With social media and other digital communication, it’s now easier than ever to reach both old and new customers. What takes more effort is keeping your clientele engaged, so they keep coming back.
But competition in the bar industry is ruthless – you need to focus on a marketing strategy that makes customers choose your bar as their favorite place for socializing and enjoying a drink over every other establishment.
Here are 11 bar marketing ideas that can boost your sales and gain you a loyal following of repeat customers.
1. Know Your Customers
Running a bar isn’t just about serving drinks – it’s about providing a great customer experience for your clientele. And to do this, you need to know who your customers are. Before jumping in and updating your marketing campaign, take some time to identify your target customers. Why? Because your messaging and promotions depend on the people they address.
Target customers
Understanding the type of people your bar attracts has a lot to do with who they are, what they do, and where they live. This information is also crucial in helping you decide what type of patrons you want to pull in as new customers. When developing your marketing approach, consider the following:
- Demographics – Age, gender, income, marital status, and occupation.
- Location – Where is your bar located and where do your customers live? If you’re in the core of the business district, corporate professionals may be your typical customers as they stop in for a drink on the way home.
- Social status – Spend a few nights observing the customers in your bar. Are they single professionals, university students, millennials, laborers, or a mix of clientele?
Re-develop your brand
Does your brand reflect who your customers are? You spent a lot of time branding your bar before you opened the doors. But when you want to boost your sales and attract new customers, your current brand may need a little adjusting to make your bar concept more exciting and appealing.
Once you’ve identified your target clientele, rebranding can tie in with your new marketing ideas as you launch promotions to boost your sales.
2. Review Drink and Food Menu
Take some time to review your drink and food menu every month and be prepared to make changes– is what you’re serving informed by the latest trends? The hospitality industry is always changing so you need to move quickly.
People are looking for unique drinking and food experiences, all the way from sampling global flavors to small plates that pair with special drinks.
Here are just a few of the ways you can optimize your drink and food menu:
- Serve local wine and beer – Partner up with local wineries and breweries and offer your customers a special night of tastings.
- Feature unique drink specials – Work with your bartenders to create unique drinks. Showcase special seasonal and holiday drinks throughout the year, such as winter sangria and a summer cooler.
- Expand your bar menu – Customers are looking for good food to go with their drinks. Offer small snacks, shared plates, and seasonal dishes that highlight local food.
- Add a weekend brunch menu – Weekend brunch has become one of the biggest trends in the bar and restaurant industry. This is your opportunity to market to a new set of customers by combining special cocktails with a unique brunch menu.
3. Happy Hour
There’s a lot to be said about Happy Hour – it’s still one of the top strategies for pulling customers into your bar during those slow hours. Done right, Happy Hour can boost your sales, improve the customer experience, and build customer loyalty.
It’s important to remember that Happy Hour isn’t unique and is used by most bars to increase their revenue. This means that the key to success is using a different approach than your competition.
Use these ideas to make Happy Hour at your bar one that keeps customers coming back:
- Pair together drinks and food. Customers are drawn in by food specials just as much as they are for the drinks.
- Feature exclusive drinks. Offering special drinks only at certain hours will encourage customers to come by at a specific time.
- Offer small-plate specials. Providing customers with tapas-style food choices lets you customize your Happy Hour menu with unique items not available at other times of the day.
- Highlight flight options. A trend that’s not going away anytime soon is offering flights of drink options – customers get to sample different beers, wines, or even tequila.
- Change up Happy Hour times. While other bars focus on the 3 to 6 p.m. Happy Hour, consider offering your specials at odd times to attract more attention. For instance, try Happy Hour on a weekend morning along with brunch food items.
- Add entertainment. Featuring local musicians during Happy Hour is a great way to keep your guests entertained and to promote community spirit in your neighborhood.
- Upsell. Train your servers to offer upsells on both drinks and food. For an additional charge, have your employees offer combos or recommend higher selling items off the menu.
4. Social Media
Your customers are using their smartphones more than ever to stay digitally connected, which means that if you’re not visible on social media you’re missing out on reaching a large customer base. And don’t just focus on one social media platform – be active with multiple social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Once you’ve got your profiles set up, use these marketing tactics to build your social media presence and connect with both current and new customers:
Post new content regularly
How often you post on social media is an important part of promoting your business. If you post too infrequently your customers will forget who you are and if you post too often you may start making a nuisance of yourself. A good balance is to post once a day with quality content that’s relevant to your bar and customers.
Promote and engage
Use social media to promote your bar while still engaging with your customers. Post about Happy Hour, upcoming events, and your new menu.
Post quality images
Include high-quality photos in your posts. Not only are posts with images retweeted and reposted more than other posts, visual content adds value to social media content and is a good way to showcase images of your bar to attract new customers.
