14 Bar Promotion Ideas – Bar Promotion Ideas That Work
Effective bar promotion ideas are more important than ever for survival.
In recent years it’s been harder to keep a bar open, let alone make a healthy profit. The bars that make the most profit have a robust marketing plan and are constantly coming up with new bar promotion ideas that work.
One glance at a popular street, and you’ll notice the number of bars and pubs lined up – all in one place. Only bar owners will know the struggle of keeping up and ensuring your bar is still the ultimate crowd puller.
Thriving amidst cut-throat competition is tough, but not impossible – especially with these bar promotion ideas we have come up with below.
With simple yet strategic bar promotion, your bar will surely stand out amongst thousands out there.
We have curated a list of simple yet effective bar promotion ideas that will help you take the revenue of your bar up a notch higher than it currently is.
Read on to find out more about the most effective bar promotion ideas that actually work.
You can use the links below to jump to the section you’re interested in:
1. Get on Bloc
2. Introduce seamless service
3. Revamp your bar
4. Consider feedback from customers
5. Revamp the menu
6. Cater to different age groups
7. Nothing works like discounts
8. Turn the games on
9. Offer the renting out option
10. Social media all the way
11. Rope in the influencers
12. Create an amazing website
13. Pay for trackable PPC ads
14. Offer a loyalty program
1. Get on Bloc
If you’re looking for a bar promotion idea that’s super easy and you just want to let it ride in the background, then Bloc may of interest.
Bloc has thousands of users that are checking into venues via the app.
To increase the check-ins to your bar you can simply create an ad on Bloc that will showcase your bar to every Bloc user within a 10-mile radius of the venue.
It’s free to create an ad as you’re not charged for impressions or clicks. You’re only charged if a user checks in on the app and actually attends your bar (tracked via geo-location).
The cost of each successful customer is only £2 inc. VAT which is much less than 1 pint. If they stay for 2 then you’re in the green. And don’t forget they will probably bring their friends.
You can try Bloc advertising for free with £150 ad credit, which is 75 customers for free.
2. Introduce seamless service
Sometimes, the only drawback of your bar is lethargic service.
Maybe the customers aren’t visiting you often because your bar doesn’t offer what they want – dynamic, seamless, and quick service.
While this may not apply to all bars, it could be a possibility why you aren’t able to pull in as many customers as you should.
Look at your bar from the perspective of a customer and you’ll be able to gauge the quality of your service better.
Are the bartenders fast and efficient while delivering orders? Are the ‘specials of the day’ menu clearly displayed? Is your staff courteous and conversant with your customers? How quick and effortless is the billing? These are some of the essential points you need to look into.
If you yourself don’t feel like spending time in your bar as a customer, it is definitely time to rethink!
Ramp up your service quality, introduce training sessions for your staff and train them in soft skills. All in all, do everything it takes to make the service of your pub the best in town.
3. Revamp your bar
Big or small, change is always welcome.
If the setup of your bar has been the same for a long time, you may need to do something about it.
As homely as some people find stepping into a bar where nothing has changed for years, it’s not really the same for everyone.
Especially with the current generation, who is always hopping from one pub to another looking for something new, something different.
To keep up with this trend, you need to work upon the interiors of your bar. You can retain the old charm of your bar while incorporating some new, fun elements into it.
A dartboard, some board games or an eye-catching décor of wine glasses are some ideas you can try incorporating in the setup of your bar.
Filling the space with unique, interesting elements will give people enough reasons to not only spend more time there but also keep coming over again!
And remember, you don’t really need to shell out a bomb trying to glam things up – simple yet impressive ideas work just as well too.
4. Consider feedback from customers
There are times when despite doing your best, you just aren’t able to rake in as much revenue as you should be.
Despite implementing the best marketing strategies and bar promotion ideas, you don’t see results. You don’t really need to lose hope in such situations, instead, try considering feedback from your customers.
