The animatronics that we’re talking about in this podcast are the ones you can build and use inside your haunted house or haunted attraction. Stuff like moving zombies made from windshield wiper motors. Using small motors to make small props move to scare your attendees. And create your own 3 Axis Skull that you can program to say or do anything you want.
Steve Koci shares his tips and methods on building Haunted House props and how you can make your own. Whether you’re just getting started on building props that move or you’re looking for something more advanced; Steve covers many aspects of animatronics inside this podcast.
The Ultimate Guide to DIY Animatronics Book
The Ultimate Guide To DIY Animatronics (adapted from the popular SERVO Magazine series “DIY Animatronics” by Steve Koci) explores the fascinating world of animated character creation with the home hobbyist in mind.
There’s no need to be an expert as anyone with a curious mind and a will to learn can create their own amazing designs.
The goal of DIY Animatronics is to provide a process that is easy to understand, follow, and reproduce. Whether you’re creating a holiday decoration, school project, or something to be used in your business; the procedures demonstrated in DIY Animatronics will guide you through the entire process and get you building your own “Hollywood Style” animatronic characters.
When a global crisis happens, like COVID-19 and similar contagious pandemics, haunted attractions and entertainment venues can suffer. Customers can become fearful to attend close-quarter events like concerts and attractions.
State regulations may be different for your event this year and they’ll probably keep changing weekly. You may be feeling a bit uncertain about what this year’s season will actually hold for you.
This doesn’t mean you can’t open up (unless your state says you can’t) or that you can’t provide the best and safest show ever. You’ll just need to do some extra planning and brainstorming this year.
How do you stretch your money for marketing and create a safe environment for your customers?
You can be smart with your overall budget and still focus on your marketing plan. Highlighting your brand identity can show your customers that your event can be trusted. Getting creative with your advertising will help you make a bigger impact on your audience.
Here is how to be successful with your marketing plan, stretch your budget, and keep your customers trusting your brand.
Tyler Barnett, from Fear Worm Hauntvertising, helped spark many of these marketing ideas. Plus, we added a few viewpoints of our own. Make sure to listen to this podcast episode to learn more about marketing your Haunt.
Prepare for the best. Expect the worse.
Most of your customers want to return to their normal lives and go back to things that excite and entertain them, like your Haunted House. Some will be scared to venture out so soon.
In many states, there may be longer restrictions in place that may affect how you operate your Haunt business. In most instances, attractions will have to take precautions to keep customers and staff safe.
Expect your attendance numbers to be down this year, and if they’re not, then you’ve done a great job being prepared. You must run a leaner business this year.
Stay updated from trusted resources.
News and important business updates are currently happening by the second. What is true and regulated at the time of this article will most likely be completely different when we open the doors to our Haunts. There’s a lot of fake news websites out there, stick to the ones you trust.
Are the days of a cramped queue line over?
Keep officials & customers updated on your safety plan.
Pay attention to your State, City, and County restrictions. Communicate with your local officials and let them know the precautions you are implementing. It’s better to be ahead of the game and show them that safety is a priority. Your customers must feel informed and safe as well.
Think about slowing down your queue line. Keeping groups smaller. Removing items like claustrophobia tunnels, push doors, and stuff that touches the customer’s face. Possibly provide masks with your logo, hand sanitizer stations, and large signs listing your safety plan. Update your website as well with your latest safety protocols.
Double down on your marketing.
Advertise even if you open your doors or not, your customers must know what you are doing differently this year. Let them know what to expect.
If you’ll be closed this year, publish some ads explaining why and when they can experience your attraction again. Maybe create some unique content behind-the-scenes or with your characters.
If you are open, let your customers know what safety precautions you have put in place. Make a Press Release and send it to every local media outlet that will help spread the word.
Don’t slack off on advertising and marketing. Spend the same or more. Your customers can’t spend money at your attraction if they don’t know you’re open.
Save money by eliminating unimportant things.
During times of uncertainty, it’s best to focus on what you really need this year. Maybe put off getting that expensive animatronic or those fire cannons that shoot 25 feet in the air. Get creative with the money you currently have or maybe trade some props with another attraction which could save you both money.
Focus on your marketing message and make your customers feel safe. Improve scenes with budget-friendly upgrades with a huge impact. Changing up your lighting or running your attraction backward might save you some money.
Focus on customer experience and perceived value.
Create everything around your customer’s perception and infuse more value into their ticket purchase. Since many haunted attractions might be changing their V.I.P. experiences or removing them, your customer should feel that they are getting $30 worth of value for $20. In other words, give them more than what they paid for.
Maybe throw in some free swag with their ticket or use a stair-step price system (7 pm it’s $15 and goes up a dollar each hour) it’s all about experimentation. Find the gaps in your attendance and offer better deals to get them to come early or another slow night.
Timed-ticketing may also help keep your queue line thinned out and help your customers feel safe in smaller numbers.
Pricing is always a balancing act. Don’t be afraid to test out small experiments with your customers and product bundles. Invest in your customers.
Place advertisements in front of your audience.
Start with social media. Choose social platforms you understand and test your marketing with your target market. Boost posts with a small budget, experiment with different social locations, and plan out your marketing campaign before the season starts.
You can also hire a firm like Fear Worm that specializes in Haunted Attraction marketing.
This too shall pass.
No matter when you’re reading this, national emergencies happen all the time. There have been other viral pandemics. Weather conditions have destroyed entire attractions over the years. Some have had to close down early due to other emergencies.
Many of these haunted attractions overcame their struggles and grew even bigger the next season. They focused on their main priorities, their customers, and everyone’s safety. They came out on the other side stronger and better.
We’ll see you on the other side.
