Winning Axe-Throwing Marketing Tips

Since 2017, axe throwing has boomed from a few venues to over 600 nationwide. While more places mean easy access to fun, they also bring increased competition for proprietors and investors.

To maximize the flow of customers flinging hatchets and tomahawks at your venue, you must optimize your marketing practices. From email to SMS, social media and beyond, this guide will explain how to nail bullseyes on your most essential marketing platforms.

The Importance of Marketing for Axe-Throwing Facilities

In a world of digital entertainment, axe-throwing businesses serve consumers seeking a more physical pastime. Paradoxically, the best way to engage these consumers is through digital spaces like social media and texting. 

While reaching axe-throwing aficionados is a primary concern for growing your business, you can avoid many of the common pitfalls that new businesses fall into with the correct marketing techniques, including:

• Not catering to a target audience. One of the most critical mistakes axe-throwing businesses make is not identifying their corner of the market. Failing to understand your audience’s demographics, motivations and habits makes it difficult to tailor your  experience to them.
  
• Failing to differentiate from similar businesses. With so many axe-throwing venues across the United States, you must distinguish your business from your competitors to pull in more customers. Whether it’s your electric atmosphere, high-quality equipment, or careful safety standards, identifying and advertising your unique features can help you stand out as a business.

These common missteps are the bane of running an axe-throwing business, leading to slow sales and a lack of repeat customers. However, you can overcome these issues by conducting market research and utilizing effective marketing strategies to reach your audience.

Conducting market research allows you to gather valuable intel on your potential customers, such as their average ages, locations, and personal preferences. A proven data organization tool can give you a quick, accessible breakdown of the kinds of people and activities buzzing around your online platforms.

This indispensable data can help you develop an effective marketing strategy that speaks to your audience. Let’s talk about some common marketing mediums and how best to utilize them to reach your “target” market (pun totally intended).

Optimizing Email Campaigns for Axe-Throwing Marketing

Email is one of the leading digital mediums for connecting with customers. It’s the preferred method of business-to-consumer (B2C) communications for most smartphone users, and 77% of marketers reported a rise in email engagement over the past year.

Email is an exceptional platform for reaching customers with information about your prices and offers, including:

Upsells 

When customers make bookings for a basic service, such as one hour on the throwing range, sending a follow-up email can entice them into upgrading their experience. 

For instance, you might explain how, for only a few dollars more, they can get a drink package or play for a second hour—you’ll be surprised how often you’ll convert. For many marketers, such upselling strategies drive over 30% of their company’s revenue.

Promotional Announcements 

Are you having a “buy one hour, get one hour free” sale? Hosting an event with tons of giveaways? Email is a great way to spread the word.

Promotional emails alert customers to your business and can entice them to finally give the sport a go if the discounts or offers are sweet enough.

Discounts for Recurring Customers 

Reward your customers after their visit by giving them a discount on future experiences. Customers will be more incentivized to return for another round (and less likely to cancel) if they realize you’ll reward them for coming back.

Email coupons are a highly efficient way of driving repeat conversions, with up to 91% of customers claiming they’ll revisit a business that offers them coupons.

SMS Strategies for Axe-Throwing Venues

98% of SMS messages are opened and read. Additionally, consumers click their included links up to 30% of the time. Alongside email, text messaging is your most effective means of directly reaching individual consumers. 

People almost always have their phones on hand. Capitalize on this immediate availability by messaging your customers about:

Last Minute Openings 

Offering a discounted rate on an upcoming opening can convince customers to fill a timeslot that would have otherwise garnered zero revenue. 

Promotional Campaigns

Like email, sending SMS messages about promotional events is a surefire way to reach customers and let them know what offers you have coming up.

Personal Matters 

Reach out to customers with discounts for upcoming birthdays or corporate parties to make a potential conversion and make them feel special.

Announcements and Updates 

Are you closing for the holidays, or did your credit card terminals suddenly go offline? SMS is an excellent medium to share time-sensitive updates with customers.

Abandoned Carts 

Did a user reserve a spot, make it to checkout, and then click away from your page? Unfortunately, up to 70% of users abandon their online shopping carts before completing their purchases. About 47% of users attribute this abandonment to sticker shock when seeing their total after taxes and fees. 

