Fair-goers are busy. I get it.
Between scrolling through social media feeds, sitting in traffic, and waiting on hold with your bank, our days can fill up with tiny moments that add up to... well, not much at all.
When reviewing the survey responses of non-attendees for the Indiana State Fair, we expected a few: It’s too expensive, It’s the same old same old… we weren’t expecting the third, “I don’t have time to go”.
The industry has been combating the first two responses for forever.
“It’s too expensive” = promo days.
“It’s the same old, same old” = new annual programming.
Both of which the Fair does a fantastic job of.
The “I’m too busy” response required a little more thought. Partnering with our great friends at Dark To Light Productions and working together, we decided to try a different approach.
We held up a mirror to show how we all actually spend our time…and took a break from convincing people that the Fair is amazing (though it is) and helped them realize what they're currently trading their time for.
We discovered that each year we spend:
45 Days checking social media
5 Days dealing with spam calls
2 Days dealing with tangled headphones and cables!
Crazy huh?!
And yet, the Fair? It comes just once a year. For a precious few days, it offers something increasingly rare in our digital age: real, tangible, smell-the-cotton-candy, hear-the-laughter, taste-the-corndog moments…
Are you too busy to take just 1 day to create memories that will last a lifetime?
“C’mon Dad!” (yelling at myself in the mirror) While conversion focussed strategies are critical for sales, they focus on an already-interested audience and leverage pricing, scarcity, and other reasons to buy.
Top-of-funnel is different. It's about starting a conversation with people who aren't even thinking about your Fair. It's about planting a seed of possibility in their minds, nurturing a story that if done right, will eventually turn into a ticket.
Bottom-of-funnel says "Here's how to buy tickets."
Top-of-funnel whispers "Here's why you'll regret missing out if you don’t”.
It's the initial handshake, the first smile across a crowded room, the gentle tap on the shoulder that says "Hey, remember us?"
Bean counters see top-of-funnel marketing as an expense—dollars going out without immediate dollars coming in. But that's like calling the seeds you plant in spring a waste of money because you can't eat them today!
Top-of-funnel isn't a cost, it's tomorrow's harvest. Every story you tell, every emotion you stir, every memory you invoke is a seed that grows into next year's ticket sales, and the year after that and the year after THAT!
It compounds like interest, turning casual observers into lifelong fairgoers, who bring their kids, who'll bring their kids. That's not an expense line item—that's generational ROI.
It's not always about immediate ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) —it's about becoming part of the rhythm of people's lives.
It’s time for our industry to reevaluate how they think about Top of Funnel Marketing.
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