Before the live music kicks off or the DJ drops the first track, all bar owners must overcome one hurdle: getting regular foot traffic. Live entertainment has become an increasingly saturated market, which means getting people through the door has become difficult. Thoughtful and compelling promotion isn’t an option anymore, it’s a necessity.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into 6 strategies that’ll help you find and bring customers to the bar door. Marketing your business can be intimidating, however, you can boost attendance significantly with proper planning and technique.
- Promote Your Event On Time
One of the biggest mistakes one can make is planning on short notice. With a live event coming up, you need its promotion to start weeks ahead of time. Most bar attendees like to plan out their weekend beforehand, making it crucial that your promotional campaign starts early.
What works:
- Starting the promotion at least 7-10 days before the event.
- Post reminders for the event 3-4 times before the actual date.
- Share a final reminder ‘Tonight’s the night!’ on the event day.
You can utilize an all-in-one event marketing tool to make this job easier. You can easily create matching designs for omnichannel promotional campaigns. Whether it’s an Instagram post or a Facebook event banner, consistent branding builds recognition and trust with your audience.
- Create Flyers That Match Your Event’s Theme
Most bar attendees are looking for visuals that meet their expectations. By creating an eye-catching poster or flyer for your bar, you can assure your audience that the event won’t be boring.
Here are some design tips to drive attention to your event:
- Using bold headlines that help get across the event’s main purpose. (e.g: Live Jazz Night, Ladies Night Special, and Friday Deals)
- Highlighting what’s in it for the guests coming to visit. (e.g: discounts, music, performers)
- Sticking to a colour palette that matches your bar’s branding goals.
An easy way to get this task accomplished is by using a ready-made template. Restaurant flyer templates do most of the work for you, so you don’t have to start from scratch. They’re pre-optimized for promotions such as happy hours, DJ nights, live band performances, and drink specials.
- Use Social Proof to Build Trust
The best way to build trust is to increase visibility for your bar events. People are more likely to attend when they see others enjoying your venue.
Ways to use social proof to your advantage:
- Posting photos and short clips from successful bar events in the past.
- Sharing Instagram stories showing the crowd, drinks, and ambience.
- Reposting tagged customer content on your stories.
Future customers trust recommendations from people they know rather than branded advertisements or influencer marketing. By showing real people having fun, new customers are less likely to be hesitant to try out your bar.
- Collaborate with Local DJs and Influencers
For a successful collaborative promotion, you don’t need a huge budget. All you need are like-minded partners and a strategy. It’s important to reach out to local artists and microinfluencers to come visit your bar and share moments they enjoyed.
Smart collaborations can look like:
- Local DJs can promote your event to their fans.
- Bands can share your flyers on their social media page.
- Microinfluencers can post Stories highlighting the atmosphere, music, and drinks from your venue.
You can also provide your collaborators with ready-to-share visuals created with a digital flyer maker so you can have control over your branding’s consistency.
- Create Limited-Time Offers for Event Nights
One of the most effective strategies to drive action is to create a sense of scarcity. If there’s no urgency, future attendees will delay and often forget. By displaying limited-time discounts, offers, and days left to buy passes, you can ensure a better turnout.
Offers which do well include:
- “First 30 guests get a free drink”
- “Happy hour till 9PM only”
- “Ladies drink free before 10PM”
Make sure your offer is visible and scannable on flyers and social media posts. People don’t like reading heavy blocks of text. Pairing a strong headline with a clean layout helps convey your message faster.
- Email and WhatsApp Marketing
Social media algorithms change but your customer list is yours forever. Email and WhatsApp marketing can keep your bar attendees engaged with what’s going on. Direct channels are a bit intimidating to use for marketing, but here’s how to do it effectively:
- Send a short event reminder 2-3 days before the event.
- Share a visual flyer in WhatsApp broadcast lists.
- Include a clear CTA like ‘Show this flyer at the door’.
You can reuse the same design across email, social media, and messaging platforms. By using a platform like PosterMyWall, you can save time and maintain consistency.