So, to attract customers back and seal the deal, offer a small discount alongside a mobile-friendly link to return them to your site and complete their transaction.

Social Media Approaches for Axe-Throwing Arenas

Social media is an exceptional place to build your brand through targeted advertising. Social media platforms already have information such as users’ ages, locations, and preferences, so you can share your ads on a massive scale with highly relevant consumers.

Whether you’re working with Facebook, Instagram, or X, consider using social media to:

Encourage Customers to Share Photos

Axe throwing is an epic, highly shareable sport that’s sure to draw attention from social media scrollers. Encourage your customers to share photos from their visit to help boost your reputation and spread the word on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X. 

Using a booking tool that incentivizes customers to share via a small discount on their next visit is a surefire way to garner more social media shares.

Leverage User Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is any content created by your customers rather than yourself. A majority of internet users find it more influential than brand-generated photos and videos. 

Inspire your customers to create their own UGC by providing kooky branded backgrounds, cutouts and props to pose with for photos. When customers share pictures and videos of an amazing time at your venue, reshare them on your pages to ride that wave of credibility. 

Collaborate with Influencers

Influencers can dazzle anyone. But if you find your target demographic is primarily young adults, partnering with social media influencers can be particularly effective. In fact, 85% of Gen Z claim social media steers their purchasing decisions, and influencers are the primary channel through which they discover new products and experiences.

Gather Reviews

When browsing online businesses, most consumers read reviews, so having none can be off-putting for most potential customers. Positive ratings mean more credibility for your business, so remind customers to leave a review after their experience—or entice them into it with a freebie or discount.

Building the Optimal Website for Your Axe-Throwing Business

Most internet users explicitly state they don’t trust companies without websites. Nonetheless, nearly one-third of small businesses are missing this crucial component of their online presence.

Other axe-throwing venues’ failure to optimize their online presence is your opportunity to corral their customers. To develop a website that attracts users and convinces them to come in and pick up an axe, make sure it’s:

Make Sure It’s User-Friendly

Nearly 40% of users will click away from a site if they find the layout confusing or dislike the user experience (UX). Make sure your site is easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing and inviting to consumers discovering your business for the first time.

Optimize It for Search Engines

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of trying to make your web page appear first on Google and other search engines. Around 70% of all web traffic originates from Google alone, so SEO is essential to drive users to your site.

Learn and understand SEO best practices to appear near the top of search engine results the next time someone Googles axe throwing in your area.

Make it Mobile-Responsive

More than 60% of all internet traffic is on mobile devices. So if your website isn’t optimized for smartphones and tablets, you’re missing out on over half of your potential customer base. And, as 78% of location-based mobile searches (like axe throwing in [your area]) result in an offline purchase, mobile optimization is critical for experiential businesses like axe-throwing arenas. 

Ensure It’s Simple and Streamlined

When customers navigate to your site, they’re generally looking for helpful information like:

• Your location
• Your hours
• Your prices
• How to book a timeslot

Creating a free booking website with Resova can help you facilitate bookings and collect payments. Resova provides your customers with the information they need to find your business, reserve a timeslot and square up their bill. It’s the simplest, quickest way to provide an all-in-one booking solution for your site—and it integrates into your social media pages too!

Optimize Your Axe-Throwing Business’s Marketing Practices with Resova

The key to generating buzz and business for your axe-throwing venue is optimizing multiple marketing channels. You should use SMS and email to reach your customers directly about discounts, promotions and updates. 

Likewise, use your social media accounts to engage with customers, share promotional content and influence more users to check out your throwing range.

To expertly manage your customers’ booking experience and take advantage of email, SMS and social media marketing features, partner with Resova.

Resova’s hassle-free reservation interface makes it simple for customers to make bookings the second they discover your business—whether on social media or your website. Resova is customizable to your site’s aesthetic and mobile-friendly, so it’s bound to look fantastic whether your customers make bookings through their computers, tablets or phones. 

Resova even allows users to make reasonable changes to their reservations —meaning fewer no-shows and less customer service hassles.

Resova is the grindstone that sharpens your axe-throwing business’s marketing capabilities. Explore all its features and build your free reservation site today.