Multi-Tasking Your Way to Marketing Success
As a bar owner, we know you have one million things going on. When you're faced with tasks ranging from finance to the temperature of the beer pouring out of your taps, it's difficult to find time for things like marketing. A great way to bring marketing in the mix is to use what you already have! In this case, we're talking about bar games. Games increase comrarderie, keep people busy and are a fun way to get your customers to stick around longer.
Below we have taken a look at four popular bar games and how you can promote them to get more traffic through your front door!
Bar Promotion Ideas
Trivia: Aside from being one of the best week night drivers to get patrons to your bar, trivia is a fantastic excuse to reach out to your customers when they aren't on-premise. Take the social aspect of trivia outside your bar by reaching out to your audience on facebook and twitter. By incorporating a "family feud" style segment in your trivia games you can request the help of your audience prior to each trivia night. Get them involved online with the incentive of having a better chance of winning and they will come running (hopefully with a few friends in tow!). Want a great example of a bar that is doing this really well? Check out the facebook page of Stats Bar and Grille in Boston, MA.
Darts: There is a reason why darts have been around for so long. It is a classic game with fairly cheap upkeep. Designate one of your slower nights to a tournament and use social to spread the word. Offer drink specials to those that confirm attendance on your facebook event page and make the tournament a few weeks long to keep people coming back. Incorporate small things to keep people involved on non-tournament days like asking for their input on steal tip vs. soft tip tournaments or for their input on prize ideas.
Bar Roullette: Gamify the drink ordering experience by creating a roullette wheel where each slice of the wheel is a different drink. Have a few less than desirable options on there? Allow people the opportunity to opt-out by following one of your social pages! Already following you? Get creative with other ways they can interact. It could be something like having them check-in to your location or posting a status with your bar tagged admitting to the world that they backed out of their roullete spin (the horror!). The important thing here is to keep it light and fun while also increasing your social reach!
Social Jukebox Apps: Use the power of music to lure people inside! Apps that allow your customers to choose their own music are a great way to get people to interact with your social networks. An example of this is Rockbot's "Battle of the Beats" game which puts your customers into a competition for the highest DJ ranking and results in free credits. With Rockbot's functionality, users can allow the app to post on twitter for them when they choose a song. The post includes your twitter handle and is a great way to get in front of a wider audience while being completely hands off.
Do you have more great ideas on how to promote your bar games using social? We would love to hear them. If you're interested in learning more bar tips on marketing, technology and general industry trends, click below!
