15 Marketing Ideas: How to Market a Pub in the UK

Pub operations tackle all the traditional marketing challenges found in restaurants but have some unique problems, including the risks of promoting excessive alcohol consumption and serving drunk guests. Bars also face the problem of serving food in an often crowded, turbulent, and unconnected environment.

You need to be very careful when selling alcohol to avoid conflict with local laws on wines and beer. Many jurisdictions restrict the ability to advertise or offer consumer incentives and "happy hour" prices.

However, several easy-to-implement bar marketing actions are key to the success of a business. We will show you some:

‍1. Look at yourself and your market

First of all, before thinking about advertising, you need to be sure that your business has a good proposal for the public. If your brand identity is not good, the image will not have pillars to stand on. Next, think and evaluate what characteristics your business has so that you can consider competitive differentials against the competition. For example, it is not valid to say that it is the quality of food and drink, pleasant atmosphere, service, and quality sound, as these points are obligations and not differentials. If you base one of these points as a differential (even if they are differentials at the moment), the first competitor with a nicer structure than you will arrive and take away all your customers, one by one.

Make a strategic plan for your business. Establish your mission, your values, and your vision.

2. Align Everything, Think Everything

Make sure that all the details are aligned: audience, competition, product, price, location, and communication. So your purpose is clear to people. It's no use being premium, exclusive and cheap at the same time. Cheap does not match the other characteristics of this example. Keep everything in line, and if you're having trouble pricing your products, don't be afraid to seek professional help for this.

3. Design X Experience

Seek professional help to understand your differentials and develop a visual identity for your pub that is in line with the characteristics of your brand. For example, what colours communicate your essence? How should your logo be to speak to the public and differentiate yourself from competitors? What creative strategies should you use to fix your bar in people's minds?

Also pay attention to your social media and website design: integrate interactive Images, videos, illustrations and graphs to engage more customers. To do that easier consider using WordPress chart plugins or online editing and graph-making tools.

4. Quality service is not a differential; it is mandatory

In times of cold and commercial relationships, brands that maintain close relationships generate loyal customers. Make your customers like your business, your service, and your employees. Instruct your employees to provide a service far from impersonal, remember customers who are always at the bar and try to call people by name as much as possible. Always be respectful even to that person who drank a little too much. This tip will help you retain people, make others observe your service, and have a good feeling inside the bar.

5. Have unique products

Whether it's an exclusive craft beer from the bar, a special drink created by the bar or a delicious dishes that the bar has developed. Create! Make sure people have evidence to say that your bar is unique. Low-margin products will attract, and exclusive products will build loyalty.

6. An engaged team is everything

Every employee who interacts with the public must be seen as a salesperson. He is the one who has the opening to recommend a product, publicize promotions and promote sales much greater than the customer planned. Work so that pub staff knows everything about the products, are always motivated and seek to sell more. Create sales commission programs for employees.

7. Internal communication channels

You don't need to advertise in any expensive communication vehicle to show your bar's news effectively. You have a menu, you have space inside and outside for posters, and maybe you have product packaging. Instead, expand business with current customers by always disclosing the news with materials inside the pub.

8. External channels of communication

To reach audiences more massively and attract new customers, think first. Evaluate what media your audience consumes.

Is it a specific website, a portal, or a blogger? Make a paid article, and foster partnerships.

Is it a newspaper, a magazine? Invite them to talk about a media plan.

Is it a local radio? How about advertising with live message.

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9. An engaged team is everything

Every employee who interacts with the public must be seen as a salesperson. He is the one who has the opening to recommend a product, publicize promotions and promote sales much greater than the customer planned. Work so that pub staff knows everything about the products, are always motivated and seek to sell more. Create sales commission programs for employees.

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10. Facebook

Create ads for your city, targeting your audience by interests through Facebook Ads. Run pub promotions that are advertised well in advance of the period on Facebook. Make the company's Facebook the place all customers enter when they go to evaluate where they want to have fun. Create events with special promotions or attractions. People can invite their friends and confirm their presence at the event, while you can share content and generate engagement with the public while increasing the desire and expectation of people to go to your bar.

11. Instagram

Publish content promoting your promotions and showing photos of your products, always focusing on catching the public's eyes. Engagement on Instagram with pictures of food and drinks is pretty high; take advantage of it! Use Instagram stories during your bar's opening hours, showing it full, the music, and the dishes being prepared. Follow people who are public at the bar and comment on their photos to encourage them to know your business page on Instagram. Search for people who have tagged places in the city and start following them and liking their photos.

12. Website

If you have a website, remember that more people use the internet on their cell phones every year. So create a responsive website (which adapts to mobile phones and tablets) and enjoy a complete, beautiful and functional website to show photos of the space, make reservations, bring institutional information and be found more effectively on Google.

13. Google Ad words

Identify your audience, map keywords related to your audience's searches in your business segment and use Google Adwords always to be one of the first results of the search network. Example: The person searches for "Happy Hour in London", and your pub may appear in the first result, depending on your Adwords strategy.

14. Loyalty

As important as attracting new customers is retaining current ones. Create loyalty programs and relationship strategies. Give discounts to repeat customers, make promotions so that they have a benefit if they bring 4 new customers, give gifts. The important thing is that this client feels unique and special. So your audience expands and works "word-of-mouth" on a large scale for you.

15. Disclosed Revenues

Create beautiful and well-produced videos showing how to make your house drink or house dish. You will show that you have no secrets with your customers and that they can even try to do it at home, but it is not the same thing as going to your bar. This also helps to show the quality of the ingredients used, in case it is something premium. It is content with a high degree of spread-ability to work on social networks.

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Finally

Bars and pubs face unique marketing challenges that differ from those in traditional restaurants. These challenges include the risks of promoting excessive alcohol consumption and serving drunk guests, as well as serving food in a crowded and turbulent environment. Despite these challenges, there are several easy-to-implement marketing actions that can contribute to the success of a bar or pub. These include developing a strong brand identity, ensuring that all details are aligned, creating a unique visual identity, providing quality service, having unique products, fostering an engaged team, utilizing internal and external communication channels, and utilizing social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to promote the bar or pub. By implementing these marketing strategies, bars and pubs can attract new customers, retain existing ones, and build a loyal customer base.

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