Whether you’ve been in business for twenty days or twenty years, every single bar can use a little extra business. After establishing a regular clientele, the amount of new traffic you receive usually tapers off as you find your niche in the local marketplace. However, there are many things you can do to increase your bar’s profits that can make even the longest standing location seem like a new and exciting place to visit. Though you may have already implemented some of the techniques discussed below, these are the most used ways to go about increasing your bar’s profits without too much trouble.
Social Media Marketing
One of the easiest and most cost effective ways to get more business into your bar is to start marketing on the popular social media platforms. You probably have already created a Facebook page for your business, but most bar owners really don’t understand how to properly leverage it and turn it into real profits.
First, you need to make sure you are actually updating your page on a regular basis with new and interesting content. This is the easiest way to directly engage your customers, and the more they interact with your Facebook page the more likely it is that they’ll spend money at your bar. Second, you want to run promotions to get people to “like” your page. Offer your customers a drink at half off if they like your page while sitting rail side. You can take things a step further by creating a Twitter account and sending out tweets about specials, live entertainment, and other breaking news related to your bar.
New Drink Options
Another great way to bring in new customers and get your regular customers to spend more money is to introduce new drink options on the menu. Mixology is all the rage right now because you can create one-of-a-kind flavors that you can’t find anywhere else. You can also offer bottle service to your guests so they can buy an entire bottle at once rather than buying one drink at a time. You’ll want to dress things up a bit by using bottle service sparklers to draw more attention to your new offering, but overall it is a great way to get your customers committed to buying a lot of drinks for the night all at once. You’ll need to make sure you have a lot of cabs on hand if you go that route because you need to make sure your customers are being safe.
Refresh Your Appearance
Giving your bar a nice facelift can be a great way to generate new interest from old customers. When you see that your business is starting to plateau, a new coat of paint and an new sign out on the street can make people who have grown tired of your bar line up to check it out once again. Also, this can be a great way to market your bar to a new demographic of younger people once in a while. I like to refresh the appearance of my bar around every five years to cater to the new generation of thirty to forty year old customers that tend to spend the most money on an average night out.