With the end of the year in sight, now is the perfect time to try some new bar promotion ideas to grow your bar or nightclub. If you’ve been wondering about nightclub advertising, we’ve got a ton of things you can try—and it all begins with your bar website design.
It’s important to try a variety of things when it comes to bar advertising. Why? Because every bar needs bar advertising to survive—no matter your location or how long you’ve been serving your community. Without a good mix of bar promotion ideas, it becomes impossible to grow your bar or nightclub.
But, if you create a bar advertising strategy that attracts new customers to your business like clockwork, that’s a recipe for:
- Attracting new patrons and creating repeat customers
- Increased revenue for you and your team
- A dependable way to grow your bar or nightclub
We know why bars need to know how to employ bar advertising, but how can you do it affordably and efficiently? The answer is: strong digital marketing backed by strong bar website design. If you’ve ever wondered how to promote your bar or nightclub, follow the steps below—and consider utilizing a variety of these nightclub marketing ideas!
1. Get More Customers Through Your Website
If you don’t yet have a website for your bar or nightclub, one of the best things you can do for your business is to create one. A website acts as your business’s online storefront—it’s the cornerstone of bar advertising online and gives potential customers a place to:
- Learn more about your bar or nightclub
- Read about the services you provide
- Get in touch with you about scheduling an event
- See what other customers are saying about your business
Without strong bar website design and bar advertising, how are your potential customers going to find your business on Google? How will they know where to contact you? They won’t.
Without effective bar website design, your business might as well not exist at all. A digital marketing company specializing in nightclub marketing can help you get set up.
Fill out the form below to get a free quote on professional bar website design.
2. Use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
A good PPC and SEM campaign is one of the bar promotion ideas that’s been proven time and again to be an effective tool for bar advertising. So, if you’ve been wondering how to get more customers, give this a shot!
While Google is the most popular search engine for these types of campaigns, thanks to its widespread popularity, don’t sleep on Bing. PPC and SEM are great ways to bring in new customers.
Still on the fence? Check out these stats:
- For every $1 spent in Google Ads, businesses make an average of $2.
- About 41% of clicks on a search results page go to one of the top 3 paid ads.
- More than 85% of people use the internet to find local bars.
- Visitors who come to your website via PPC or SEM are 50% more likely to make a purchase.
Sounds good, right? Reach out to us to learn more about bar marketing, including how we can help you create a powerful PPC and SEM campaign that will help you with nightclub advertising.
3. Always Use Local SEO For Bars & Nightclubs
Search engine optimization (nightclub SEO) is still king in bar marketing, which is why nightclub SEO is so popular. Bar and nightclub SEO is what moves your business to the top of page 1 on Google and keeps it there. If your campaign is robust enough, nightclub SEO alone can generate the majority of your online traffic (but we still recommend reading the rest of these nightclub marketing ideas)!
A good first step is setting up your Google My Business account. From there, you can advance to backlinking and content marketing.
For your nightclub marketing, it’s always a good idea to let an expert in local SEO for bars get you up and running.
Fill out the form below to get a free quote on local SEO for bars!
4. Get More Customers Through Facebook + Instagram
Still wondering how to get more bar customers? Bar advertising on Facebook and Instagram can be a cost-effective method for bar marketing, provided you put the right strategy in place and know how to navigate the ad builders on these platforms.
You can target your ideal customers by their location and other pages they’ve liked—such as your competitors’ pages.
Displaying ads to this audience has the added benefit of creating and boosting awareness of your business. If people see your logo and your ads all over the place, they’re more likely to remember you when they’re looking for a local bar or nightclub in the future. If you’ve been wanting to try social media for bar advertising, this is one of the top bar marketing ideas worth trying.
Paired with local SEO for bars and other digital marketing strategies, this is a powerful asset in bar advertising and should be near the top of your nightclub promotion ideas.
5. Create a Bar Facebook Group
Having a dedicated Facebook business page for your bar advertising is a must, but creating a group page for your bar or nightclub is a good idea, too. Post helpful content (maybe something you wrote for content marketing!) and interact with group members to start building trust and brand awareness in your audience. Down the road, that trust could turn into new customers and help grow your bar or nightclub.
6. Content Marketing = Bar Marketing
Creating content for your ideal customers is a great way to get more bar customers. Consider writing blog posts and articles that you can incorporate into your bar website design, and make it easy for your audience to share that content on social media.
Here are some topic ideas:
- Cocktail Recipes for Beginners
- Best Liquors for Your Home Bar
- Trending Local Events & Happenings
As you write these articles, plug your bar or nightclub. Give your readers reason to consider your bar as a true local hotspot and—if you’re affiliated with any particular brands—talk them up!
7. Post YouTube Videos
YouTube is a popular platform, so why not use it for bar advertising? Make an account (it’s free!) and start posting original videos. The videos can document a large event, provide recipes or introduce your staff to the community. These videos will also build your credibility and make it easier for viewers to see that you know what you’re doing and build trust.
In the video description, include your contact information and a link to your bar website so they can learn more.
