Creative nightclub and bar promotions and marketing that will impact your bottom line
If you’ve been in the hospitality business for as long as we have, you’ve seen themed parties, aggressive happy hour specials, cheeky-named nights, and promotions galore. As San Diego’s leading hospitality consulting and management company, we have to stay in front of the trends and continue to come up with creative promotions for our consulting clients and for our venues. With competition around every corner, San Diego’s Gaslamp District is spilling over with some of the best bars, restaurants, and nightclubs in the US, each one trying to out-do the other with “the next great idea”.
When you whittle it down, a promotion is really just a way to lure people in. It’s a gimmick, a theme, or a special that you run that will attract your guests and keep them coming back. A wide variety of promotions and marketing programs can be used to suit individual venue demographics and their target market. It can be funny, exciting, unique, or a way for your guests to save a buck or two, but in the end, it has to work. And when it does, you’ll see your dollar signs increase and your bottom line will have you beaming.
So why are creative promotions and marketing important? A wise Jon Taffer once said, “There are no cost problems, only revenue problems.” Once you have successfully managed your cost drivers, then top line growth is the only path to bottom line growth. Marketing and promotion are the key to top line growth! Creative promotions and marketing get new people to visit your venue, guests to stay longer and spend more money, create repeat customers, get people talking about your venue, and create a buzz!
So, if you want to be a promotional powerhouse, here are some ideas to get you started…
Be a venue of constant change.
One of our largest nightlife venues we’ve ever opened was designed to be in constant flux. Every quarter, we would come up with a theme, and then expand on it with venue décor and design, employee uniforms, choreographed shows, extravagant props, marketing packages, and more! We chose themes we could create drama and excitement around including “Fluxx*adelic” (a psychedelic neon-70’s theme), Aquatic (an under-the-sea theme featuring a “real” mermaid in a custom built tank), and Showstopper (a show-girl, Vegas theme filled with glitz and glamour). Although our San Diego nightclub was built for these dramatic theme changes, any theme can be scaled down to fit your venue’s size and budget!
Enhance your customer’s experience with unexpected moments.
Walk into some of the best nightclubs in the world and you’ll most likely see a VIP champagne show. Gorgeous cocktail servers parade out with sparklers, bottles, and flare. So if you are a nightclub owner or a nightclub manager and you want to really wow your guests, you have to get creative in order to stand out. At one of our venues, we built a custom robot who held the sparklers while the bottle sat perfectly in its center. Chariots are also our specialty, with cocktail servers riding above the crowd on spaceships, carousel horses, and themed platforms. At our smaller, boutique nightclub and lounges, we use champagne carriers that fit the brand and personality of the venue; disco balls and birdcages to name a few!
“At one of our venues, we built a custom robot who held the sparklers while the bottle sat perfectly in its center.”
Another way to wow your guests is to provide unexpected moments that they will remember and talk about. Provide a throne for your VIP guests to sit upon on their birthdays, or surprise them with a custom cake or birthday novelties. Whether you own and operate a big nightclub or a neighborhood bar, every venue has VIP guests. Identify yours and figure out a way to recognize who they are and celebrate when they spend money!
Take advantage of unique and off-peak opportunities.
Good promotions and creative marketing can help you make money on your off-peak nights as well build local loyalty! Set up an Industry Night with specials on drinks and food and invite staff from local bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. Promote contests to create some friendly competition between bartenders, VIP hosts, restaurant managers, etc. Or partner with a local magazine, boutique, community supporter, or promoter and throw an event that will benefit you both!
Whether you are an established bar, restaurant, or nightclub owner, or you are in the development stage of building your hospitality venue, your business can benefit from creative promotions and marketing. Sit down with your team, brainstorm ideas, and come up with ways to create memorable moments for your guests!
Find out more about RMD Group’s bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.
Find out how you can improve your existing venue, or to turn your bar, restaurant, or nightclub dream into a reality with RMD Consulting.