The Science of Exposure and Sales

Recently I took my daughter to the St. Louis Science Center and unexpectedly came away with some valuable lessons that could help you promote and profit from your talents. Let me explain ...

You've no doubt been to these science center type of places. If not, similar principles apply to museums and other tourist attractions.

Much of the St. Louis Science Center is open to the public. If you don't mind walking a bit, you can park for free, bring the family, stroll around, and enjoy three floors of hands-on activities.

However, there are more things to do at the Science Center.

• For $3, your child can spend an hour in the Discovery Room.
  
  
• For $7, you can attend one of the Omnimax theater movies.
  
  
• For $12, you can gain access to the main exhibit (currently featuring artifacts from the Titanic).
  
  
• For $65, you can go on a "Glided Segway Tour" of Forest Park.
  
  
• For $75, you can get a one-year family membership to the Science Center and get free parking in the lot right next to the center and free (or discounted) access to the activities listed above.
  
  
• For $1,000 or more, you can join the Albert Einstein Society as a Science Center financial supporter.

So where's the marketing lesson here? All you have to do is examine what's really going on at the Science Center.

• First, free access to many parts of the venue gets people in the door and interacting with what the Science Center offers.
  
  
• Second, once it exposes guests to the environment (after creating an enjoyable free experience), the Center makes offers to "upgrade" people to its paid services.
  
  
• Third, the Science Center offers a variety of entry points where patrons can spend money -- from as little as $3 to many thousands of dollars.

How can you apply these ideas to your creative product or service?

-Bob