8. Email Marketing = Bar Marketing, Too!
Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of bar marketing, and there’s a reason it’s stuck around so long: it works. For every dollar you spend on email marketing for your bar, you’ll make (on average) a $40 return on your investment.
Because most bars overlook the benefits of email marketing, it’s a great bar advertising idea for you to try. For instance, businesses that stay in touch with their ideal customers via email generate 50% more sales-ready leads and spend 33% less money on making sales – a great trend you can apply to your bar or nightclub!
9. Reputation Management Affects Your Bar
Did you know 85% of people search online to find local bars? Those same people are also researching your reputation—what are your past customers saying about the quality of your food or drinks? Were your prices fair? Did they feel you had a safe and welcoming environment?
Offline, you can use word-of-mouth to your advantage. Ask your satisfied customers if they can think of any neighbors, friends, family, or acquaintances who might need your bar services like catering or private events. Give them plenty of business cards to pass around, and remind them to follow you on social media and share your content for their friends or followers to see.
For extra bar marketing, list your bar business on review websites and ask your happy customers to leave a review on Google. Doing so makes it more likely that you’ll get more bar customers.
10. Ad Retargeting Is a Fresh Online Bar Marketing Idea
Have you ever searched for a product online then noticed ads for it following you around the internet? That’s retargeting, and you can do it to help grow your bar or nightclub.
Retargeting is a great way to keep your bar – and your bar website design – in front of potential customers who have already shown interest by visiting your website. This is an idea well worth trying for bar advertising, especially if you’re already getting good traffic to your bar website design. Throw in some local SEO for bars for an extra visibility boost!
11. Make Your Bar Advertising Stand Out With a Unique Selling Point
If you want to stand out from your local competitors, your nightclub marketing needs a unique selling point. That could be your level of service, your experience in the industry, your competitive prices, your reputation, your employees—anything that sets you apart. Once you’ve figured out your USP, use that selling point in your bar marketing and bar advertising materials!
If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at how your competitors are attracting customers. What’s their USP, and how can you beat it? What would matter more to your customers and the community you serve? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Competitive prices
- Theme nights & specials
- Private events
- Level of service
Can you think of something else that’s unique to your business? Maybe your origin story or how you got started? Use it!
12. Use Google’s Local Service Ads to Get More Bar Customers
Google’s Local Services ads are a type of pay-per-lead ad, and they appear at the top of the search results page. These ads get about 13.8% of clicks—that means if 50 people in your area search for bars, at least 7 of them will click one of those ads and turn into a potential customer.
For an extra boost, consider investing in digital marketing for bars, then use local SEO for bars and other digital nightclub promotion ideas to hook your potential customers.
13. Co-Market With a Relevant Business
Co-marketing means you’re teaming up with another business to share lead generation opportunities. For example, you might want to partner up with a local restaurant and offer a discount to customers who patronize both businesses. In the end, this kind of combined marketing can help grow your bar or nightclub business since you’re both working to attract new customers.
14. Canvass the Area to Meet Potential Customers
Canvassing an area might seem like an old-school marketing tactic, but it’s certainly one of the bar marketing ideas worth trying. After all, consumers are more likely to work with you when they can put a face to your business.
Follow these tips for the best results:
- Always be polite and courteous, even if you don’t get the reaction you want.
- Bring coupons, free swag and other giveaways to incentivize new customers.
- Have a script ready, so you’re better prepared.
- Follow up with potential customers after getting their info.
When you’re prepared for a constructive interaction, you’re much more likely to get a favorable result. In this case, that’s a new customer!
15. Increase Referrals to Get More Bar Customers
Referrals are a great way to capitalize on word-of-mouth marketing. Offer your existing customers an incentive to refer their friends, families and neighbors to your bar, and give them a discount in return. Since people are far more likely to use a business that a friend recommends to them, this is one of the bar marketing ideas you shouldn’t pass up.
16. Take Pictures – And Post Regularly!
A picture can say a thousand words, so make sure you’re taking plenty of photos of events, happy customers and other happenings at your bar or nightclub. It’s a great way to show the quality of your work, and it gives you great content to post on your bar website and social media.
Also, try to establish a social media content calendar and stick to it. Make sure your followers know your current hours, specials, event schedule and any other relevant information that could influence their decision about visiting your place of business.
Sign Up With Townsquare Interactive to Maximize Your Bar Marketing Budget
Bar website design isn’t the only element of effective bar marketing strategy, but it is the most important. One of the best things you can do for your business is to make sure your bar website design has everything it needs to continuously attract new customers using the steps above.
Adding other elements to your bar advertising, such as SEO for bars and reputation monitoring, are great ways to strengthen your bar marketing and help you to grow your business.
The team at Townsquare Interactive specializes in bar website design and bar marketing that helps grow bars and nightclubs across the country. All of our bar website designs feature the elements mentioned above, and our dedicated marketing specialists and teams of experts can provide personalized suggestions for how to take your bar marketing campaign to the next level.
Fill out the form below to learn more about our bar marketing strategies and how to grow your bar or nightclub today.