Saffire Blog

Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number … Continue reading “Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers”

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number of people; so initially you might be thinking, how can I use this trend to my benefit?

The gamer’s (typically 21 to 27-year-old men) goal is to catch all of the Pokémon, which are creatures of different sizes and types spread throughout your geographical location and will randomly pop up when the app is open. Users also take advantage of the “PokéStops”, which are points on the game map used to collect “PokéBalls”. You can think of “Pokéballs” as small, ball-shaped cages used to store each Pokémon you collect. Users also travel to Pokémon Gyms, used for battling other Pokémon and trainers. The “PokéStops” and Gyms, are normally located near landmarks, statues, parks, churches, etc. which are strategically place to attract many people. This is where the marketing comes in. PokéStops could also be used as a tool by businesses to turn their location into a huge, profitable ad in the virtual world of Pokémon.

One example of an organization using this app to its advantage is the Brown County Fair, located in Aberdeen, SD. Currently they have 8 PokéStops on their fairgrounds and have decided to put them into their marketing strategy. The stops are located anywhere from the Bunny Barn to the Grandstands, which are an easy way to get traffic to these fairground locations. The fairgoers have the opportunity to see parts of the fair they otherwise might have never experienced!

If your organization doesn’t have a PokéStop, and you want one at that location, you can request one. The request forms are here: http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Additionally, if your organization would like a Pokémon Gym on your location, a suggestion can be submitted at http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Tips and Tricks

Make sure a few people in your organization have a Pokémon Go account, so they can purchase lures, which will help attract Pokémon to your location
Put up signs that warn people to stay out of restricted areas.
Get a Pokémon logo at each building or monument that has a PokéStop. Signage is important!
If a gym is on your property, give the leader of that particular free tickets or prizes if he or she is a leader at a certain time of the day (Advertise this on Social Media to attract more people to battle in the Gym).
This could provide incentive for other players to take over your particular gym. The prize for the winner of a PokéHunt or Gym leader could also be PokéCoins.

Staying up to date with the newest tech fads may seem overwhelming at first, but whether it’s giving an extra jump to a small business’s finances or helping double revenue in big corporations, Pokemon Go is a growing force not to be reckoned with.

Pokémon Go is free and available for download through the Apple App Store for iPhone users and the Google Play store for Android users.

We want to thank Michaela Liebl for being our Guest Blogger! Michaela is currently a student at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She is looking forward to a career in the fair or festival industries and is currently seeking internship opportunities. To contact Michaela about this article or about potential internship opportunities, please email her at michaela.liebl@wolves.northern.edu

Facebook Live Tips & Tricks

Facebook Live is quickly growing in popularity and will remain a HUGE trend for the foreseeable future. For those that might not have heard of this fairly new feature, Facebook Live is a live video broadcasting platform designed to connect users with people (friends, family, customers, etc.). With Facebook Live, users can take audiences up close … Continue reading “Facebook Live Tips & Tricks”

ios live

Facebook Live is quickly growing in popularity and will remain a HUGE trend for the foreseeable future. For those that might not have heard of this fairly new feature, Facebook Live is a live video broadcasting platform designed to connect users with people (friends, family, customers, etc.). With Facebook Live, users can take audiences up close or behind the scenes for literally anything.

Broadcasting live is easy and only takes a few simple steps, which we’ve shared below:

There are a number of ways marketers can improve Live broadcasts. Two of the most effective ways are promotion and presentation. It is crucial to promote the Live broadcast by letting the audience know the time, date, and purpose. An extremely effective way to promote is by posting short videos that preview what content you will be covering during the Live broadcast. While the promotions are running, focus should shift to ensure that the presentation is adequately planned. Be sure that all Live broadcasts start with a warm smile and an inviting welcome. During the welcome, the presenter should introduce themselves, what organization they represent and briefly give a road-map of what the Live video will consist of. Providing a road-map will allow viewers to understand about how long the broadcast will last, which will help keep their attention. It’s also very important that the presenter keep a confident and exciting demeanor to prevent viewers from dropping off of the broadcast. Finally, and most importantly, the Facebook Live broadcast should end with a call to action (i.e. “Click the link above to buy tickets,” “Sign up now,” etc.)

Facebook Live also works well to reach events’ preferred audiences. Facebook recently announced that Live broadcasts can now be conducted on “Events” and “Groups” within the Facebook mobile application. Therefore, you can broadcast special pre-event promotional Live broadcasts right on your designated event page! This helps build hype for events and can help boost ticket sales with the proper call to action.

Facebook Live is also a great tool for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO). DMOs can broadcast all sorts of great details about a destination like a beautiful sunset, firework displays, special events, or even a ribbon cutting for a new hotel! Showing fans of a destination’s Facebook page exciting, unedited live videos will allow them to see the authenticity of a destination, which means that planning and presentation will be crucial in order to portray the destination in a positive light.

