Sunday, November 13, 2011

'Listen' for Opportunities in 2012

Article for Queensland Hotels Association December 2012 magazine

Title:   Listen for opportunities in 2012

Throughout 2012 there will be a heap of opportunities to create business in our pubs. Most of these opportunities are created for us and can be like money dropping from heaven into our tills.  But we have to make sure our cash registers are open to catch the money.

Think about it.  If we create a new event (say Trivia on Tuesdays) it costs us time, money and effort to advertise and market to the masses to let them know Trivia is on at our Pub.  We may choose to advertise on radio, in the newspapers, with flyers around town and on telephone poles and, hopefully, word of mouth from social media and our database.  We might spend from $500 up to $5000 in this marketing effort.  Our ‘message,’ about this special night, might reach from 5000 to 50000 people. And if we got 50 to 100 people there on the night, as a result of the marketing effort, we probably would be satisfied. 

Now compare that with the Melbourne Cup, as an example.  It has been promoted by the Victorian Racing Club for the last 151 years.  If you guessed that the average spend on advertising and marketing for the Melbourne Cup, for the last thirty years, was $1,000,000 per year that gives a total outlay of $30,000,000 promoting the event. And the ‘message’ has gotten through to the entire Australian population of 22,000,000 people.

So, when someone has already spent a fortune promoting an event for you, why not capitalise on it?  There is an old adage that tells “Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly. So, better listen carefully.”  The opportunities listed below opportunity  are not knocking softly...they are screaming out at us!

Let’s look at them month by month:

January

16th to 29th Australia Open Tennis - Grand Slam.
26th January (Thursday) Australia Day. 


February
14th of February is St Valentines Day. It falls on a Tuesday.
25th of February (Saturday) Opening weekend of the Super XV Rugby Queensland Red play the NSW Waratahs -  for all fixtures see http://www.superxv.com/fixtures/

March

1 - 5th March  NRL     season open with Parramatta v Brisbane Bronco’s
See all details at: http://www.nrl.com/2012-telstra-premiership-draw/tabid/10874/newsid/65393/default.aspx
17th is St Patrick’s Day
24th (Saturday) Opening round of the AFL
31st (Saturday) Brisbane Lions first match agains Melbourne at MCG
Download the fixture chart after searching Google for - AFL Fixtures 2012

April
6th to 9th of April (Friday to Monday) is Easter
25th April (Wednesday) is Anzac Day


May
13th of May (Sunday) is Mother’s Day
28th May to 10th June.  French Open - Grand Slam

June
5th of June (Tuesday) Wallabies v Scotland in Newcastle
9th of June (Saturday) Wallabies v Wales in Brisbane
16th of June (Saturday) Wallabies v Wales in Melbourne
23rd of June (Saturday( Wallabies v Wales in Sydney
25th June to 8th July.  Wimbledon Tennis - Grand Slam

July
27th July (Friday) to 12th August (Sunday) London Olympic Games
For all details and a schedule of events search Google for: Olympic Games 2012  

August
26th August (Sunday) to 9th September (Sunday) US Open Tennis Grand Slam

September
2nd of September (Sunday) is Father’s Day
29th of September. AFL Grand Final is traditionally on the last Saturday in September
30th September (Sunday) NRL Grand Final

October
1st of October (Sunday). The NRL Grand Final is usually one week after the AFL on the long weekend in October.
20th of October (Saturday) is  Caulfield Cup Day
31st  of October (Wednesday) is Halloween. An American tradition that is steadily taking off in pubs in Australia.


November
6th of November (Tuesday) is Melbourne Cup Day.

December

25th of December (Tuesday)
31st of December (Monday)

This is not a complete record of all the event and opportunities that lay ahead of us in 2012.  But you might want to cut this article out and paste it up on your office wall and let it inspire and help you with your planning. And, can I suggest, put another blank sheet along side of it, so you can add the other opportunities that will present themselves in 2012.

All around Australia there are top operators who, each year, capitalise on these evens and plan head to do something in their pubs.  Are you one of those top operators?  Or are you sitting back and asking what is the QHA doing for you?  I guess you are not because you are reading this article. 

Like you I am always pressed for time.  But, when the QHA magazine arrives, I immediately read the feature article, the Chief Executive’s article and Richard Bowley’s article.  Then, over the next week, I read at least one article per day and look at the advertisements until I have read the whole magazine.   This format enables me to stay up with all that is happening in the Industry in Queensland.
I commend this format to you.

Final thought:  “Even when opportunity knocks you still have to get off your backside to do something about it.”