Post milestones
Social media is a great way to share important milestones, such as celebrating your first year of business. Or post about seasonal milestones and specials to draw in customers, including St. Patrick’s Day for Irish drink specials and hot drinks on the first day of winter.
5. Be Mappable
If your customers can’t easily find you, they’ll go elsewhere. People rely on their phones not just for contact information, they count on maps to get them to their location. Make sure customers can find you on Google Maps by listing your bar on Google My Business.
Signing up for Google My Business makes it easy for customers to find all the information they need about your bar. This marketing tool lets you connect with people across Google Search and Google Maps by providing them with your contact information, your hours of operation, your website, and how to find you on the map.
6. Targeted Messages Through Email and SMS
Sending targeted messages through both email and SMS is an easy and cost-effective way to connect with customers and let them know why they should be coming to your bar instead of going to your competitor. Email is also a good way to build your brand among both your existing and new customers.
When sending email and messages, consider the following:
- Newsletters with information about your bar, including how you got your start.
- Information about new drinks and menu items.
- Discount coupons and deals.
- Giveaways.
And here a few ways you can collect email addresses:
- Include an opt-in form on your website where people can sign up to receive your newsletter.
- Add an opt-in request when customers are making reservations.
- Post a prize draw on your social media platforms that requires people to enter with their email or a phone number.
7. Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs are a good way to get customers to keep coming back. Loyalty programs can include discounts and deals for your regular clientele. Or use a point-based system where your regulars earn points, for example by referring other customers, that they can redeem for free drinks and snacks.
8. Host Promotional Events
Make your bar “the” place to go for socializing and fun. Events and games keep your customers engaged so they stay longer and order another drink. Promotional events also keep customers coming back and make them more likely to recommend your bar to family and friends.
Set up activities and games that appeal to your target customers such as:
Bar games
Games are always trending and a good way for your clientele to interact with each other. Pool and darts are long-standing classics, but not your only option. Consider investing in board games for groups of people to play together, such as Scrabble, Dominos, Checkers, Risk, Sorry!, and Pictionary. Have a few decks of cards on hand for Gin, Hearts, and Cribbage.
Don’t forget drinking games such as Quarters and Chandeliers, which are great for group nights or when celebrating birthdays
Theme nights
Hosting theme nights can bring in a new crowd of customers. Feature a few drinks and food items that follow the same theme concept: 80s, Disco, Game of Thrones, and Hip Hop are just a few ideas.
Karaoke
Karaoke continues to be a bar favorite – it’s both fun and competitive and can liven up the atmosphere in your bar on a slow night.
Open mic nights
Set up a stage area and host an open mic night for comedians, a poetry slam, or improv.
Trivia night
Trivia nights are always popular with the bar crowd. Sign up for a trivia kit such as Buzztime, which has everything you need for your bar to join in the fun.
Live music
Another way to bring in both regular and new customers is with live entertainment. Bands, single artists, or local DJs are great entertainment.
9. Partner With Other Local Businesses
Partnering with other businesses in the community can help you grow your bar and increase your customer base. You won’t want to partner with competing bars, but there are many other local businesses to support. A smart marketing strategy is to host a trivia night and have these other businesses provide a prize as their own promotional material.
10. Optimize Your Website
Don’t overlook the power of your website. You may think that your social media platforms are enough to reach customers, but a website gives you even more marketing tools.
Here’s what to include on your website:
- Contact information, including your phone and email address.
- Your menu.
- Tell your story.
- Links to your social media.
- Start a blog with articles that provide both useful and interesting information.
- Feature photos of your bar. A picture goes a long way in defining your bar atmosphere and making it an appealing place for customers to come to socialize.
- Showcase your employees – customers want to know more about their regular servers.
11. Reviews Matter
People are influenced by the online comments and reviews your customers leave on social media, on your website, and on review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. With so much competition in the hospitality industry, people trust and rely on the opinions of other customers to help them make up their mind. Excellent service, great drinks, and a good food menu are what people are looking for – and many people will try a new bar based on favorable reviews.
Read each and every comment and take the time to respond, both to positive and negative reviews. For positive reviews, be genuine and let them know you appreciate their kind words. For negative reviews, this is your time to do damage control. Acknowledge that someone didn’t have a good experience, be professional, and let them know you’d like to make it up to them with a discount or free drink the next time they come by.
Final Words
Marketing your bar doesn’t have to be a challenge when you implement the above strategies. You can attract new customers, build customer loyalty, and boost your sales by using bar promotions that work. Promoting your bar online, featuring a unique drink and food menu, and providing your customers with entertainment will keep people talking about your bar and coming back.
Glimpse Team
+1 (786) 292-2373
insights@glimpsecorp.com
