12 Nightclub and Bar Marketing Ideas You Should Be Using But Aren't

By Raubi Perilli

Dec 9, 2021 Solutions

If you're running low on nightclub and bar marketing ideas, we're here to help. We’ve listed a dozen ways you can start promoting your location right now. Check out these 12 ideas for marketing your bar and get some inspiration for bringing more people through your doors.

12 Bar Marketing Ideas To Try Now

This mix of bar marketing ideas can help you reach a variety of goals. They can help you:

Attract new customers
Bring existing customers back
Build brand loyalty
Increase sales
Spend less on marketing

See how these marketing tactics can work for your bar, brewery, or nightclub. Launch one or more of these efforts today and measure the results. Reproduce what works and adjust based on how well the tactic performs.

1. Run a Text Marketing Contest

If you want to attract new customers, generate leads, and drive immediate revenue for your bar, launch a text marketing contest. To launch a text marketing contest:

Set up a landing page where customers can enter their phone number for a chance to win a grand prize (such as a $300 bar tab).
Promote the contest landing page on Facebook using audience targeting.
Give everyone who enters a coupon (like a 20% OFF or $5 coupon).
Follow up with a text marketing campaign to remind entrants to visit and use their coupon.

A text marketing contest is a very simple way to create big results for your bar. In this text marketing contest case study, you can see how one of our MyArea Network partners got 72,000+ brand impressions while generating 1,405 leads and driving a 6X return on investment.

2. Leverage Targeting in Your Social Ads

Social media can be a great tool for promoting bars. But, you can't simply boost a post to drive real results. Instead, you need a social media strategy that attracts the right people and delivers them the right message.

Facebook and Instagram offer powerful targeting features that allow you to select your audience by specific criteria. Put these tools to use so you can reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your bar -- and avoid paying to promote to people who wouldn’t be ideal customers.

Use age targeting to reach the demographic most likely to visit. (A wine bar might aim for 35-60 while a nightclub might target 21-30.)
Use geotargeting to reach people who live and work around your place of business.
Target by interest to reach your ideal audience. (If you run a brewery, target people who like other breweries in your area.)
Use retareting ads to get in front of people who have already visited your profile page or website.

By focusing on reaching the right people, you can see an increase in engagement and new business.

3. Work with Local Influencers

Another way to get more out of social media marketing is by working with local influencers. While influencer marketing is often focused on big name celebrities or social accounts, you don’t need to get a Kardashian to post about your bar to use influencer marketing.

An easy to implement bar marketing idea is inviting locals who have a loyal social following to your bar. Invite them in for a VIP tasting of your seasonal drinks or new menu items. Or, host a local influencer night where you invite a group of local social media personas.

As influencers capture photos from your location and tag your business, you gain visibility to their local audience. The mentions of your bar by a local are much more powerful (and affordable) than from a major influencer.

4. Build Brand Partnerships

It’s not just influencers who can help you reach more people in your local area. Other businesses and brands can help too.

Partner with other local businesses who share the same target audience as you. When you partner with another local business, you both get the benefit of exposing your existing audience to the other brand. See how you can build brand partnerships by:

Inviting food trucks to offer meals for your customers
Hosting a beer pairing with another local restaurant or specialty food shop
Hosting a fundraiser for a local non-profit
Inviting local artists to showcase their work or offer live painting sessions
Asking local retailers to open a pop-up shop at your location
Inviting a gym to host a free session for customers

5. Add Your Events to Local Calendars

If and when you host special events at your bar, make sure people around you know about it. Don’t just share events through your channels. Get additional exposure by adding your event to local calendars.

Share your events on local community calendars to bring people out who are looking for something to do. We invite you to add your event for free to a calendar on Local Area Sites each time you have:

Live music and DJs
Trivia
Beer releases
Special events with local partners

6. Create a Customer Loyalty Program

If you want existing customers to come back, give them a reason. Open a customer loyalty program with exclusive offers, including special discounts, unique drink options, and early access to events.