To ensure your customers leave feedback, you got to give out some perks (such as a free drink or two).
Ask them to put in their honest feedback anonymously, so that you get an idea of your strengths as well as weaknesses.
Use the motivation from reading the strengths to get past your drawbacks and you should be good to go!
5. Revamp the menu
Food and drinks go hand in hand.
There’s nothing like a lip-smacking item of food complementing drinks.
While classics are equally loved by young and old alike, if you feel your revenues are dipping on the food front, you need to look into it.
Understand the reasons why people are not opting for food from your menu as before. Is the food not delicious enough? Is it not served the way your customers like it? Or are they simply bored of your menu?
The reason could be numerous, and a bit of research would help you figure out what exactly is going wrong.
Introducing refreshing and seasonal items to your menu could prove to be a turning point, helping you cater to and captivate an audience with changing tastes and preferences.
Do remember that you don’t need to take away the classics, as they have a fanbase of their own.
Instead retain the old favorites while adding brand new, tantalizing food options, and leave your customer base spoilt for choice.
6. Cater to different age groups
If your pub reverberates with the latest EDM songs every single day, don’t expect the senior crowd to vibe the venue.
Most seniors aren’t big fans of modern music. You can organize a karaoke music night or olden-goldies night once a week, to ensure you have a hold on this customer base too.
The whole point of bringing up this example is to remind you that youngsters aren’t the only ones having fun in your pub.
You have senior citizens, couples, single moms and dads, students, and even employees hitting your bar. So, you have to come up with ways and means to entice each of them.
For example, you can have a single moms and dad’s night. You could probably schedule it a bit earlier towards the evening so that they can get back home in time to tend to their kids.
You can also have late-night events where corporate employees can unwind after a tough day at work. This could either be mid-week (to help them get over mid-week blues) or on Fridays (so that they can celebrate the weekend).
While catering to different age groups, you have to keep in mind their needs. Only then will people of all age groups look forward to coming to your pub. Try this idea and you will definitely notice a surge in the footfall of your bar.
7. Nothing works like discounts
Discounts, vouchers, coupons – whatever you like to call it, work like magic!
They manage to pull customers even for businesses, let alone a bar.
Set out discounts for days when your sales are low. Say, for example, a Wednesday afternoon. You won’t really expect anyone to leave their jobs aside and have fun in a bar on a Wednesday afternoon!
But if you start giving out discounts for this time of the day, you will find people (may not be the working ones!) trickling into your bar!
You could also have group discounts – people love group discounts and are always on the lookout for places offering great deals.
You can also think of food and drinks combos and offer the option of ‘buy three, get one free’. Very soon, your pub will be the go-to location for people to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and even promotions!
8. Turn the games on
Not everyone wants to catch up on football matches in the comfort of their homes. Some love to watch them on the big screen too in a public place where they can socialize with other football fans.
As a bar, you can totally capitalize on this. Set up a huge screen and create a game-themed menu to add up to the excitement.
You will not only have a lot of customers pouring in, but chances are, they’ll also be hanging out in your bar until the game ends.
Make sure that apart from a huge screen, you also have comfortable seating, unlimited drinks, and scrumptious food to add to the excitement!
9. Offer the renting out option
Who doesn’t like a bar all to themselves? Especially when they are celebrating a special, intimate occasion?
So, whether it’s a proposal, a birthday party or an anniversary celebration, offer your customers the ability to book the bar entirely for themselves.
This will not only help generate extra revenue but will also increase your client base (thanks to the friends and families that will be joining in to celebrate the occasion).
Make sure you put your best foot forward, as this is the perfect opportunity to market your bar. You can also go ahead and create a kid-friendly menu, so that little guests can also thoroughly enjoy the celebration.
Food, drinks, ambiance, décor, service – everything needs to be on point to make the best first impression.
10. Social media all the way
If it’s not on social media, it isn’t happening!
This is why every event you plan to host in your bar needs to be published on all social media platforms.
