Effective marketing and business promotion for venues is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.By John Hicks, Managing Director of Headline Promotions, Press & PR
I am often asked what I can do to help venues such as nightclubs, bars, restaurants, bowling centres and snooker halls to generate more customers, increased sales and a raised profile.
The key is to have a co-ordinated and integrated marketing, promotions and public relations (PR) plan written down, agreed by the management with the full team and regularly monitored and reviewed.
I recommend that it is in the form of an action plan with target dates, designated people responsible for specific actions, budgets, actual costs and actual dates tasks were achieved.
The bottom line for venues is that, whilst the plan should include the "fluffy" PR bits - such as allowing charities to hold events in the venue, inviting the emergency services in for free tea & coffee when on duty or donating prizes to local school summer fetes - the focus must be on additional revenue. As my old boss, the inimitable and award-winning promotions guru Graham Peel, often says, "Peely isn't singing til the tills are ringing!”
But, if cash is king, data is gold. Acquiring data, not just names and addresses, of customers, possible customers, business networks and potential corporate clients is essential. Be creative. Think how you can persuade people to part with this information. Buying in lists will cost you money and is a good start if you have the budget. It costs very little to offer customers in your venue a free drink or exclusive VIP membership in return for filling out a data information form (preferably disguised as an application form for something special).
Competition analysis will not be part of your plan but will influence it. What prices are they charging for admission, food and drinks? What times are they open? How successful are their various trading sessions? What flyers are they putting out? When do they have promotions teams out on the street?
Now compare your current trading performance with previous years. Have some trading sessions increased or decreased? Have you an explanation for any variations or are their discernable trends? How is this reflected in the success or otherwise of your competitors trading sessions?
Now look at your suppliers. What support can they give you - e.g. Point of Sales (POS) such as branded refrigerators, bar equipment, staff uniforms, and balloons whatever! What promotional help can they give you? Bargain with them for special offers on supplies and free stock in return for exclusive offers in the venue for a given period. Ask them to supply or pay for printed flyers, radio advertising, newspaper coupons and table talkers etc. Offer them special offers on these printed items and their branding.
Websites are of limited value in my experience. They are useful to enable customers to check out your forthcoming events, directions to your location and find out your contact details. I have not generated much business on-line. For example, for one venue I established a special Christmas offering website which was great but did not attract any enquiries. My mail shot followed by a telephone call follow-up generated a huge number of bookings.
Incidentally, my newspaper and advertising campaigns helped raise the venue's profile and supported the mail shot and telesales operation so was important - it did not, by themselves, encourage that many people to pick up the telephone and call us!
So, what sort of ideas will the plan incorporate? Here are a few (in no particular order):
Inviting the media and corporate customers to launch nights, new menu launches, and promotions night
Contrived Awards nights
Attracting record launches for local bands and vocalists
Joint promotion nights with local radio
Singles nights with local newspapers
Charity nights (scour your local newspaper for current activity)
Launch parties for businesses new to the area (yes, scour your local newspaper again!)
Theme party nights – 70’s nights, Elvis nights
Personal Appearances by celebrities
Live music events
Street flyering
Street stunts
Press release for appointment of new manager or chef
Posters in shops and local colleges
Hosting recruitment fair for local businesses (promote your vacancies, network with local businesses & sell them parties, raise your profile by getting people to come into see your venue in daylight)
Mail shots to people inviting them to the venue on their birthday (using your own data or buying a list in)
Hosting wedding fair with local shops (you promote your hen nights and stag nights
Joint promotions with local businesses
The list is endless. I always get the team together and brainstorm ideas. Your chances of putting an effective plan together are greatly increased where you tap into local knowledge and team spirit! That’s a powerful combination.
Perhaps, though, I should develop just a couple of these ideas for you:
Firstly, one of my most successful new menu launches was when a venue launched a low calorie option for people on a diet. I contacted all the local slimming clubs and invited them along for a free buffet, which featured the low calorie options. I toyed with the idea of paying for a celebrity chef to come along but decided that the expense was unlikely to generate that many more punters into the venue as I was already having such a good response to my telephone contact with the slimming clubs. Over 300 slimmers turned up and enjoyed the free buffet. They not only spent a good sum over the bar but many became regular customers. Local journalists also attended in force- they generally like a free meal - and we were interviewed on several local radio stations. I sent t off the photographs from the evening to several slimming g magazines and we received some national coverage in this way. A good result!
The contrived awards nights also need explanation. They are the brainchild of the aforementioned Graham Peel. Quite simply, you survey your customers to find which hairdresser they would recommend. You then arrange a party night and invite all hairdressers in the area to bring their staff; tell them their business has been nominated for an award as "Hairdresser of the Year" which attracts £100 cash, a plaque and media attention. Invite the press and offer them free refreshments. Print off VIP tickets for the staff of the hairdressers which gives them free admission, first drink free (maybe sponsored by a supplier) and free VIP buffet - these tickets make it special for them and encourages people to attend. Make sure you call in to see every hairdresser personally to offer them extra tickets for staff and their partners. Make sure your manager and DJ wear suits and bow ties and present the winner with a bottle of champagne on stage when receiving their prize so you make it special for them (and they stay til late spending money with you) and you have a good photo-opportunity for the press. Send out a press release the next day and write to all hairdressers thanking them for their support but wishing them better luck next year. I have had good trading nights from these awards nights, good press coverage and found new regular customers! And, repeat it with estate agents, car dealers and supermarkets!
Finally, joint promotions with local businesses are always a win-win. For example, I once teamed up with a car dealership. Everyone who took a test drive of a new model was given two free VIP tickets to a launch party for that car. They put up posters in their cars and promoted it in their newspaper and radio advertising. The VIP ticket entitled them to free admission, their first drink free, a free raffle ticket and access to a VIP buffet. The raffle was to win a car free for a month plus some other giveaways like t-shirts and hats. The dealership bought a bundle of drinks vouchers so their staff could have some free drinks to celebrate the launch and for sales people to be able to entertain selected customers without having to find money all the time. This turned a usually quiet Thursday evening into one of the busiest nights of the year! To set it up took a few telephone calls and a couple of meetings with the car dealership. Where did I get the inspiration – by scouring the local newspaper for news and spotting an advertisement for a forthcoming new model.
Effective marketing and business promotion for venues is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. It happens because you get away from your desk and out on the streets!