Bonus resources from this podcast
Fear Worm: a marketing agency specializing in themed attractions
Scare More People: a Facebook group all about Marketing managed by Fear Worm
Wait While: a queue line management app that may help you keep your customers safer
Haunt Pay: a ticketing and queue line solution designed for haunted attractions
It’s getting harder to get people to hear about your haunted house. You’ve got an awesome haunted attraction but your attendance isn’t growing. There are so many channels like social, radio, TV…where do you spend your marketing money for your Haunt?
We interview Alex Berland and Nick Levanti with Conjured Media and pick their brains about marketing your haunted house in today’s market, where to focus your advertising budget, and how they can help you save time and money.
Haunt season is here. Do you have your marketing and advertising started yet? Bust your butt these next 3 months and then take a breather in November. Yes..you can try to do the marketing all yourself or hire an agency to help. I’ve done both.
Here is a little about Alex & Nick and what you’ll hear inside this podcast. Reach out to them if you have any questions.
Who is Conjured Media?
“Our mission is to elevate the haunted attractions industry by ushering in a new era of growth, achieved with high quality creative and cutting edge digital marketing. The core to our philosophy is our business first approach. We work with our partners to identify what their business needs to grow and how to best implement those solutions through a marketing lense. We don’t like to look at our clients as clients, but rather as partners. For us, success is built on a strong foundation of trust and accountability.”
“An attraction is most effective when it follows a path, when it takes guests on a journey. The story determines an attraction’s physical layout, character development, and technical design. It also points the way for clever marketing, merchandising, and branding. This book gives you the tools to develop a story and to use that story as a blueprint for your attraction’s development.” –Follow The Story Book
In this podcast episode, we ask Scott Swenson all the different ways that you can use your attraction’s back story and why it’s important today more than ever.
If you are a Haunted Attraction that has never used a back story with your theme and sometimes you feel that something is missing from the overall experience, creating a unique story around your characters may just be what you need to take your attraction to the next level.
Today’s attraction customer wants more than just a scary walk-through; they’re looking for memorable moments, a story they can tell their friends, and an evolving theme that changes each year. Creating a back story immerses your attendees in a world that they will remember and come back to see what happens with your characters next time.
Follow the Story Book written by Scott Swenson
Follow the Story: What’s inside this podcast
Why having a story behind your attraction is important. Your guests will remember it. You can plan your entire theme around it. It can save you time and money by doing it.
How to use your story in your marketing. Using your main characters in your advertising and following the story will help your attendees have a better experience which will make it an easy choice to come back to your attraction for more story.
Simple ways to start your story right now. You don’t have to change up everything. Here are a few simple and low-cost ways to start weaving your story throughout your haunted attraction, no matter what stage of operations you’re in.
What makes great Haunted Attractions great. The attractions that understand where their stories are evolving can stay ahead of the game. They can plan easier for next season, have off season events around their story, and save money by using materials they already have. Large or small…you can start using your back story to help make your attraction better.
“Scott provides a much-needed jolt of storytelling energy in a compact, readable form. This is a true ‘blood and potatoes’ approach to the many facets of haunted-attraction storycraft, which should help any designer ensure they’re taking full advantage of the tools at their disposal.”—David Ruzicka, Co-Artistic Director for JFI Productions
“Scott is a true master architect of immersive horror experiences, using the classic tools of story and conflict to create blueprints for some of the most influential (and some of my all-time favorite) haunted attractions ever. This guide is mandatory reading for experiential designers of themed attractions.”—Scott Simmons, Creative Director, ScareHouse and The Basement
For over 30 years, Scott Swenson has been bringing stories to life as a Writer, Director, Producer and Performer. His work in Theme Park, Consumer Events, Live Theater and Television has given him a broad spectrum of experiences. Co-creator and Creative Leader for the first 15 years of the “Howl-O-Scream” event at Busch Gardens Tampa, during which time he wrote and implemented over 50 haunted houses, shows and scare zones.
Foreword: Ted Dougherty
Ted Dougherty, has created projects for Halloween events in Southern California including Knott’s Scary Farm, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, & Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights. His specialties focus on themed entertainment and immersive/multi-sensory environments through creative storytelling, production and direction.
Publisher: Philip Hernandez
Philip Hernandez is a freelance writer, speaker, producer, and marketer specializing in Seasonal Attractions. Since 2014 Philip has published Seasonal Entertainment Source magazine (SES), a quarterly print publication. Philip operates the Haunted Attraction Network (HAN), the largest global media entity for the haunted attraction industry.
Cover Artist: Doug Schaefer
Doug Schaefer has been creating effects, props, masks and artwork for haunted attractions, theme parks and collectors for over 30 years. By day Doug designs and builds effects, puppets and illusions at Robot Monkey Lab, Inc (VFXcreates.com). And on evenings and weekends Doug makes even more monsters, in his home studio (ArtGuyDesigns.com), creating a variety of horror and creature art.
In this podcast episode, we chat with Tony Brueski on How to Get More People to your Haunted Attraction and valuable Tips that you can implement this season.
Tony also hosts two podcasts about real ghosts stories, so of course we had to discuss a few of our favorite paranormal encounters. Have you ever had any experiences with any ghosts?
Haunted House Marketing Tips Inside
Why your Haunted Attraction needs to be different in today’s competitive market for attention. How can you tell your story?
The best times of the day to use radio advertisements and how to get the best price for commercial slots.
Where to spend your marketing budget for the most effective creative advertising.
If you’re up for listening to some goosebumps and hair-raising true ghost stories, Tony has two of the most listened to Paranormal podcasts in the world!
RealGhostStoriesOnline.com real ghost stories Tony and his co-host read to you or guests call in to tell what happened to them.
TheGraveTalks.com An interview based podcast with stories of the paranormal and the people who are passionate about chasing ghosts for fun.
