrease no-shows and canceled reservations.
• Incentivize return visits — Few things are more rewarding than when a customer personally thanks you for your patronage. Not only might this increase repeat visits, but it may also improve sales when it’s coupled with a special discount on their next game.

SMS

SMS, or short message service, marketing is one of the keys to success in our digital era:

• 70% of customers indicate that it’s one of the most effective ways for businesses to earn their attention.
• 98% of text marketing messages are opened mainly due to their brevity and convenience.
• 45% of SMS messages receive a response, a substantially higher rate than email marketing.

What’s more, you can schedule SMS marketing to reach your target audience at the right time, whether it’s the first Friday night of summer or before the holidays when customers may be searching for unique gifts for their loved ones.

The Most Effective SMS Tactics for Paintball Businesses

Several of the most promising SMS campaigns for paintball businesses include:

• Limited-time offers – The beauty of SMS marketing is that it can be used to send your customers time-sensitive information. This might be an upcoming event or an exclusive limited-time discount. Urgency is one of the most compelling ways to sell products and services; even adrenaline-seeking paintball enthusiasts don’t want to miss out on a great deal.
• Last-minute openings—Similarly, alerting your customers about last-minute openings on your field or in your arena may attract players, especially if they take place on holiday weekends or at the height of your peak season.
• Activity updates – Upgrading your paintball equipment? Get your target audience excited about the improvement by announcing your new state-of-the-art gear or implementing fresh changes to your field.
• Booking reminders – SMS booking reminders may, like email reminders, reduce no-shows and cancellations.
• Abandoned cart recovery – Abandoned carts could happen for any number of reasons; the crucial thing is to remind customers to return and complete their transactions. Want to make your reminder even more enticing? Send it along with an incentive, such as a discount or an extra hour of playtime.

Lastly, succeeding in the realm of paintball means consistently reminding players about their love of the sport and putting in the extra effort to gain (or sustain!) their loyalty. Engaging with them directly to wish them a happy birthday or the like may have them putting their gloves back on in no time.

Social Media

Social media is as crucial to paintball marketing as regulations are to the safety of the game—it’s essential for reminding players about your offerings and building buzz about your business. What’s more:

• 68% of American residents use facebook
• 47% of Americans are on Instagram
• 30% of the US uses TikTok and LinkedIn

Another 83% of Americans also use YouTube, which is a natural fit for demonstrating the exhilaration of the game or providing tips on playing safely and boosting techniques.

That said, leveraging social media to accomplish everything from event promotions to new equipment shouldn’t be where you stop: an estimated 64% of consumers want, and even expect, businesses to connect with them.

Enhance Engagement with Customers Via Social Media

So, what’s the most valuable way to connect with customers on platforms ranging from Facebook to Instagram? Building a dialogue through:

• Encouraging past customers to share photos and videos of their experiences
• Engaging with user-generated content (UGC) through likes and comments
• Requesting reviews and follows (and possibly offering an incentive for participating)

In addition, consider engaging and working with respected influencers in the field like Ryan Greenspan or Brandon Cornell: their fans can bring more attention your way and potentially boost sales.

Website

An expertly designed, eye-catching website is critical to your marketing efforts. Think of your website as your home base where everything from contact information to online bookings is stored.

To help your website stand out against your competition, consider crafting a site that captures the most electrifying aspects of the sport, such as videos of high-spirited games, colorful, engaging graphics and glowing testimonials from customers.

Maximize Your Website

To make the most of your website and persuade customers to book their tickets, consider the following non-negotiables:

• Connect with your community through SEO – Paintball is nothing if not a locally-driven community activity. With this in mind, ensure your website has been SEO-optimized specifically for your city and neighborhood. Through the use of keywords such as “paintball near me,” you can drive organic traffic to your site and take advantage of the fact that 30% of all mobile searches are associated with place and another 78% of users visit businesses within a day of finding them online.
• Ensure mobile usability – Speaking of mobile, your customers should be able to navigate through your website on their smartphones as easily as they can on a desktop computer or laptop.
• Offer a streamlined experience – In a technology-driven world, this should be no surprise: People judge websites within the first five seconds of visiting them. In addition to a professional appearance, your website needs an easy-to-navigate interface where online booking is a breeze, and the different types of play you offer are clear. Resova offers a complimentary and efficient booking website to give customers a seamless, user-friendly experience.

Paid Marketing

Paid marketing can be a boon for paintball businesses, particularly for those just getting off the ground and keen on attracting their first customers. As one of the gold standards in overall digital marketing, paid marketing may:

• Strengthen brand awareness
• Increase your chances of reaching your intended customers
• Provide insights into your target audience, including their behaviors and spending habits

Paid marketing typically boils down to paid social media, search engine marketing, display ads (such as Google Ads) and hybrid campaigns. Given that paid marketing also allows you to track your strategy’s efficacy, you can experiment with what works best for your ideal customer and adjust accordingly.

Optimize Your Paid Marketing Efforts

In addition to experimenting with different types of paid marketing, consider what’s most enticing to your target audience and use a blend of creative and messaging to encourage them to visit your website.

You can also use paid ads to expand your customer base and attract new visitors. This might mean:

• Advertising low-impact paintball for children’s parties
• Displaying ads that show recent events
• Promoting other aspects of your arena experience, including music and concessions

Paintball is a dynamic sport, which should be reflected in the ads you choose and your marketing plan.

Remember the power of quality content and its ability to shape perception. Harness that knowledge to drive people exactly where you want them to be: inside your arena.

Level Up Your Paintball Marketing Strategy with Resova

Between balancing the safety concerns of your players, ensuring unforgettable experiences and managing your cash flow during seasonal lows, operating a paintball business isn’t without its challenges. Fortunately, developing a detailed paintball business marketing plan can ease your concerns, boost your sales and remind you why you entered the business in the first place: to turn a profit while offering one of the most exciting recreational activities available.

Resova can help implement that paintball marketing plan.

From our all-in-one marketing and promotion platform to our text and email automation, we can simplify your marketing strategy while ensuring it’s as robust and engaging as possible.

Give our free trial a whirl and see the possibilities for yourself.