Although Facebook Live broadcasts can be nerve-racking and have the potential to get off message or off track, the reward is worth the risk. Here at Saffire, we did our first Facebook Live video and then paid for a $20 boost to our fans. Out of 1,050 fans, 547 watched the video, 756 saw the video in their feed, and our total cost per video view came out to ONLY $0.04 per view.

As event season is ramping up and DMOs are planning their budgets, it is very important to add Facebook Live advertising into your marketing mix and planning for at least the rest of 2016 and into 2017.

Welcome Northern Wisconsin State Fair!

The Saffire Team has known the team at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair for a few years now thanks to both team’s involvement in IAFE. Something everyone should know about this Fair is that it is located in Chippewa Falls, WI — and Leinenkugels is brewed in Chippewa Falls! The Leinenkugel family has been a big supporter of … Continue reading “Welcome Northern Wisconsin State Fair!”

The Saffire Team has known the team at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair for a few years now thanks to both team’s involvement in IAFE.

Something everyone should know about this Fair is that it is located in Chippewa Falls, WI — and Leinenkugels is brewed in Chippewa Falls! The Leinenkugel family has been a big supporter of this fair and many areas of the fairgrounds are even named after the family and brewery I think a toast of Summer Shandy might be in order!

The fair is held every July and has been growing in attendance every year! The fair reported a record-breaking attendance of 84,720 last year. With all of the great events lined up every year, expect this awesome event to grow even more!

Stay tuned for their great new website!

Using the Facebook Events Feature

As we all know, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform in the world with over a billion users. Since its launch, Facebook has evolved and brought new features for users as well as businesses. One of their most improved features are Events, which give an opportunity to individuals as well as organizations to promote … Continue reading “Using the Facebook Events Feature”

As we all know, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform in the world with over a billion users. Since its launch, Facebook has evolved and brought new features for users as well as businesses. One of their most improved features are Events, which give an opportunity to individuals as well as organizations to promote their events on Facebook. Before this change, the Events
feature didn’t work very well for organizations and was a much better tool to invite friends to events such as your backyard barbecue.

After years of research and design, Facebook has improved upon their Events feature and made it a great tool for marketers. Today, over 500 million people search Facebook Events each month to find local events to attend, making the Events feature an important marketing tool to increase attendees.

During a recent presentation by the Facebook Events team, Facebook talked about the new success of the Events Feature with a case study on the event “Water Fight New York NYC.” In 2014, before Facebook started focusing on Events, the Water Fight NYC only had 1,400 attendees showing on their Facebook Event. Then, in 2015, after more features were put in place, the event skyrocketed to 64,000 attendees.

How to Market your Event

For a more guerrilla marketing approach, you can invite your friends list and ask your friends, relatives and event staff to invite their friends and share the event on their personal pages. You are also able to use the Facebook ads to target your desired audience. When someone says they’re “Going” to your event, it creates a story that may appear in other’s News Feed so that their friends and followers can see they’re going and then decide to attend too.

To grow your attendee list using ads, you’re able to specifically advertise your event. This has a different mission than normal facebook ads, which is to get more attendees and ticket sales.

Event promoters often get better results when they:

Set up a lookalike audience to show ads to people similar to your followers
Use a CPM bidding strategy to get more people to respond to your event and buy tickets
Create a conversion pixel to see which ads worked well and they can also measure performance
Create an ad with using the “Ticket Link” which will allow you to create ads that are optimized to drive ticket sales

What do I do after my event?

So you just finished your event and can finally relax, right? Not exactly. People have connected because they truly care about your event and what you share about it. Facebook’s research has shown that event attendees are wanting the following:

Professional pictures of the event action
Final scores for competitions
To be thanked for attending
To know about future events from your organization

We hope that this has inspired you to add Facebook Events into your marketing efforts. You can also explore some great Facebook resources by reading through Facebook’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of Facebook Events.

Events are about community, culture, experiences and fun and Facebook is the avenue most people choose to share this experience. One inspiring statistic is that within one week of the event, each event attendee, on average, befriends another event attendee on Facebook. Events bring people together!

The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!) Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the … Continue reading “The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship”

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!)

Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the people who are getting that money are receiving less. More money is being spent, but it’s being distributed between fewer and fewer people.

“The sponsorship pie is growing, but being cut into fewer pieces.” – www.sponsorship.com. The largest slices are reserved for properties that can meet the high standards required by a new breed of corporate partner. These are the people who ask for SMARTER partnerships. Once again, the growth rate for sponsorship spending will surpass outlays for traditional advertising in North America. Projection for spending in 2015 is $21.5 billion!

At Saffire, we believe in the Three P’s to gaining sponsorship – Prepare, Personalize, & Provide. Preparing to work with sponsors in a digital age, Personalizing by coming up with creative ideas to market to your sponsors so they will want to partner with you and Providing them with results they need so they will want to work with you again.

