The advertising methods that dominated the 20th century seem all but dead. The white pages have been replaced by Google, and local television or radio seems far less relevant than TikTok.
In some ways, this has led to the democratization of marketing. Anyone with a smartphone, a few apps and a bit of patience can put together a solid digital marketing plan. But for those small business owners who are less tech-savvy, the vastness and variety of the world wide web can seem overwhelming.
For now, skip the Google Ads and foodie influencers. If you want to know how you can start marketing your bar online, begin with a few simple, cost-effective, and important digital channels and strategies.
1. Your Website
You need a website, of course. Potential customers search the web like they once searched a phone book. If you aren’t on the web, to the majority of your potential customers, it will be like you don’t even exist.
Your website is also your virtual home-base. It’s where all of your digital marketing campaigns begin and end. If you don’t have a home-base, you won’t have a singular clearinghouse for your customers to turn to for things like your location, hours, menus, specials and so on.
Your website is a chance for you to carefully curate your customers’ first impression of your business. First impressions, as always, are very important. You want your landing page to be visually appealing, professional and informative but not overloaded with text. The rest of your website should be easy to navigate, informative, integrated with your business and social media, and filled with Insta-worthy photos of your food, drinks, location and customers.
2. Social Media
Love it or hate it, you need social media. It’s an inexpensive, effective and relatively easy way you can start marketing your bar online. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok can help you increase your brand awareness, engage with new and old customers alike, stay on customers’ minds, and drive business with promotions, contests and events.
For the hospitality industry, Facebook and Instagram are the most obvious choices. A Facebook Business page is more text-based and informative than an Instagram business account, but an Instagram is more visually appealing and provides you with the opportunity to reach a larger – and younger – audience.
You can use a link to your bar’s website in your IG bio, which makes some of the information on a Facebook Business page redundant.You can also link your Instagram and Facebook pages, allowing you to cross-post to both via a single account. For most restaurants and bars, especially for those targeting a younger and hipper crowd, the ’Gram will likely give you the most marketing potential, but a marketing strategy that takes advantage of the strengths of both platforms would be best for most bar owners.
Both are great for social media contests. There are countless contests you can hold to generate engagement and drive business. Common ones include like, follow, and tag a friend contests and caption contests. Both are easy and cheap to run on a fairly regular basis. The best way to understand the variety of social media contests is to follow and learn from other restaurants and bars.
Instagram also allows you the opportunity to capitalize on user-generated content. By asking in your promotional materials, and by promoting it with incentives like free appetizers or a percentage off of a bar tab, you can have your guests help you promote your bar by tagging your account and geo-tagging your bar in their own posts.
And don’t forget to promote your social media in your restaurant. You can use flyers, table tents and bar menus to let your customers know about your account. A small blurb on your menu introducing any social media promotions can go a long way toward getting customers to engage online. If you aren’t a graphic designer, or if you don’t have the time to incorporate your social media into your menu, you can find bar menu ideas and templates online at services like MustHaveMenus that can help you get your customers to your digital content.
3. Review Websites
Review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google are the 21st-century equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing. When potential customers look for a new restaurant or bar, they often go to Yelp or Google and search “good food near me.” You need to ensure that you’re appearing in those online searches, and that your online reputation is impeccable.
If you haven’t created a listing for your business, more than likely someone has done it for you, and you might even have a few reviews. You’ll either need to create a listing or claim an existing listing created by one of your previous guests. Once you own your listing, you’ll receive notifications when someone leaves a review, and you’ll be able to respond to them.
You’ll also want to promote it in your bar with fliers, table-tents or blurbs on your menu. You can incentivize reviews with free appetizers or desserts, and you can use QR codes on your marketing materials to remove as many obstacles as possible between your guests and review sites. By simply opening their camera app, they can be directed straight to your bar’s review page on whatever platform you’d like to target.
More reviews increase your visibility on reviews sites and help you overcome a bad review or two. They literally put your business on the map with Google Maps, whose algorithm ranks businesses based on the amount and quality of customer reviews, making your bar easy to find on any smartphone.
4. Google Business Profile
Speaking of Google, you’ll want to claim your Google Business Profile too. This is the page potential customers see when they search your business via Google, or click on your business via Google Maps.
Your business profile is another marketing channel for you to showcase what makes your bar standout. It allows you a way to include your address, directions via Google Maps, mouthwatering photos of your food and drinks, your menus, a link to your website, and a method of receiving and responding to customer reviews. Your customers can even order food to-go right from your Google profile.
While you’re at it, submit your website to Google via the Google Search Console. Google’s software – the “Googlebot” – will eventually find and index your website on its own as it scours the world wide web, but submitting your site to Google directly will speed up the process, allowing your potential customers to find you sooner.
5. Third-Party Delivery Services
While there are drawbacks to services like Grubhub and Postmates, these third-party delivery services have become a necessary evil for many bar and restaurant owners after COVID-19.
The drawbacks include outrageous commissions and customer service concerns, to overwhelming your kitchen during peak business hours and destroying a small business’s margins. But many customers got used to these services during quarantine. Whether you like it or not, some will still want food delivered to them, despite the costs on your end.
But there are benefits too. Delivery services can introduce your bar to an enormous customer base. Users that might not otherwise know of your business might try it because it looks good on Grubhub’s app, and if they like it they might order it again, or even come into your bar.
You can limit the cons of these third-party services by avoiding to-go and take-out orders through their app. Instead, use your own online ordering system, and promote it as much as possible. There are many different online ordering systems you could use, your POS provider likely has an online ordering option, and there are many startups that specialize in contactless dining. Either way, use third-party delivery systems as another marketing channel for your business, but be wary of the pricey commissions that come with them.
6. Your Online Menu
Finally, an online menu that is optimized for all screen sizes, from desktop computers to smartphones, is a must. Replace that PDF file – or worse, that grainy photo – with a digital menu that’s more visually appealing, easier to navigate, and filled with #foodporn photography.
Digital menus can also help you avoid those third-party delivery service fees, allowing you to keep the commission with an order now button. Post-COVID, online menus can serve as a contactless addition to your printed menu, allowing those tech-savvy customers quicker access to your menu, which can lead to faster turnaround times for your tables.
If you need help with your digital menus, you can find free menu management online that can help you get started right away.
Digital Marketing that Works for You
If you’re wondering how you can start marketing your bar online, follow the steps above and you’ll be off to a great start. The sheer number of marketing opportunities available can seem dizzying, but don’t let that stop you from those key digital channels that every small business owner should know and use.
Mark Plumlee is the senior content manager for MustHaveMenus, a leading design software and template provider for bars and restaurants.
Plan to Attend or Participate in
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