You won’t find a more powerful way to accomplish your goals than by getting people talking about your event and recommending your open-air cinema to their peers.

Word of Mouth is essentially free advertising triggered by customer experiences and plays a huge role in increasing your ‘brands’ trust and reputation. Everything about your event is a matter of discussion for others (aka potential attendees, leads, clients, or even haters especially if they’re your competition!).

Positive word of mouth keeps customers coming back… referring other customers… who also keep coming back.. and referring more customers…and so on… 

Don’t believe us? Check out these stats from Qualtrics that prove that Word of Mouth Advertising is your number one marketing tool

• Nearly all consumers (97%) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area
• 91% of 18-34 year olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions
• And the best news is that 77% of consumers would be willing to leave a review if asked

EXTRA MAGIC

As the saying goes “You’re only as good as your last show” so sprinkle a little extra magic at every event. So how do you do that? Actually, there’s a lot you can do before you even begin the movie! Go to our “Pre-show Ideas” blog post in the What To Show category for some ideas to get the creative juices flowing. Look out for more brilliant ideas and innovative ways our pop-up cinema community is entertaining their audiences on our Blog. 

REVIEWS

Two other great ways to spread word of mouth is on social media and through your listing on pop-upcinema.com. Check out our blog post on Social Media 101 if your business doesn’t have a presence on social media. Ask your audience to rate and review your events! This not only spreads the word but also builds consumer confidence in what your company offers. We’ve even provided some guidelines for dealing with not-so-nice reviews.

Positive word of mouth advertising is guaranteed to grow your audience, increase ticket sales and drive the longevity and success of your pop-up cinema business.

The 3 E’s to become the most beloved and talked about pop-up cinema in your area:  

ENGAGE, ENTERTAIN, EVOLVE

So you got a “not so nice” review?

LET’S RECAP ON WHY REVIEWS MATTER FIRST

• Nearly all consumers (97%) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area
• 91% of 18-34 year olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions
• And the best news is that 77% of consumers would be willing to leave a review if asked

BENEFITS OF REVIEWS ON THE WEBSITE

We all ask our friends and family for their input when making a decision about everything. Well, with the internet that network gets even larger. When people see an online review it gives your business “social proof”, it instantly adds more credibility for the reader, and hopefully they will get that little twinge of FOMO and realize your outdoor cinema is the place they should be too.

It’s a good idea to respond to reviews quickly. If you have claimed your Cinema listing, you will be alerted by email automatically of a review and be able to respond as the Owner. Prompt responses are gold, social media is about developing and maintaining relationships with your clients even if it’s not always positive.

You want to encourage your moviegoers to write reviews, “the more, the merrier” as they say, and more social proof, which gives people more FOMO, and in this case that’s a good thing. Also, filmgoers’ search results appear sorted by most reviewed or highest review but be careful not to influence them to just be positive, if they are happy and they know it, tell them to show it in a review, cause at the end of your event… well… they clapped their hands.

Prompt responses extinguish the negative and maintain positive relationships.

Imagine if you were standing right next to somebody asking their friend about your business and you heard that friend say, “Oh don’t do that.” or “Don’t go there.” and because you are right there you can respond, “Hey man, sorry you had that experience, we would like the opportunity to change that…” Then the friend says, “Maybe we should give them a second chance, let’s go this weekend.” Then they tweet: “Hey everybody, this business is cool, let’s all go see a movie at this place!” Ok maybe I am stretching a bit but that’s the basic idea behind how you could handle a “not so nice” review in the instantaneous world of online reviews.

Although negative reviews may feel vindictive and attacking, they need to be responded to with courtesy and professionally without placing blame or making excuses. In fact, it’s even suggested to take the conversation with the disgruntled customer offline, work out a solution that makes both parties happy and then return to the review and publicly outline the resolution of the situation. This shows other potential moviegoers you are a business that cares and takes care of people’s experience.

Sharing the reviews with your staff, the kudos and areas that need attention will help your team provide the best experience possible to your audience.

Actions we will take on your behalf

Now there are some instances where you know the review you received is fake or unwarranted. A sure-fire way to sniff these out is to have the “plaintiff” reach out to your business email and outline their complaint. If you don’t hear anything then well you know it ain’t for reals. If this does happen please reach out to us with the circumstances and we will remove the review immediately.

Disclaimer: If you experience offensive comments or harassment through our review platform, let us know and we will do our best to use our digital superpowers to work with you to put a stop to it and prevent it going forward.