Wow. Things in life changed for me and my focus on this blog and other things complete changed. Oh, how I missed the party rental business.

I have lots of articles and other information that was once shared on PartyWright.com but that website is no longer and I will slowly move information over to this blog to help people in the Inflatable Party Rental Business continue to grow and prosper their business.

Billboard Advertising

Expensive- YES. Worth it? Maybe.

Who is your target audience? Will they see the billboard? Will it move them to call and make a reservation?

To cut down on the expense, try and find complementary businesses like party supply stores, bakeries, or children's clothing stores to split the cost of a billboard with you.

To check out rates in your area, find the outdoor advertising logo that is typically on the bottom of the sign. Check your yellow pages under Advertising-Outdoor or look them up online. Contact a sales rep to find out what they have available for how much.

Remember your target audience when picking a location; a bargain isn't much of a bargain if it doesn't drive business for you. Buying a premium location isn't the necessarily the best option either- you will be paying to expose your business to a lot of people who have no need of your services.
This is brand awareness strategy- don't put up billboards if you don’t have a website with an easy-to-remember name. When was the last time you wrote down a phone number off of a billboard? They’ll have an easier time remembering your name than they will a phone number. And they’ll most likely be looking online and not in a phone directory.

Billboards can make your business go through the roof with a good location so make sure you’re prepared. You don't want to turn a ton of people down or they may be discouraged about calling you next time they your product or service. However, it could be an opportunity to build a strategic alliance with another party rental company. If you’re investing in a large amount of equipment and supplies this could be a great way to make a name for yourself.

Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Radio Advertising

Radio is a great way to advertise. One thing people don't always understand about advertising is each medium works differently.You'll always get more feed back on print (whether or not it works better) because print is an active way to advertise. Print, however, only works if the reader is interested in what you have when they're looking at the paper or publication. So timing is more important with print.

As far as radio goes...radio is best for long term campaigns. Ones that last a long time....several months to a year or more. Radio builds Top Of Mind Awareness. Which is simply this...Talk to your potential clients or customers everyday so when they're in the market for what you do, sell or service you'll be the one that comes to mind first.Advertising experts say a campaign sould be a minimum of 21 spots a week for one year for maximum impact. Well 21 spots a week is a big schedule and probable not in most inflatable rental company's budget. So buy one spot a day, five days a week and air that spot the same time everyday. I would suggest a morning drive time about 10 to 20 minutes before schools starts...that's when parents are in their cars taking kids to school. Or with in 20 minutes of school letting out. Even before school lets out. Parents are always lined up half hour or more to pick up kids before school lets out. A captive audience.

Send the listener to your website if it has an easy name to remember. If not, see if your radio station will allow a link from their station page to your website. Then you tell them to go to RADIO.com website and click on the bouncehouse or something of that nature.

When people are effected by radio advertising they will not always remember where they heard about your product. It is a passive medium. Which means whether or not they are in the market for what you sell they will hear your ad. You can close your eyes but you can't close your ears. So asking peopole how they heard about your product or company is not always the best way to see results.

If you can't afford to do a lot of advertising or you have small budget put all your eggs in one basket and don't spread them around. I'd rather do one medium well and not do all mediums but none of them very well.The most important part is your message. If you have a good story and you tell if effectively, you'll get results.

I say a :60 is better than a :30 because you have more time to tell your story. I would go to TheWriteCreative.com or JustSaySpots.com and have them write your commerical(s). They cost no more than $25 or so to write and produce your spot. Make sure you check every little detail before having them produce the spot. Because having them reproduce if there is a problem your cost goes up. If you're investing in radio...make sure the spot is well writen and well produced.Once you have a script, feel free to PM the script and I will read it through and see if it meets my standards.

Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Keeping Units Clean

When beginning your rental business with inflatable games, make sure you keep your units clean. That means washing them down with Simple Green or another nontoxic cleaner.

Keeping your units looking as clean and as new as possible will greatly help you land more events. If you don't keep your units looking clean and fresh people that see you at backyard birthday parties won't want to hire you for their child's event...they'll want to go with another company.

At every event I did I would get their early enough to wipe down the unit and stay late enough to clean the unit thoroughly. One reason I did this is the folks that were paying us saw us cleaning and parents or others coming to pick kids up from events had a chance to see everything we had set up plus they all see us cleaning the units. That little bit of extra time and care paved the way for increased business.



Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Beginning a new chapter

After you've started your rental business and have successfully completed your first year of operation, it is easy to sit back and wait for the next season to come around. Well what you need to do next is start the next chapter or phase of your business.

Whet you may not fully understand until it happens is the been there, done that inflatable. A lot of your customers from the previous year will be interested in renting from you again...they just will want to rent something that they didn't rent the year before. So if you started out small with only a few similar inflatable games or only one bounce and one slide and most everyone in the community has seen and played on those at public events, you may start hurting if you don't expand.

So how do you properly expand? You don't need to go drop tons of money and buy more than you can handle. You simply purchase one or two new units that are a little less expensive. You can then rent the same units you did the year before then use the new units or game as an add on. Part of this will depend on your ability to sell that to your customer.

Good luck.


Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Writing an Ebook

I am writing an E-Book to help folks wanting to get into this business a How-To guide to make things easier. I will include the following...
1.Business Plan

2.Insurance information with a list of providers

3.How to determine direction (Backyard parties or Corporate events)

4.How to manage growth

5.How to determine what inflatables to purchase

6.Safety guidelines

7.Advertising

8.Tips on running succesful events

9.Trasporatation ideas

10.Web Site design and ideas

If there is anything you want to know or any specific things you have questions about, please post here and I will do my best to incorporate your ideas. All posts that include email will receive an advance copy of the book at no cost. All suggestions are welcome.

Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Starting Your Own Rental Business

It's not a decision to make lightly, starting your own party rental business. This blog is designed to help you make the right decision and is also designed to help you understand all the ins and outs of this business.

When I started my party rental business, I did tons of research and found out what my community would support. I think that's part of what's important. Making sure you have equipment that will rent out and that will rent out at a decent rate.

The picture posted is of my first two units I purchased. These two units went out most every weekend my first year in business and went out every weekend my second year in business.

If you're considering doing only back yard birthday parties and smaller events, there is no need to spend the money getting a big slide. Focus your efforts on smaller items and combo units. Backyard parties will rent mostly bouncers and combo units. It would be wise to invest in themed units...those can be a bigger drawing card if your competitors don't carry themed units.

If you're hoping to do bigger events and community festivals and church events, you'll need to have at least one piece that is bigger than most. Like my slide you see pictured. It's a 20' tall Accelerator Slide and will be bigger than most of you competition's slides. That's unless you live in a major metropolitan area. Other big items to consider are obstacle courses, velcro walls, bungee runs and inflatable mazes. Those are all items that go well with big events.

PartyWright.com has links to a bunch of different manufacturers and you'll find lots of other items that can help you build your inflatable rental business.

AJ


Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Making Sure You Buy The Right Equipment

When making the decision to start your inflatable rental business, know what your market will rent, what it won't and what will generate sales sooner. The picture posted is of my first two units I bought. I was lucky in the fact that when I started my business I was in a community where no one else operated an inflatable business. But I learned doing my research that when inflatable companies did deliveries to my community it was mostly big time inflatable units. So I knew I needed something fantastic to get business.

I decided to get a big slide, a 20' Accelerator Slide, and a standard bounce house. Both pieces were important to my success. The big slide allowed me to compete with the out of town companies for the bigger events in my area and the bounce house allowed me to have something more reasonable for those folks that couldn't afford the rental cost of the big slide.

Right off the bat I was able to land a big sales event at a car dealership right on the main highway intown and that lead to several other rentals. I also was able to book a birthday party at a home of a very wealthy family and they had more than 70 children attend the party. That booking also lead to several other bookings. Being able to have one event lead to another is always important.

A couple of thing to consider when buying your first inflatable units...

1. How close is your competition?
2. What are they renting?
3. What is one piece that no one in your area has that can set you apart?
4. Do you want to do mostly backyard birthday parties or big events?
a. Don't try and own both areas right away...focus on one or the other and then expand in the future.

I focused on doing big events. While I did some parties and smaller events, 90 percent of my business
was big events.

5. What can you handle by yourself?
6. Will you need to hire someone to help or can you and your spouse/partner help?


Just make sure you understand the importance of really knowing what you're getting into and where your customers are going to come from...

Importance of Insurance

Insurance is an extremely important part of starting your business and growing your business. And the truth of the matter is most inflatable rental operators don't have insurance. And that hurts everyone in the business.

