Street promotion can be a major source of customers for your bar.
However, it’s a largely misunderstood marketing method and therefore avoided by many who wish to utilize it.
If you want to do it right, here are a few tips.
1. Know your Target Audience
You must know what type of customer you want to attract to position your street teams effectively. For instance, if you’re looking for corporate types, it makes sense to have your street teams located in areas where there are large amounts of people walking in and out of office buildings. They should be placed at times when the streets are most packed, like in the mornings, lunch or right after work.
If you’re trying to attract students, you would place your street teams on college campuses during lunchtime, when walking traffic is at its greatest.
Should other hospitality industry workers be your target, you should get your team fully branded hats and shirts, go to each bar in your surrounding area, buy a round of drinks, then talk to the staff about your upcoming promotion.
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Before you send your teams out to promote your bar, spend some time thinking about the kind of prospect you’re looking to attract. Try to place your promoters where you know they’ll be.
2. Know Your Script
You and everyone on your street team should be able to communicate your offer in one to two sentences, max. Spend time before each shift rehearsing what you’re going to say with your team.
For example, let’s say your goal is to promote your venue to the staff of another bar and you want to pitch the owner or general manager. Summarize your proposal to them in a quick conversation and give them a simple way to get in contact with you.
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If you’re doing something as simple as handing out flyers on a street corner, the promoter has to know what they’re saying to attract attention, and have a quick, concise way to instruct people on how to take the next steps. Have your script written and memorized and stick to it when doing your street promotions.
3. Play the Numbers Game
Everyone on your team needs to have the mentality that their efforts are about massive—keyword, massive—exposure. There are some people that have the wrong mentality for street promoting: they’re shy, introverted, and unwilling to engage strangers in conversation. Because of this, they fail to talk to more than a handful of people for each shift. An effective street promoter is comparable to a paperboy selling newspapers in a crowded metropolitan area. The well-known trope of paperboys is that they’re known for constantly yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” as they then shout the headlines to motivate people to buy a newspaper. They’re not afraid to draw a large amount of attention to themselves.
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Similarly, effective street promoters are bold, willing to make a spectacle of themselves, and totally impervious to uninterested prospects. To be effective at street promotion, you must be willing to speak to large numbers of people all the time. This mindset is crucial to any kind of street promotion efforts.
Excited to learn more about promotions and marketing? The 2019 Nightclub & Bar Show is loaded with revenue-generating ideas and opportunities! From the panel format “Making a Mark at Mass Events, Festivals & More Near You” to “Marketing Partnerships, Promotions, Support: A Reality Check” presented by Tim Haughinberry to “Make Your Marketing Work Online & Off” with Kimberley Ring,” founder of Ring Communications. Don’t miss out on finding your next money-making idea—register now!
Kevin is an operations consultant with over a decade of experience working directly with bar, restaurant and nightclub owners on all points of the spectrum: from family-owned single bar operations to large companies with locations on an international scale. Kevin works with them all and understands the unique challenges each kind of company faces.
He is the author of a book entitled Night Club Marketing Systems – How to Get Customers for Your Bar. He is also a regular writer for Nightclub & Bar, providing information high-level operators seek to get the extra edge in their marketing, sales and operations.
He continues to write today, providing specialized information directly to nightclub, bar and restaurant owners from his workshops, newsletters and magazine articles. He is also active in the field, operating an inventory auditing practice with Sculpture Hospitality.