20 Pub Promotion Ideas – Pub Promotion Ideas That Work
In this article we explore 20 different pub promotion ideas that we are confident will give your pub a competitive edge and make sure it’s successful for the tough times ahead.
When the week finally comes to an end and patrons are looking for a casual place to catch up with friends, they’re probably going to go to a local pub.
There’s just something relaxing about kicking back, ordering a few drinks, and enjoying some delicious pub food.
Pubs are amazing spots to hang out, but there are a lot of different options out there. The competition has been rising in this industry, so pub owners need to find a way to draw in huge crowds or the business simply won’t be profitable.
If you’re a pub owner and you happen to be tired of trying to come up with good pub promotion ideas, you’re in luck as we can help.
As you’re figuring out how to go about this whole process, there’s one thing that you need to keep in mind. The primary goal of any promotion idea is to draw in customers.
To give you a boost of creativity, we have compiled a list of 20 of the best pub promotion ideas for you we are sure will boost your sales.
You can use the links below to jump to the pub promotion idea that you’re interested in.
1. Bloc can give you a way to get customers without much hassle
2. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your service flawless
3. Change up your style to find out what works well
4. Social media is a great place to promote your pub
5. Events are always a great pub promotion idea
6. Offer special discounts that encourage people to buy more food and drinks
7. Host a viewing event at your pub
8. Giving local performers a platform can help to promote your business
9. Email marketing is a great tool for pub promotion
10. Organize a booking system where a customer can hire your pub for a special occasion like a birthday party
11. Create a perk system
12. Use social media to drum up excitement for your events
13. Coupon codes can help give people an incentive to come to your pub
14. Arrange a giveaway to attract a bit of attention
15. Blogging can help you draw in customers
16. Make your pub more interactive
17. Keep responding to queries that you get on online review sites
18. Try to get social media influencers involved in your pub promotion
19. Use the algorithm to your advantage
20. Feedback forms are a good way to know where you’re lacking
21. Invite an alcohol supplier to do a show & tell
22. Invite influencers and boost their content
1. Bloc can give you a way to get customers without much hassle
Although most of the methods for promoting a pub below are effective, you’ll need to put in a ton of work to get them off the ground.
What if we told you there was a method to attract customers without having to worry about anything? Bloc is a hassle-free social events app that can promote your pub with a pay-per-result system.
Bloc specializes in recommending location-based venues to our users, but we do it a bit differently than most other companies.
Bloc has its own in-app currency (stars) that we give to our customers every time they use our service and check-in to venues, like pubs. These stars can then be redeemed for cash.
This gives our customers an incentive to keep using our service to find other excellent locations.
It’s also the only pay-per-result marketing platform of its kind. You only pay if a customer checks into your pub on Bloc and actually attends the venue (we track this via geo-location).
This means you only pay for your perfect result, customer in your pub spending. The cost is only £2 (inc. VAT) per successful check-in, which means each customer only has to buy one drink for you to break even.
It’s risk-free and budget friendly. There’s also a free trial where you can test the service for yourself to see how well it works for your pub.
2. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your service flawless
Bad service will kill any business, and this fact is especially true for pubs. If your service is dismal, even effective pub promotion ideas will not help.
Pubs rely on their community for support, and any unsatisfactory service typically finds its way around the town through word of mouth.
This is the reason we recommend that you take a step back and have a look at your service. Is the kitchen running smoothly? Are the menu items up to the mark? Do you need to increase your prices or decrease them?
These are a few questions that you will have to answer before you go any further. Once you’re done with that, you can start coming up with more pub promotion ideas.
3. Change up your style to find out what works well
Different people are going to want different things from your pub, and you will probably never please all of them. But keep in mind that your primary goal is to get customers. In order to do this, you might have to try a few different styles.
There are three main aspects to your pub – the atmosphere, the food/ drinks, and the service.
We’ll just look at the first two aspects here. You can change your atmosphere by redecorating or by hosting events. Food and drinks are a bit of a trickier subject, but people love to try out interesting combinations, so try to make it as creative as possible.
