Secrets of Casino Marketing
About this book
The gaming industry's established marketing guru reveals the persuasive sales tactics he uses to find players and keep them coming back INSIDE When a casino client told John Romero he had to get a mailing out at once and could he please have a 2-page sales letter back the same day, John e-mailed it to him three hours later--with a bill. "Tell me the truth," said the client the following day, "just how long did it take you to write that?" "Thirty five years," said John. Although 1998 marks John's 38th year in the casino business, he's been an award-winning writer since the 50's, when he was a newspaper editor and columnist. Fighting daily deadlines taught him to write quickly--and accurately--with a witty, persuasive style that has been on display for 13 years in IGWB Magazine. He's famous for his casino sales letters that occasionally run up to four pages in length and for his long copy direct response ads that have become sales classics (one ran for five years, pulling in a steady stream of business). Early in his gaming career he began to haunt the casino floor, learning what went on in the minds of the customers--a practice he still continues. As a result, he understands both casino and player as few marketing and advertising specialists do. Profound change overtook him when he discovered the power of direct mail in the 60's. "Clearly," says John, "this was the selling strategy of the future for casinos." But in 1985, when he began his column in IGWB, he couldn't find a single casino with a direct marketing department. He promptly set out to remedy that. By the early 90's, prodded by John's relentless logic and common sense essays, casinos had begun an amazing shift from the old mass marketing to direct selling. His first book, "Casino Marketing," published in 1994, pushed it along by establishing the power of casino databases to build relationships and repeat business and by proving the selling ability of direct response advertising. In Secrets of Casino Marketing , John expands his IGWB marketing columns with new material. Then he blends in excerpts from his seminars at the World Gaming Congress and Expo and more than 50 other speaking engagements. He shows you his successful casino sales letters, some of them word-for-word, and elaborates on casino floor promotions, advertising, tournaments, local markets, slot clubs, hosts, inactives, testing, and dozens of other marketing tactics. John is a former sports editor for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and feature writer for United Press International, Associated Press and Sports Illustrated magazine. He began his casino career in 1960 at the former Del Webb's Sahara, Las Vegas, and was a pioneer in casino direct mail and floor promotions. He opened his own advertising agency in 1979, and later became a founder and principal of Players International, Inc., a public company. He became an independent casino marketing consultant in 1987, specializing in direct mail, direct response advertising, promotions and database building. His numerous sales awards include three Echos (2 gold, 1 silver) from the Direct Marketing Association.