How to attract more customers to your venue – Club|Pub|Tavern

Attracting more people to a club or pub is something that Matt and I talk about all the time. Having worked in hundreds of clubs over the years as musicians and now entertainment agents we have been fortunate enough to see firsthand what works. We love to figure out the psyche of patrons for example why a place is so popular, why one idea works and the other doesn’t and what is most profitable to the venue.

We have come up with a list to follow: 

• Tell everyone.
• Be different.
• Try new things.
• Always have something exciting on.
• Establish your customer base.
• Listen to your customers and provide a great experience.

Let me explain what I’m talking about… 

Tell Everyone. 

It doesn’t matter what you do big or small, if your customers don’t know about it, they won’t show up. It’s as simple as that. I have seen a lot of ideas go south because the venues customers or people from surrounding areas didn’t know what was on.

For Example, 

Got a new air conditioner installed?  Let your customers know. If it’s a hot day, they will turn up to enjoy your aircon and beer with their family.

Got a new beer on tap? Tell everyone! You will have customers turning up to taste the new ale. 

Got a new menu? Tell everyone! People love to try out new food with family and friends. 

Have you renovated your venue? like a new bar, kitchen, secret bar? Tell everyone! You will get a bump in traffic. I have seen this time and time again, it really works.

Got a new staff member? Tell everyone to come and say hi. 

Just got a new pub puppy? Tell everyone to come down and meet the new mascot. 

Your chef has just cooked an amazing dish? take a photo and send it out to your customers. 

The point I’m trying to make is that it can be something small which can make the difference. Keep your customers informed, up to date and keep communicating.

Be Different. 

If you want to create a buzz, get people talking and turning up to your venue just to check it out, then do something crazy, weird, strange or quirky. 

People like to be shocked and experience something different, so get your staff brainstorming and come up with some great ideas.

A giraffe at a pub? What? I have to see that. No, it can’t be true? 

Get your staff to wear something crazy or dress up as a celebrity from time to time. 

Don’t be like the club up the road, be different and give people something to talk about. 

Try new things. 

Be brave and don’t be afraid to have a go with a new idea. You never know, it just might take off.  

One venue that we work at placed a brand new shiny red car right in the front foyer. You couldn’t miss it as you had to go around it to get into the place. The promotion lasted 3 months and they have a grand finally opening the car, it was a big night. This simple strategy worked as customers came more often for a chance to win a key to the car and sales increased substantially.

Another idea that I really didn’t think would work was a trivia night run by transvestites “tranny trivia”. I must admit, I got this one wrong as it took off like you wouldn’t believe and is still going. The place is packed every week.

We have noticed that venues catering for families are very busy. When a family turns up the entire group generally order meals and drinks increasing your profit. If you want to attract families you need to have a great atmosphere and an awesome play area for the kids. An environment that is safe for the kids attracts the whole family including grandparents. Be bigger and better for families than your competitors.

What about a water slide? I’m sure in summer you’ll get plenty of families turning up spending time enjoying themselves.

I’m sure if you had an elephant at your venue it would get people talking. Now this idea is out there but you get what I mean, you need to be different from other venues to attract their patrons.

Always have something exciting on. 

This is about being consistent. It is important that your customers can count on you to consistently have great entertainment. If you get a reputation for bad entertainment it is really hard to shake and your sales will suffer. I remember having conversations with friends about where we wanted to go for the night and if the venue didn’t have great entertainment we didn’t go.

If you have a top-class diverse range of entertainment consistently you can’t go wrong. Be consistent, mix it up and keep your customers engaged.

Establish your customer base. 

You need to establish a customer base. We personally capture our fans email addresses. When someone shows an interest in our band, we get their details and keep in touch. Every week we send out an email letting them know where we are playing. This is a great way to have more people turn up to our gigs and for repeat business. When our fans have a birthday or some important event we are the first band they think of. This works really well.

You could run a promotion to capture your customer details. If you have a membership system even better. If you do capture your customer’s details please ensure you adhere by the legal guidelines for storing and use of customer information.

Having a customer base is all about repeat business. Done well you can have your customers returning multiple times not just in a blue moon. By keeping in contact with your customer your venue will come to mind for birthdays, functions etc increase sales. 

Matt and I came across a great idea one day where the club had sent a text out to all their members as it was raining. The text said something like Tradies Day: Come on down! Happy hour starts in 30 mins. This was clever because they knew that the building trades couldn’t work due to the rain. The place was packed we couldn’t believe it. Apparently, they had been there all day with their trade friends drinking, eating and playing the pokies. Great idea.

Listen to your customers and give them real value. 

Customers can have great ideas as well. The old business model of listening to your customers and they will tell you what they want is correct. Don’t tell your customers what they want, be open to their ideas and be willing to give it a go. Don’t forget to let the customer know it was their idea and give them all the credit.

Give your customers a great experience, make them feel valued and they will be loyal to your venue.

So, you’ve got promotion ideas but how do you tell everyone? How do you promote your venue? 

