I recently returned from my semi-annual trip to Las Vegas! My favorite parts were:

• Horse-back riding in Red Rock Canyon.
• Zak Bagans’s Hanted Museum (“actual” haunted artifacts, if you believe in that sorta thing).
• All of the delicious food, and yard-long margaritas (dangerously tasty!).

Aside from that, I kept my eyes peeled for some marketing tips that I could pass along. Here are a few:

L.V. Marketing Tip #1: Free Stuff Keeps People Around

I’m not a huge gambler, but I do set a budget for the trip and stick to it. My favorite games are roulette and (now) Craps.

One thing I took note of was the free drinks you get from just sitting down at the tables. Not only (watered-down) alcoholic drinks, but they will even serve coffee in the morning. I found that if I had ordered something and was waiting for it, I would stay at the table longer and play just to get that “free drink,” whereas if I hadn’t put that order in I probably would have left. Genius.

L.V. Marketing Tip #2: Make it Easy

Vegas isn’t in the business of making gaming difficult for you (unless it’s trying to get out of a casino…they design those places like mazes on purpose).

They have free lessons that teach you how to play any game in the casino, and dealers happily hand out “cheat sheet” cards for you to learn the odds of the game.

The take-away here is this: don’t make it difficult or confusing for people to do business with you. In Vegas they teach you very efficiently how to give them money, and they’re good at it.

L.V. Marketing Tip #3: Make it Fun

I was much more likely to stay at a table if everyone at the table was having a good time. If everyone was celebrating and the dealers got into it, it was infectious. Even when you’re losing, you’re rooting for those around you, and are a lot more likely to stay at the table.

Not many of us have a business that gets at the primal instincts like Vegas, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take some lessons from them. Here are the take-aways:

• Use free offers, gifts, and services to keep people “hooked”. Many people stay just for the bonuses. (example: I see a peak in retention when I send surprise birthday presents, give people more time than they paid for, etc.)