Hello and welcome to the very first episode of bar owner tv. The first few videos I have for you are based on my philosophy on how any bar owner can double their loyal regulars and profits by using marketing strategies that are not taught in our industry.
Today I’m going to dive into the first mistake that almost all bar owners are making on a day to day basis and Yes, I will admit, I used to be a victim of this as well…until I learned the hard way.
When most owners want to increase business, they instantly think, I need to spend money on marketing…. that will bring in traffic! So they call their advertising sales rep and explains what he wants to promote and then the advertising sales company creates the ad, gets a proof, and it’s on it way. Then bam the doors are slammed right?? If only it was that easy!
Listen carefully here. Most bar owners are using what I call Mass media marketing. This is where they advertise on the radio and newspaper to thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people, depending on where they live, with a special or promotion. They believe, with the more people they hit, the busier they will be. When you are using mass media marketing you are hitting people anywhere from .5 mile to maybe even 20 miles away.
Now when I first got into the bar business this is exactly what I was doing because thats what I learned from my dad, but when I started working with a marketing coach he asked me… Nick, where do most of your customers live. How far from your bar? and I told him, within a mile or two. and then he said, the radio stations and newspapers you are working with, where do they reach? and I said, about a 20 mile radius 150,000-200,000 people. and then he said to me…. how many of those 200,000 people do you think are going to come to your bar…That’s when I realized what he was getting at.
What I learned was, I needed to market only to people who were in a 1 to even 5 mile radius of my bar, or I was wasting my money on everyone else. When you use mass media advertising your as good as flying over your city in a airplane and throwing out thousands of flyers and hope they get into the hands of people who are even willing to step foot in your door.
I just read an article recently about the restaurant business and that people who go out to eat don’t like driving more than 5 miles. So what does this tell you about the people who go out for drinks?
Are you using mass media marketing right now? Are you getting the kind of return you want on your marketing dollars?
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