COVID stinks across the board. I’d venture a guess that everyone in the industry has felt some reverberations. Another one of the questions that is commonplace coming from the Mobile Axe Throwing Group: How has COVID affected the business, and how can I avoid it?
Brick-and-mortar Axe Throwing has been hit pretty badly by it: owners seeing empty or semi-empty facilities if they’re even open, consumers keeping their distance and staying home from social group activities, and all the while rent is coming due on their space.
Mobile Axe Throwing has seen its fair share as well; many of the large, customer-driven events everywhere have closed their doors for the year (or for good). Individuals as well have pulled back from their graduation, birthday, and anniversary parties for the indefinite future. Many of these events and parties will inevitably return, but not without causing real damage to businesses.
-BUT-
It isn’t all bad. Many Mobile Axe Throwing companies are pushing forward and adapting their policies to make the best of a bad situation, and many of these adaptations are good learning experiences for anyone looking to get into the game.
Know How COVID Affects Your Area
If you haven’t already, you’re going to need to see what the policies are in place within your county and state. You can check in here to see general state policy, but do your own digging here.
Is there a mask mandate in place? Specifications on the number of people allowed outside in an area? A curfew? Policies are widely varied so each region is varied. It’s going to largely dictate what sorts of events you’re going to have success targeting.
Flexibility
Altering company events from a 2 or 3 hour minimum to a more bite sized experience is a reality for many vendors right now.
Once filled out with 3+ hour events, Mobile Axe Throwing companies moving to a more flexible event schedule gives the average consumer with less expendable income the ability to enjoy axe throwing at home.
Showing up for a family of four interested in throwing axes for 1-2 hours isn’t glamorous, but it may get you over the hump.
Change Up Your Ad-Spend
If you’re going to look outside of your scope for short term events, your ads need to be doing the heavy lifting for you.
Your ads should be setup to target your premiere audiences. Shifting priorities means that your audience may shift as well. Take a good, hard look at your targeted ads, and consider expanding or reorienting your target audience.
There are hundreds of search queries that you could be targeting, but now is a great time to reassess. Whether that changes your Google keywords from “Corporate events” to “COVID things to do at home” or anything else relevant, it’s likely in order to check into whatever your SEO analysis site of choice is to see what is drawing people to your website.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a BIG field with miles of content regarding COVID-19 and its impact on small business, so get creative with the questions you need to ask your search engine.
Keeping Everyone Safe And Healthy
It’s never a bad time to reanalyze what it takes to make the consumer feel safe and secure in your mobile unit. During the pandemic, it’s more important than ever.
Consumers want a reason why they’re going to be able trust your company with their family-and-friends’ safety. These policies are both good practice for your company as well as its customers:
- Hand sanitizer- and lots of it! Smart companies will never let the customer contact an axe without protection: mandate sanitizer use before throwing and after leaving.
- Maintain social distancing- Keep players 6 feet from each other as much as possible. You can do everything from separating lines to allowing only one thrower at a time.
- Mandate mask wearing anywhere near your trailer for any involved party. Remember- This is for your health and the health of your employees as well!
Up Next: Mobile Style- On-Trailer Vs. Stand-Alone