5 Essential Tips for Your Cinema’s Holiday Strategy
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever kicked off the holiday season strong for theaters all over the country in November 2022. Its $331.3 million worldwide debut made it the biggest opening in November of all time. As the holidays approach, adults have more time off from work, kids are out of school, and people are primed for activities they can take part in together. It’s also the time that studios release some of their best performing titles. The highest grossing films of all time have historically been released during the holidays. Last year it was Spider-Man: No Way Home. In 1997 it was Titanic. And in 2009, Avatar, whose sequel hits screens in just a few weeks. We want to make sure you’re ready to capitalize on all the anticipation in the weeks ahead.
1. Cover the basics
You certainly don’t need any reminders to keep popcorn stocked and staff plentiful. What we don’t want you to forget however, is to push promotions. Why are the holidays so special? Because they’re unlike the rest of the year, meaning your promotions should be unlike your year-round ones too. This is your chance to put on your best creative marketing cap and think about what offerings will not only drive traffic to your theater, but also keep moviegoers coming back into the new year.
The holidays are a goldmine for promotions. What offers would make for a perfect end to Black Friday shopping? Could you drive more sales for a particular film with any witty or catchy promotions? Want a genius example? Check out this promotion for The Menu from one of our partners, Cinepolis, here!
2. Push promos where they’ll be seen
Like we’ve said before, promotions are only half the battle. No matter how clever, inventive, or irresistible your promos are, they won’t achieve much if your customers don’t know about them. Communication is key. You’re likely to see the greatest results at the bottom of your sales funnel when customers have already or are about to convert. Have a website or an app? An interstitial ad is the perfect way to upsell any of your holiday promos. Why not use targeted emails to reach out to those customers who visited your theater last November and December?
3. Let the holidays help incentivize loyalty
What’s on everyone’s mind during the holidays? Gifts. But gifts can be a major source of stress when it comes to finding the right ones — not to mention the right price (thanks inflation). Fortunately, you can help consumers solve their gift-giving conundrum and grow your loyalty program all at the same time. Let them know they can purchase a loyalty membership for their favorite moviegoer and get a free ticket to their next movie when they do.
4. Get technical (seriously)
Last December, many exhibitors saw the second biggest advance ticket sales for a single title in their history. Spider-Man: No Way Home sparked some of the highest online traffic seen even prior to the pandemic. Do you know how much Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earned in advance ticket sales in the U.S. alone? Over $45M. That’s over 50% of what it earned during its opening day. People will purchase tickets to highly anticipated titles ahead of time, but you can only expect to earn from pre-sales what your e-commerce tools are equipped to handle. You’re sure to see a lot more traffic online during the holidays than you did in late summer. That’s why processes like load testing will play a key role in your holiday strategy. Not sure what load testing is? You can find out more here. Simply put, load testing is how you make sure your website can handle a high volume of visitors during high-traffic periods like the holidays.
5. Be the first theater customers find
Part of what makes a good SEO strategy is regularly updated content. That means updating the text on your site with key holiday words and offerings. With that said, SEO is a long-tail strategy, and it’ll play less of a role in driving greater traffic and sales during the holidays than online advertising will.
PPC, or pay-per-click, is a form of online advertising you pay for only when a viewer clicks on your ad. PPC is a powerful tool because it allows you to target the right people, with the right message, in the right place, at the right time, making it the perfect strategy for the holidays. The reason for Google Ads popularity is because of the large volume of searches performed on it each day. The reach is huge. Already using PPC? Great! We’ve got a secret tip for you. Ever heard of promotion assets? They’re a great way to highlight your special offers for the holiday season when moviegoers look up your theater online. Best of all, they’re easy to schedule and update. Oh, and they’re free. ;-)
