9 Venue Promotion Ideas – Venue Promotion Ideas That Work
Effective venue promotion ideas are vital for a successful business.
Running a venue is challenging work.
You need to ensure everything is perfect, from facilities to basics, so that your customers get exactly what they’re paying for.
However, perhaps the most critical aspect of managing a venue is venue promotion. You’re not going to attract a huge audience if you don’t invest enough time and effort into your marketing campaign.
The question is, how do you formulate an effective campaign?
Well, the first step is to figure out what your primary goal is for this campaign.
In order to come up with an ideal marketing strategy, you will need to focus on one aspect of your business that you want to improve.
Do you want to increase your profits or widen the reach of your venue? Maybe you’re more interested in building up your social media platform to strengthen your online presence.
Try to figure out which areas you’re lacking in and set a target that focuses on improving that.
If you don’t take a moment to properly analyze what your venue needs, then you won’t be able to come up with an effective campaign.
Having a clear primary goal will help you have a good idea of what you want from a venue promotion campaign.
Next, you can start coming up with venue promotion ideas which is where we come in. This article will give you a bit of inspiration to kickstart your brainstorming session.
Here are 7 helpful promotion ideas that will help you get people into your venue. You can click on the link to jump to the section you want to read:
1. Bloc is a unique venue promotion app that can increase sales
2. Offer discounts and promo codes to encourage people to attend
3. Show your customers what they’re missing out on by uploading highlight reels
4. Partner with local businesses for cross-promotional events
5. Build suspense by hosting giveaways on your online platforms
6. A bit of influencer marketing might be just what you need
7. Make your website’s interface as smooth as possible
8. Set up Google My Business and take advantage of local SEO
9. Get backlinks from other websites to boost traffic and your SEO efforts
1. Bloc is a unique venue promotion app that can increase sales
When you’re coming up with promotion ideas, it’s always a good idea to think outside the box.
There’s a multitude of companies all trying to get customers into their venue. You need to find a unique way to promote your venue.
Going on a different path is a great way to stand out, and that’s precisely what Bloc can give you. Unlike most location-based apps that simply suggest your venue to their users, Bloc incentivizes customers to use your venue.
The way that Bloc works is, first, it suggests a bunch of locations to their users based on their preference and location.
Once a user picks a location and attends (tracked via geo-location), they are rewarded stars to exchange for money.
This means that whenever the customer uses our app to find a venue, they’re getting an incentive to check-in and attend.
Because Bloc uses location to give suggestions to its users this will also allow you to build a good customer base.
Additionally, Bloc doesn’t take a lot of effort to set up, unlike most venue promotion ideas.
All you need to do is set up your free ad once and then you’re done, you can let it ride. You can trial Bloc with free ad credit today.
2. Offer discounts and promo codes to encourage people to attend
Who doesn’t love a good discount?
Discounts are always attractive no matter how they’re used.
Free stuff is a surefire way to get people interested in your venue. However, remember that these discounts are a powerful tool for marketing.
To use them properly, you need to figure out how you can maximize your profits while also gaining some loyal customers. Try to think of your discounts as a striking poster to get your audience invested in your business.
An excellent way to do this is to hand out a limited number of discounts.
Don’t overuse discounts, as this marketing tactic will lose its appeal.
The discounts could also have a time limit, making them a lot more attractive to potential customers.
You could also use referral codes to encourage people to get their friends along with them. This way you’re giving your customers extra perks for bringing their friends along.
Hand out referral codes to a customer once they sign up for an event. After that, all they need to do is give their code to one of their friends to avail of a special discount.
Every customer that joins will do their part in marketing your event to other potential customers.
3. Show your customers what they’re missing out on by uploading highlight reels
The tricky thing about venue promotion is that it’s impossible to properly show customers your event if they don’t attend it.
However, social media gives you a great way to get around this issue by showing your customers exactly what your event can offer them and highlight reels might be the best way to do this.
A highlight reel is a video that shows the best parts of your events. They could also include pictures that your customers have clicked, so be sure to ask your followers for a wide selection of photos.
There are a ton of social media platforms that allow you to post short video clips.
Social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook will let you post a few small highlights, making your venue look a lot more attractive.
These platforms have an algorithm that prioritizes accounts that post regularly, so keep this in mind.
You can also post photos or pictures of a few exciting moments to keep your social media account thriving.
If you want to publish longer videos, then YouTube is a good option. You could post some behind the scenes videos to give your followers a glimpse into the inner workings of your business.
Or you could also host Q&A sessions to allow your customers to get to know you better.
4. Partner with local businesses for cross-promotional events
Many local businesses have their own niche in town.
Some of these companies have been around for quite a while, which means that they have many loyal customers.
But most of these businesses are always looking for ways to expand their audience and partnering with other businesses is one way to do this.
Forming a partnership is an excellent idea because it brings a breath of fresh air into your venue. You’re also getting access to a lot of potential customers.
Start by looking around your town to see if there are businesses interested in forming a partnership with you.
There might be a few smaller businesses that are trying to make their businesses gain more exposure.
This way, both companies can get some extra exposure while also hosting a promotional event. Once you find a company whose interests align with your own, discuss what event to host.
