Dear insiders, how to keep a field afloat?

[BTAutoMag]

I work at a field, boneyard paintball, and recently its been SOOOO hard to get people to actually come out and play. It sucks, for both the staff and the people who show up, when only 4 people show up to an open play. We have been looking at different options but really I would like to hear what you guys suggest.

Ps and this might help. We are about 1/4 mile from road america

[steadian]

Hmm.... I'm good freinds with a local owner and he's done all kinds of stuff to promote his field. Facebook as lame as it may sound is a good one because alot of guys who aren't even into paintball will like it because paintball is "cool" so that helps spread the word then when they see pictures and stuff they decide to actually try it. Another is signs by major roads or making a good appearance. For example one of their fields is by a major road and they have a massive emblem there. He says it won't make them turn around and come see them right away but it puts the idea in their head, it also makes it easy to find and for alot of people thats a big deal and if they can easily find it they won't even bother looking for another one.

Another thing is BBQ days, he will setup his speedball field, reduce paint cost and throw a BBQ after, its cheap and with free food so naturally everyone comes. He says he dosn't make alot of money off that particular day but as long as everything runs smoothly you will definatly get repeat customers. Also they have a display case where he lets his refs show off their guns. To the average baller this is no big deal but it really sham-wows alot of new players who think the cutting edge is 98custom and encourages them to ask questions about the sport, the same can be done with putting out magazines.

And the final thing I will recommend is special days to attract different groups. Like alot of pump players don't like playing with electros so they never bother coming to a field, and maybe if you are feeling really adventurous have an airsoft day like once a month or something.

Hope this helps!!

[BTAutoMag]

I like all of those

[BTAutoMag]

I've also been thinking about setting up a "shooting gallery" at road america. pay 5-10$ and put 200 balls through a nice gun

[FLounder]

Offer discounts to players who bring new players with them. If you organize a group of 10 or more you get free entry. You need to get the name out there to get the numbers up.

[BTAutoMag]

I like the refferal idea

[UV Halo]

Two techniques applied by two high throughput fields in my area are groupon and livingsocial. Warplay Paintball went from 10-30 folks on a fair weather saturday to routine 100+ turnouts (they had to increase their rental inventory to compensate).

[fullofpaint]

We do a lot with facebook, though for some reason, we can't seem to run promoted ads, which is unfortunate. Groupon has been fairly successful for us as well. I foget the cost of it, but the coupon is good for admission, rental setup and a hoppers worth of paint. Get people in, lets them try a few games, and they can buy more paint if they want to keep playing for the rest of the day.

[Nobody]

talk to the shops. they make money when you make money. shops and fields can not coexist if they don't cooperate together. do like a $10 ticket for admin or a BOGO free offer.

the biggest thing is to get the word that you are out there. i have heard many fields complain about getting people, but when you ask, no one even knows about them.

hell, call up the local newspaper. get an article done about you and use that to get word out about you. talk to churches about having a "Shoot people for God" day.

the summer is always tough, i don't know where Road America is, but decline is always expected when compared to the spring and fall.

but always ask the people that come, why do they come or even what you can do to make this bigger.

in my area, there are many people might play, but any decent field is more than an hour away, so you have a lot of renegade players. those players most never have used HPA, or even use a chronograph. to get those people to a field is near impossible, as they don't know the benefits of a proper field and only look at saving money.

[pbjosh]

The big thing is population base in the area. Is there any big towns? Small towns? How far from say, a 100,000 person city?

I googled Boneyard, found this address: N7333 Highview Road, Plymouth, WI 53073

Is that you?

The reason is advertising or promotion should be based on the area you are in. Local radio stations used to throw free field rentals of ours out there for promotion with a 'date' package, and that was no real cost to us. Movie theaters are cheap. We worked on just letting people know all the time.

But the biggest thing for us was a solid repeat base who brought people and would bring in 'corporate' parties also.

The base building goes into a huge schpeal about the 'culture' of the field, and working with the customers to build field junkies. I think the culture of the field is important. Making it very newbie friendly, making it a place they want to come back to, listen to feedback and try and find their needs. What do they complain about the most?

In addition look to plan, maybe monthly round ups?

The communication for this is easily done through facebook - like the BBQ day above. Just 'Free Hot Dog Day' first Saturday of the month means more people will show up, get used to doing it every month, and that bleeds into other days. If you have one good busy day a month then people know to come that day, save up, they will have the most players and they don't have to bring food either.

But you have to make paintball a habit. Have to make it something they regret not making it to. Events. Small Tourneys. Cheap Paint day. Whichever you feel (and ask the players what they want. Could be a simple as a free soda.) will work then do it. Leave flyers on the field, announce it on Facebook, and work to build up a routine for them.

It might take a while, but it should help.