Prepare to Partner with Sponsors

Consider yourself a salesperson because sponsorship is sales! Start early in the year, network, do your research, and understand your value! Be smart about what you’re offering your potential sponsor. Basic research before you meet with them is HUGE. Finding the right fit for your company can be a little tricky, but you’ll want to look for “natural fits” by things like: customers, products, geography, past sponsorship experiences and people who work there. Make it clear to them that you’re taking their partnerships seriously and you’ll do whatever it takes to gain their trust! Things like adding a logo to your site at the time of the sponsor meeting can make all the difference. How can you use your sponsors that will be the best partnership for everyone? Sometimes you’re paying them, using their product and they’re giving you sponsorship dollars. Find things you can do to support your sponsor’s business. Saffire’s tip is “People will find a way to work with people they like”. Leaving a good impression and creating bonds with people goes a long way.

Personalize your Packages tailored for each Sponsor

It’s important to make your sponsors feel special. A good rule of thumb with sponsorship packages is to give more than what they’re expecting. This will make them feel special, which will go the extra mile when your event comes around again and they are considering who to partner with. In order to do this, it’s essential to know the most basic components of your organization, which can be provided as benefits to sponsors. You can add value by offering year-round marketing, hospitality, and onsite event promotion

Put sponsors on your online! Create emails, social media shout outs, online advertisements or consider naming the event after your Sponsor. You can also have a dedicated Sponsors page on your website that features your list of sponsors. If you’re looking to get a new website and don’t have quite enough funding for it, this is a fantastic way to get it! Most digital marketing doesn’t cost you anything but time and effort. Give your sponsors space on your YouTube channel, add sponsor logos to print-at-home tickets or name your entire event after a sponsor. Other ways you can feature your sponsors offline are by creating sponsored charging stations on the event grounds, photo booths with sponsors or utilizing their services on fairgrounds.

Provide Measurable Results

Sponsors like data. Sponsors have to have that data to justify why they’re giving you so much money year after year. The best ways to show sponsor ROI are Google Analytics & Audience Survey. Audience Surveys assist and measure ROI, show recognition, attitude and the image you’re showing. Google Analytics is great, but it can be really hard to narrow down once you get it set up. Everyone should be able to get this data from your website. Show sponsors things like Total visits, Audience overview, visits on the Sponsors page of your website, engagement and clicks to leverage ideas for more success in the future.

We believe that the Three P’s – Prepare, Personalize and Provide will help you gain sponsorship (and keep it!).

Welcome Florida State Fair

We are honored to welcome the Florida State Fair into the Saffire family! We have had the pleasure of getting to know their team over the years at FFEA, FFF, and IAFE … they are almost as world traveled as Saffire! They have a 110 year history of providing Floridians with high quality entertainment and … Continue reading “Welcome Florida State Fair”

We are honored to welcome the Florida State Fair into the Saffire family! We have had the pleasure of getting to know their team over the years at FFEA, FFF, and IAFE … they are almost as world traveled as Saffire! They have a 110 year history of providing Floridians with high quality entertainment and education! Fairgoers enjoy over 100 rides and games, the 4H and FFA shows, and of course the endless fair food! We are excited to work with them on revamping their online marketing!

Welcome Lake County Fair

We sure do love our growing list of Florida clients! This fair has been a friend of Saffire for a long time, and we’re so grateful to now have them as an official part of our family! The Lake County Fair has been providing education and entertainment for over a century and a half! From goat … Continue reading “Welcome Lake County Fair”

Welcome Walker County Fair

We are pleased to announce the Walker County Fair in Huntsville, TX as the newest member of the Saffire Family. We met them at TAFE back in February and then had the opportunity to speak at their board meeting. Their awesome event was just around the corner so they waited until afterwards to officially come … Continue reading “Welcome Walker County Fair”

We are pleased to announce the Walker County Fair in Huntsville, TX as the newest member of the Saffire Family. We met them at TAFE back in February and then had the opportunity to speak at their board meeting. Their awesome event was just around the corner so they waited until afterwards to officially come aboard, and we couldn’t be happier about it! We are looking forward to helping them take their online presence to a whole new level!

Welcome Martin County Fair

A great group from the Martin County Fair attended the Florida Federation of Fairs Convention this year and were impressed with what Saffire had to offer. With their excitement toward change and their awesomely hilarious staff, the feeling was definitely mutual. Not to mention, they have a fellow Aggie on their team! We’re looking … Continue reading “Welcome Martin County Fair”

A great group from the Martin County Fair attended the Florida Federation of Fairs Convention this year and were impressed with what Saffire had to offer. With their excitement toward change and their awesomely hilarious staff, the feeling was definitely mutual. Not to mention, they have a fellow Aggie on their team! We’re looking forward to helping this team rebrand their online marketing and make a splash online!

Welcome to Coastal Empire Fair

We met the Coastal Empire Fair team at the Georgia/South Carolina Fairs Association Convention earlier this year and we’re so excited to add a NEW state (Georgia) to our map of the growing Saffire Family. Providing clean, fun, family entertainment to their community, this group fits right in with “our kind of people!”