If you have established your customer database you can start by sending a text or email advising them of the event and this works really well.

Here are some other ideas: 

• Social Media – If you have someone that is talented with social media give them the social media marketing portfolio. If something cool happens like a new burger, take a photo with the chef and send it out to the world. Take pictures of anything new, fun and exciting, maybe like that giraffe we talked about earlier, send it out. Facebook and Instagram are the most popular platforms at present. There are plenty of tutorials available if you wanted to do this yourself.
• Repeat business – Put signs on tables and posters throughout your venue. This is a way to get repeat business. I’m always hearing customers say ‘We will have to come back for that show’… it works.
• An Electronic sign outside of your venue so cars can see it whilst driving past. Advertise everything that is coming up.
• Connect with your local ‘what’s on’ or ‘gig guide’ publication and keep them informed of your upcoming events. This can be on the web or in the newspaper. There are a lot of people still checking out gig guides when trying to figure out where to go.

How to get more followers on Facebook? Good question. Make sure you have a ‘Follow Us’ or ‘Like Us’ signs all around your venue. You may offer some incentive like 50% off your next drink so get creative. You could have a ‘Like Us’ for 10% off your next meal promotion. Just make sure your bar and restaurant staff promote it with each customer.

How to increase venue, restaurant and bar sales?

Offer a fantastic service and make your customers feel valued. Leave your customers with a great customer experience and they will come back again and again. 

Here are some ideas: 

Do you have a function room you can hire for? 

• Business functions such as planning days.
• Birthday parties.
• Weddings or engagements.
• Training events.
• Seminars.

Cross-selling: 

• Ask if the customer wants a drink with their meal straight away. The earlier a customer gets a drink the more likely they are to get more.
• Upsell when taking orders such as ‘would you like to order dessert now’ or would you like a coffee after your meal. If they do it later they may not feel like it.
• Have a staff member go to each table and ask if they’d like another drink. Some customers will agree where they may not have bothered otherwise especially if there is a line for the bar.

Machines for kids: The chocolate machines are great. I’ve personally lost a lot of money on these machines 🙂. 

Band launch parties: Can your venue be used to launch a band‘s new album? The band will bring along a lot of their fans that you wouldn’t normally have. 

Target birthdays: If you capture your customer’s date of birth you can then promote to them via text to come in and get a free something good. They will bring their entire family.  

Consistent marketing to nearby businesses: Get a brochure and send it to your local business for lunch and dinners. If you have a staff member with some time on their hands then get them to go around and see the business personally. Leading up to Christmas is a great idea for this as you can capture the work Christmas party market. 

Great restaurant: Make sure you have great food; your customers will keep coming back and will spread the word. If you get a reputation for bad food, it’s all over. 

Great customer service: People will not come back to your venue if the staff has been rude to them. Ensure your staff treats your customers well, make them feel valued, after all, they are paying their wage. 

Venue promotion Ideas 

The easiest promotion ideas are around the standard calendar events. Don’t forget to make it different and interesting like dwarf Santa’s for Christmas or green beer for St Pat’s day. Get staff to dress up, have lots of fun and send pictures out to your customers on social media. Keep communicating with your customers. 

• Valentine’s Day.
• Mother’s Day.
• Father’s Day.
• St Pat’s day.
• New Year’s Eve.
• Easter holidays.
• Fight nights.
• Christmas holidays.
• School holidays.
• Country music festivals.
• Racing day.

Some other ideas: 

• Live entertainment: solo, duo, and bands.
• Rock and Roll dancing.
• Kids shows.
• Raffles.
• Cheap meal deals such as Wednesday night $10 schnitzel.
• Christmas in July.
• Easter raffles.
• Christmas raffles.
• Trivia.
• Karaoke.
• Comedy night.
• New car or boat promotions.
• Members jackpot.
• Pool Comp.
• Darts comp.
• Sponsor a sports club with the arrangement that they come back after the game.
• Cards.
• Baby crawling races. Great for mums and dads.
• Waterslides in the hot months.
• Petting zoo.
• Open Blues night.
• Buskers.
• Markets.
• Open mic night.
• Dramas shows.
• Over 30’s night.
• Back to the ’80s.
• Back to the ’70s.
• Singles nights.
• Win a cruise promotion.
• Seniors day.
• Bar game Olympics.
• Fight nights.
• Tinder party.
• Big movie night.
• Sports nights.
• Crazy hair night.
• Bring your mum night.
• Bring your dad night.
• Magic shows.
• Hypnotists.
• Host a charity event with your local radio station.
• Bingo.
• Tradies day. If it’s raining and tradies can’t work; send out a message and offer some discounts.
• Shave for a cure night.
• Beautiful baby competition through the day for mums.
• Secret bar room.

I hope you find value in this article. I will keep adding to it if we come across more great ideas. If you have other other ideas we’d love to hear them.  

This information is specific to the Central Coast, Sydney, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie of Australia but will work for any western countries such as the United States (US) or United Kingdon (UK). This is general information gathered from our experience as working musicians.