Certain companies, like, for example, a beverage company, will also be able to give you free goodies to host a giveaway.
This can also help you develop more venue promotion ideas that bring us to our next point.
5. Build suspense by hosting giveaways on your online platforms
We’ve already talked about how you can use discounts to attract customers to your venue. Now let’s take it to the next level with giveaways.
The tricky thing about giveaways is that you need to ensure that they serve as promotional material.
If a company hosts a giveaway that loses people’s interest as soon as it’s over, then that isn’t going to help you to increase profits.
So instead of using giveaways merely as a way to give your customers some free stuff, incorporate it into your marketing campaign. Figure out how you can use giveaways to draw your customers towards your venue.
A good idea that you can use is to add giveaways to an event countdown. Two weeks before an event, you could start a countdown that builds suspense.
You could release posters or other promotional material during this countdown, along with the occasional giveaway. This way you’re hosting a giveaway while also bringing people’s attention to your event.
By doing this, you’re able to strengthen your marketing campaign and increase profits.
6. A bit of influencer marketing might be just what you need
Celebrities draw in a lot of attention no matter where they go.
With the release of social media platforms, there has been a new wave of celebrities that are much more connected to their audience.
Some of these influencers have massive followings that are incredibly invested in their lives.
Social media influencers make their living by sharing their lives with their audience. They use their personality to draw in people.
This puts them in a unique position as many other celebrities don’t have much connection with their fans.
So how can you use influencer marketing to your advantage?
To begin with, you’ll have to figure out who you want to pick for your campaign. Try to choose a person who has experience in this field and has a decent number of followers.
Additionally, take special notice of the demographic of their followers. Each venue has its own target audience that they appeal to.
Your target audience is the group of people that are likely to attend your event. Ensure that the influencer that you pick has a base of followers that matches this audience.
Next, you can move onto setting up a promotion plan. Give the influencer instructions that are as clear and concise as possible, which will help avoid any confusion.
You could even ask them for a few ideas to help you out.
7. Make your website’s interface as smooth as possible
Lastly, let’s look at how you can improve customer retention after you’ve grabbed their attention.
One overlooked part of venue promotion is the website.
Your website is at the center of all your events. It is the place where potential customers go to get more information about your events and your venue.
People want to go to events that are professional and well-organized. That’s why it’s essential to have a website that is stunning and has a smooth interface.
Presentation is everything when it comes to event marketing, so be sure to refine your webpage.
It’s a good idea to ask a professional to do this task as your website is a long-term investment.
Also, make sure to fill your website with a ton of attractive and informative content about your event so that customers have one place to go for all queries.
You could have a section that has a detailed guide of all your past events and your upcoming ones.
Another great tip is to include a blog section that talks about the events you’re hosting. This will give your business another tool to market with.
8. Set up Google My Business and take advantage of local SEO
Did you know that over 75% of a venues traffic now comes from Google?
Research carried out by CJ Digital compared over 100 of their client’s Google Analytics statistics.
Google came out on top every time when it came to traffic, which shows how important this marketing medium is.
To take advantage of this traffic venues need to set up a Google My Business, get reviews, good rating and backlinks from other websites.
These are just some of the indicators Google uses when deciding which venues to rank.
Keywords on the website also come into play, so make sure everything is optimised.
Prime real estate on Google is Google’s Local Pack.
If you Google ‘best pub in London’ onto Google right now you’ll find 3 venues dominate the top of the results.
This is Google’s local pack and these venues grab the majority of the clicks.
9. Get backlinks from other websites to boost traffic and your SEO efforts
We’ve mentioned above how important Google and SEO is in terms of traffic.
One of the biggest indicators Google uses is a venue website’s domain authority, also known as their DA score.
A DA score is a score out of 100 that is determined by how many other websites are backlinked to your website.
The better the sources the better the backlink.
For example, if you got a backlink from all the best news websites in the world, Google would see this as a big recommendation of your site.
There are lots of different ways of getting backlinks but the place to start is getting onto all the free venue listing websites out there like Bloc Nearby.
Summing up
Remember that venue promotion isn’t an easy task.
Every venue has its own unique audience, which depends upon the location and demographic that the venue appeals to.
To figure out what your audience likes, you’ll have to gain some experience in this field. That’s why it’s essential to start as soon as you possibly can.
The sooner you begin the better it will be. Try to look at which of your past events are the most popular and why they are popular.
Perhaps one of your previous events had a better marketing strategy than other events, or maybe there was a famous personality at the event that drew people in.
Either way, there’s always a lot to learn from your past events. Use this information to figure out how you can improve all your future endeavors.
However, remember to keep a few things in mind. Venue promotion ideas need to be bold and innovative to stand out amongst the crowd.
Many competitors are all vying for the attention of a single customer base, so mix and match your ideas to figure out how to make your venue marketing strategy unique.
If you’re looking for a bit more helpful information about venue marketing, check out our blog section.
We have a ton of useful and informative articles for venue owners which are sure to help you out.
Additionally, consider using Bloc for a quick and easy way to promote your venue.
Try out our free trial to see if you like the results you get. We can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed!