Published by Daclaud Lee at September 12, 2022

The Best Marketing Tactics for Bars

By Daclaud Lee, Project Manager / SEO Consultant at Archmore Business Web

Do you own a bar? Are you looking for simple and cost-effective bar marketing ideas? We have good news. Our guides will reveal the top strategies that can help you get more people through your door and increase foot traffic to your establishment. Save time, money, and frustration by reading the smart tips in our free bar marketing guide.

Marketing is one of the most critical aspects of your bar. If you market well, you will be able to attract the customers that you want more than anyone else. The purpose of this article is to give some tips on how to effectively market your business and create a buzz around it. All of these strategies can be implemented by any bar without much of an upfront investment and absolutely zero renovation. In fact, all you need to do is try it out.

Search Engine Optimization for Bars

The thing about throwing themed events to get more customers is that no one will know about it if your website is not optimized and properly updated daily. One way to make sure this happens is to create your own blog, as well as a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. You can even create ads and run them in local media.

If you are a bar, then you will need to make sure you know how to get your website ranked in the search engines.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Optimizing your Google Business Profile can help your bar get more customers. A well-written description of your signature drinks, with photos of people having fun and enjoying themselves, can help potential customers get an idea of what they will experience if they come in. Make sure you fully complete all sections of your profile and include photos of your establishment.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is vital to the growth of your bar/pub business. By creating a cohesive and effective social media marketing strategy, your customers can be targeted better, giving bars and pubs a boost in profits.

Bars and pubs that have invested in social media marketing have seen a significant increase in the number of customers they get. Social media are a great way to reach a wider audience, who may not know where you are located or be aware of your unique features. For example, Instagram has a feature that allows you to share a QR code for your posts and reels.

Mobile Apps

Everyone loves carry out! And every restaurant should have a mobile app so customers can place and pay for carry out orders. Show off special offers, create loyalty programs, provide waitlists and more. If you are a bar, you don't even need to sell food. Have you considered beer and wine delivery? having the right mobile app and delivery partner can be a great supplement to your usual beverage sales.

With a mobile app, customers can order carry out from their favorite bar or restaurant. This makes carrying out food as easy as possible for customers and keeps them coming back to your business. Mobile apps are essential to bar and restaurants and we can help you create an app that's simple and efficient, even if you don't have tech experience. Contact us today to get started!

Themed Events

Themed events can help your bar or night club get more customers, who are looking for a variety of fun and exciting things to do. These events also give venues an opportunity to showcase their uniqueness, making them an ideal choice for social media marketing as well as word-of-mouth advertising. If you’re looking for ways to boost revenue at your bar or nightclub, themed nights are worth considering!

Happy Hour
Ladies Night
Karaoke
Trivia
Pay Per View Sports
Dance Nights
Board Games
Live Bands or DJs
Wine, Beer or Liquor Tasting
Rotating Food Trucks

Happy Hour

Happy hour bar strategies are marketing strategies used to attract customers. This technique uses discounts and specials to encourage customers to visit the bar at times of the day when openings become rare, such as in the late afternoon or evening. Happy hour is a venue that can be used as a strategy for attracting new clients, raising awareness of your brand or increasing exposure on social media channels.

To set the actual hours for your happy hour, consider what time of day your bar is slowest. Setting the actual hours for happy hour are important to get more customers through the doors and it can be tricky, but with a little creativity, you can create some effective strategies that will attract customers during off-peak times.

Ladies Night

Ladies night is one of the oldest ways to get more female customers into a bar or nightclub. It has become part of marketing strategy for many establishments to get ladies to join them on this evening. Where the ladies go, men will follow!

However... The idea of ladies night may not be so popular among certain people. As a matter of fact, it is banned in the UK due to discrimination laws, so make sure you are legally able to promote this before you do it.

Karaoke Nights

Karaoke nights and karaoke machines can be a good way to pull more people to your bar during slow nights. They encourage customers to stay longer and order more drinks, and thus increase your profitability. It helps create a fun and festive atmosphere, increasing overall revenues and profits for your business. If you don't want to invest in all of the karaoke equipment, then you can consider hiring a karaoke host.

Nowadays, all you need is a laptop and a couple of good speakers to start karaoke night. You can get a subscription through Karafun and have access to all the popular songs that your customers will love to sing.

Trivia Nights

Trivia nights are a great way to increase business on slower nights like Tuesdays and Wednesdays. With the right content and promotion, you can draw crowds in for your trivia night to build your clientele and grow your business. With the advent of social media, online advertising is easier than ever before and will be essential in driving the awareness needed to make your event a success.

To get the most out of your trivia event, contact a local host who can help you plan the perfect night. They offer a variety of options and the personal service that only they can provide. The best way to start a trivia night event is to contact a local trivia night host and ask them if they have any openings on the specific day you want.

Pay Per View Sports

Buffalo Wild Wings has been showing MMA fights every Saturday for more than a decade. The popularity of these events is proven by the fact that Buffalo Wild Wings attracts so many customers to their bars with this programming. In today's society men are becoming increasingly less interested in watching sports and have turned to UFC and other fighting sports instead.

Dance Nights

Whether or not you are a night club, there are ways to promote dancing. Popular dance events include Salsa or Line Dancing and often venues can be found that offer these opportunities. A slow weekend provides an ideal opportunity to promote these events and create excitement throughout your venue.

If you want to make money from your dance night and have it be a great experience for everyone, you are going to need to hire the right DJ. You need someone that plays the right music for your crowd.

Board Games

If you’re looking to attract a less rowdy crowd, consider having a library of board games for your customers to play. Also consider having a good rotation of craft beer, wine and mixed drinks.

Board games are becoming really popular. The rise of video games is actually driving people back to board games. If your bar has the right environment, then consider having a library of board games for your customers to play in. This will help them to escape from their smartphones and tablets for a few hours – it’s also an alterative to watching sports on the TV like every other bar!

Live Bands or DJs

Hiring live bands or DJs can go a long way in increasing revenue and drawing more customers to your bar. Live acts are fun and make the establishment feel like more of a party than a place to just get drinks. DJs will keep the music fresh, making your customers want to come back for more!

Beer, Wine or Liquor Tasting

If you want a more sophisticated crowd, then consider beer tasting, wine tasting or bourbon tasting events for your bar. Not only are these gatherings great places to showcase your business’ offerings, but they also make for some great fun and interesting conversation.

Alcohol tasting events are a perfect opportunity to help you introduce new products, no matter if they are specialty beers or seasonal brews. If your bar is located in an area with a large wine-making industry, then hosting community wine tastings will draw in new customers who want to learn more about the local grape scene.

Rotating Food Trucks

If your bar does not serve food, then you may want to consider inviting local food trucks to set up in your parking lot. This is a win / win for both parties: Your customers will have access to delicious food which will encourage them to stay longer drinking. For example, one local bar recently invited some food trucks that did quite well. As a result, the bar ended up selling more than twice as much alcohol as normal during this time and the restaurant reported increased sales from all its other products such as coffee and baked goods.

Daclaud Lee Dublin Ohio

By Daclaud Lee, Project Manager and SEO Consultant at Archmore Business Web.

Daclaud is an award winning SEO and digital marketing consultant. He has a Bachelor of Science in Digital Marketing and has been practicing SEO, web development and social media advertising since 2009. As a former restaurant and bar owner, Daclaud has a deep understanding the every day challenges and routines of the food and beverage industry.