The great thing about social media is that you don’t really need to have an established presence on it to get started – you can choose to start any day.
Even if you do not have a social media presence, create one today. Start posting your events, exciting offers, and everything your bar provides on these platforms.
This will help you build a connection with the audience. Your social media posts serve two purposes – first, you get to constantly update your clients about upcoming events and happenings.
Secondly, it also helps increase your reach, thus attracting new customers through paid promotions and advertisements!
Drop hints about upcoming events, conduct polls and quizzes, offer gift hampers and discounts, or simply generate hype about the new items in your menu – you can do it all using social media!
11. Rope in the influencers
It doesn’t do any harm to offer free/discounted drinks and food to a couple of influencers, for a shoutout or promotion in return!
Make sure the doors of your bar are always open for social media influencers. Even if you don’t have a great online presence, the marketing these influencers offer will make up for that.
When the influencers arrive, make sure you show them the features of your bar that set it apart from the rest.
Likewise, put out the best drinks and food in the most appetizing glasses and cutlery.
Influencer’s love capturing beautiful photographs, so you can always allow them to conduct their photoshoot. This would create a good impression and help you build connections as well.
If you notice that influencers aren’t really visiting your bar, drop them an invite and welcome them for a tasting session.
They’d love to drop by, taste, click amazing pictures and leave back excellent reviews for you on their social media pages.
12. Create an amazing website
For the best visibility on search engines, you need to create a website that pops up right at the top.
Your website should be a reflection of who you are as a business. Make it interactive, chic, and classy.
You can also make it super informative by incorporating blog posts revolving around food, wine, and bars in general.
If the blog hits the right chord, your bar will definitely make it to the top of search engine results.
Apart from this, your website should reflect all the latest happenings in your bar – be it a karaoke night, a game day, or a musical night. Everything should be listed out there along with other important details people need to know.
Your website should also be easily accessible for bookings and other inquiries. With a dedicated section for the same, people would be well-aware of where to drop in their queries. Make sure you respond to queries as soon as possible.
This would help maintain a rapport with your customers.
Try to include a feedback section too.
13. Pay for trackable PPC ads
PPC ads are great but most bars make the mistake of setting them up and not tracking them properly.
Tracking a PPC campaign goes way beyond looking at impressions and clicks to the website.
At the end of the day, an impression of the ad or a click to the website isn’t actually the best result a bar is looking for.
The only result that matters is whether that click actually leads to a customer physically in the bar.
That’s why we recommend setting up a trackable campaign. And it goes something like this:
1. Create a new campaign on Facebook ads manager (this will also go to people on Instagram).
2. Set the ad to your target audience who live within 1km of the venue (walking distance).
3. Pay per click is the best conversion method.
4. In the ad creative offer some kind of deal that is exclusive to the ad and to get this deal they need to quote a special phrase in the bar to get it.
E.g ‘Get one free drink when you quote ‘HAPPYDAYS’.
By including this exclusive promotion you can track how many people have actually quoted it. This way you can work out the conversion rate of the ad and the ROI.
The promotion will also encourage people to actually act on the ad and not just visit the website to ‘take a look’.
14. Offer a loyalty program
A loyalty program can be a game-changer for your bar.
By rewarding repeat customers with points, discounts, or exclusive perks, you can cultivate a dedicated clientele.
Consider offering tiered membership levels with increasing benefits to encourage higher spending and customer engagement.
Not only does a loyalty program incentivize return visits, but it also provides valuable customer data that you can use to tailor your offerings and marketing campaigns.
Summing up
Marketing is not about spending thousands to make things work in your favor.
Instead, it is about knowing your drawbacks as a business and working to get better at them.
It is about knowing the areas you still have a lot of growth scope in and working on improving them.
We’ve just listed out a couple of ideas to get you started – in the end, no one knows your business as well as you do, so put on your thinking caps and start hustling!
