Elevating Your FEC, Theme Park, or Amusement Park
(Without turning your marketing into a circus)
Running a Family Entertainment Center, amusement park, or attraction is not for the faint of heart.
You are juggling weather, weekends, school calendars, staffing gaps, birthday parties, group sales, season passes, broken go-karts, stubborn arcade machines, and at least one parent who swears their kid had more tickets thirty seconds ago.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, you are also supposed to “do marketing.”
That is where I come in.
I am the CEO of PaperBoat Media, and I have been working in marketing for attractions and experience-driven businesses since 2006.
Over the years, I have worked with:
- Brand-new attractions entering the market for the first time
- Small, local putt putt courses, arcades, pinball halls, and go-kart tracks
- Museums, zoos, and aquariums with similar family and tourism audiences
- Large regional parks and multi-location operators
- And world-dominating theme parks that most people recognize instantly
I have done this all over the country, with a heavy concentration in Florida, throughout the Southeast, and extending into South Carolina, where tourism, seasonality, and family travel create unique challenges.
Different sizes. Different budgets. Different pressures.
The constant is this: attractions are not marketed like normal businesses, and treating them that way is how money quietly disappears.
Marketing an Attraction Is Not About Tickets
It is about momentum.
Anyone can sell tickets on a busy Saturday.
The real work is:
- Filling slower weekdays
- Driving repeat visits
- Making birthday parties predictable
- Selling season passes without racing to the bottom on price
- Staying relevant when families have endless entertainment options
Guests are not buying a product.
They are buying a shared experience, a tradition, a memory.
Good marketing reinforces that feeling.
Bad marketing trains people to wait for discounts.
Redefining Loyalty
From transactions to belonging
One of the biggest mistakes I see in FEC, park, and attraction marketing is how “loyalty” is defined.
Most programs are built around:
- Discounts
- Coupons
- Free games
- One more punch on a card
That is not loyalty.
That is transactional behavior.
Real loyalty is when people:
- Feel like your place is “their place”
- Choose you even when there is a cheaper option
- Bring friends and family without being asked
- Talk about your attraction as part of their routine
This is where attractions win or lose long-term.
Instead of asking, “How do we discount less painfully?”
The better question is, “How do we make people feel like they belong here?”
That can look like:
- Season passes framed as membership, not savings
- Events that feel exclusive, not promotional
- Behind-the-scenes stories that make guests feel connected
- Messaging that reinforces identity, not just price
When people feel included, discounts become less necessary.
I Wear Different Hats Depending on What You Need
(And I scale up or down without breaking things)
One of the biggest advantages of working with me is flexibility.
Some attractions need a full agency.
Some need an experienced brain in the room.
Some need both at different stages.
Hat #1: Strategic Marketing Consultant
When clarity matters more than tactics
As a consultant, I help owners and leadership teams step back and ask:
- What is actually working?
- Where are we wasting effort or spend?
- Why are certain promotions underperforming?
- What should we stop doing immediately?
Sometimes the most profitable move is subtraction.
Hat #2: Fractional Marketing Leader
When you need leadership without a full-time hire
As a fractional CMO or senior marketing leader, I:
- Guide strategy month to month
- Plan around seasonality, school calendars, and peak traffic
- Coordinate agencies, vendors, and internal staff
- Help ownership make confident marketing decisions
You get experience without overhead.
Hat #3: Agency Partner
When execution needs to scale
Through PaperBoat, I can scale a full agency team when it makes sense:
- Paid advertising
- SEO and local search
- Content and storytelling
- Systems, tracking, and reporting
Execution always follows strategy, not guesswork.
From Solo Consultant to Full Agency
Your Needs Decide the Size
Some clients work directly with me as:
- A hands-on execution and strategy consultant
- A fractional marketing expert guiding decisions
Others need:
- A full agency build-out with specialists and ongoing support
The model flexes without disruption.
No forced retainers. No unnecessary layers.
Voice Search, FAQs, and Ask Engine Optimization for Attractions
(How families actually search)
Families do not search like marketers.
They ask:
- “Best place for a kid’s birthday party near me”
- “Are go karts safe for younger kids?”
- “Putt putt near me open today”
- “Is this good for families?”
- “What should we do this weekend?”
We structure content and sites to:
- Answer real questions clearly
- Win voice search and AI-driven results
- Show up in maps and local discovery
- Build trust before a click or call ever happens
This is how FECs, parks, museums, zoos, and aquariums win visibility without relying only on ads.
Why Owners Choose to Work With Me
Because I have been in this space long enough to know:
- What works
- What used to work
- What looks good on a report but fails in real life
I have helped small, new attractions gain traction.
I have helped massive parks refine and scale.
And I have helped a lot of operators in between stop wasting money.
No jargon. No theater. Just smart decisions.
Let’s Talk
If you want a marketing approach that understands the realities of running an attraction, FEC, theme park, museum, zoo, or aquarium, let’s talk through what you actually need right now.
Sometimes that is a full agency.
Sometimes it is just me.
Both can work.
The trick is knowing which one you need.