Switch things up a bit and you’ll be able to gain more experience with this process as time goes on.
4. Social media is a great place to promote your pub
We are living in a digital age.
All you need to do is look around you to realize that nearly everyone uses the internet. Nowadays, social media platforms are one of the main attractions online.
People all over the world spend a ton of time scrolling through their feeds. These platforms are excellent for pub promotion, but only if you use them well.
So, how do you do this? Well, for starters, you need to make your posts as attractive as possible. Try to post pictures that show the atmosphere at your pub or you could also make graphic posters if possible.
Remember that people scroll through maybe a hundred posts a day, and if you’re looking to grab their attention, you need to stand out. Next, you’ll also have to post on a regular basis. This will ensure that you keep your customer’s attention.
5. Events are always a great pub promotion idea
Pubs are venues where people come to hang out and have fun, and that’s why events are an amazing idea.
If you put a bit of effort into coming up with amazing event ideas, your customers will be more likely to come back. There’s a wide variety of events that you can pick. Live music events are always a hit, or even a couple’s night is a good idea.
6. Offer special discounts that encourage people to buy more food and drinks
When you’re running a pub, one of the best ways to make a profit is to make your business more appealing to groups.
Large groups of people tend to spend more on food and drinks, which can be great. If you put an offer in a place where the customer gets 2 drinks free for every 3 starters they order, it will encourage people to buy more.
Mix and match to see what fits your business.
7. Host a viewing event at your pub
Viewing events are a good way to capitalize on a big sports game. When people are watching something that is as exciting as a sports game, they don’t want to worry about their drinks and food.
Pubs help them to enjoy their game without any trouble and with a bit of atmosphere.
8. Give local performers a stage and promote your business at the same time
Smaller performers are always looking for gigs to play. When you hire one of them for your pub, it will give them exposure while also making your pub livelier.
There are a lot of types of performers that you can hire – a live band, a solo artist, or even a stand-up comedian.
9. Email marketing is a great tool for pub promotion
If you’re using email marketing as a tool for pub promotion, you want to be sure that you’re doing it in the right way.
Firstly, you want to make sure that your emails have a few catchy slogans and attractive graphics.
Next, always remember that you don’t want to bore your customers, so a shorter email is better. Finally, be sure to use your emails to talk about any offer that you might have.
10. Organize a booking system where a customer can hire your pub for a special occasion like a birthday party
Some people love celebrating their special occasions at home, and others want to throw huge parties.
Opening your pub to hosting will help you to get some extra profit while also promoting your business.
You can start this system by offering a set menu to your customers, which they get to pick. If it takes off, you can start to include more specialized services like an anniversary special party.
11. Create a perk system
A loyalty system or a perks system helps you to reward your loyal customers.
Every pub needs to have a base of dedicated customers in order to thrive. These people are the ones who will help your pub through tough times.
You can have a system where your customers can sign up, and if they come into your pub once a month, then they get a free offer or a discount coupon.
12. Use social media to drum up excitement for your events
Social media can be used in many different ways, you just need to explore your options.
A great way to use these platforms is to give your followers hints about your upcoming events or even menu items on the menu.
This is a good way to alert them about updates while also giving them a taste of what’s to come.
13. Coupon codes can help give people an incentive to come to your pub
This marketing tool is a bit tricky because you need to figure out how to use these coupons to make a profit.
You need to be able to promote your business with the help of these coupons. You could offer coupons on select items that you want to promote.
This will help to attract more customers who will come back after the offer is over.
14. Arrange a giveaway to attract a bit of attention
Everyone likes free stuff!
Giveaways are an excellent tool to get people to come to your club. You can even host an online giveaway that is going to reach a lot more people.
You could try to collaborate with a drink supplier or another venue that is located near you. This way, you can offer free prizes while also building a partnership with another company.
15. Blogging can help you draw in customers
There are a lot of customers that are looking for a pub to which they can go regularly.
Blogs are a great way to draw some of these customers in. For example, when you post a blog about ‘5 of the best cocktails that you’ve probably never tried before’, you’re getting your customers intrigued while also showing them that your pub is great.
These articles are also a good way to give your website more content and increase your chances of appearing at the top of Google.
16. Make your pub more interactive
Pubs are venues that are meant for groups of people. To make your customer experience more fun, you will need to try to make your atmosphere a lot more interactive.
There are a few ways you can do this. Events like a karaoke night are one way to let your customers have a good time. You could also have a game night and give out discount coupons as prizes. This will help to create a lively atmosphere at the pub.
17. Keep responding to queries that you get on online review sites
Although these review sites may not seem very important, they are often the first glimpse that a customer gets of your pub.
When people want to try new places, they usually search for them on the internet.
Online review sites are one of the first things that pop up, and so they get a lot of attention. By checking your page from time, to time you can show potential customers that you are a business that is dedicated to making their experience wonderful.
18. Try to get social media influencers involved in your pub promotion
We’ve already discussed how social media can help you promote your business. Now, let’s look at social media influencers.
The success of social media has to lead to many celebrities that have built their platforms off their success on these apps.
Getting one of these influencers to post a few stories about their amazing experience in your pub will help your pub to get noticed.
19. Use the algorithm to your advantage
Although the internet can help you promote your pub to many different individuals, you’re only going to get traffic coming in if you work with the algorithm.
To do this you need to fulfill two major criteria – your content must be SEO-friendly (search engine optimization), and you have to post frequently.
Try to maintain a constant flow of content to your social media platforms as this will help you get recommended to viewers. This blog will help you to get a bit more information about this topic.
20. Feedback forms are a good way to know where you’re lacking
It is often not possible to figure out what you’re doing wrong on your own. This is where feedback forms can be very useful.
Customers can provide a lot of constructive criticism that will help you improve your service to a great extent. You could even take this a step further and ask your followers on your social media platforms to vote on a poll about what they love about your pub.
21. Invite an alcohol supplier to do a show & tell
There are so many cool local suppliers your patrons have never heard of before.
Invite these alcohol brands to come into your pub and do a show & tell.
Not only will you be respected for giving the little guy a chance, you’ll also get free entertainment for the night.
Invite the company into the pub for 3-4 hours to speak about their brand and allow people to try something new.
Make sure there’s a good deal on the alcohol so people are drawn in.
22. Invite influencers and boost their content
Influencers can be a powerful way to reach more people on social media.
But it’s not effective just getting influencers to post a piece of content and then leave that piece of content.
Instead make sure you boost their content using pay-per-click marketing.
This is called a Spark ad on TikTok and a brand partnership ad on Instagram.
You basically invite a microinfluencer to your pub for a free with a +1 and offer them free drinks.
Ask them to create a Reel and/or TikTok showcasing their experience.
Next, put an ad on this content and boost it to your exact target audience e.g those that live within 1km of the venue.
This is powerful marketing because the ad isn’t come from you, but the influencer instead.
Final thoughts
Keep in mind that when you’re coming up with pub promotion ideas, it’s good to do a few test runs before you commit to the idea completely.
So, if you’re planning to implement a loyalty system, try to offer a few smaller perks, like a free drink, at first. If customers enjoy this idea, you can ramp it up.
Another thing that you should remember is that creativity is the key to making your pub unique. Don’t be afraid to push the limits and try new ideas as you never know when you will stumble upon your golden goose.
If you’re looking for more blogs like this one, consider checking out our blog page where we post a multitude of informational articles that will help you to make your pub stand out.
You might also want to check out Bloc. Our company hosts a social events app that gives our customers incentives to go to the pubs that we are partnered with.
We’re essentially paying customers to go to your pub. Our team is so confident in our service that we offer a trial that is free to try. So, what are you waiting for? Head over to our site and sign up for your free trial, we guarantee that you’ll love it.