If your business plan is to only do backyard birthday parties, you can probable operate for several years without insurance and it could never matter...Unless someone gets hurt. If you want to take the next step, if you want to start doing school and church events and community events, insurance is a must. Partly because it's just good business and partly because most entities won't hire you unless you have insurance.

If you're already operating a business, you may be able to add yout inflatables to your current insurance through a rider. For everyone else, which is most of us, we're left to search on our own to find insurance.

First thing to do is approach your local independent insurance dealer and ask him or her about insurance. While they may not be able to write insurance for you they can point you in the right direction. Other sources would be your state labor department. There is most likely a division that oversees inflatables and games. It is there that you'll find the information that you need to get insurance.

Good Luck!

Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Games Add to your Inflatable Business

Having a nice selection of games will make your appeal to customers more so that those businesses without games. Whether you're focusing on backyard parties, Pay to Play or corporate events, having games is another great source of income you may be over looking.

Getting games that attract young and old alike isn't easy. Some suggestions for great games that sell easy include...

1. Boom Blasters
2. Ringmaster
3. Any table top game by Huffer
4. Inflatable hoops
5. Inflatable t-ball

The above games can rent solo or as an add on item. Sometimes, games will be your 'in' to an event that has been getting inflatables from another source that does not carry games. In the future those events may choose to go with your company because you can supply them with games and inflatables.

Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

How to Promote Your Inflatable Business

Notice that I didn't say, "How to Advertise Your Inflatable Business." Because when you're just starting out, advertising is expensive and while you may think one form or another is the way to advertise an inflatable party rental business, there are lots of ways you've probable never thought of and plenty of ways to promote that only costs some effort on your part and no money. And with your limited budget, my guess is you're willing to put forth some effort without parting with lots of cash.

On of the best ways is promote is to find out from local charitable organizations what some of their upcoming events are and whether or not you can participate. An example would be a March of Dimes Walk America, A American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event, a local community celebration or festival. A school carnival or fair.

When dealing with the Walk America or Relay for Life, what you want to do is offer to set up your inflatable bounce house or slide and do a Pay to Play. That's where people at the event can buy tickets from you so they can bounce or slide. Normally I sell one ticket for a dollar or six tickets for five dollars. One ticket lets you slide one time or bounce for three minutes. The deal you make with the Relay for Life or the Walk America folks is you'll give them 25% of your net profit from the event. In most cases, if they don't already have someone doing inflatables, they'll be more than happy to let you set up and sell tickets. If the weather is good and the Walk America or Relay for Life is a well established event, you can do several hundred dollars in a couple of hours and in some cases, several thousand dollars.

In one Relay for Life event, I sold more than 4,000 tickets in five hours and after paying the Relay 25%, I walked away with more than $2,800 in cash. The other expenses are paying for help to run the inflatable (you'll need three people for one inflatable, five for two inflatables) at the event. Also make sure you have the proper insurance for the location of the event. If it is being held at a school or community park, you'll most likely need to add the school or local government to your insurance for the event.

Relays will make more money than a Walk America. A well run Walk America will have an hour or two kickoff and then following the event another hour or so before people head home.

Other than the ability to make money, these events attract hundreds if not thousands of people. You can hand out business cards, flyers and you should have t-shirts with your name, phone number and web page in a large font. So people know you're local and open for business.

I always tracked my business and I did my best to try and find out what events lead to other events for my rental business. My first Relay for Life lead to six other relays that year and lead to several church events as well.

Remember to check out PartyWright.com for links to start your inflatable business

Starting Your Inflatable Rental Company

So you're interested in starting your very own inflatable rental company. Let me guess, you rented an inflatable slide or bounce house for your child's birthday or went to someone's house where they had rented an inflatable for their kids birthday and you thought, man...this looks easy, I could do this!

You're right. You can do this.


Inflatable party rentals is one of the easiest businesses to start. It's low cost, only takes weekends to start and you can make some decent money, if managed right. Before you get out the credit card or checkbook, make sure you investigate all the regulations in your state and that you're ready for the business. Other than inflatable (I suggest you start with a bounce house and/or an inflatable slide) you'll need a few others things to get started.

1. A reliable vehicle to haul around your new business
2. A trailer (if purchasing bigger inflatable or more than one small inflatable)
3. Insurance (liability is a must have)
4. A business plan
5. Support from your husband or wife.

A great way to start your research is to click on the link below and start checking out different companies that sell inflatables and see which designs you like and to get an idea of the price ranges of different products.

Remember to check out PartyWright for links to start your inflatable business