This is an uncommon bar marketing idea that many nightclubs, breweries, and wine bars overlook. But, it can be a powerful way to get patrons to return to your bar and help you stand out.

Consider how your unique customer base may engage with a loyalty program and shape it around them. For example, some breweries offer customers a mug that stays on-site. Patrons get a discount each time they fill it up. Get creative to give customers what they really want.

7. Run a Photo Promotion

Another way to make your customers feel special while giving them a reason to promote your bar to their family and friends is through a photo promotion.

To run a photo promotion, hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your bar, drinks, and even staff. There are a few ways you can use these photos.

Share photos on social media and remind guests to follow you to find their photo. Encourage followers to share the photo so your bar gets extra views on your page.
Use the photos on your website to create a more authentic introduction to your bar and to show future guests what to expect when they walk in.
Create galleries on your website that are locked. When you take a photo of guests give them a card with instructions on how to access the photos by entering their phone number or email address. This is a great way to collect customer contact information.

8. Add & Update Your Online Business Profiles

If you want to attract new customers, make sure it's easy for them to find you online. You don’t want a potential customer to consider visiting you, search for you, and find nothing (or find incorrect information).

Develop profiles on business directory websites so customers can check your hours, visit your website, and learn more about your brand. This practice not only helps customers learn more about you. It can also help customers discover you via search. Create and update profiles on:

Local Area Sites
Yelp
Google My Business

Also, regularly check on your business profiles to make sure they are accurate. You never want to see that Google has listed your business as closed on Mondays when you are actually open.

9. Collect Customer Reviews

When customers are deciding where to go, they often look to the advice of others. According to BrightLocal, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.

Once you set up your online profiles, work to get reviews and star ratings that go along with your profile. Encourage your customers to leave reviews and check-in when they visit. Offer incentives for leaving reviews or checking in. But, remember you can’t pay for positive reviews. Encourage customers to leave authentic feedback about their experience.

10. Run a Geofence Marketing Campaign

An often underutilized marketing idea for bars is geofencing marketing. If you want to stand out from your competitors, this tactic is a good way to connect with nearby customers.

Geofencing marketing targets customers who live, work, or travel around your bar. You use GPS technology to create virtual boundaries. When a customer enters a boundary, they see a display ad for your bar. Here are a few ideas for how you can use geofencing to promote your bar.

Place a boundary around your competitors to attract customers who are likely to be interested in your bar.
Place a boundary around a nearby hotel to reach travelers who are unfamiliar with your area.
Target your neighborhood to reach locals who would be likely to visit a nearby business.

11. Promote Your Party Space

When it comes to marketing your bar, nightclub, or brewery, think outside of the bar. Remember that you can market your space as more than a place to grab a drink, and market your business as a place to host a party.

Offer to rent out one of your rooms (or even your whole bar) as an event space and form partnerships with local catering companies so you can host business events, non-profit fundraisers, and even personal events like birthdays and weddings.

Promoting your bar as a party space brings in additional revenue. Plus, it exposes new people to your business when they come to an event at your bar.

12. Give Back to Your Community

Finally, to get more locals to notice your bar, get more active in your local community. Don’t promote your local business in a vacuum. Immerse it in the local community by getting involved in things that your area cares about.

Sponsor local charity events. A brewery might be a paid sponsor for a community event.
Donate to local charity events. A wine bar might donate wine for an event.
Promote community initiatives. A beach bar might host a monthly beach clean up.
Offer your event space. A nightclub might give a discount for a group hosting a community event.

Giving back both increases local awareness about your brand and ties your business to the community.

Bring Your Bar Marketing Ideas to Life

If you are looking for new nightclub and bar marketing ideas, hopefully these suggestions trigger some new inspiration.

If you need help bringing any of these ideas to life, MyArea Network is here to help.

We specialize in promoting local bars and nightclubs and helping them grow through strategic local marketing programs. We’d love to talk to you about how we’ve helped other bars, nightclubs, and breweries increase their customer base and revenue.

Schedule a call with our team to see how we can help you launch similar campaigns to promote your local bar.

BOOST YOUR BAR MARKETING

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