Bounce house rental business

You can also post free ads on ClassifiedAds.com, LetGo.com / Might also make sense to contact local sports leagues, local indoor soccer businesses, local party stores, local pastry/cake shops, tent rental companies, etc

Before I give you some ideas, please read this article:

https://www.allenandallen.com/dangers-of-bounce-houses/

I'm bothered by your "finally got around to it" statement. THAT should be priority one, I hope the article will give you food for thought.

So there is a risk in this business. But it is one of the most popular kid activities out there, kids love to bounce.

Your best move is to identify ALL the party related businesses in your area. Look for TENT rentals, party planners, get to know cake decorators in upscale areas...

these people are PLUGGED into upcoming parties. And there is a potential for cross promotion.

Where has the former owner done his thing? That is a valuable list, and you can contact some of them for referrals, and also for events. If they rented a bounce house for Teddy's 6th birthday, they might want one for his 7th, see?

Churches. Always have events scheduled and they are a prime target for you business. Schools too, however, in many areas, you have to deal with the board of educations and they are becoming more and more aware of the LIABILITY of bringing in these "dangerous" activities (because more and more law firms like Allen Allen are surfacing and going after school boards. They (lawyers) have gotten rid of many a playground danger because little Danny got silly and fell from the monkey bars.

Still, kids love these. You might want to consider doing a coop postcard mailing to a more affluent side of town, and include magicians, party entertainers, etc. where you all share the cost of the mailing and you give some nice coupons.

I think your best bet, is REFERRALS, and the helper you've kept on might be a good source of past gigs, so start there and see if they want to book one for their next event.

Good luck, and find some really good insurance.

GordonJ

Get on all the social media site ,start a local FB ad campaign pointing to your services on google maps

Definitely do not slack on your website with a "book online" feature, the more convenient and easier you can make this for someone the better. You can search Craigslist listings to see if there are people posting wanted ads for this as well and contact your local events promoter to see what types of children's activities they put on and if they have a need for a bounce house

1. Get your business on Google My Business and get some Local SEO done.

Since this is the offline marketing section though, I would think about where people in your city/area go to for birthday supplies. I have a "Party City" store near me, and a few dollar stores sell balloons near me as well. I would position flyers or something near those areas, or maybe work a deal with the store owner to advertise inside some how.

Also, if there are local kid sport leagues in your area, I would sponsor their end of season parties, as most of those local leagues have those. Set up bounce houses in the park where their party is and hand out flyers to the parents.

Marketing offline requires creativity haha, its tough but not impossible! Wish you luck my friend.

If it were me...

I would focus less on "Payment" you can get paid at time of delivery.. why over complicate things? Yes I would have a site that they could see a calendar of availability, and MAYBE a deposit to lock in their event..

I would list on Craigslist like a mug. I would have a facebook and IG account. and follow the advice of Gary Vee and the $1.80 IG strategy.. you can find it on google / youtube.

I would think for a moment the path of least resistance to reach " Moms " and I think the answer would be your wife... more specifically your wifes hair stylist. Offer the Stylist a free setup.. if they do not have kids offer to allow her to give 1 away for free. you see where this is going? referrals are huge.

As Gordon has stated Past clients is kinda a big deal... the BEAUTY of this type of business is they are gonna kinda need / want the service the same week end every year.

Don't know how many bounce houses you have, but you need to think about the progression of these in relation to age. young kids just need a plain bouncer.. as they get older they want the water slide one, or the obstacle course one or the one that has the spinning arm in the middle thing. This logic obviously extends the life of customer.. its not a 1 time deal, its every year for the next 4 or 5.

I would be focusing less online.. and more towards the direct relationship with influencers in your community.. the hair dresser.. maybe the young lady that has the cupcake store, the Piladis instructor etc etc.

Best of luck Man!

Don't forget churches. They often use bounce houses for Vacation Bible school, Easter Egg Hunts, Fall Festivals, and other events. If you get in with one they'll refer you to others.

Rose

For any sort of business I recommend including elements of marketing. This could be free for all advertisement, flyers door-to-door, word-of-mouth, or even outbound telecommunication calls

I always tell people there's two parts. The sale and the delivery of the sale. If you can't deliver the sale, then don't sell.

Reach out to event organizers. They're always on the lookout for bouncy houses. Better still if you have white bounce houses for weddings.

Thank you all very much for the replies! I have printed them out, highlighted the excellent ideas you all have, and am going to sync this with our current marketing strategy.

Thank you all so much!

Social media marketing can give you better results. On Facebook alone, there are about 2 billion active users per month and that's a whole lot of people.